INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Nyla]

Hello Everyone! It's been awhile since I got on here! I've been in the process of moving! Sadly during this move I realized it wouldn't be best to bring my Muscovy's with me.
Reasons Why:
1.) Not as a good neighborhood as I thought. I have random people cutting through my yard at any given time.
2.) I've caught a number of people looking at our Truck, house, dogs, ducks, garage, items in our yard, and much more. And this wasn't just from the road, they were on our property up close and personal!
3.) I've had neighbor hood kids let our dogs out of their outside kennels, so I put pad locks on them.
4.) I found out that people like to speed down our street even though theirs no were to go.
5.) My yard has no fence.
6.) There is a ton of predators were we are now! I had a raccoon attack my dog's.

So Hubby told me I have to sell them until we are settled in and can properly build a nice looking and secure pen for my ducks.

We currently have two dog kennels connected to each other that house my two Border Collies Nova, and Koda. Nova has gotten so big! Koda seems like he is taking forever to grow. I can't wait to see how long his fur will be.

I'm still looking for a Blue Merle Female. If anyone knows of someone with a Blue merle border collie for sale, please let me know!

If anyone is interested in a Border Collie pup sometime late winter to early spring, Nova and Koda will be bred together. Nova is a Black/White Speckled Female carries Tri Gene, and Koda is a Red/White that carries Lilac, Red Merle, and possibly blue merle.
Their puppies may be:
-Black/White
-Red/White
-Red Merle
-Lilac
-Tri in above colors
-And a super small chance at blue merle

Since I don't have Muscovy's anymore, I can't wait for Winter to come again. CRAZY I KNOW! But my only reason for wanting winter is that it's the best time to take pictures! Everything stands out perfectly! Hoping to take really good pictures of my little family including my Border Collies!

 

[Indyshent]

Penny has decided she will try to hatch this batch. Counted fourteen eggs before she said "This is my nest!!"

Pancake has been yelking and kneeling a lot. She and Sweetie are off the nests and looking to get some hot tom action. Maple occasionally gets off the nest. She's so skinny and weak from prolonged broodiness that it would be best just to move her and shock her out of it. Pancake and Sweetie are recovering through me tossing a lot of dog chow out for them to nibble up.

They're ready whenever you are

 

[Faraday40]

Here are Trouble's last 2 chicks (rest were sold). They are 4 weeks old. No names yet but I'm thinking both may be female due to feather growth & lack of wattles. Last year's males had zero tails & tiny pink wattles by 4 week. (I may keep one.)

This one is likely from Crystal & will have the thinner black lacing.

This one is likely from Blizzard & may get thicker black lacing. Blizzard's brother from last year looked solid & strange like this chick. I didn't think his lacing was as good, so sold him. ....But he turned out even more beautiful than our Mr Wonderful!



Here are some more random shots. Does anyone agree with me on the gender predictions?

 

[Leahs Mom]

Back to rooster talk.

When you have more than one male chick, how do those of you that keep multiple roosters handle that? Do you separate the boys away from the girls for a period of time? Do you just let them all run together and fight it out for pecking order?

 

[Leahs Mom]

@Faraday40
I can't wait to see how these orp babies I got from you mature!

 

[Faraday40]

Back to rooster talk.

When you have more than one male chick, how do those of you that keep multiple roosters handle that? Do you separate the boys away from the girls for a period of time? Do you just let them all run together and fight it out for pecking order?

I keep them all together. The males work out the pecking order in the brooder. The boys who grow up together make a great team as adults and share the responsibilities of guarding the flock. (Just make sure you've got a good hen/rooster ratio & they'll be fine.)

Right now I have a mature roo and a 7 mo old cockerel. The younger knows the older is in charge, so there are no problems. Both have their own preferred hen harems. (The hens sort of choose which male they want to follow around.) I also have 2-3 boys under 3 months, so they stay clear of the mature hens & roosters. Not sure if one will replace my cockerel, so for now they're just free ranging until I make a decision.

One of the 3 male chicks I mentioned is a silkied serama. Not sure if he will count as a rooster. LOL That's why I said I have "2-3 boys."

Here are the other 2 boys

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Here are Trouble's last 2 chicks (rest were sold). They are 4 weeks old. No names yet but I'm thinking both may be female due to feather growth & lack of wattles. Last year's males had zero tails & tiny pink wattles by 4 week. (I may keep one.)

