INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Too Fast]

After a stressful day of bug eating and sunning themselves, they went to bed early on their own. lol Ridiculous.

Funny indeed. We've been letting ours out of the run, supervised.

Before I had chickens I had no idea they would stay so close. I thought they'd fly/walk away. Then I learned the record for the longest flight for a chicken is like 306 feet. I feel comfortable enough to leave them outside while I run in the house for 15 minutes or so.

There are hawks, great horned owls, raccoons, coyotes, possums and I'm sure other animals (humans?) who would love a chicken dinner.

 

[Too Fast]

jchny2000, thanks for the compliments about our birds and coop. Now that the construction leftovers are getting taken away, the coop really looks better. My DW didn't want to paint it, but I insisted since we have a yard barn that has that color scheme. She drew the line at painting the run tho, and I have to agree it's probably better left natural. We have some extra red/white paint if your DH needs anymore persausion lol. The 'honey-do' list indeed!

 

[jhfamily5]

I hope this post doesn't bother anyone with it's size, but I figured the best place for it was with my fellow Hoosiers.

I listed my current Silkie flock on CL last night. Hard to do but I have decided to pursue raising Show Quality Silkies and the deal with the DH was that the pet flock had to go to make room. "You can't keep and feed them all." He is the voice of reason for me. I am a total chicken addict and a hatch-a-holic so I need him to help me stay in line. I listed all 9 hens and 1 roo that have to go together for $125. They are 14 months old- bought last spring as tiny chicks. I have additional pullets and cockerels (Silkies and Showgirls too- approx 6 months old- old enough to be sexed but not laying yet) that can go too but those 10 have to stay together. If anyone is interested, please let me know asap. I need them to go quickly before I have time to change my mind and to do the "band-aid" thing for my kids as this is hard enough for me already without them flipping out too. 5 of the girls are broody at the moment (sitting on air-stubborn girls) so I am only getting 3-5 eggs a day right now but normally get 7-9. I sell the hatching eggs for $15 a dozen and their chicks for $5 each so you could recoup your investment in no time. The girls go broody all the time so if you are hoping for chicks you will be in luck. Fertility is fantastic too. 90-100% hatches. I also have 12 of their chicks that are two weeks old for sale $5 each straight run.

She says, "Seriously? I'm laying an egg. Can't I have 5 minutes of privacy?".

.
Broody is "contagious".



"Steve" with a couple of the girls.



Most recent hatch...23 chicks total...12 still available.



Some of the others available...



Cockerel

Pullet



Pullet

Buff is a pullet and the darker one is a cockerel:


Pullet

Cockerel-and truly one of the sweetest boys ever

Silkie pullet and showgirl cockerel

showgirl pullet

Pullet

Pullet

Pullet- on the run

Black is a cockerel others are pullets

 

[Quinstar]

I had that happen a couple of times. I had to search the garage and nook and cranny. I also threw out some corn on the floor to maybe lure it out.

I let another one out when that happened to me and they found each other pretty quick after the second one did the lonely chirps

My thoughts too is place chicks on the floor, and food/water sit and wait. even suspend a heat lamp..Good luck

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I ended up finding her after about a 45 minute search. We are moving this weekend so our garage is full of boxes and so much random stuff. Normally I don't think it would have been so difficult to find her. I decided to think like a chicken eventually, and I'm not sure what that says about me, but that's how I found her. She had hopped up off the concrete onto a wood beam that runs along the back of the garage and was tucked up so tiny in the corner. She didn't move when I picked her up. I think she must have been exhausted. She perked up after a little time under the heat lamp and is doing great now. I now have the lid on the brooder so we shouldn't get any more escapees. I would have been so angry if I lost one of the girls to such a dumb mistake.

Quote:

After a stressful day of bug eating and sunning themselves, they went to bed early on their own. lol Ridiculous.

I haven't posted for awhile.So I went outside today to take pics. They sure do love the sunshine! Now I just wish I could open the run door without carnage lol!

Love your chickens! Is that gray one a Cochin?

