INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[kanina]

@Nyla I am so in love. They are adorable! DH doesn't understand the traveling to get what you want. We're discussing adding or not since we lost Ana and he's shut down an hour trip for some legbars.

 

[JanetMarie]

Yup! Any particular reason he needs to go especially soon?

All of your striped chicks are boys, just in case you were wanting a crystal ball answer on gender to help you find them homes. Any solid chicks are girls. Despite your rooster being mixed, none of his ancestral breeds were barred or even anything but gold. I'm still wondering how he threw what appears to be crele (barred wild type/black breasted red), but I'm guessing the production Red or hatchery buff Orpington was heterozygous for Colombian (and therefore that your rooster must be too) otherwise so many black chests in these boys wouldn't be possible. The last chick you pictured has a dose of Colombian, which is why black is restricted to his hackles and tail (and maybe a couple stray flecks elsewhere), which is why he's pretty much buff barred


***So, when and where shall our big processing weekend be held?***

That might be a nice occasion to find homes for unwanted roosters and get help in processing the others, since you're not feeling up to their "one bad day". It's much easier to process other people's birds--especially when surrounded by super sympathetic forum members!

If not, I may be in for some driving or a chicken train!

Since they're just about mature, and the girls should be laying any day now, I'm pretty confident who are boys and who are girls. Actually, with the buff Orp./Dominique mix I can tell the sex at hatch, but this batch threw some unexpected colors, so some were a few weeks old before I could tell what sex they were, I suspected because the dad is not pure buff Orp.

There's no Columbian in the background that I'm aware of. Could it have been from a few generations back? My Dominiques I suspect are not 100% pure, since one boy had a single comb. They were from hatching eggs, last year.

We'll be processing very soon. This one boy needs to go because his hormones are becoming very active, and for some reason he escapes being kept in the garden area with the other boys.

 

[Nyla]

I'm sorry about Ana and your trip. When I lost my oldest Muscovy hen, I was so depressed for months. I hatched her from a egg and was the only one to hatch. I was only 6 years old. I raised her all by myself. She would sleep outside my window on the ledge and even made nests there. She use to tap on my window every morning to wake me up for food. And If I didn't wake up she would camp our front door till it opened and run straight to my room. We had to cull her because of how bad her injuries were from a neighbors dog attack. She was 9 years old.

@Nyla I am so in love. They are adorable! DH doesn't understand the traveling to get what you want. We're discussing adding or not since we lost Ana and he's shut down an hour trip for some legbars.
View attachment 1156206

 

[Faraday40]

I certainly understand why one would travel great distances to pick up a fav breed. We did it to acquire our precious lav orp eggs. I found many new friends across state lines via my chickens.

In fact, yesterday we visited another BYC friend in Wisconsin to go apple picking. Her finance couldn't join us, so we stopped by the field where he was working, had a picnic by the side of the road & took turns riding in the combine with him. Later we went to 2 apple orchards for cider, donuts, & so many apple varieties it made my head spin.


(Last pic is DD in her new PJs playing with her silkie.)

 

[Indyshent]

Colombian isn't a breed; it's a dominant gene that restricts black from the body of a chicken. RIR, Buff Orps, and production red all carry it (otherwise they would have black on their chests), as do light Sussex, light Brahmas, Colombian Wyandottes and Delaware. One dose can still get rid of most or all of the black from a bird's body.

It's just a wonky genetics thing. I'm wondering how Colombian and barred interact because the gold breeds that are used to make black sex links all carry Colombian (dominant, restricts black) and yet black sex links all have black throughout their bodies. Something else must be at work (insert "throwing papers into the air in exasperation" emojis here)

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

he's shut down an hour trip for some legbars.

A one-hour trip is nothing, especially if there are Legbars waiting at the end of that trip!

He needs to put things into better perspective.

We did about a 7-hour round trip to pick up my silkied Cochin bantams. Worth every single moment because now I get to see these precious little munchkins every day.

(Last pic is DD in her new PJs playing with her silkie.)

Oh my goodness!

I love the pajamas!

 

[Faraday40]

Oh my goodness! View attachment 1156712 I love the pajamas!

Yes. It just took the right person to buy the chicken PJs. DD & I were at a children's clothing resale. As we were checking out, the woman yelled, "Chicken suit! Someone's buying the chicken suit!" Apparently it was a costume used in the making of a video at the school. Perhaps they thought no one would buy it. It was at the end of the sale & we got an additional 50% off.

It seems like it was made especially for my little chicken lover. What was a questionable find at a resale turned into her fav PJs & even a possible Halloween costume. (She may go as a chicken carrying her silkie wearing a dress.)


I also found a cute home made costume for DS. LOL

 

[Nyla]

So I'm going to make a few duck diapers out of baby socks for my 3 lavender Muscovy ducklings.
Wish me luck!

 

[JanetMarie]

@Indyshent I didn't know that about the Columbian color. That would explain the buff barred boys.

The girls have predictable colors, with the buff Orp. genetics showing in my one pullet, and the RIR and Production Red genetics showing in the other pullet. There are always more boys than girls.

These are the 11 week olds.

 

[JanetMarie]

The two 22 week old pullets that show the RIR, Production Red genetics (and either Ameraucana or Easter Egger boy).