INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

Piped- I'm so glad Rangi is doing better. Funny how attached we get!!!

Ok so the pic I did earlier doesn't seem to open for me so ill try again. Any ideas what it is??

silver laced polish

 

[itsjustme]

can you let the roosters free range in another area, even if they don't have access to the coop during the day. 

Some places like ebay sell cheap saddles, they can be pricey from the hatchery.  I think there are threads on here that sell home made saddles.  I'm sure once you got a few you could even make you own, they don't look that complicated.

I will look into saddles. Right now I have the 3 hens in the hot box. Don't worry its not hot in there lol its just a very large cage that sets up off the ground that use to be used for breeding rabbit dogs. The boys went to roost in the coop I'm going to leave them tonight but I've decided if they start causing problems for my broodies they will be evicted the locks changed and they can roost out with the turkeys. I will just see how it goes? I have a bunch of very unhappy chickens right now though

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Well, it looks like my black frizzle Cochin is not a frizzle after all. I'm pretty disappointed, but I do still have a handsome little guy to watch grow up, anyway.

 

[herebynightfall]

Quick question. I have a pullet (SLW) that appears to have diarrhea. She's just as active and curious as the others, she's just pooping different. Do I need to call a vet, or is this something easy to figure out?

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

Well, it looks like my black frizzle Cochin is not a frizzle after all.

I'm pretty disappointed, but I do still have a handsome little guy to watch grow up, anyway.

Frizzle or not, he is still adorable!

 

[racinchickins]

Is it ok to give the chickens rain water? If that's the case I'm definitely going to set this up! I was going to do a large rain barrel for water anyway so I wouldn't have to fill it up as much. I got a handful of drinking cups that we are going to attach to some PVC and use the barrel for water storage. The less I have to drag the hose out there the better!

Rain water is fine for them. Since our entire water supply for our house comes from rain water off our roof (we run it through several types of filters for the house. Unfiltered for the coop), my chicks have had nothing but rain water and they haven't had any problems. The only thing to watch out for is what is on the roof. We have a metal roof both on our house and the coop. Asphalt shingles would not be the best things to collect water off of.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Frizzle or not, he is still adorable!

He sure is, isn't he? He's just now starting to really use his wings, while the others have been flying around for a week now. It's so funny to watch him go flapping around the brooder on his tippy-toes! He's feathering in so slowly that his wings are pretty pathetic compared to the others and can't lift his little butt through the air for very long.

 

[racinchickins]

He sure is, isn't he?

He's just now starting to really use his wings, while the others have been flying around for a week now. It's so funny to watch him go flapping around the brooder on his tippy-toes! He's feathering in so slowly that his wings are pretty pathetic compared to the others and can't lift his little butt through the air for very long.

My cochins were much slower developing than my other chicks too. But wait a few months. Them and the Wyandottes are bigger than all the others now.

 

[racinchickins]

Ok. I have a question for everyone.

When your chicks bed down for the night, does it sound like a wrestling cage match? You'd think someone was dying in there!
I look in and half of them are all trying to not only cram onto one roost (I have three, all the same height), but they fight over who gets to be in the middle. This is all accompanied by loud clucks and bloodcurdling squawks. Then my dominant hen tries to decapitate anyone who tries to roost within a foot of her. I also have a group of 5 that refuse to roost, and they fight to be on the bottom of the pile in the corner by the door.

Several times I've rushed out to the coop prepared to do battle with whatever is killing them, I open the door, and they all just look at me like 'What are you doing out here, don't you know it's dark?'

I've also noticed that when the match ends, everyone pretty much ends up in the exact same spot night after night. And this is with 30 birds, so I know it isn't a coincidence.

I know I'm not overcrowding them, heck there is a whole roost and half of another that nobody uses at night.

Does anyone else experience this? Is this just normal life for a flock?

 

[Mother2Hens]

I have 7 chickens now!!! My youngest daughter and I drove to McLeansboro, IL (only 1.5 hrs. away) to chickenscratchpoultry.com and purchased two pullets-- an English Jubilee Orpington (approx. 7 wks.) and a Lavender Orpington (approx. 8 wks.) I wanted to post early enough for all of the rest of the Indiana members who are on Eastern time to see because I'm sure everyone has been glued to the thread, just waiting for me to post. : - )

I took a couple of quick (and lousy--blurry and color is off) photos to post tonight, but will have better ones to come. Thank you to everyone who supported (peer-pressured) me into getting more chickens. Btw, when I told DH about the new pullets at the last minute as I was pulling out of the driveway, he acted like I had told him I was going to pick up some milk at the store-- it hardly fazed him. We've been married 35 years, so by now he knows to expect the unexpected!