INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Chaneys Ranch]

They're hatching!!!! Barred Rock Lavender Amaruacana and Black Copper Marans!!!!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Is there a safe rooster/hen ratio out there. I have 6 silky roosters and 7 silky hens plus 2 bantam cochin hens, 2 LF Faverolles and 2 LF polish. I am aiming to put them all together and was just wondering how the boys would get along. Most of the time my silky roos are pretty mellow and they do free range some . Does this sound like it would work to you? I just don't want any of them to get hurt.

If you keep all those roosters put them separate from the hens. That many fellas will overbreed the hens and fight.

Those are beautiful hens. I bet those eggs will look awesome in your basket. I know everyone goes crazy for any blue eggs I have. If you ever decide to pursue getting a rooster, let me know. I've been looking for a rooster with blue egg genes for a while with no luck. I'd love to get one with genetics like that!

@racinchickins I will probably have extra Lavender Ameruacana roosters out of this hatch if you're interested. All his sons have been good boys I breed away from aggression. Lovely robin blue eggs.

You have a very good point... Well if they are cochins, these will be my first ones and they are very cute.
Thanks

I think cochin too! they have huge leg feathers compared to other feathered breeds.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Super busy Spring. Excited for this hatch! Its been a year since we have had chicks! Many are spoken for but many are also for my own flocks. I have goslings coming in June, my guys are 8 years old now. Low fertility and haven't had a gosling hatch in 2 years. We have Muscovy hatching anytime - 4 broody mothers.
If anyone can't find chicks and wants to add some, just send a PM. My breeds are separated, each have a correct rooster/drake for the breed. I can also do hatching eggs if you prefer.
Cows are doing great, 1 last calf due early September.
ISO a new Oberhasli buck. One fella is old and needs retired. My younger guy is a good buck, but he is a light bay and I prefer mahogany/black coloring.

 

[Pollitos6]

They're hatching!!!! Barred Rock Lavender Amaruacana and Black Copper Marans!!!!View attachment 2149165

OMG how cute, Congrats!!!!

 

[Pollitos6]

Update on my hen sitting on eggs. On Friday we had our first hatched!!! that was very exciting as this is the first chick that we hatched. This chick is a green egger mix with a blue egger. He is chocolate color,so cute .Mamma hen, even though this is her first time hatching eggs, she is doing a great job and still sitting in two eggs. If the other two eggs don't hatch today I will candle them tonight to make sure they are ok. I read somewhere that hens can sense if the eggs are good or bad and if bad they will kick the egg out of under her. If that's the case then I still have hopes because she is still sitting on the two eggs.
In another note I had to put my rooster in a different area away from my hens, at least for a few days. He has 20 hens that he can mate but he always goes with the same group and poor hens are becoming bold.
Well hope everyone enjoy the weekend.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Update on my hen sitting on eggs. On Friday we had our first hatched!!! that was very exciting as this is the first chick that we hatched. This chick is a green egger mix with a blue egger. He is chocolate color,so cute .Mamma hen, even though this is her first time hatching eggs, she is doing a great job and still sitting in two eggs. If the other two eggs don't hatch today I will candle them tonight to make sure they are ok. I read somewhere that hens can sense if the eggs are good or bad and if bad they will kick the egg out of under her. If that's the case then I still have hopes because she is still sitting on the two eggs.
In another note I had to put my rooster in a different area away from my hens, at least for a few days. He has 20 hens that he can mate but he always goes with the same group and poor hens are becoming bold.
Well hope everyone enjoy the weekend.

Have a great weekend also! You aren't kidding a rooster picks favorite hens. Congrats on the hatch!

 

[seminolewind]

Out of 9 quail eggs only 3 were fertile, so the hatch is done. The adults are over 2 years old & just moved here last month. Perhaps age and the move decreased quail fertility.