The more I learn about the food industry the more local we eat. I understand the give and take of it all, but thankfully I am able to make the choice to not put that stuff in my body or my animals bodies. We are all blessed that we live in the Midwest and have a much easier time accessing local and organic that many people in the US. Speaking of good, healthy food... does anyone know of any good farmers markets up north. The closest good one that I know of is in Goshen, but I'm wondering if there is anything closer to me than that?

 

[danand]

Hey everybody, been a while since I've been on. Been keeping up but haven't had time to post.

Pip- loved the chicken song!! Wow!!! None of mine do anything like that!!!

Thought I'd ck with everyone here first! I have tons of Roos!! So before they go to freezer camp, I'll offer them to anyone who wants one!! I have beautiful RIR, BO, GLWyndotts, and young Millie Roos.. Oh and a white leghorn with a big voice!! All are young, well 3 months or younger.

 

[CRSelvey]

Hi Everyone, thank you so much for the suggestions you gave me last week for my sick chicks. They are on the mend and finally made it out to the garden area while we were working on the coop. The garden is getting ignored sadly, but the coop walls were framed up this weekend and the run will get framed today. I love seeing all of your pictures, so thank you for posting!
This is Muffin and Peanut Butter outside in the sunshine.
My son "helping" with the coop.
My dirty urchin herding his chicks...

 

[Quinstar]

Hi Everyone, thank you so much for the suggestions you gave me last week for my sick chicks. They are on the mend and finally made it out to the garden area while we were working on the coop. The garden is getting ignored sadly, but the coop walls were framed up this weekend and the run will get framed today. I love seeing all of your pictures, so thank you for posting!
This is Muffin and Peanut Butter outside in the sunshine.
My son "helping" with the coop.
My dirty urchin herding his chicks...

So glad your chicks are doing better!!!! It's nice to hear some happy chicken news after all the sad news about chicks not making it. Love the coop! We are getting ready to start on ours and I find all the build pictures very inspirational. What are the dimensions on your coop?

 

[jsummers]

The pekins are eating and doing well, understandably scared. They are by the pond in their own enclosure next to the geese, and they sure know the pond is there! I wanted to let them out with the geese badly but will wait a week or so. They crawled under that horrible big "uglybush" by the house and hid, so I waited til dark, and my DD and I moved them. I want to be sure they realize this is home and their boundaries before they free range with the big group.
Awwww! I bet your little girl is enjoying the "lead goose" role, your kids are just precious! That lil tough guy gosling I really think is your gander, he is pretty defensive. If the hatch doesn't go well be sure to let me know. My geese eggshells are pretty hard, so be on the watch in case you have to "help", holler at me if you run into trouble! I have had 3 that couldn't get out on their own (both my brown chinese goslings, and Paddy)
WOW on the bloody-ish egg, I haven't seen that yet, if no one posts info we can go over to the medical/emergency thread and post. that sure sounds very odd! I would be concerned for the hen too.

That's great! Yes she loves it! My husband likes the gander! He "fights" with him daily! He sure is a biter! Hoping he will grow out of that! No posts yet on egg issue! Im glad it was cracked though cuz otherwise i would have never known. My husband figures thats why it was cracked though, because it was bad. Freaked me out! I give all cracked eggs to the dogs. Needless to say they didnt get that one. It was pretty gross!

 

[CRSelvey]

So glad your chicks are doing better!!!! It's nice to hear some happy chicken news after all the sad news about chicks not making it. Love the coop! We are getting ready to start on ours and I find all the build pictures very inspirational. What are the dimensions on your coop?

The coop is 6x8 and the run will be 8x12 (and the space under the coop). It's all going to be fenced in with 1/2" hardware cloth that will go at least 12" into the dirt. We have a lot of predators in our area.

We were so relieved that they got better. Thank you!

 

[Quinstar]

The coop is 6x8 and the run will be 8x12 (and the space under the coop). It's all going to be fenced in with 1/2" hardware cloth that will go at least 12" into the dirt. We have a lot of predators in our area.

We were so relieved that they got better. Thank you!

That's what I thought! We are doing our's 6x8 as well with a 6x20 run. Do you mind if I ask what your cost and build time has been so far? Are you following plans or just winging it?