INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Indyshent]

@kanina Go for Laverne and Shirley if that's what DH pulls for

Our naming theme appears to unintentionally be 80's children's TV because we have Optimus Prime, Lion-O, and Bowie (named for the Goblin King in Labyrinth). Not sure what to make anybody else and we'll see who sticks around as time goes.

Regarding feed and water, I'd say put feed in containers enough to last the whole time, and then ask neighbors to stop in and check on them, if possible

 

[RoseHaven]

Hello everyone! New member!

Welcome!

 

[Finnie]

He's a red slate, which is bronze base plus one blue gene (blue is the same in both turkeys and chickens). Not sure what color Penny is yet. Looks kind of like a silver auburn, probably has a Narragansett gene too

Hm, maybe I am calling mine the wrong thing. Mine is a red bronze with one blue gene, so I've been calling it a blue red bronze. I should go plug that into Porter's calculator and see what that calls it.

 

[Indyshent]

Hm, maybe I am calling mine the wrong thing. Mine is a red bronze with one blue gene, so I've been calling it a blue red bronze. I should go plug that into Porter's calculator and see what that calls it.

Blue Red Bronze is bronze plus one blue and one red, or Jake Jake plus a dose of red. http://www.porterturkeys.com/blueredbronze.htm

 

[Leahs Mom]

@kanina
These 2 could be twinsies if the bigger one of them stood on his head

 

[Finnie]

Blue Red Bronze is bronze plus one blue and one red, or Jake Jake plus a dose of red. http://www.porterturkeys.com/blueredbronze.htm

Ok, then I guess I did have mine right. Thank you for that, I hadn't had a chance to do that yet.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Hello everyone! New member!

Welcome!

View attachment 1122371 Picture day!

I picked up five white silkies last night to pal around with Lion-O. They're only 12 weeks old, but most are his size or bigger already. Supposed to be four pullets and one roo (seller threw him in for free), but I've got my doubts about a couple of the "pullets". The "confirmed roo" has a twisted single comb, no beard, no crest, but he does have pretty blue earlobes and does puff up sometimes with Lion-O.

Lion-O is a super odd color that I can't seem to find any information on. His hackles, saddles and tail are a blond color, but his body is mostly white. Similar to buff Orps, he has one or two tail feathers which are darker on the ends--kind of a light blue gray color. The blond color is lighter than buff. I must confess, I'm stumped on what caused this Colombian-like restriction of gold because I've yet to see an allele that restricted gold the way Colombian restricts black. He's not a Pyle because his wings lack color but his tail has it.

His comb seems to be closer to what Punnett (The PUNNETT!) described during his original chicken tests with Silkies! What he described in the originally imported Silkies from China was actually a duplex rose comb, which Lion-O has! That original comb type is pretty much extinct--to the point that the standards now call walnut combs. But *my* boy has the "trifid" original to the breed (neener, neener). So, he's a pretty poor quality Silkie (wattles too droopy, no beard, skin is too light, earlobes too pale, but I'm wondering if those are correlated phenotypes--if perhaps Silkies actually have white pigment on a dark background and the two added look blue) who appears to have what Punnett described as the original trifid comb and is a lovely blond to boot.
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Had a turkey egg explode in the incubator, but the one next to it hatched! So stoked! Baby turkeys are pure joy! Poult looks bronze for the moment but not necessarily pure bronze as the redder areas look different. It's so tiny--as small as a day-old chicken!

We're finally getting around to replacing the roof on the run. Used to have plastic netting, but it degrades too quickly, and determined birds break through it.

Got some pictures of the broody OE and the babies. If you noticed some barred babies and happen to know that I couldn't have possibly bred those *Shhhh!* The autosexing recipe always calls for barring, and they were on sale at the RK in Shelbyville.

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Most of the babies have an extended black or birchen base, except the pied (?) Leghorn half-breeds. White genes cover colors like love covers a multitude of sins, so you never quite know what those white silkies and Leghorns are wearing under their white lab coats. Leghorns apparently carry dominant white, which means heterozygous offspring have holey lab coats. So far, I've seen black, blue and black barred peeking through those holes. Silkies have recessive white, so I'm hoping to use them in test crosses with Lion-O (most, from what I understand, are partridge under their lab coats).

