INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Pollitos6]

Question: when switching out roosters how long does it take for the hens to start laying eggs fertilized by the new rooster? Example I just switched out my white rooster with a silver Patridge. How long should I wait to be sure and get the silver’s babies? (Does that make since? )

I agreed with Molpet, about 3 weeks should be sufficient. However, keep in mind that some hens might not accept him at first so it will be very helpful if you can see who he is mating with so you know for sure which eggs will be fertile. I have a rooster that he is about 6 months, I raised him as chick, but some of my older girls don't allow him to mate with them. I mean the poor guy does the cute dance and everything but he ended up being chased off by the older girls. Sometimes even when he is mating with my young hens, the older hens run to the rescue and scare him off. LOL I hope he soon earn the respect of the elders.

 

[Finnie]

Hello everyone.​

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I hope everyone is doing well.

Its been a few years since I posted on here. Life and work got away from me And I had to go into a maintain mode with my animals. Time has freed up for me, so I’m looking to get a bit more active again.
I still have chickens, but a bobcat took my last rooster. I’ve since had to regretfully stop all free ranging Since everything around here eats chicken!

I’d like to find another rooster or two. Hatching eggs are also an option.
These are the breeds I’m interested in finding:
Cream Legbar or any other blue egg breed except Americauna.
Any Brahma except light.
Any Maran breed that has really dark eggs.
Jersey giant - any color.

Also interested in the following:
Royal Palm hatching eggs or poults
Any peacock or peahen or eggs of any color except India blue. I’ve got plenty of those right now.

If anyone has what I’m looking for and is within a reasonable (hour or two) drive from Indy, send me a message and we’ll see whatt we can arrange.

Hey! So nice to see you back!!

 

[Finnie]

Hey guys, we have a new BYCer from my town to welcome. @Lowry6 They are first time chicken owners and got some pullets from me yesterday. I’m hoping the @ mention will help them find this thread.

 

[Lowry6]

Hey guys, we have a new BYCer from my town to welcome. @Lowry6 They are first time chicken owners and got some pullets from me yesterday. I’m hoping the @ mention will help them find this thread.

Found it! Thank you the girls are all doing great and eating lots!

 

[Finnie]

Found it! Thank you the girls are all doing great and eating lots!

Great!
Glad to see you here.

 

[seminolewind]

Lots of updates here, both happy and sad. I'll get the two sad updates out of the way first.

First, my wonderful Silkie roo that I posted about a while back passed away. I believe that it was Marek's, though I can't be sure. He had been progressively becoming more lethargic and paralyzed in his legs and tail over the course of a couple weeks. Finally, after several days in a row of not leaving the coop at all and being hand-fed, I decided to end his suffering.

Next, and this one is even more tragic, I had a predator attack last week which resulted in the loss of my favorite momma Silkie hen and her recently hatched baby (which itself was the only egg to survive incubation). This happened in broad daylight, and I'm still not sure what it was, though I was close to getting a look. I was outside working and had been working mere feet from the coop for several hours. Around 7:00, I was on the other side of my property (about two acres), when I heard the chickens making panicked noises which were different than their egg-laying clucks. So I ran back. Upon rounding the corner to the rear of my property, I saw silkie feathers flying, so I sprinted towards the coop. A hole had been pried back in the corner of the hardware cloth just big enough, about three feet up, where it meets a fence. I knew it was too late for the silkie, but I pursued anyway. Upon chasing whatever it was about fifty yards into my woods by following the feathers, I found my silkie, but it was too late for her. I buried her in my garden. I never found her baby. She was such a great momma too. She let me handle her and the chick without issue and even after her brooding was done, she let me pick her up. Whatever the predator was, it was small to have gotten through the hole that was pried open. Maybe a weasel or raccoon? I don't know.

Because of what happened, I've returned to trapping. My woods are the only woods the near area, I'm surrounded by housing additions, so every garbage-gathering mammal lives in my woods (along with beautiful animals as well, such as deer and coyotes). This is temporary, but setting the trap right by the coop makes me think I can target and dispose of only those predators which have gotten too bold and approach the area despite the lights and my presence.

