INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Indyshent]

I have two fans in the coop, two new open windows, and I generally leave the double doors open during the day. We have one small tree in the run and an elm outside the run that shades most of that side of the yard.

Our two broody ducks hatched out four chicks today. I've absconded with the three I could get to. All look like EE. A silver penciled Brahma/EE laid most of the eggs in the duck nest, but they aren't necessarily hers because I put some Leghorn eggs and OE down there, too. Most look like they might be splash--mostly white with little dots of blue or brown chipmunk. The fourth is all black and almost certainly a kid of the OE (only other option I would think would be the Marans).

One of the OE hens has gone broody again, so I've got big blue eggs, Leghorn eggs, a few Marans and OE eggs under her for now. For such a tiny bird, she can pancake really well. She's a vicious broody.

 

[Indyshent]

Yes, and I've been slowly reading through the Langshan thread here on BYC, and the serious breeders on there are strongly opposed to breeding for egg color because they are afraid it will ruin type and quality in the breed. They say this happened with the BCMs. Breeding for just dark chocolate eggs makes you end up with basically a black mutt looking chicken.

But honestly, it would be nice if there were really nice purple laying Langshans, because who doesn't love a colorful egg basket? It seems to me that there would be two separate targeted markets. Those who want to show and those who just want colored eggs. So why should it matter if two different types emerge? (For me, I don't show, but the distinctive silhouette was the draw.)

I'm all for it. While there are people who love show chickens, and Langshans are one of the most beautiful show birds I can think of, there are so many people who are really just looking for fancy eggs to brighten their baskets that I can't see not forming a spin-off EE type. If nothing else, by introducing those genes into EE type flocks, they're kept in circulation and likely to proliferate. Just think of all the nifty egg colors you could get applying those genes to other shell colors.

I don't think I know anyone who really wanted Marans for anything but the eggs, but I've known a LOT of people who were horribly upset when that bird they'd invested a lot of money and time into didn't lay "like it was supposed to". At least if you've paid top dollar for a Langshan, you've got a mighty beautiful bird to just look at. Marans don't rank as lovely fowl though--pretty typical dual purpose birds, when the eggs aren't a factor.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Here are some body shots of the buff in question...ad a couple the rest of the First Ladies checking me out during the photo shoot.

Yup, it's a girl! Nice variety of breeds you've got there, too!

Well, either somebody busted me or things have gotten a lot more strict on here in the last few months, so I'll have to put my previous post (which was deleted by a moderator) another way. I have several lovely solid chocolate and chocolate cuckoo Orpington pullets, as well as a partridge LF Cochin cockerel and a white LF Cochin pullet. They've been in my garage a good while, isolated from the rest of the flock, and could use a place to stretch their legs and wings. DH had open heart surgery Memorial Day weekend and I've had the first of my two surgeries this summer, so the chickens have taken a back seat for a while.

Please PM me for further information. Photos of @Mother2Hens girls she got from me last year are posted below. I don't have any photos of the LF Cochins but can if you'd like to see them.

Yeah, they seem to be hit or miss on whether you can post ads here or not. Sometimes they're fine, other times they get taken down or edited by staff.

I'm still confused about a few years ago, when all I did was reply to some others on here that if they wanted a cockerel they had been admiring my pictures of, they could have him, and the post got edited by staff for having an ad in it when it wasn't even an ad. This was after others had been posting actual for sale ads with prices, and those were left alone.

P.S. Absolutely stunning birds!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Great ideas on keeping flocks cool, y'all. Heat is my biggest worry for my flock, personally. I've lost a few birds to the heat over the years, most recently my Blue Ameraucana, who went down with heat stroke symptoms back in June and just never recovered. It's something that I try to preemptively attack, as once they go down, it's often too late to get them back on their feet.

I also provide a shallow dish of water like Leahs Mom. I learned the hard way on having multiple water sources, so I always provide at least two sources of water during heat, usually three for the main flock. I like to freeze soda bottles filled with water to throw into all their water sources to keep the water cool. On the hottest days, these usually need to be swapped out at least once because they've thawed, so I have tons of them at the ready. This just seems easier to me than using plain ice, which tends to go fast on hot days, so it's not always available.

One thing I did find is that my birds do NOT like the misters and avoided them when I did put them out, so I don't bother with that anymore. Instead, I just spray down some shady spots, especially along side the house where there are bricks for them to lay against, so that it feels cooler in those spots. Water is always strategically placed so that the birds don't have to go far to get it, mainly around these shady spots as well as on their covered porch where the birds have to go past it when they come out from egg laying or go through to free-range.


