INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Lengerich Farms]

We've been wanting a rabbit for years.  DD's in 4H & has been begging us for a Flemish Giant.  I used to raise rabbits when I was a kid & teen & enjoyed them.  I got out of breeding rabbits in college when my schedule got too busy.  I miss having rabbits, but worry about taking on too much.  We already have chickens, 2 dogs, gardens, & fruit trees. We've been saying "We'll see" for about 3 years.  At least no one can say we're rushing into it. LOL She's still asking & even signed up for rabbits in 4H.  I think this may be the year.

How far are you from Indy?!?! You can pick a couple out and HAVE THEM! I've got 21, I don't want that many!

 

[Mother2Hens]

@Mom2hens
I appreciate your concern. My FIL is a very meticulous, plan ahead kind of guy. We currently don't own our home, we're squatting in my step dads home. The way my FIL is going to set it up, well own our own home. And my wife doesn't want to lose her childhood home. Greenwood still doesn't allow Fowl, but I'm keeping five of my girls. Once we move, I'll try to get the movement for the ordinance to change going again. Seems silly, they have a Rural King and a TSC, both sell chicks and ducks, within city limits, but you can't have either. We won't be moving until may/ June time frame. My aunt is going to take the rest of my girls, but I still need to find homes for both Roos (if anyone is interested wink wink nudge nudge.) That way I still get visitation rights

In general, my unsolicited advice is to not make rash decisions, but it sounds like your family has thought things out and is ready for the move. As they say, no one knows what it's like to walk in another's shoes. However, I do personally know of the therapeutic value of raising chickens.

Have you seen this link? It has some interesting things to note —like a lack of penalty for keeping livestock. Keeping chickens – The Farr Law Firm

 

[Andrew10]

Hello everyone I'm starting my first flock in late March with new hampshire reds but I can't find a rooster

I'm located in Anderson and I'm new here please reply.

 

[Lengerich Farms]

@Mother2Hens
I understand, and I appreciate the concern

.
I've seen similar postings like the link, thank you. I think if I keep my head down and keep quiet, I can get away with it. I've got a cousin on the Greenwood PD, hopefully that'll help keep things under the rug. I'll keep you all posted as things progress.

 

[Faraday40]

I loved the pics of your orps in the snow. Our orps also do not like the snow, but at least they're good about handling the cold. We've already had several nights below zero.
I was feeling lousy today (sinus infection), so I needed a little chicken therapy. It looked very nice outside but was cold & windy. I brought out my camera & a piece of bread.

Godiva & Muppet were the 1st ones out to greet me on this very cold day. You can see how much smaller Godiva is. (She's not a bantam - just smaller than my giant orps.) Moose is behind them doing a fluff up. He didn't seem happy about coming out into the cold, but my roos are good protectors. Anytime a hen leaves the protection of the run, a roo will accompany her..


Here's a close up of Moose. I'm surprised how well his comb is doing in this cold


Can't take photos without at least one of Brick. His comb & wattles are smaller, but the poor guy got a touch of frostbite on his back tips..
Here he is next to Sweetie. You can see how most of my lav orp hens are bigger than he is.


Trouble cutting in line to get her share of the treats. (She often flies onto my arm so she can stick her head right into the treat bucket.)


My elusive RIR. She's a hard-working hen that keeps herself busy doing her own "chicken stuff." She rarely comes up to pose for me.


All of my lavs came from @kittydoc ' s Cogburn. Sweetie is a daughter; Muppet & Moose are his grandchildren. They're very big & docile

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

SIGH, it would not quote your post here! Just wanted to say how lovely your girls are looking, especially that chocolate cuckoo girl! Gosh, I never thought I wanted chocolate cuckoo hens, but now that I see yours... None of my hens like walking on snow, either, although a few of them have gotten brave and gone out bloomers-deep. It's your posts! The one with the 'Chicken Charms' this time. I've seen that around a few times and I shudder every time I see it. Zip ties should NOT be that snug on their legs! Cute idea, but just no.

I loved the pics of your orps in the snow. Our orps also do not like the snow, but at least they're good about handling the cold. We've already had several nights below zero. [COLOR=333333]I was feeling lousy today (sinus infection), so I needed a little chicken therapy. It looked very nice outside but was cold & windy. I brought out my camera & a piece of bread.[/COLOR] [COLOR=333333]Godiva & Muppet were the 1st ones out to greet me on this very cold day. You can see how much smaller Godiva is. (She's not a bantam - just smaller than my giant orps.) Moose is behind them doing a fluff up. He didn't seem happy about coming out into the cold, but my roos are good protectors. Anytime a hen leaves the protection of the run, a roo will accompany her..[/COLOR] [COLOR=333333] [/COLOR] [COLOR=333333]Trouble cutting in line to get her share of the treats. (She often flies onto my arm so she can stick her head right into the treat bucket.)[/COLOR] [COLOR=333333][COLOR=B42000] [/COLOR][/COLOR] [COLOR=333333]My elusive RIR. She's a hard-working hen that keeps herself busy doing her own "chicken stuff." She rarely comes up to pose for me.[/COLOR] [COLOR=333333] [/COLOR] [COLOR=333333]All of my lavs came from @kittydoc ' s Cogburn. Sweetie is a daughter; Muppet & Moose are his grandchildren. They're very big & docile[/COLOR]

I love your birds, too, such personalities! Nothing beats chicken therapy. Hope you feel better soon!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

It's not fair, I'm pretty sure my little chickies are already a little bigger! Why must they grow so fast?