This one is likely from Crystal & will have the thinner black lacing.

This one is likely from Blizzard & may get thicker black lacing. Blizzard's brother from last year looked solid & strange like this chick. I didn't think his lacing was as good, so sold him. ....But he turned out even more beautiful than our Mr Wonderful!



Here are some more random shots. Does anyone agree with me on the gender predictions?

Beautiful

Back to rooster talk.

When you have more than one male chick, how do those of you that keep multiple roosters handle that? Do you separate the boys away from the girls for a period of time? Do you just let them all run together and fight it out for pecking order?

I did keep a rooster pen. I didn't hatch much this year, but when I do I separate the boys as soon as I can tell. If they aren't around a group of hens, sparring is minimal. My rooster pen is filled up with Cornish cross right now! But they will be processed around august 15th. I plan to do one more hatch on my EE and leghorns, hoping my new EE are laying by then. I may do one more guinea hatch too, have had a few inquiries. When I had a much larger flock I just left the boys in. We only have around 13 adult birds, 2 are mature roosters. Beefy has 10 ladies, Foghorn has 2 and 3 youngsters that will soon join his flock. Right now we do rotational free range on all the birds.

 

[Leahs Mom]

I keep them all together. The males work out the pecking order in the brooder. The boys who grow up together make a great team as adults and share the responsibilities of guarding the flock. (Just make sure you've got a good hen/rooster ratio & they'll be fine.)

Do all the adult males house together at night?

What about winter when they don't want to go out of the coop if there's snow on the ground?

 

[JanetMarie]

Hello Everyone! It's been awhile since I got on here! I've been in the process of moving! Sadly during this move I realized it wouldn't be best to bring my Muscovy's with me.
Reasons Why:
1.) Not as a good neighborhood as I thought. I have random people cutting through my yard at any given time.
2.) I've caught a number of people looking at our Truck, house, dogs, ducks, garage, items in our yard, and much more. And this wasn't just from the road, they were on our property up close and personal!
3.) I've had neighbor hood kids let our dogs out of their outside kennels, so I put pad locks on them.
4.) I found out that people like to speed down our street even though theirs no were to go.
5.) My yard has no fence.
6.) There is a ton of predators were we are now! I had a raccoon attack my dog's.

So Hubby told me I have to sell them until we are settled in and can properly build a nice looking and secure pen for my ducks.

We currently have two dog kennels connected to each other that house my two Border Collies Nova, and Koda. Nova has gotten so big! Koda seems like he is taking forever to grow. I can't wait to see how long his fur will be.

I'm still looking for a Blue Merle Female. If anyone knows of someone with a Blue merle border collie for sale, please let me know!

If anyone is interested in a Border Collie pup sometime late winter to early spring, Nova and Koda will be bred together. Nova is a Black/White Speckled Female carries Tri Gene, and Koda is a Red/White that carries Lilac, Red Merle, and possibly blue merle.
Their puppies may be:
-Black/White
-Red/White
-Red Merle
-Lilac
-Tri in above colors
-And a super small chance at blue merle

Since I don't have Muscovy's anymore, I can't wait for Winter to come again. CRAZY I KNOW! But my only reason for wanting winter is that it's the best time to take pictures! Everything stands out perfectly! Hoping to take really good pictures of my little family including my Border Collies!

People have no respect anymore. I would put up a fence as a first project, and make sure to ask the trespassers if there is anything that you can help them with (like leaving your property and not coming back).

 

[Faraday40]

Do all the adult males house together at night?

What about winter when they don't want to go out of the coop if there's snow on the ground?

I put my boys to bed in the garage. (They sleep together in a "rooster box" - basically a long storage tub base with wooden box walls & a hardware cloth top lid.) They can crow all they like & no one can hear them unless standing outside right next to the garage. I put them outside at 8am when they crow a few times then are pretty quiet the rest of the day.

The rooster hen ratio and preventing overcrowding is most important during winter. If you have 12-15 hens, then 2 roos should be OK. The hormones of the roo may also matter. My boys are laid back and gentle. I had an EE once with 8 hens......and every one was bald backed. He insisted on mating & crowing every 60 seconds so I doubt he would have been a good candidate for a rooster team.