INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Leahs Mom]

Getting about 4 eggs/day now too! When all 16 are laying, I better start selling some eggs!

Hey @JanetMarie, I'll probably have some hatching eggs available from the Dominiques if you want any. The boy is still behaving quite well so I'm relieved.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

I've noticed my Barred Rock, Blue Maran and Buff Orpington have resumed laying. EEs are always the last to resume. Leghorn rarely stop just slow down a bit.
Really pleased with our new cows. Zero the bull is the calmest fella I've owned yet. Very social, likes to be pet. Frosty is sweet too, Elsa is still a bit wary. She wasn't bottle raised so its taking some time to earn her trust. The 2 adult jersey took to them right away. I've seen all of them bred by Zero now. I have pregnancy test strips, so we plan to check all the girls including my goat does. We are planning out the new livestock barn for the ladies, including a milking area for both cows and goats.

 

[Faraday40]

I've noticed my Barred Rock, Blue Maran and Buff Orpington have resumed laying. EEs are always the last to resume. Leghorn rarely stop just slow down a bit.
Really pleased with our new cows. Zero the bull is the calmest fella I've owned yet. Very social, likes to be pet. Frosty is sweet too, Elsa is still a bit wary. She wasn't bottle raised so its taking some time to earn her trust. The 2 adult jersey took to them right away. I've seen all of them bred by Zero now. I have pregnancy test strips, so we plan to check all the girls including my goat does. We are planning out the new livestock barn for the ladies, including a milking area for both cows and goats.

For many years I hatched white leghorns (eggs purchased & shipped from a science teachers' supply co) About one week after hatching, I disliked those skittish, dusty chicks in my classroom and couldn't wait to drop them off at their future home. (I kept them for only 2.5 - 3 weeks.) I never even thought about owning chickens until a parent donated some assorted "rainbow hatching eggs" to me. Those were the 1st chicks I honestly fell in love with and the females ended up coming home with me as members of my 1st flock.

Fast forward to now & DS really missed his Leghorn mix named 'Firefighter'. Not that she was friendly, but he loved the plentiful, giant white eggs. This spring I actually "paid for" fertile eggs via the farm bureau to hatch some white leghorns. I let DS keep one & figured she'd at least give us eggs. After my past experiences, my expectations of this breed were not very high.

I must admit that this particular Leghorn (named Tillie) has become a wonderful addition. She's an unbelievable layer!! I just counted & she laid 97 eggs since she started laying 98 days ago. (In her 1st week of production, there were 2 days that we didn't find her white egg. We found one of her eggs in our screened room a week later, so perhaps, there was another egg that we never found.) I have no idea when this hen will take a day off but I can't complain at all. She's a silly girl, rather smart, and more friendly than I thought a Leghorn could be. She comes right up to me to say Good morning and to see if I have any treats hiding in my pockets. Orps are still my favorite, but now I can understand why Leghorns are so popular. (And by the way, yes, I'm a geek & record daily which hen lays an egg. My flock is small enough with a variety of breeds, that I identify which egg came from which hen.)

So I agree that Leghorns shine as far as production. My surprise this year is that my spring-hatched orp started laying for about 3 weeks this fall & then stopped for a light molt. My summer-hatched orp hasn't started laying yet. The "plan" was to eat their pullet eggs this winter, because as expected, my hens are all in various stages of molt or recovery. Only one orp hen and my Leghorn pullet are laying. The crazy part is that my "useless bantams" ( a serama & a silkie) are laying strong. Yet, it takes a lot of serama eggs to make an omelet!


DS's 1st Leghorn mix: Firefighter

DS's current Leghorn: Tillie

Tillie laying an egg (She gave us a daily Easter egg hunt)

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Tillie is ADORABLE! Reminds me of my Dorking, Lydda, who goes all over the place looking for nests. She always 'chickens out' and lays in the nest boxes after all, but it's sort of like a 'Where's Waldo' game to see where she'll turn up next while she's nest shopping.



Looks like everyone's having pretty good egg luck so far this winter, huh? My girls are giving me a pretty good supply of eggs again, too! It's been a tough few months rationing out the little, tiny bantam eggs, because like @Faraday40 my "useless chickens" are trying hard to change their reputations as poor layers. A couple of my Dorkings and Marans have come back into lay now, so I'm getting two or three large eggs every day again, along with all the little bantam eggs.

 

[Faraday40]

My chicks turned 4 weeks old yesterday. I gave the male serama & the silkiexserama mix to a friend, so I have 3 chicks remaining. So far, I see more female traits than male traits and am optimistic that all 3 may be female.

Please click to enlarge the pics & let me know your gender guesses.

