INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[danand]

Well if some of you remember my DH is in Brazil for work and sent me this new photo and article, in Portuguese of course. But if you've watched the news Brazil is in the middle of riots and he said this was the front page, not the riots!!

. It's an egg with a tail!!

 

[danand]

Also before I send them to a nasty ol swap meet!! I have baby Millie Roos, a very loud white leghorn roo, 1 more RIR roo and several Bo Roos. I also have some glsebrights 2 hens and 2 Roos that I might part with. The sebrights are better alarms than the guinnies

 

[danand]

Peacefully- the baby ducks are soo cute!!

 

[Too Fast]

Thanks everyone for all the info. I've been stalking the site when I have time (last couple days have been crazy w/work and kids' activities). You guys are very, very active! I love all the pics of your chickens!

I found a great looking coop for a reasonable price on craigslist! I'm really excited about it!

Question that I haven't found a consistent answer to....In the winter, do I need to put some sort of heating lamp in the coop, or are the chickens okay as long as I get "cold weather" chickens? I'm just wondering if the coop has to be close to the house for that purpose, or if I can put it further out in the yard (which is what I would like).

TIA!

Everything that we have researched has said no, there is no need for a heat lamp in the winter. Especially in Indiana. I read a few from New York who said they didn't use a heat lamp, even when the winter had double digit negative temps (F) and all their chickens survived the winter no problem. So, we are not using a heat lamp this winter. Chickens are especially hardy, they have a lot of feathers for insulation. If there is no breeze in the coop, then no need for a heat lamp. There *must* be a lot of ventilation, which is a lot different then breeziness. Ammonia from all the poop creates a lot of disease.

I wanted ours closer to the house also, but am glad we put it about 150 feet away.

 

[Too Fast]

wish i had a telescope John!

No telescope needed for this. I am going out now to get a glimpse! Thanks John! 1 minute to see it from now!

 

[Too Fast]

John, we need 3x the tinfoil on our head to sleep tonight Massive brainwashing, from what I saw overhead. I witnessed the UFO time-travelling, living-in-another-dimension, psychic bigfoots going overhead at 11.01 pm, as predicted.

Thanks!

Your tinfoil hat buddy,

Steve

 

[Mother2Hens]

Is black runny and black normal looking poo ok??? It kinda looks like tar

I'm thinking that it is a black-normal is a once a day poop. Someone gave me a great link to a site that shows photos of normal chicken poop and recently I re-posted the link when someone else needed it. I tried searching the thread, but I am really tired from doing landscaping work with my chickens (I put the rocks in, they kick the rocks out), so I have not found the link. It's one of those handy resources that we need to keep on the members' list for reference.

Does anyone know the link that shows photos of normal chicken poop?

 

[bradselig]

I'm thinking that it is a black-normal is a once a day poop. Someone gave me a great link to a site that shows photos of normal chicken poop and recently I re-posted the link when someone else needed it. I tried searching the thread, but I am really tired from doing landscaping work with my chickens (I put the rocks in, they kick the rocks out), so I have not found the link. It's one of those handy resources that we need to keep on the members' list for reference. 

[COLOR=B22222]Does anyone know the link that shows photos of normal chicken poop?[/COLOR]

Not sure if this is the one, but it explains a lot of different poops lol. http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/02/whats-scoop-on-chicken-poop-digestive.html

 

[Mother2Hens]

Thanks everyone for all the info. I've been stalking the site when I have time (last couple days have been crazy w/work and kids' activities). You guys are very, very active! I love all the pics of your chickens!

I found a great looking coop for a reasonable price on craigslist! I'm really excited about it!

Question that I haven't found a consistent answer to....In the winter, do I need to put some sort of heating lamp in the coop, or are the chickens okay as long as I get "cold weather" chickens? I'm just wondering if the coop has to be close to the house for that purpose, or if I can put it further out in the yard (which is what I would like).

TIA!

Bummer-- they had taken the coop post down before I had a chance to see it.

This part is purely in jest:
You may have noticed that some of us on this thread have pet chickens that we anthropomorphize as though they're our babies. Others on this thread, like bradselig for example, have issues forming bonds as they hatch eggs and hatch more eggs and subsequently rid themselves of undesirables. Others, like Too Fast for example, lack the ability to empathize when their chickens' knees are knocking as they shiver in the freezing cold while their feet turn black. : - )

This is really how I winterize the coop:
Since I have a disorder in which I view my chickens as humans, I used two heat lamps over the winter, depending on the temps. I used the standard clip light fixtures with aluminum reflectors and attached them to beams in the sleeping/laying box area. HOWEVER I wrapped wire around all sections of the fixture that could potentially come apart and wrapped all the wire around the beams. I made sure the fixtures were in safe positions and ran the plugs out a section of hardware cloth where I cut a notch out. Our coop is bolted to the garage and an outlet is right inside. There is plenty of ventilation, and the hens had the option of moving close or away from the heat. I used a ceramic heat emitter bulb that we had from our former bearded dragon. It was nice because it produced heat, but not light. The other fixture held a red heat lamp. I remember seeing a link on here about colored lights, but I forgot to write it down. I also wrapped some winterizing sheets of plastic over many areas to keep wind out, but I had plenty of open areas for ventilation. Plus, since I have a small flock, I keep the coop clean daily.

SUMMER
From what I've read, summer heat is more dangerous for chickens that winter cold. Our first summer with chickens was last summer's heatwave and drought. For warmer temps like they've been lately, I've used two small clip-on fans that attach on the outside top of the coop where they blow into the sleeping/laying box area, and I sometimes use a large metal fan that sits on the ground outside of the coop. During the severe weather last summer, we set up a large market umbrella on a stand right next to the coop. We clipped a misting line around the umbrella and to a nearby tree. Having a fan blowing upward near the misters cooled the entire area. Every afternoon I set out some cold watermelon slices for them (and I put paper umbrellas around their water bowl-- kidding). I did set out extra water bowls during the day besides having their fountain thingy in the coop. Note: Last summer we had to order a mister online because they were sold out everywhere locally. The one we ended up with wasn't the greatest, so we recently bought at new one while it was available. Misty Mate 32' system $35 at Sam's Club.

 

[Mother2Hens]

Well if some of you remember my DH is in Brazil for work and sent me this new photo and article, in Portuguese of course. But if you've watched the news Brazil is in the middle of riots and he said this was the front page, not the riots!!. It's an egg with a tail!!

It looks like a wooden apple. The Brazilians probably think the riots are just a part of Carnival -- they used to routinely riot until Carnival was an accepted cultural event. Hope your DH is safe-- and maybe he should avoid eggs for breakfast there.

Btw, danand won the Name My Jubilee English Orpington Pullet Using a British Royal Name Contest. Well, it wasn't actually a contest because that would insinuate prizes. : - )
Thank you danand for the name Adeline. We liked it because it was not the typical royal name, she looks like an Adeline, and we can also call her Addy if it's not a formal royal occasion. It also goes nicely with Violet, our Lavender Orp (unfortunately, they have no clue what their names are or to come when called).