INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[lilchick]

I am also from Indiana... Approx. 45 minutes from Lafayette as well as Champaign Ill. 1 hour West of Indy.

My collection is varied. Call ducks, muscovies, heritage breed turkeys (some rare colors from Porters), Pied peacocks, bantam cochins, a few polish, sebastopol geese as well as brown chinese. Now raising serama...

Anyone interested in any of these just let me know. I normally sell to 4-H members as well as new comers to the breed.

 

[CluckAcres]

I am also from Indiana... Approx. 45 minutes from Lafayette as well as Champaign Ill. 1 hour West of Indy.

My collection is varied. Call ducks, muscovies, heritage breed turkeys (some rare colors from Porters), Pied peacocks, bantam cochins, a few polish, sebastopol geese as well as brown chinese. Now raising serama...

Anyone interested in any of these just let me know. I normally sell to 4-H members as well as new comers to the breed.

Welcome!!!

 

[Leahs Mom]

Sorry I'm so long in getting back with the feed mill. I wanted to give you the web site for the mill that makes my feed but their web site has been off line for the last couple weeks! I'm hoping it is just a fluke because they had a pretty nice website before it went down.

They do have a facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Honeyville-Feed-Farm-Supply/129759297072648

Honeyville Feed and Farm Supply

2 Locations:
Topeka Indiana (Near Shipshewana)
9240 West 400 South,
Topeka, IN 46571 (260) 593-9943


Wolcottville
109 Union Street,
Wolcottville, IN 46795

My location is the Topeka location. The formulator is Larry and he is usually at the mill early mornings. I wanted a special formulation and they required a minimum of 300 lbs. (Many mills want minimum of 1000-2000 lbs, so 300 isn't too bad!) But with only 6 chickens at the time I started purchasing from them well...I needed someone to share. I happened to be part of a yahoo organic chickens group at the time and found someone just across the border in Mi to share with me and we've been buying together ever since.

(I'd share w/more folks if anyone that lives close to the St.Joseph/Elkhart Counties or just over the line in MI on here is interested. That means we all can take less and get it made fresh more often. My feed is expensive, however, because I do get organic.)

They will formulate feed based on what you want. They have Non-GMO, Organic, or regular GMO/Conventional. Here were my original specs:

-I wanted organic or non-GMO
-I wanted NO SOY
-I wanted as high a percentage of the protein as possible to be from animal source.

-I wanted a "middle of the road" formula that I could feed to adults and chicks since we had to buy such large quantity. He formulated with a lower calcium suitable for chicks, and middle of the road protein level at 16%. Then, when I have chicks I give them extra protein, and put out calcium carbonate for the layers free choice. This has worked really well. (I get a 50 lb bag of calcarb from Honeyvill for about $3.95)

So there you go!

 

[bradselig]

Did you talk with a store manager or even a district manager?  Sometimes they will give you a bulk discount.  Also ask about a pay in cash discount, Big chains don't like to admit it but they do offer it sometimes, typically more often on big orders.

Thanks for the suggestions! I do work for a large chain (lowes) so that is how I'm getting the fence so cheap. Having them price match Big R (only store ho has it cheaper than Lowes) and beat it by 10% (lowes' low price guarantee) and then taking off my employee discount. Ill have to look around and see if I can find posts cheaper and do the same.

 

[bradselig]

Contact your local electric company. Ours dropped the old poles directly in our yard when they were in the area replacing poles. Even if yours won't do that, you can usually go there and get free ones.

Thank you! I never thought about that!

 

[Peeps4me]

I tried Craigslist for awhile but the folks that were selling wanted way more than I thought they were worth.

There was a road widening going on in our area and we noticed that about 5 of the houses slated for tear-down had garden sheds in the back yard. Through the road dept., we found out that the houses would eventually be turned over to Habit for Humanity Re-Store for gleaning so we contacted them. Got the shed for $250 and we had a friend that got it on a trailer and moved it to our property.

Then...I had a plan. here's a few photos of the inside work:

This was the first phase...All materials used were items my husband already had (he's a saver and re-purposer) with the exception of the vinyl on the floor and the hardware cloth. I use deep litter over that vinyl. I painted everything because I wanted it to be easy to clean and not have stuff seeping into the wood.












In the second phase, added more area for the chickens but it was also set so that it could be totally shut off from the other side for brooding. It stays open when no brooding is going on so they have the whole area. There is still a walk-in "people area" with a shelf for storage and enough room to have the food can, rakes, etc.





Broody is currently using that side!

Awesome coop!!! Those are some lucky ladies living the good life at your place.

 

[bradselig]

So while looking for fencing supplies, I decided to cheap out Family Farm and Home's website. I started browsing their poultry supplies and feeds and say they carried an "organic" chicken feed. Anyone have experience with this brand? FF&H website doesn't have any information about it, but found their website online. http://www.grahamsorganics.com/. I think I'm going to email them to see if they can send me the ingredients and quarantined analysis.

 

[Peeps4me]

Well I fed my fermented feed to the chickens for the first time yesterday and they loved it. I also cleaned out their nesting boxes. And guess what they gave me as a gift for doing those things for them yesterday? They laid me 6 eggs today!! Some of you might be thinking "oh thats not much or what is so good about that" well let me tell you this.... they haven't laid any eggs in over a month except for a few ducks eggs this week. So 6 hens laying today all of a sudden was shocking. I went from 0 eggs to 6 in just one single day. So i have been brain storming why all of a sudden 6 hens laid today when i didn't even get 1 chicken egg in over a month. Could the fermented feed helped them that much already? Cleaning nest boxes help? Im sure it wouldnt be the nest boxes because hens dont choose when they want to lay. So was it the act of god or the fermented feed or both. LOL I know I know there was lots of questions in that paragraph but wasnt expecting anyone to answer all those questions. HAHA. All those questions is what was going threw my head all day. Whats your thoughts? ( You can answer that question. HAHA)

Go girls go! Good job with the egg production.

 

[Birdylady3]

Hi Slink1211! I live in Indianapolis too! Do you have any chickens for sale? Just asking

Ashley in Indiana

 

[BlessedMamaw]

Hi Everyone!

I hail from Elizabethtown and would love to be added to the group. I think it's great y'all started a new one for all us Hoosiers! I've been a BYC member for a while but this is my first post. I'm relatively new to chicken (and even newer to duck) 'motherdom' so I tend to just 'lurk' and glean as much info/advice as possible

. This site has been invalueable for this novice and I tell others about it whenever I come across another enthuseist.
I was totally smitten with my babies from the get-go!

I have a mixed flock consisting of 9 hens (LF:BO, BA, BR, Lt. Brahma and 1 bantam ??), 3 roosters (LF NHR, bantam OEG and bantam Cochin)... I know, I know!

), 5 ducks (KC, WH, Ancona, Blue Swedish) and 1 KC drake.... and I LOVE them ALL! My DH tells me I'm "Ate Up" all the time over the way I carry on over them.. but I know he gets a kick out of them as much as I do, LOL.

I'm glad to see there are a couple of others in my neck of the woods. Have probably passed you sometime at one of the local farm or feed stores

. Would love to see your setups/flocks or get advice/swap stories, etc..

If anyone is, or knows of anyone, wanting to rehome/sell a duck or two, preferably Ancona, I might be interested. Hen or drake.