INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Quinstar]

Beware the giant catch up post below!!!

Hi, everyone. Tony here in North Judson. My entire flock was decimated by predators and THIEVES. I'm in the middle of a move and have all my money wrapped up in the new house. Could really use some help from my neighbors. I'll adopt any chicken, turkey, guinea, duck or pheasant. Thank you all.....Tony

Tony, so sorry to hear about your flock. I hope that you are able to find what you are looking for!

Quinstar posted: They are actually just copied from Instagram. Not sure if you're familiar with it, but it's a smartphone app for photos. I think I brightened each photo and used the Amaro filter.

M2H:replied: I wondered if they were Instagrammed because my daughters often text Instagrams to me. Since I always have Photoshop CS6 open for work, I haven't looked into Instagram, but your photos look especially pretty.

Tell Belle to stay away from power tools, though! haha

Photo editing software and myself don't mix, so Instagram lets me at least pretend like I know what I'm doing. About 30 seconds after this picture she pooped on the coop and promptly flew back to her sisters who were in their pen about 15ft away. Guess we now how she feels about being separated from them.

Silkies are hatching! It looks like one if the momma silkies was a little tramp and spent the night with an OEGB roo lol. Cute little thing though! It came from a tinted egg, so I don't think it a pure OEGB as my little girl lays white eggs. Ill post pics once they dry out more and can safely open the bator.

I also have BLRW eggs in lockdown! I'm excited to see these guys hatch (and I'm sure CountryHen19 is as well!)

Brad~ do you think you'll hatch some BLWR eggs next summer? If you do put me on the list! DH might divorce me if I try to bring anything else home this year.

Seeing Quinstar's coop in the making inspired me to take a few pictures of the coop I built.





I decided to make it mobile, so it has wheels and a hitch for the tractor.

Everybody is out front working on the scratch I put down to try to get a group photo.

I love the wheels and trailer hitch! We thought about making ours mobile, but I had no idea how we would move it. Guess I have my answer. A little late, but good to keep in mind for the future. Love your flock!

My ducks never go in the henhouse at night, so after the automatic door goes down, I have to go out, block the door open, and catch each of the 8 Indian Runners and set them on the inside part of the ramp. Kinda defeats the purpose of the auto door.

Tonight I forgot. Worried that they might get strained through an owl, I went out at 10:30 pm to put them in. ****!!!!! No ducks any where to be seen. Cussing, went inside and there they all were! Yeah!

Dumb ducks finally learned. I wonder if this will continue? I had 9 ducks, but my rough handling caused a compound fracture on one's leg and I had to put it down. I've been much more careful since. A runner duck has almost no wings and needs both legs to survive. Poor little guy.

I was raised around chickens and never thought much of them except for food and eggs. Don't think I ever petted one. They mostly scattered when we walked through the chicken yard, especially when mean little boys chased them. Not often. Dad didn't like that. Put them off egg-laying. The rooster was aggressive, but after being kicked a few times, it left us boys alone. Just went after our little sister. Fatal mistake. Mom did him in and fried him up real well. I don't recall what she did to keep him from having the consistency of shoe leather. Too young; didn't care. I thought Dad was gonna cry. He LOVED that rooster. Mom didn't tell him until after dinner was over.

The ducks are different. They are nearly pets to me, although they don't care for me to be any closer than about 10 ft from them. Might have something to do with catching them and dumping them into and out of the hen house for the last several weeks. Oh well, felt bad about the little blue runner.




My chickens never cared much for the roost I built for them, the little ingrates. They always bunch up in a corner at night. Tonight I found 10, all on the top roost. I guess the other rungs are just a ladder to the top. 1 more chicken on the rung, somebody falls off.


Congratulations, Luke. Brand new driver, minted today. Finest young man I have ever known. At 6'3", he likes his little 6'1" Grandpa.


John

Oh John, the chickens love your roost. They just only love the top pole. Glad the ducks finally got things figured out. Maybe they'll decide that your ok once you stop having to manhandle the little poopers all the time.

Quinstar posted: I really wanted a raised coop cause I love the look and the shade for the ladies, and somehow we ended up with this. We are thinking of going with a corrugated steel roof and then we have some old cedar fence boards for the siding. Now all we need is a name!

Just a thought~ I've heard that steel roofs are loud when it rains or hails, etc. Our coop has a corrugated clear plastic (polycarbonate) roof not only to lighten the entire coop and run, but also to allow in the natural light cycle from sunrise to sunset. That way the hens don't have to set an alarm clock to know it's time to get up. haha Any thoughts on roofing pros and cons?

Oooo, I hadn't even thought of that! I don't think they little chickens ear drums would appreciate that. I'll look into the clear plastic. Does is help heat up the coop in the winter too? We're going to have 6 windows on the coop total, but I feel like you can never have to many entries for the sun!

There is a theory that if you had an infinite number of computers and an infinite number of chickens pecking on them that they would eventually type all the works of literature.

The feds, with an infinite supply of money (ours), funded an experiment to test this theory. In a huge building, they set up thousands of computers and thousands of chickens and a cadre of scientists to check their progress. After a couple of years, one of the scientists called out to his counterparts "Come quickly, I think we have something." They read "To be or not to be. That is the guizzenplekascdete52rqweraf."

