INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Chaneys Ranch]

Our county also has no remaining farms. 4H is still active with a HUGE presence in Visual Arts & photography. Cooking, sewing, & many science areas are also very competitive. Unfortunately with the high value of land in this area, it looks like we may lose our county fairgrounds. The official county statement is that we must look to the future needs of the community and that our county is no longer agriculturally based. The 100 year lease will be up in 3 years, so the county is being courted by land developers with big pockets. We still have livestock at the fair, but I doubt our kids will even have a county fair in 3 years. Of course nothing about selling the land has been publicized. Only that the county must consider all possible options for the land and decide what's best for all its constituents. Meanwhile budget issues continue to take the spotlight.

I wish these people would wake up. Livestock and crop farming is a dying career. Those are also valuable and important careers too, of course. But selling a piece of land, and the current trend in 4H community isn't teaching our children to be self sufficient regarding whole foods, IMHO. Its so sad current trends are taking that knowledge away, and not teaching where our food really comes from.

 

[Mother2Hens]

@Mother2Hens How is Hadley without Frieda?

@kittydoc ~ Sadly, I think that Hadley had written off Frieda. The day before Frieda died, I saw Hadley peck her. Although she and Frieda had been especially close, Hadley and Mocha became close while Frieda was housed inside with The Frizzles (they operate as one unit!) for her recovery from eating insulation. When I let Frieda out on nice weather days, I saw Mocha occasionally peck her. The pecks weren’t vicious, but let Frieda know that she wasn’t welcome to hang out with them/endanger them. Frieda had The Frizzles, though! One day when we were all outside, I saw large Bielefelder Frieda walk over and sit down with the tiny bantam cochins. It was cute.

Until I got the four chicks from you last July, I had never had chicks/chickens that didn’t peck each other now and then. They all got along well until they joined the existing flock of three hens. That's when they felt the innate desire to move up the ladder!

The pecking order has been interesting. When it comes to grabbing worms and bugs when I am digging, etc., Hadley and Mocha sometimes peck each other trying to be first. Hadley is super fast, which irritates Mocha who makes a growling sound as if to say, “No fair! She butted in line!” While Mocha protests, Hadley snatches up more treats.

Mocha sometimes pecks Roadrunner, but RR pecks right back. RR has always had a tendency to whine if she’s not getting her share. Instead of a grumbling like Mocha, RR sadly whimpers like, “Poor me.”

From the beginning, Zipporah knew how to charm me. I guess she knew I fall for brown eyes. She’s the most friendly and clever of the three orps. Her tactic is to not focus on the hole I am digging, but go to where the dirt is tossed. Then she comes back to stand close to me as though we make a team. She’s easy going, and I’ve never seen Zipporah peck any of the hens.

However, when she first met the frizzles, another size of Zipporah emerged! She had a mad look on her face and ran toward them in attack mode. I supervised the frizzles for a couple of months while they got to know the big hens. Only recently, I’ve let them out on their own with the others who are used to them. The frizzles keep a few feet or more of distance away, but they aren’t afraid to stand up for themselves just like other fiesty bantams.

Oddly, flock leader, SLW Lacey, usually keeps a little distance from the mad rush of grabbing worms. I intermittently toss a worm to her or any others who aren’t getting their share. Othertimes, Lacey occasionally administers a peck to the other five hens to remind them who is in charge. Lacey makes a lot of fuss at bedtime acting like a queen who decides if the three orps are allowed on her high perch. Mocha and Hadley usually end up there because they are impatient and determined. Zipporah sometimes joins them, but she doesn’t really care where she perches.

My little silkie, Smalty, has seemed rather left out. She still asserts herself and frightens the three large orps away when she wants food or if they want to perch near her. She hangs out with the flock sometimes, but other times, I see her free ranging alone. I’ve also noticed her hanging out near the frizzles, but not too near. One day I saw Smalty peck a frizzle who attacked right back! I think Smalty was unerved, but impressed!

Posting this photo again since it shows my six hens together.

 

[Mother2Hens]

Julie they're just precious! I've been in VA this week and just got back yesterday. My Mille Fleur Cochins have started laying and I have 5 eggs I'll be setting tomorrow and every egg thereafter for as long as I can handle hatching!! Lol! A fellow BYCER had reached out desiring them and I just love to share this breed!

A lot of people think they would rather not get into the bantam breeds but I have such a love of some!