Blue English Orpington (Definitely in the ugly awkward stage) Kind of "leggy" like a male, but comb & wattles look female to me.


serama: "Chipmunk"
Comb is pale & small like a female. Wattles look rather red (male?) but are not dropping (female?)


serama: "White"
It's feathering in tan with bits of white & misty gray. Pale small comb & no wattles dropping = female. However like the other serama, those wattles look pinkish to me. It's my fav, so that's often a sign that's it's male. LOL

 

[Nyla]

My husband just let me buy the last pair of Split to White Male and White Female Pair of Mandarin Ducks from Mallard Lane Farms!!!!!
They ship out on Monday January 7th.

It costed way more then I would ever pay again... ($325 with shipping).
I'm at a cross road. I'm upset/sad about how much we paid for just 2 ducks. But I'm also very excited because I've wanted Mandarins for over 12 years. It's what got me into Muscovy's. Muscovy's where the closest resemblance to them, cheaper, and closest. I still plan to get Muscovy's again and hope to get the Muscovy's to hatch the Mandarin Eggs.
There is a couple Mandarin Breeders near me (3-6 Hours away). But I didn't really trust people on CL to sell me "non-related" Pairs. For all I know they could be siblings. At least now I have a proper pair that are Guaranteed NON-Related. And this allows me to buy or even trade Mandarins with the other sellers for new blood lines!
I'm going to keep my pair in the house in a dog cage till I can build their Aviary. And it isn't going to be cheep! I plan to fully enforce it all around and on the ground! I'm going to make a welded wire flooring fully secured around the entire floor and base and then bury it with 2ft of clean fill dirt. The walls of the Aviary will be wrapped with 1/4" Welded wire with Heavy Duty Lattice on top. Roof is going to be plywood with shingles or metal roofing. The Gate will have a pad lock on it at all times. I can't wait!

 

[Leahs Mom]

@Faraday40
Somehow the 1st one looks feminine to me...and the two others look masculine.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

I think I'd wait a bit on the Orp to be sure, but it looks like a pullet for now. I'm not sure I'm confident enough to say on the Seramas. I understand they mature quite early, so those two are if anything underdeveloped for males, even though they would on first impression strike me as males... The chipmunk striped one does remind me of Roxy when she was a baby, though, and I was sure she was a cockerel for a while there.


Speaking of Rox, here she is today. Look at this face! Such a spitfire!

My husband just let me buy the last pair of Split to White Male and White Female Pair of Mandarin Ducks from Mallard Lane Farms!!!!!
They ship out on Monday January 7th.

It costed way more then I would ever pay again... ($325 with shipping).
I'm at a cross road. I'm upset/sad about how much we paid for just 2 ducks. But I'm also very excited because I've wanted Mandarins for over 12 years. It's what got me into Muscovy's. Muscovy's where the closest resemblance to them, cheaper, and closest. I still plan to get Muscovy's again and hope to get the Muscovy's to hatch the Mandarin Eggs.
There is a couple Mandarin Breeders near me (3-6 Hours away). But I didn't really trust people on CL to sell me "non-related" Pairs. For all I know they could be siblings. At least now I have a proper pair that are Guaranteed NON-Related. And this allows me to buy or even trade Mandarins with the other sellers for new blood lines!
I'm going to keep my pair in the house in a dog cage till I can build their Aviary. And it isn't going to be cheep! I plan to fully enforce it all around and on the ground! I'm going to make a welded wire flooring fully secured around the entire floor and base and then bury it with 2ft of clean fill dirt. The walls of the Aviary will be wrapped with 1/4" Welded wire with Heavy Duty Lattice on top. Roof is going to be plywood with shingles or metal roofing. The Gate will have a pad lock on it at all times. I can't wait!

Wow, congrats! Sounds like they'll have it made in that pen you're planning!!

 

[Faraday40]

@pipdzipdnreadytogo
Here's the one serama I think is a male:
His name was "yellow chick" here and he's being very spoiled and well loved in his new home. (This pic was taken on Thurs or Fri, so a little shy of 4 weeks) He has some height to his comb & it's dark pink at the base. I was told tiny red wattles are just starting to drop down.

Compared to the remaining ones here, I feel more confident HE's a male.

The two seramas here have combs shorter than their head fluff. I'm hoping they still look female in a week..... and the following week.... and so on.



.... and Roxy certainly does look like a spitfire! Your silkied cochins look amazing!

 

[Faraday40]

My husband just let me buy the last pair of Split to White Male and White Female Pair of Mandarin Ducks from Mallard Lane Farms!!!!!
They ship out on Monday January 7th.!

Is your DH applying for husband of the year? LOL

Sounds like you're going to have a duck palace. Congrats and post lots of pics when they arrive.