Here they are making a mess with their feed. Feed is inedible without feet in it, obviously.

And all snuggled up and warm for the night. They are just too cute!!

I had some fun today and tried some of those old wives' tales to tell the sex of chicks on these guys. Now, I refuse to lift them by their wings / feet / beaks / necks because these are my babies and that's just cruel. I did flip them on their backs (only just long enough to gauge their reactions), look at their wing pins (which I know is a sex linked trait, but people swear it works on all chicks ), and lift them up to see if they let their feet dangle or not (which I had never heard of, but thought it was worth a shot). Oh, and inspired by someone's science experiment, I took note of the shape of the eggs they hatched out of. The results?

By their egg shape and wing pins, they're all female.

By the way they all reacted to flipping on their backs and letting their feet dangle, they're all male.

They all reacted the exact same way. Tomorrow, if I can find a needle, I'm going to try the needle on a thread pendulum trick and see what that says.




Editing to add, it occurs to me that some of y'all might not know what the heck I'm talking about, so a brief explanation:

Egg Shape: By this myth, female chicks hatch from round eggs and males from more pointy eggs.
Wing Pins: Male chicks will have an even row of wing pins, and females will have longer and shorter wing pins. This must be looked at within the first few days after hatching. A lot of people are under the misguided belief that this works for every chick, but it's actually a sex linked trait that must be bred for.
Flipping on Back: Supposedly, when flipped onto their backs, only male chicks will struggle to right themselves and females will relax and lay still.
Letting Legs Dangle: This myth says that males will let their feet dangle and females will lift their feet up when lifted.
Needle Pendulum: When dangled over a chick, the needle supposedly swings in circles for females and back and forth in a line for males.

 

[Leahs Mom]

@pipdzipdnreadytogo

That needle trick sounds like divining for water....

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

It probably works about as well, too. I was reading about it earlier and apparently there are two schools of thought on it. Either the needle moves as I wrote in my previous post, or you test it on animals that you know the sex of to 'get a feel' for how it moves for males and females. I'm thinking the simplest thing is to just do the circular / back-and-forth one, although maybe I'll test it out and see what happens. Either way, I'm expecting it to work--about 50% of the time!

 

[Faraday40]

. Feed is inedible without feet in it, obviously.

So funny, but also so true!
And all snuggled up and warm for the night.

They are just too cute!! X2




I had some fun today and tried some of those old wives' tales to tell the sex of chicks on these guys. Now, I refuse to lift them by their wings / feet / beaks / necks because these are my babies and that's just cruel. I did flip them on their backs (only just long enough to gauge their reactions), look at their wing pins (which I know is a sex linked trait, but people swear it works on all chicks

), and lift them up to see if they let their feet dangle or not (which I had never heard of, but thought it was worth a shot). Oh, and inspired by someone's science experiment, I took note of the shape of the eggs they hatched out of.

The results?

By their egg shape and wing pins, they're all female.

By the way they all reacted to flipping on their backs and letting their feet dangle, they're all male.

They all reacted the exact same way.

Tomorrow, if I can find a needle, I'm going to try the needle on a thread pendulum trick and see what that says.

Editing to add, it occurs to me that some of y'all might not know what the heck I'm talking about, so a brief explanation:

Egg Shape: By this myth, female chicks hatch from round eggs and males from more pointy eggs.
Wing Pins: Male chicks will have an even row of wing pins, and females will have longer and shorter wing pins. This must be looked at within the first few days after hatching. A lot of people are under the misguided belief that this works for every chick, but it's actually a sex linked trait that must be bred for.
Flipping on Back: Supposedly, when flipped onto their backs, only male chicks will struggle to right themselves and females will relax and lay still.
Letting Legs Dangle: This myth says that males will let their feet dangle and females will lift their feet up when lifted.
Needle Pendulum: When dangled over a chick, the needle supposedly swings in circles for females and back and forth in a line for males.

Glad you're having so much fun with all your sci experiments. Have you tried vent sexing? It's something I want to learn. I even found an old book from the library with sketches of all the possible vent appearances as well as some Youtube videos. I still haven't figured it out. To top it off, my son walked in on me holding a chick's butt up to my face under a bright light while wearing giant magnifying glasses. I'll never hear the end of that one!