INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Chaneys Ranch]

Wellll, its official, I have my first broody hen. My only EE, Bunny is my first broody chicken. She is furiously attempting to hatch 4 ceramic eggs.

She has been plastered to the nest box growling at anything that dares come near her. She actually landed a bite on my Gander this afternoon and he backed down! He was trying to steal some of the fresh grass out of her nestbox. WHAM on the nose, poor guy! I am going to sneak some eggs under her tomorrow after dark and see what happens..

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

Wellll, its official, I have my first broody hen. My only EE, Bunny is my first broody chicken. She is furiously attempting to hatch 4 ceramic eggs.

She has been plastered to the nest box growling at anything that dares come near her. She actually landed a bite on my Gander this afternoon and he backed down! He was trying to steal some of the fresh grass out of her nestbox. WHAM on the nose, poor guy! I am going to sneak some eggs under her tomorrow after dark and see what happens..

Good Luck!

 

[Mother2Hens]

Indiana Dave~ Welcome to the Indiana Thread. You've come to the right place if you can keep up with the pace!

Our chicks will be 17 weeks this Friday. The one that is squatting is an Old English Game. We also have two Silver Leghorns and an Egyptian Fayoumi pullet that are starting to show signs that they are considering gifting us with eggs. We have two Dark Brahmas that based on how slow they developed compared to the others I wouldn't expect eggs from them any time soon. The only other pullets we have for sure are another OEG and a Polish. I expect them to be somewhere in the middle. The rest of the flock is unfortunately given to crowing and other obnoxious acts. We didn't do well on the roo/pullet sweepstakes for our straight run batch. Out of 27 birds, only 8 confirmed girls. I have 4 in the 'Not sure, but probably boy' category, the rest are definitely boys getting more obnoxious by the day. I have two beautiful Blue Laced Red Wyandottes who ruined my fantasies by crowing at each other last week. I was holding out hope they were female. I've had some trouble being sure, since I've never had birds before. If I don't have a definite male and a female to compare, I keep hoping those developing wattles signal eggs and not crows.

racinchickins~ Haha You've never had birds before, but you have 27? Is that a "Chicken Immersion Learning Technique" or were you trying to improve the odds of having more girls? Lol -- just giving you a hard time. I actually admire your bravery. : - )
vickichicki & TooFast~ Easy Peel Hard Boiled Eggs: I add a couple of shakes of salt (maybe 1/4 tsp.) to cold water that just covers the eggs in a pan. Bring to a boil, remove from burner and cover pan -- wait at least 10 mins. Carefully drain the hot water from the pan and run COLD water over the eggs. You can also peel them under cold water.
jchny~ You are a wonderful bird/animal/daughters mother! I don't know how you have time to give your barnyard full of creatures such individual attention, but they sure are lucky.
PeacefullWalls~ Nice father/daughter project! Your farm does look peaceful. Just saw your additional photos-- love the frisbee.
LittleAmerMom~ Not sure your place is peaceful! haha Love your Chicken Garage Sale~ Sounds like pbirdhaven will be there trying to sell mice. haha Funny that they ate the paper towel core. Good recyclers!


Crafty chick~ You're lucky! I wanted a mother hen and two baby chicks.
hogster~ Hope your pullet is doing better.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

OOOOOOOOOH guys, I have a muscovy duck hatched!

Pics once its out of the bator!!!!

Oh my goodness so tiny! They are the hardest to hatch of the duck family. and not a "true" duck, a cousin of the species. 35 days to hatch, so I usually don't set them. I mistook a scovy egg for a pekin i guess

I had left the egg in because I could see movement and thought I marked the wrong date. This is a good reason to date eggs meant for hatching! Otherwise, this baby would not be here.
I have 3 bourbon red poults and am leaving the remaining eggs another day, but is not looking like I will see more hatch. Hard lesson learned! I was just heartbroken over the power outage.
I had another that had pipped, but it appears to have stopped moving. I wont open the hatcher till we are at 5 days, except to add sponges. I will take the pipped egg out tomorrow and see if the poult is still alive. By then, it will need help to hatch if it is still alive. DH is insisting on a sportsman cabinet and a bigger battery backup. I am gonna cave in yet! Told him to figure out the power stuff. I am clueless on electric, I can use saws, hammers and put fence up. I guess I better learn wiring too!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote:
Thanks! I am worried for the chicks she may hatch, but Bunny is a feisty girl. She will peck the roos in a flash and she is really picky about her roo! She is head over heels in love with Rebel (australorp roo) and follows him everywhere. Glad its her and not my BR, or the wyandottes. Both of those are pretty laid back hens and I think they won't protect the chicks as well as Bunny.