Edited to clarify.

 

[Leahs Mom]

I agree on the misters. From what I've heard and seen, the do seem to avoid them so it's probably not worth the money. When you think about it, the mist probably never gets to the skin though the feathers so the only thing it would likely affect is the face, comb, wattles, etc. A pan of water can accomplish that and, in addition, the feet.

I do run a fan in the barn on hot days but I don't often see them in front of the fan. They usually choose under the trees outside.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Yeah, and I think it's because they don't like getting their feathers wet that they avoid them anyway. Mine will also avoid frozen milk jugs on hot days because those things just get sopping wet with condensation. They don't seem to mind damp surfaces, but if there's actual water, they turn their beaks up at it. Unless it's a puddle or shallow water dish, because, you know, it makes total sense to scratch in those.

When you look at feather function, though, it does make sense to avoid getting their feathers wet. Chickens are not ducks and their feathers don't repel water as easily. They do a lot of feather movement to regulate their body temps, especially raising those feathers to release heat. Once those feathers are wet, they're clingy and stick to them, and it's likely a lot harder to shift them in order to self-regulate. Now, imagine wearing a wet, or even just damp down coat on a hot day. I can't really picture that being any kind of relief.

Now, if I still had my mister from when I tried it with the girls, I'd bet the ducks would LOVE it. But, of course, ducks love water in any phase, liquid, gas, or even solid.


Edited because sometimes I'm just not that bright
Edited again because, yup, I'm still not that bright
Edited a third time because of insomnia

 

[Nyla]

Before I sold all my quails, I would keep them for 4-5 months then hatch their eggs to pick girls for replacements only and get free males from my friend. Then I would sell all my 4-5 month olds. I kept them in a stacking breeding cages I bought off ebay for a pretty penny.. I kept them in these cages outside in a non-insulated Metal shed. So it got pretty cold in there during the winter. I kept a bright LED strip light as artificial light. It looked like a light up extension cord. They laid all winter. But I did have a heat lamps on the cages that I turned on when it got below 60F.
The cages looked like this:

When I sold all my quails, I sold all my breeding cages too. Kinda regret it but I love to build so I'm okay with it.

Those eggs are very pretty.
I get a couple eggs like that every once in a while. Most of the time the blue eggs are speckled with a lot of brown, so the color is not noticed. But sometimes I get a rare egg minus the speckles, so it looks blue. I have 2 eggs like that in the incubator now, but I certainly don't get them on a reg basis.

DD is busy trying to finish building a quail cage. It's a 2 level cage 2'x4'. Instead of making a multi-level stacking quail cage, she chose to make only 2 levels - but taller. This way, it can be converted into a rabbit cage.
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So far this summer, we've been keeping the quail in a rabbit cage at night & a baby play yard during the day. They like to burrow through the grass but it's a pain carrying them back & forth daily.
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The quail are cute & all are tame. (ie- They don't run away & allow us to pick them up easily.) However, they don't come running up to us like chickens do. They don't go crazy for treats, so not fun & playful. For these reasons, we may decide to process the quail at the end of the season. Has anyone kept quail over the winter? Do they stop laying all together or just slow down?

Meanwhile DD's in love with her silkies. We think both are female. (I was nervous that her fav - black one - would be a male, so I bought a back up silkie on impulse - the splash one. Because the splash had a wider comb, I believed that one was male until recently.
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[Nyla]

What size wire mesh is okay for quails to stick their heads through but not get out of the cage?

 

[Faraday40]

What size wire mesh is okay for quails to stick their heads through but not get out of the cage?

We're building a cage using 1" welded wire & some flashing as a urine guard. (For potential future rabbit cage.) The "holes" in my temp play yard are bigger than 1" & the quail don't squeeze through. However, I do not plan to put baby quail in the cages. We have a brooder for that.

 

[Nyla]

I wish I would have measured the wire spacing's on my old cages. But I'll just go with 1" by 2" and adjust it as the quails get bigger.
Thank you!

We're building a cage using 1" welded wire & some flashing as a urine guard. (For potential future rabbit cage.) The "holes" in my temp play yard are bigger than 1" & the quail don't squeeze through. However, I do not plan to put baby quail in the cages. We have a brooder for that.

We're building a cage using 1" welded wire & some flashing as a urine guard. (For potential future rabbit cage.) The "holes" in my temp play yard are bigger than 1" & the quail don't squeeze through. However, I do not plan to put baby quail in the cages. We have a brooder for that.