INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Mother2Hens]

I have been thinking lately on maybe making my own scratch and was wondering if anybody had any advice. Is it cheaper to make your own scratch? Where can I buy the ingredients to make a fair amount of scratch? Any advice would be appreciated!!!

I've never used commercial scratch since it's mainly corn and just fills them up when they should be filling up on more nutritious daily feed. I make a "treat" mixture, which is not inexpensive like scratch, but I have a small flock like you do so I can justify spending a little extra. I mix some or all of the following depending on what's available: sunflower kernels, flax seed, chopped raw nuts (except raw peanuts), oatmeal, pumpkin kernels, quality wild bird seed, sometimes a few freeze-dried mealworms.
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hogster~ Congrats on your new grand-egg!
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itsjustme~ Loved your guinea story and your Royal Palm story! Animal/poultry stories are so funny.
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vickie chickie posted: Not convinced this one is a chicken. My favourite.... 'The Crow'




vickie chickie~ I laughed about your crow (sorry), but were you the one who posted pics of a black bird and a yellow bird a while back and asked for input about possible breeds? At that time, I almost responded with "A Crow and a Canary," but I didn't want to offend anyone. I was actually making fun of my lack of knowledge when I thought about posting that answer. haha

My EE's beard blends in, but I love your EE's black beard-- Hey didn't Blackbeard the English pirate have a pet crow? Hmm strange coincidence.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

If anyone is interested in 3-4 birchen marans chicks let me know. I wasnt expecting that good of a hatch!

ugh.. i wanna but am way over full

I finally started making a smaller coop for the lavenders and cochins. I still need to make a door and put a roof on it.

Work keeps getting in the way of my chickens.... May have to address this with my boss...

"Vicki, I have had enough.. you are using up all of my spare time with work.. This needs to stop"
"Well Vicki, you need to work to make money to pay for those chickens and future chickens"
"I guess you have a point"
"I do, now get back to work"

See..I tried reasoning with myself. I guess works wins, but I will eek some more time in for the coop.. Just don't tell Vicki

Quote: no kidding, I am still on the empty nest thing. Miss all the babies and waiting on grandbabies...my 2 kids are in no hurry.

Jchny - I am loving the idea of a get together. I think a greet 'n meet followed by school time would be fun. We are looking to butcher our first chickens in a few weeks too. We have 5 total around 8 - 10 weeks ish....right now. Would be great for them to be of age when this happens. I can bring them all for someone who might need a 'spare' to work on.

I can also pitch in some wonderful English food We can make it all cultured and stuff...

I am also dead excited about the turkeys hatching. Our momma turkey does not leave the hutch. DH has been in there a few times to be met with disapproval from both parties. Going to be moving a water bucket and food bucket close to the hutch door for her and leave the other ones where they are in the pen.


CCCC - Sorry to hear someone palmed off some old eggs to you. Maybe they will be good and you will be surprised. The eggs I have sent out so far are no older than a week. Jchny purchased some Royals from me and I gave her an extra that had been laid a day or so earlier that I did not have high hopes for, but did not charge her for it either, She said at least one was bad early on, I guess that was the one. If someone gives you some free eggs that are older, then there really is not a loss if they don't hatch. If you are sold them with the assumption they are for hatching they should have told you the dates and you could have made a decision from there. Bad form on the sellers part. Hope you did not have too much money in them.

Hope to get in touch with someone tuesday for the park. I want this to work out, and if Its all at my house that's what I will do. BYC has been a blessing to us and I want everyone to be able to benefit from it too.
That's another very good point, You let me know when I got the eggs the extra was an older egg. I was ecstatic when the rest hatched, strong lil babies! I always try to offer extra eggs anytime I offer them. Honesty is so important these days, we need a lot more of it.
Quote:

#1 and 3 are saying "look mommy I am a big eagle!!!!"

you have to tell them to stay just that size. Thats about 2 weeks, almost 3?

They are 11 days old in those pictures, 13 days old today.

WOW pipd they are growing FAST!
That's awesome that the wings are already developing so beautifully!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote:

you kill me, saying... nothing i hear nothing!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote:
Thanks for the post. We need more feed mills, my feed bill is flat scary

Quote: confine till at least 6 weeks old. I raise em with the turkey, geese and chicks.I keep em in till I feel ok with it.

Thanks for the advice about the bad eggs. I went ahead and threw them in the incubator a few hours ago. And after letting them set for aomewhere around 24 hours the air sacs son't look the best. I dont rember who said something about hoping I didnt pay too muchfor them, I paid $36. Not a huge amount, but it is still like throwing money out the window lol. But on the plus side I got my other eggs I ordered today. In perfect condition. And they are only somewhere between 4-6 days old. And no broken ones. I wish I would of say the post that I got this oder from before I order the duds. Because I spent $1 less and got 3 more eggs! If I wouldn't of bought the dud eggs Iwould of justbought 30 eggs for $55. Live and learn lol. Yesterday I went and got 2 salmon favorelles and 2 russian orloffs. They are doing great.I named the SFs salmon and tuna. And the ROs hawk and sparrow. So far my favorite is tuna. She is such a sweet heart. She constiently sits on my shoulder. while i feed and water them too. She never hopes off. When i want to leave i have to make her get off my shoulder. The orloffs are a little skitish, but are starting to warm up.

