INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[kanina]

@Nyla and @JanetMarie my resident muscovy experts. I think my Abigail has a frostbitten caruncle, and Susan's might be getting some too. I'm not sure. I went to take photos last night and I've managed to misplace my phone.

Is it possible for them to get frostbit on their caruncles? Mainly the front one that is above their beak? Is it a waiting game like it is with chicken combs and wattles?

It looks like a little slightly grayish-black pea, some white rings closer to the head.

It sprung up over night and I feel terrible.

 

[Faraday40]

Do any of you have any homemade Cabinet Incubators? I'm dieing to make one and would love to see fellow Indiananer's . I need to incubate a ton of eggs around 300+ of quails. I want to build a 3 tier auto turner but don't know of a motor strong enough?
Also would love tips on a heating element!

Here's my cooler-bator. I have a 2 light bulb system. If one goes out, the other can do the job by itself until I replace it. I got my orig design from BYC (and RushLane Poultry.... who is now on Youtube as "Homesteading in SC") But, I turned mine sideways so when I open it up, all the heat doesn't rush out as fast. The large viewing window is my favorite feature. I went more old school with the wafer thermostat & light bulbs for heat because I find that my old appliances without the digital controls seem to last for decades. (My back up incubator is a styrofoam Hovabator from 1988. My sis stored it in her attic for a few decades before handing it down to me. I added a recycled computer fan & it works fine.)

I made a sideways sliding egg turner, but that limited my capacity. Next I tried a tray-like see-saw but had uneven airflow. My best turners ended up being the simple cut up egg cartons zip tied to a cylinder. That gives me a capacity of 4-5 doz LF chicken eggs (maybe 100 quail if I went crazy), so I never tried stacking. Con: A reg egg auto egg turner will not fit inside a cooler. However, because it is so well insulated, I can quickly turn all the eggs in a few sec and close it back up. In less than 30 sec, the temp is back to normal & holding steady.

If I have the space, I put the eggs into cages at lockdown. This way the chicks can be separated by hen/breed. The little chick prisons are made from produce containers with the tops & bottoms cut out. I hot-glued some netting on top in case of jumpers.

I was thinking about using my dad's HUGE cooler to make this:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...t-cooler-incubator-w-semi-auto-turning.68133/

It was far more than I needed & would take up too much space when not in use. The instructions are easy to follow, so it's worth a read to see if it's what you're looking for.

 

[Nyla]

Muscovy's knobs will get frostbite. Some of mine have it. I just leave them alone Last time I put Vaseline on their knobs, it just made it worse. The frostbite went away after a month or two. It's almost impossible to prevent with ducks.

@Nyla and @JanetMarie my resident muscovy experts. I think my Abigail has a frostbitten caruncle, and Susan's might be getting some too. I'm not sure. I went to take photos last night and I've managed to misplace my phone.

Is it possible for them to get frostbit on their caruncles? Mainly the front one that is above their beak? Is it a waiting game like it is with chicken combs and wattles?

It looks like a little slightly grayish-black pea, some white rings closer to the head.

It sprung up over night and I feel terrible.

Thanks for the showing! I'm hoping to build mine out of wood boards. Was going to try a mini fridge or dishwasher, but don't want to destroy my perfectly good working appliances. My husband would kill me if I did!

 

[Faraday40]

I took some backyard pics today...
Here are what I thought were my 2 male lav orps. (Now I really think I hatched 7 females & only 1 male.) I nicknamed the male with the gold leakage "Dinner," but DD didn't appreciate my logical name. She calls him "Pretty Boy." She wants to keep him & I must admit, his unusual coloring is getting better looking.

Here's the other one with the large comb & wattles. The body of this lav below looks very female and its face is not as dark red as the brother. Both are almost 17 weeks. The confirmed male has gold laced saddle & hackle feathers in addition to thick shanks & red comb/wattles. Is there any chance this lav below could be my future rooster?

Here's our silkie with her 2 chicks. (7 weeks old) Pretty sure since hatch that there's a male & female. Depending on my lav roo situation, I may end up keeping the bllk/lav split male.

Here's GG:

... and of course, our good, old, sweet boy, "Mr Dummy-pants" chilling out

 

[JanetMarie]

@kanina I think one of my muscovy males, Snowflake, has minor frostbite, and like Nyla, I will do nothing. He is just happy to have a barn with his roost of dry shavings to keep his feet warm.

I was watching Burt and Ernie on Sesame Street the other day for a couple minutes while flipping through channels, and noticed the similarity of Ernie's laugh, and Snowflake's talking voice.

 

[Indyshent]

Mine haven't been picky about greens so far. I've been getting them in bundles too big for suet containers, so I've been suspending them as a big tied bundle from a roost. The whole cabbage head I left in a feed dish on the floor, and they ate very nearly the whole thing.

Cabbage moths do all the carnage here. The chickens and turkeys haven't done much the past few years, but dogs have trampled a lot, and weather issues killed the rest through flooding or late frosts.

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

I have a small run, so a big cabbage head would take up too much space.
I can imagine what the chickens would think of the floating head. Lol
That's why I opted for the suet feeder and I only feed veggie scraps so far.

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

@Faraday40 I love all of your photos!
I especially love seeing chicks under the wing flap of their momma!

 

[kanina]

I hope my lavender orps come out as fluffy as @Faraday40

Debating on keeping a roo for breeding, especially since Kronus is such a good boy. But still another week until lockdown. I'm so eggcited, I definitely wasn't this excited for my last hatch. Saturday evening starts Day 14, so hopefully we'll have some good development going all over.

 

[JanetMarie]

Young boys that are available before Sunday, so pm me ASAP is anyone is interested. They all have nice low toned crows.

These pics were taken 1/11/18.

He is mild mannered, as the others of the same color were and would probably be a good boy with a group of hens.

He seems to be the shyest, and also mild mannered.

This blonde boy above tries to be dominant over me, but when I pick him up he surrenders, so he may be able to be trained. The pics show his color more red than what he really is.

What I've noticed about the roosters that I've bred and kept is that they are not going through the crazy hormonal stage that most cockerels go through. The dad didn't either. I think alone there is value in that, plus being pretty, even though they are not a pure breed.

In the future I may have a boy only area.