In addition to the trapping, the longterm solution is that I'm building a mega fortress chicken run! I started the project earlier this week and should be wrapping up by the end of the weekend if the weather will let up. I'll attach some pictures!

https://imgur.com/a/H0BXmIK

I'm likely going to move the coop out of the run altogether and just have the entrance of the coop/ramp go into the run. There's a small section under the playhouse that's covered. Otherwise, I'm wrapping the entire thing in hardware cloth.

My final update is that my other silkie has gone broody, but she's not quite the natural that my deceased silkie was. First, she pecks at me when I get eggs out from under her. It doesn't hurt, but it's annoying. On top of that, when I move her, she runs out of the coop like I've tried to kill her. My other momma would just wait patiently right next to me and then sit back down. I picked up 12 chicks from tractor supply last week and I decided to place a couple of the chicks under her at night, as I've read they can be accepted by the broody hen. I thought it worked, indeed she sat on them all night, but the next morning, she got up and walked outside for a good long while. Then when she returned, she couldn't quite figure out what to do with them. She clucked loudly and sort of nervous paced around them while staring at them. Then she finally sat in a different nesting box. Thanks a lot, momma silkie. So I returned the chicks to the incubator. Of course, if my roo hadn't died, I'd happily let her nest on some eggs. Oh well, I'll deal with her somehow.

I am very sorry about your silkies being attacked. I never had a problem from 2007-2000. I lived in Florida and and my chickens were in pens under shade. There was a space in the pen wire on top or the ceiling wire. The hole was 6 inches by 2 ft. And covered with a tarp. Well the roacoon found the hole and ripped 4 Polish to shreds. Then washed it's hands in their water!

I now live in "Kentuckiana" 20 minutes from Louisville but in Indiana. I have 23 chickens . I don't even know what to be aware of here.

 

[Faraday40]

Never even saw the pip. Surprise! I've got an early bird. A lav orp.

The eggs that made it to lockdown are:
21 orpingtons (mostly lavender, blk/lav splits, and Jewel's - my giant blue orp)
12 turkeys
7 seramas

I have Cookie sitting on a fake egg. She's ready & waiting to be the fantastic mama she was meant to be.

I have a decent waiting list, so the majority will be sold quickly.

 

[chickiebaby1]

I’m wanting to rehome some bantam Cochins. I have 2 trios. White frizzle rooster with 2 buff hens and 1 red frizzle rooster with 2 red hens. What is ya’lls suggestion for where to sell them.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Hello guys, I decided to expanding my backyard poultry and got me 3 Turkeys. My intention was to keep them as pets. However, I just learned that the turkeys that I got are meat turkeys (Broad breasted Whites and bronze) and therefore their lifespan is very short. My heart sunk . When I did my research it said they could live 10 years (did I just type their breed wrong?)
Could someone PLEASE tell me if they have keep these type of turkeys and live a long time? I got them at Rural King yesterday. I am considering in trading them for another poult with longer lifespan, as I don't have the heart to process them, or even trade them for silkie chicks.

I appreciate your guys advice!!!

I'm sad to say Broad Breasted turkeys are short lived and cannot reproduce. I've had a couple live as long as a year but their genetics cause them to have heart attacks.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

O

Oh no!! do you know of anyone willing to trade ( baby ducks, silkies or even one heritage turkey in exchange for these three poults? I live in Indianapolis but willing to deliver.

Hope this works out.

I appreciate your offer but you are right we live far away. I actually thought about taking the turkeys to a butcher when they get the right weight, but I found a person on Facebook who will trade my three meat turkeys for one Narragessets baby turkey and I will purchase one more. I have only raised chickens and ducks so I am still learning about turkeys. I read that baby turkeys can starve to death so we need to make sure they eat and drink, have you ever had that problem with your turkeys??

Thanks

I raise chicks with turkey poults for this reason. Poults are harder to raise need more of our input than chicks.

Question: when switching out roosters how long does it take for the hens to start laying eggs fertilized by the new rooster? Example I just switched out my white rooster with a silver Patridge. How long should I wait to be sure and get the silver’s babies? (Does that make since? )

It does good question, I wait to hatch eggs a full 3 weeks if my hens were exposed to another rooster.