INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[JanetMarie]

Here's a new addition that I brought home last week. I thought my Cotton Patch gander/gosling named Wilbur, would be better if another goose was around, especially when his best friend an Ameraucana cockerel starts to get more interested in the pullets.

 

[JanetMarie]

Wilbur prefers to hang out with the chickens, especially his best friend, Silver.

 

[Leahs Mom]

@JanetMarie

What a beautiful photo! Has he met his new lady yet?

 

[JanetMarie]

@Leahs Mom Yes, I put her with everyone right away. I don't have a set up to quarantine, and she came from a clean enough place.

She scared everyone by honking loudly, and saw Wilbur and chased him, only because she wanted to be with him. Wilbur was afraid of her for a few days, but now he will hang out in the same area close to her.

I have to close the door between the two areas in the barn at night, because he doesn't want her too close.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Funny. Wait till he realizes she's a girl


Is it possible that he thinks of Silver as his mate?

 

[Nyla]

Love those pics! Always wanted Geese but not their honking!

View attachment 1113209 View attachment 1113208 Here's a new addition that I brought home last week. I thought my Cotton Patch gander/gosling named Wilbur, would be better if another goose was around, especially when his best friend an Ameraucana cockerel starts to get more interested in the pullets.

 

[nenebynature]

Oops, meant to include some pictures!

View attachment 1113090 View attachment 1113091 View attachment 1113092

Beautiful!! I would not mind having a couple silkies one day. But I'm at the 23 and I think that's my max right now. Until chicken math starts happening again

 

[Faraday40]

Look what I saw walking through the house today:

Then when I went outside, I noticed that DD's other silkie was dyed blue! (sidewalk chalk) Poor birds.

DD really spoils them, though. She's always doing chicken chores 1-handed because the other arm is holding a silkie. When she had a sleep-over the other day, the silly silkie stood outside the run cried for DD. Silkie wasn't used to walking into the coop & wanted to be carried.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

I'm so sorry for your loss.
Thanks

DH and I finally have the run nearly complete. It was kind of a wing it job, but it looks good, its just a run and its infinitely better than the cattle wire we had up. We have to finish the window on the door tonight, fortify a corner and then I'll post some pictures of our journey so far this year.

Had a huge scare this morning. Since my run walls are higher, we made an attempt at integrating the babies (Faverolle and Cochin) in with the hens . I didn't double check my "safety area" for the babies to make sure the hens couldn't get in. So, this morning when I went out to feed the chooks before work, I couldn't find the babies They had to find somewhere safe from the hens, who are being buttheads. I was already running late, as in I needed to BE at work while I was searching for them. Ten minutes later I had to give up and hope they would find their way back. DH went home after his morning check ins and managed to find them in the yard and figure out how they got out. He fortified the breach and put the babes in their own cage so they're safe from the hens.

I definitely thought my safety area was, well, safe. I'm thinking of putting in a 3'x3'x3' safety box in the corner for the babies to get in and out of. Its just the two of them, is the size good or should we make it larger? They'll have access to the whole coop as well, but this will be somewhere for just them that the hens can't get to.

Thoughts?

Over the past 3 weeks, we lost 2 hens.

We believe the first one succumbed to the 90+ degree high temps that were going on at the time and was subsequently cannibalized. She was a coronation Sussex and absolutely a humongous bird. That was a very disturbing find! RIP Gloria.

Two weeks later, one of our hens' body had been dragged out from under the coop gate but she was a Delaware and too big to get through the yard fencing. We have iron yard fence with bars every 3-ish inches. The predator appears to have repeatedly tried to pull her through the bars, but only succeeded in 'plucking' her chest. Oh, yes, and her head was missing-YIKES! We're theorizing that the predator was a fox, but I was wishing I had kept @Mother2Hens pages of predator evidence she posts every now and again. RIP Barbra.

We have since reinforced the gate area, but doggone it, Barbra was just the sweetest hen. At Easter time, we'd bring her in the house and she loved to have people hold and pet her. We miss them both.

Both our losses were white birds, and now we no longer have anybody white. Perhaps predator-wise, white hens are at greater risk, but we loved being able to see the hens pecking from the house, and the surviving birds are all brown, black, or barred. Much harder to see.

So sad to read.

Yard is looking a lot emptier now. Gave Thanksgiving the bronze tom to @jchny2000, sent all but two of her birds back to her now that her coops and runs have been renovated; rehomed a duckling, a snowy mallard hen, and ten chicks to a nice couple with grandkids and a huge pond on twelve acres; and I'm going to sell two ducks and my remaining hens tomorrow (or at least, that's the plan).

So, if everything goes as planned tomorrow, I'll have one pair of mixed heritage turkeys, ten chicks, two broodies on loan, and two roosters. Still keeping a pair of turkeys because I just can't seem to go without my turk-turks. Going to try to refresh the layers by keeping some of the chicks these persistent broodies insist on hatching. Hadn't actually intended to completely sell out but had a tragic accident with an ad on Craigslist, and, coupled with my husband's need of a particular device for work, I needed the cash too much to turn the buyer down. Going to miss my girls.

That said, I've now got two roosters with no hens of my own... so, if anybody's looking for one, PM me, I guess. I have a friendly silver laced Polish rooster who's shaping up pretty good with his girls and the babies, and a blue BYM (1/2 Marans, 1/4 Sumatra, 1/2 EE) who's non-aggressive but doesn't like being picked up, should be carrying some lovely egg genes and long tail genes. His mother and grandmother were excellent layers, and his mom has laid as dark as #8. Neither is terribly loud or obnoxious as roosters go.

David Bowie and Optimus Prime are both one year old this month.

View attachment 1110693 View attachment 1110694

I was so glad to see you! My daughter would love David Bowie! I can rehome Optimus easily. Being out where we are, roosters rehome easily. I still work with community low income families to place birds. Just PM me what you have left to move, I will have 1 open coop left.

 

[JanetMarie]

Funny. Wait till he realizes she's a girl


Is it possible that he thinks of Silver as his mate?

Wilbur is too young to think of having a mate yet. He thinks of chickens as his family because he was put with two chicks right after hatching, with no other goslings around.