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@ellymayRans ~ I am going to be very tempted when I see Mille Fleur Cochins!! As you know, my dearly departed Black Bantam Cochin who died a year ago was named "Screech" because she would let out a loud screech when she'd see me. I just found this 7 second video! How my Bantam Cochin got her name "Screech." Screech loved to be picked up, held, and cuddled. In the flock, she was a force to be reckoned with—she had no fear and would challenge the flock leader for first dibs with food. While the flock settled down for the night, she'd just look around and start trouble. Remember when I had to put a partition between her and one of my big Orps, Eliza, because Screech kept annoying her? After I put a partition between them, Screech flew over the partition and landed on Eliza's back! The Frizzles have sweeter voices—LOL—and come running up to us. They don't really like being picked up, and I think the reason is that they never liked being picked up seperately because they are as "tight as ticks" as we say in Indiana. Haha So, I pick them up together, which sometimes can tossle them around a little more until they get situated. They will stop and allow me to pick them up, but it's not their favorite thing. They like if I lay down on the floor to cuddle them or let them walk around and jump off of me like I'm a mountain. Or a small hill. Haha

Those little frizzles are very adorable. I'm still a lover of LF, but DD talked us into keeping a bantam orpington & a sebright. DH calls them "useless chickens," but I find that their BIG personalities & hilarious antics add so much fun to our flock. I can't imagine not having a couple bantams around.

.......Now DD has some silkie eggs in the incubator. I have a strong feeling our bantam number is going up.

I think that you just have to experience bantams to appreciate them. I was reluctant, but got my first bantam through a mix-up. Several years ago, I hadn't realized that Chocolate English Orpingtons were only available in bantam size. When I drove to the hatchery, that's when I found out. But when I saw my "Bonbon" very self-assuredly walking across the grass in the pouring rain, I knew she was special and she was. (She's on my avatar that I haven't gotten around to changing). Bonbon was a larger size bantam, my Silkie is more of a medium, and Cochins are small like minatures. There was a time in the beginning when I thought Silkies were weird and Cochins' feathery legs looked strange. I need to take a video of my frizzled cochins because you can't appreciate their cuteness until you see them walk around or run. I agree that bantams are a great flock addition!

 

[Mother2Hens]

@jchny2000 ~ Glad to hear that your Dad is improving!

Originally Posted by Indyshent
If you want some really interesting, historical reading, try looking up the "chicken bubble"/Victorian "Hen Craze" which started after Queen Victoria received seven Cochins and set up an aviary for them.
@Indyshent ~ Thanks for sharing! I found this link: The Forgotten History of 'Hen Fever' | National Geographic

When I got a Jubilee English Orpington several years ago, I learned this:
Introduced in 1897 by the William Cook family, Jubilee Orpingtons were named for and presented to Queen Victoria in honor of her Diamond Jubilee year, and she was understandably quite taken with the lovely creatures. Jubilee Orpingtons became a symbol of British spirit that they were ordered to be killed by Hitler during World War II.
@Leahs Mom ~ Wow! Your Buckeye cockerel is gorgeous!

 

[ellymayRans]

Well I have set 8 eggs as of last night so it has begun!!! Lol!
It seems like forever but it's only been sin November that it was running! Haha!

(6) Mille Fleur Cochin eggs (testing fertility)
(2) blue eggs from my frizzled Cochin/olive egger cross she was with my MF roo


Awesome news to report today too!!
My Bourbon Red tom was given the green light by one of the BR hens! Excited to see that!

 

[ellymayRans]

Question for those with the Muscovy. So I caught a rooster trying to mate with a younger female scovy duck.
Now I know the risk of Drake mating with chickens but should I be concerned about roo over duck??? Lol! Was so strange to witness!

 

[Indyshent]

Question for those with the Muscovy. So I caught a rooster trying to mate with a younger female scovy duck.
Now I know the risk of Drake mating with chickens but should I be concerned about roo over duck??? Lol! Was so strange to witness!

Nope. It's weird but won't hurt her (though, usually the other ducks will chase off a confused rooster).

 

[ellymayRans]

Loving the warm weather! Graduated the ducklings out to the big coop. All is calm now, just had to referee a few duck hens and the guinea pair!
Guineas are sooo persistent!

Trains are in bloom and just stunning!!

My 2 blue gals chilling together.

 

[sfd6532]

Hello from Noblesville just starting out. I got a coop and I'll probably start with 3-6 chicks soon.

 

[ellymayRans]

Hello from Noblesville just starting out. I got a coop and I'll probably start with 3-6 chicks soon.

How exciting! Welcome!
Do you know what breeds you're hoping to fill your coop with?!?

Feel free to ask away, no questions are too small or silly. We're all here to help and enable!!