INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Too Fast]

We could use some global warming. Hey, Gore, send us some, we're freezing.

You do know he invented the internet, and is monitoring all these posts.



I sleep with tinfoil on my head.

 

[Too Fast]

That is Rangi, my little Ancona.

She's the one in the last picture as well.

Huh. No more love icons for Rangi, I should never have said anything to you about that.

Cheap Ideas.

Plastic buckets can be had for little or nothing if you go to a doughnut shop and ask them. The bakery in Lebanon throws their buckets in the dumpster and the owner said I could have all I wanted, but he wouldn't save them for me. I drilled a 45 degree hole in the end of a broom handle, drove a long screw in it to make a hook and use that to hook and retrieve the buckets. The lids are usually with or near the buckets. The buckets will range in size from 1 to 5 gallons, usually 3.5 gallons. The chickens have told me that they are particularly fond of the raspberry flavored buckets. I have a friend who is a prepper who eagerly scoops up all buckets I don't use. I make him clean the icing from his own buckets......usually.

Door latch. Chickens are not usually very impressed with fancy door latches. Try this:




See the white 1x2 just above the door handle? It is held to the door frame by a deck screw with a washer on each side. 1 for a bearing, 1 to keep the screw head from working it's way through the 1x2. Even an enthusiastic coyote likely won't break it. Now that I think on it, I probably should have used some of the oak I salvaged from pallets.

As you can see, I built the henhouse under the stairs. It was kind of wasted space. Now it's unwasted..... and full of bird poop.

The door is made of some scrap MDF board I had in a pile of boards. If I had 3/4 plywood, I would have used it. The opening is covered with 1/2x1" hardware cloth. There is a plywood insert that can be placed in the door to block too much airflow. It is there in the picture. Note the keeper latches that hold it in place. No sense in enriching Menards unnecessarily.


Note also, above, the $10 Walmart fan for circulation. I drilled a couple of holes along the top of it and screwed it to the door with some long construction screws. Probably won't fall off until the wood rots. By then, I probably will have, too -- rotted, not fallen off, although that may also be a possibility.


The roost doesn't have to be particularly strong. Chickens don't weigh much. My uprights could have been 2x2's but I didn't have any and was too lazy to rip them down. I did rip some 2x2's for the roost poles. Then I notched them at 45 degrees with a bunch of close together cuts and knocked out the chips. That made them set more or less flat so a not to be uncomfortable for birdie feet. As you can see from the photo, I could have used some help getting them parallel. I intend to hit the sharp edges with a sander, but the sander is in the house and I am in the barn. It's nearly 150 feet and I won't undertake such a trip for just one thing and I can never remember it when I'm in the house.



It is a poor posting indeed when baby bird pictures are not included, so here ya go.


Do count your chickens before they have hatched. After they have hatched, they won't hold still long enough.
Pictured are about 5 each of GLW, SLW, Blue Cochin, Buff Cochin, and Black Jersey Giants. At this stage, rather like Jumbo Shrimp.
Note the icing buckets made into feeder and waterer.

Blue Cochin and Old Coot.












Indian Runners.


Guineas.


Dog wanting Guinea dinner. I inherited this chicken tractor from someone who no longer needed it. Free, I can afford that! Heavy as a stone. I use the tractor to pull it around.


Maybe I can get Piped to come to Lebanon and take some good pictures.

John

John, too many pictures. Just kidding.

Steve

 

[Too Fast]

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.

Welcome. Don't wait to read this thread too long, or you may find out you are catching up on 100+ posts!

And don't forget, at 6 weeks old some may still be headed for freezer camp. Or dumplings.

Any pictures of your SLW? We have 2, on roo. He's cool so far. I think he's read some of my posts about freezer camp.

 

[Too Fast]

Hello all ye Hoosiers! I live in Dubois County. I have had chickens for almost 2 months and I am in love with all my girls (at least I hope they're all girls!) I have 21 of various breeds and I love seeing their personalities change as they are getting older. And contrary to what I have heard/read, I have two turkeys in the yard with the chickens and they protect them and snuggle up at night. I haven't seen a fight yet!

I have already gone through the ups and downs of buying and losing some of my flock. I had a beautiful Barred Rock named Agnes that fell into a crevice and couldn't get upright; the next day I found her and cried. I cried over a chicken I had for a month. But she was the first one that didn't go crazy when I wanted to hold her.

My dad and I are currently building a house for them. Teaching them to go in at night will be fun since they have been free-ranging 24/7 lately!

The most amazing thing I have seen so far is there was recently a big, bright, full moon and when I got home around 10:30 that night, the 8 oldest girls were lined up on the fence just a "purring" away. If I would've had a camera handy it would've been a great photo.

I am becoming fluent in chicken speak and chicken math!! Glad to see we have an Indiana thread!

Fluent in chicken math means you originally were going to get x number of chickens, then came home with 2x/4x. Welcome, and be prepared for a very active thread!

AATH~ either a roo or a very manly pullet

Uhhmmmmmmm, that would me a mullet.

 

[Too Fast]

Quote:

We could use some global warming. Hey, Gore, send us some, we're freezing.

Old Salt~


People fear and disbelieve what they don’t understand. Natural gas is burned for cooking, heating, and electricity production. Coal is burned for electricity production. Petroleum is burned for transportation. Burning of fossil fuels release gases and the heat is trapped (greenhouse effect) and warms the planet (global warming). Global warming doesn’t mean we’ll all have warmer weather in future. As the planet heats, climate patterns change, with more extreme and unpredictable weather across the world – many places will be hotter, some colder. Some wetter, others drier. All of these aspects negatively affect people, plants, and animals.

'Global warming doesn't mean we'll all have warmer weather in the future.'

Yes it does. Haven't you read the internet???

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

That is Rangi, my little Ancona. She's the one in the last picture as well.

Huh.   No more love icons for Rangi, I should never have said anything to you about that.

 

[vickichicki]

You do know he invented the internet, and is monitoring all these posts. 




I sleep with tinfoil on my head.

Do you think he scowls when he has missed a few days on here and has to read through 200 posts

 

[vickichicki]

Hi, Vickichicki, 2 questions:

How do you get added to the Indiana BYC list?

and a posting thing I haven't figured out yet, where do you go to add your websites, little info stuff that goes at the bottom of your posts?

Thanks!

I see Quinstar is sorting the members listing out for you.

I struggled to locate the signature area on the profile page. On your profile page, scroll all the way to the bottom. I was not scrolling down all the way, only to where it looks like the page editing ended. Let me know if you still can not find it, might be able to take a screen shot and post it.

 

[Old Salt 1945]

John, too many pictures. Just kidding.

Steve

Yeah, actually too many poor quality pictures from a cellphone.

Hey, Piped, where are you when I really need you (and your camera)?

John

 

[Old Salt 1945]

'Global warming doesn't mean we'll all have warmer weather in the future.'

Yes it does. Haven't you read the internet???

Too Fast, you old horsethief,

Don't you read the internet? They call it "Climate Change" now so they don't have to answer embarrassing questions when it is found to be getting cooler some years.

"Climate Change" is what we old fossils used to refer to as "Weather".

Somewhere along the line, I got the impression that you are guy and of mature years. I hope so, otherwise the tenor of this posting would be all wrong.

I was raised in the South and taught to be respectful of ladies. If I transgress, Mom will come after me with the dreaded flyswatter.

John