 

[Too Fast]

Pipd, Rangi is getting big, so are the other chickens. I had to happen, I guess.

Peaceful, Great pictures of the quail going into their new homes. Great picture of them all in the frisbee dust bath!

Indiana Dave, Welcome to this site, it is quite busy! I don't have any leads on the chickens you are looking for, but you should find some. We are new to this, only 4 months.

 

[PeacefulWalls]

I get it for around $10 a bag, use it in the poo boards. Its great, and safe for my birds. It sure did away with any odor problems. Just scoop like a kitty litter box. Will be using it in the trays for my quail too.

I just got some for the first time last week, too, for the alpaca stall & added some to the new quail tray yesterday. I really wanted to try out Stall Dry since it has DE in it & is supposed to kill flies/larvae as well, but couldn't find it locally. Wouldn't you know it, the day after I bought the PDZ at Tractor Supply my husband said he was going out the direction of Huntington, so I had him stop at Orscheln's to get a couple of bags of Stall Dry. Haven't had a chance to try it yet, though. I'm thinking the sand thing might be a really good option under the waterer area in the duck pen.

 

[vickichicki]

So a spur of the moment from DH means he did a few things to the small storage shed he brought home from the shop (supposed to be for him so I could have the shed). We now have a larger coop for the little ones. So excited...
Need to go in there today to work it roosts for inside, next box placement and some roosts for outside. Reinstall some siding on it and it is done.

Decided to move all the chickens out the last night as we stole their run to complete the new run. Had my lavenders and Cochins in a temp coop next to the young flock to get them used to seeing each other, figured the move for them all would be a good time to throw them all together. Boy was I wrong....
The poor lavenders are getting pecked at like you would not believe. My sweetest darling 'momma Cochin' is the culprit, can not believe it. Guess she is the momma hen in there. The others are throwing in an occasional peck or two, but she... Well... Tough love I guess.

On the chuckle side.. Momma asserts her dominace in the coop means Mr Mille Fleur is impressed and after Momma's rampage decided he would claim what was his. Several times... Guess those are the rules if you are to be head ponchos.

Momma has not laid eggs yet but at 20 weeks she should not be too far off... Anyone want some barred cochin /Mille fleur mixes.... Haha

 

[Little Ameraucana Mom]

Oh, Sally, you temptress--just when I'm thinking I need to downsize! Actually, I' ve been wanting a nice pair of black silkies. Every time I think I have them, the color gets brassy, they develop wattles, or whatever else can go wrong.
On FB you mentioned that others sometimes bring birds to sell as well; if okay, I'd like to do that. Be happy to pay commission for the privilege. I have chicks out the wazoo and more in the incubator, mostly from show stock.

Sure , you are welcome to bring some birds, would love the company !!!

 

[racinchickins]

Hey all! New here to the forum. I'm 40 years old and have had chickens since I was 10. Showed chickens, geese and turkeys 10 years in 4-H, and now my girls show chickens in 4-H. We have FBC Marans, Barred Rocks, Americaunas, Buff and Black Cochins, Wyandotte bantams, Old English, Buff Orps, Brahmas, Brown Leghorns and a few mixed barnyard birds we hatched and couldn't part with Excited to be a new member. Lots to see here! Been wanting to find some Cream Legbar and Rhodebar hatching eggs locally (Indiana). Anyone have any leads on either from decent stock? Thanks, Dave

Welcome to the forum. I think you'll enjoy the camaraderie on here. Sounds like you have a great flock. Not sure about Rhodebars, I've seen some listed on Indy Craigslist, but don't have any. As far as Cream Legbars, there are a few of us starting up flocks and hope to have some eggs later, but I'm not aware of any local Indiana sources for good stock hatching eggs right now. I got my first from a member on here who is in Northern Indiana, but she had a raccoon attack and lost her laying hens, so she is in the process of rebuilding her flock too. If you do find a source, please let us know, and we will do the same.