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

I have been thinking lately on maybe making my own scratch and was wondering if anybody had any advice. Is it cheaper to make your own scratch? Where can I buy the ingredients to make a fair amount of scratch? Any advice would be appreciated!!!

you could grow your iwn ingredients ina garden. I thought about doing that before and decides i would ratjer just be able to go to the store and biy it. lok

 

[herebynightfall]

Hey all! I am new to BYC and new to raising chickens too! I will catch up on the past week or so of this thread, so I know what is going on, but I just wanted to introduce myself!

My name is Melissa and I live in southern Indiana. I have seven beautiful six week old Wyandottes, three SLW and four GLW. So far, it looks like six are pullets and one is a roo.

Looking forward to learning more about raising these cute chicks.

 

[kritter11]

Hello! Haven't been on here in a good long while.
I have been hatching / raising / selling chickens for a long time and have decided to 'retire' from chickens (too much competition from farm stores now). Still gonna keep birds, just done with hatching / selling.
I have 9 assorted color guinea fowl for sale. 6 hens, 3 males. Please email [email protected] if interested.
Also have a 2 yr old white silkie hen w/ a bum leg for free. She makes gorgeous babies.

 

[vickichicki]

Hey all! I am new to BYC and new to raising chickens too! I will catch up on the past week or so of this thread, so I know what is going on, but I just wanted to introduce myself! 

My name is Melissa and I live in southern Indiana. I have seven beautiful six week old Wyandottes, three SLW and four GLW. So far, it looks like six are pullets and one is a roo. 

Looking forward to learning more about raising these cute chicks.

Many welcomes to the thread!

Glad you have joined us. I will warn you this thread can move really fast so a few days off and it can be overwhelming to try and catch up . Apparently we all have alot to say.
Is this your first time of raising chicks? If it is, the members on here are a wealth of information if you need to ask any questions. If we can not answer your questions most of us will know where to direct you.

There is a link in my signature to a map of Indiana. If at anytime you feel the urge, go ahead and add yourself. Zoom into your location, click 'edit'. Right click your spot and add a pin. Just fill your username and county. We do this so we can see where everyone is at a glance. It is not mandatory. There is all so a link in the signature of the following members Mother2Hens, Jchny and Cluck Acres (forget who else has it). That takes you to a full members list with county and breeds kept. You can also be requested to be added to that.

Have fun here... We all do!

 

[vickichicki]

Hello!  Haven't been on here in a good long while.
I have been hatching / raising / selling chickens for a long time and have decided to 'retire' from chickens (too much competition from farm stores now).  Still gonna keep birds, just done with hatching / selling.
I have 9 assorted color guinea fowl for sale.  6 hens, 3 males.  Please email [email protected] if interested.
Also have a 2 yr old white silkie hen w/ a bum leg for free.  She makes gorgeous babies.

Welcome back!

Glad you are here. It is always nice to have people with experience available for questions.
I have not been in the chicken circuit long, but I am enjoying it and the learning process is fun.
We have bunches of fun people on here and more so looking to take your silkie I bet

If you read through my previous posting to 'herebynightfall' it explains the map and members list if you are interested. Also Mother2Hens makes fabulous avatars with your county highlighted and a picture of your choice. You can shoot her a PM and she would be happy to help.

Just watch out for the thread jokers.... Too Fast and Old Salt....

 

[vickichicki]

[COLOR=8B4513]I've never used commercial scratch since it's mainly corn and just fills them up when they should be filling up on more nutritious daily feed. I make a "treat" mixture, which is not inexpensive like scratch, but I have a small flock like you do so I can justify spending a little extra. I mix some or all of the following depending on what's available: sunflower kernels, flax seed, chopped raw nuts (except raw peanuts), oatmeal, pumpkin kernels, quality wild bird seed, sometimes a few freeze-dried mealworms. [/COLOR] ____________________________________ [COLOR=006633]hogster~[/COLOR] [COLOR=006633]Congrats on your new grand-egg![/COLOR] ____________________________________ [COLOR=000066]itsjustme~[/COLOR][COLOR=003366]Loved your guinea story and your Royal Palm story! Animal/poultry stories are so funny.[/COLOR] ___________________________________________________________________________________
vickie chickie posted: Not convinced this one is a chicken. My favourite.... 'The Crow'



[COLOR=993300]vickie chickie~ I laughed about your crow (sorry), but were you the one who posted pics of a black bird and a yellow bird a while back and asked for input about possible breeds? At that time, I almost responded with "A Crow and a Canary," but I didn't want to offend anyone. I was actually making fun of my lack of knowledge when I thought about posting that answer. haha[/COLOR] [COLOR=993300]My EE's beard blends in, but I love your EE's black beard-- Hey didn't Blackbeard the English pirate have a pet crow? Hmm strange coincidence.[/COLOR]

Ever since the baby fluff was gone I thought maybe there was a bird that fell out of a next into the hatchery brooding box. He is a sweety and I will take the crazy crow look anytime. I would also not have been offended if you had suggested it either... Would have made me google... Chicken crow inbreeding.. Just in case