Tried to get some pretty pictures of Optimus Prime, Anna, Elsa and Bowie today, but they weren't terribly cooperative. Elsa is huge. She's probably as big as Optimus under that fluff. Here's Anna and Jake Jake

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And here's the dogs Ursa and Sadie. Ursa has so far killed a hen, a female yellow golden pheasant and the one lavender chick, and today she got a hold of a silkie pullet.

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Aww Sadie! She looks so grey on the muzzle now! Sorry to hear about Ursa's "mistakes".

We mixed the kids in with the adults yesterday. Tried something with the cattle fence but they don't seem to understand they can go back in there while the hens can't. Silly chooks. Hoping for a successful pairing today. Kronus seems to be trying to protect them but he's more than twice their size and intimidates him. Let me see if I can find some updated pictures.

The Silkies still don't have names. I can't find anything I LOVE. DH keeps pushing for Laverne and Shirley, I'm not feeling it.

Need a spot of advice. We're going out of town for a total of 4 days. Do I want to leave enough food out for four days or more days or?? I'm not sure how to deal with it. I go out and feed them twice a day currently and toss their food in. Its never been something we've had to deal with before.

On the topic of food though, we went back to grower because of the young ones and my hens are laying significantly better than they were on layer this summer. Should I keep them on grower with their available/optional calcium (ground shells) or update them back to layer once everyone is laying?

On your question, grower/finisher is best in this case with optional calcium.

Vacations, ugh. I am lucky enough to have good neighbors. One teen especially spends a lot of time with the critters, "hangs out with us". He likes to rebuild 4 wheeler ATVs with DH, we know his parents well. I can always count on him to provide good care if we are able to get away. He recently started driving, but he still stops by often, even just to say HI. Its really hard for us to get away. I have to plan for elder care as well as my critters.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Not much happening here, thankfully. I have 1 more tray of eggs set for a friend, mixed flock chickens. Have 36 guinea eggs set also due the 8th, hoping to rebuild my flock. Will be hatching quail a couple more months. Everyone but the chickens & quail have ceased laying this year. Feeling that fall "nip" in the air at dusk already! Also loud thunder, hoped for some rain. I rotate pastures and they aren't reviving well, too dry.

Lots of final paperwork for my Moms estate. Been over a month now. Dads "ok" but we still both find us in conversation 1 minute, staring into space the next. Time will heal, just keeping him active with new things.

Cows & bull, buck & does (goats) all doing great. Going to have my vet out in October for herd exams and ultrasound my cows. I do my own vaccinations per his advice/schedule for our area. I have emergency planning with him in case of severe injury or birthing complications I can't manage myself. Its important to have a herd exams at least annually to prevent unseen issues I may not see myself also.

 

[kanina]

On your question, grower/finisher is best in this case with optional calcium.

Vacations, ugh. I am lucky enough to have good neighbors. One teen especially spends a lot of time with the critters, "hangs out with us". He likes to rebuild 4 wheeler ATVs with DH, we know his parents well. I can always count on him to provide good care if we are able to get away. He recently started driving, but he still stops by often, even just to say HI. Its really hard for us to get away. I have to plan for elder care as well as my critters.

Ours consists of chicken and dog care. We had dog care all sorted out, and then got a call last night that we never even asked and they don't want to anyways. So now we have to sort out our three dogs and we leave in three days. Several people have suggested kenneling but we're pinching pennies to even go. As it stands right now, it looks like we're taking them with which means no auctions and no casino. And then fighting all the kids off at the reunion. I was on the verge of tears last night and am strongly considering rehoming one of the dogs. I'm just so overwhelmed with the entire situation.

 

[kanina]

Thankfully we did get some rain last night and pending rain today. its been so dry. Woke up at 2am to some strong thunder claps, as I started to drift back to sleep I remembered the babies never went in the coop to sleep Had to wake DH to go out with me mid storm and rescue them. They were huddled in a corner trying to stay dry but poor babies.. I felt absolutely terrible. We were soaked to the bone but so were they and it was a coooooooold rain. We got them in their house and managed to get the light on for warmth and to dry out. We checked them this morning before leaving and they seem to be dry. Very shaken, but dry.