The incubator is a home-made cooler-bator. I made it sideways so the lid flips down to open. I did this on purpose, to make myself a very large viewing window. That way we can watch "chick TV" the hatching channel, clearly at every hatch.
View attachment 2133278
I modified it a little over the past 5 years and it still works great. In fact last year when DS did his 4H project comparing incubators, this one got 100% hatch rate and the Brinsea got 93%. Incuview came in 3rd and Hovabator 4th.
View attachment 2133259

I don't have a pic at full capacity on hand. I can fit up to 5 doz for incubation (....as long as the number goes down to 4 doz by lockdown or have a broody hen for the overflow). I use egg cartons (Lid & bottoms removed) zip tied to a PVC pipe along the middle. That makes a see-saw to manually turn all 12 eggs at once. I started hatching in egg cartons to keep air cell upright and prevent hatched chicks from playing soccer with their unhatched siblings.
View attachment 2134276View attachment 2134232

However, DS doesn't like how we must manually turn eggs, adjust it, and monitor temp/ humidity. So this year he earned a grant from the farm bureau to make his own incubator. He's going to put an Incukit in a cooler, add a double pane plexiglass window (used photo frames from thrift store), and make an egg turner kit. Quite ambitious. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Y
Your bator is absolutely awesome! Never saw creativity like this one!

 

[seminolewind]

Super busy Spring. Excited for this hatch! Its been a year since we have had chicks! Many are spoken for but many are also for my own flocks. I have goslings coming in June, my guys are 8 years old now. Low fertility and haven't had a gosling hatch in 2 years. We have Muscovy hatching anytime - 4 broody mothers.
If anyone can't find chicks and wants to add some, just send a PM. My breeds are separated, each have a correct rooster/drake for the breed. I can also do hatching eggs if you prefer.
Cows are doing great, 1 last calf due early September.
ISO a new Oberhasli buck. One fella is old and needs retired. My younger guy is a good buck, but he is a light bay and I prefer mahogany/black coloring.

Cows??? We bought this older home last year and we are surrounded by 22 acres of cows, a bull, and they calf right out my kitchen sometimes. Sheesh

 

[Faraday40]

Update on my hen sitting on eggs. On Friday we had our first hatched!!! that was very exciting as this is the first chick that we hatched. This chick is a green egger mix with a blue egger. He is chocolate color,so cute .Mamma hen, even though this is her first time hatching eggs, she is doing a great job and still sitting in two eggs. If the other two eggs don't hatch today I will candle them tonight to make sure they are ok. I read somewhere that hens can sense if the eggs are good or bad and if bad they will kick the egg out of under her. If that's the case then I still have hopes because she is still sitting on the two eggs.
In another note I had to put my rooster in a different area away from my hens, at least for a few days. He has 20 hens that he can mate but he always goes with the same group and poor hens are becoming bold.
Well hope everyone enjoy the weekend.

Congrats on the chick. Yes, the hen will stay on the eggs to give them a good chance for hatching. If she feels the hatch is done, she'll move off the nest and encourage her chicks to follow.

For some reason, the most important lesson my hens want to teach their chicks is how to scratch. Cookie (my professional little broody) really goes to down with her scratching lessons. Wood shavings, sand, grass, & even chicks go flying when she begins to scratch. Since most of my flock was raised by her, all the other broody hens also put much importance on their scratching lessons. This can become a real pain when I put a dish of food in the brooder & the mama hen goes crazy scratching and spills every crumble into the bedding within seconds.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Cows??? We bought this older home last year and we are surrounded by 22 acres of cows, a bull, and they calf right out my kitchen sometimes. Sheesh

I've wanted cows my entire life! My paternal grandma kept them most of her adult life, and grew up with them. I have pictures of my Dad riding steers 75 years ago lol. I remember my parents having laying hens before I was even in school. We took the leap around 7-8 years ago and got our first Jersey cow, Fanny. Excellent milker, but when I had her preg checked we found she had a mummy calf . So I went through my vet, got 2 heifers and bottle raised them. Both were good moms, TERRIBLE milkers. Kicked, fought, got hurt a few times butted several.. so I finally sold them as brood cows. Kept one heifer from the 1st freshen. Daisy was a very sweet cow, showed in 4h and polite little lady. We lost her from calving. So I felt its time I give up on Jerseys last year.
We've switched over to Herefords and I couldn't be happier with them. Gentle calm cows, good Daddy, and no drama. Of course I never trust any large livestock! We have had them almost 2 years now, and I've never been butted by a single one. Some of the jersey I honestly didn't even want to enter the pasture without a prod in hand. There are good and bad in every breed of animal of course! Someday I will try to have a milk cow again.