John

Hope the chick is wearing a diaper. Or has been eating fermented feed for solid poop. Cute though. Lends new meaning to the term "pecking on the keyboard".

That sounds like a story my dad would have tried to tell me. Now if anyone tells me something that is even remotely interesting I just assume they are lying.

Looking good! You won't be dissapointed elevating it like you have. We did that also, about 2' off the ground. The chickens love that area. Is the roof going to overhang the high part? Ours doesn't really, and I am going to add on a bit. It helps when it rains and you have to be out there with them.

Yes, we are planning on using 10 foot beams for the trusses. So we should get a foot of over hange on the high and low side. We are planning on a 16x8 enclosed run off of the high side as well, but we weren't planning on having that covered. We may end up covering about the first 5 ft off the coop because I think we are going to run out of hardware cloth and I really don't feel like buying another roll just for 5 ft.

 

[ShawnaScott]

Maybe I'm not spending enough time with them. The boy and one of the GLW pullets aren't as afraid as the others, but the others are still pretty skittish. Once the new month hits and I'm not slammed by work I can go outside and spend more time with them. They are beginning to understand that I'm the food lady though, which is an improvement. I bought them some mealworms and fed them a strawberry from the garden. Both were a big hit. I will have to try just sitting in there with them for a bit and handing out treats. I'm fine with treats, as long as it's not tons.

I feed quite a lot of "treats" but I make sure it's varied. I probably split a handful of mealworms between 15 chickens a day. or every other day. I give mine a mix of corn on the cob, tomatoes, various seeds, etc. I try not to give too much cracked corn, but they love it so much I probably feed slightly more than I should. I love it because I can throw it down and they will stir up the litter for me

I also go outside and dig up a plot of grass/dandelions for them. I keep forgetting to put the dirt back when they are done foraging off of it, so I'm going to need to fill in a few holes soon! Actually, I just need DH to get off his lazy butt and help me finish the coop! I swear my hens will be LAYING before he does it!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

In regards to raising chickens to be friendly, I have noticed three things over the years.

1. Feed store chicks are harder to tame than chicks bought directly from a hatchery or hatched at home. I suspect all of the people rushing by, children screaming at them, and hands chasing them through the bins traumatizes them.

2. Much of their friendliness depends on the breed. Even some of my chicks directly from a hatchery are skittish of humans, but they are not breeds known to be friendly.

3. Personality plays a big part as well. Usually when you buy barred Plymouth Rocks, for example, you can rely on them being friendly toward you. However, I have one that flat out runs away from me except for the few occasions that she squats. I raised her the same way that I raised the other five that are constantly squabbling over who gets to sit on my lap.

I try to make sure I don't have much going on when I get chicks so that I can spend as much time as possible with them. However, I do understand that this is not possible for some people. My only suggestion to folks that don't have a lot of time to spend with their birds is to spend it well. You can actually reverse any progress you've made with them if you try to move too fast. Offer them food in your hand, and if they don't want it, toss it to the ground fairly close by. Don't make any sudden movements to alarm them. If you work with them often enough and gain their trust, you'll soon find that they're willing to eat from your hand as long as you don't surprise them, and maybe eventually, they'll come to you when you don't have food.

And if all else fails, wait until they're about to start laying. The hens will start to squat, at which point you can usually walk up and pet them or pick them up.

 

[bradselig]

Quinstar-I plan on having the BLRW next year. What I'm hatching now will be the future breeders. Went and bought 2 different sets of eggs from different breeders for diversity.

 

[Quinstar]

Quinstar-I plan on having the BLRW next year. What I'm hatching now will be the future breeders. Went and bought 2 different sets of eggs from different breeders for diversity.

Yay! Keep me in mind next year. I have a friend who may be interested as well.

 

[Quinstar]

Quick question for you duck people. My brother wants me to pick him up some ducks at the swap this Saturday, but I need a breed that will migrate this winter. We used to raise baby wild ducks every summer as children and it was always need to see our ducks come back every spring. He wants to get some for his kids, but I'm not sure what breeds I should be looking for.


Thanks!

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Okay, I have a question about getting these crazy chicks to like me. They're about seven weeks old now (I was never given their actual birth date, so it's an estimate) and they still run away from me whenever I go into their enclosure to give them food and water. Any suggestions on getting them to like me faster? The male seems interested, but the rest are super flighty, especially the smallest. They're wyandottes, and I've heard that this breed is particularly skittish.

If the chickens are hungry at feeding time, they are more likely to run to the person feeding them. That said, I would not withhold food, just not give them so much that they still have some leftover at the next feeding time. Wet feed or fermented feed might help too. my chickens are a lot nicer when I feed wet feed.

Quick question for you duck people. My brother wants me to pick him up some ducks at the swap this Saturday, but I need a breed that will migrate this winter. We used to raise baby wild ducks every summer as children and it was always need to see our ducks come back every spring. He wants to get some for his kids, but I'm not sure what breeds I should be looking for.


Thanks!

The Mallard males sure are pretty. Just curious, but when the ducks migrate, who takes care of them or do they become a problem for someone down south of us?

 

[bradselig]

Quick question for you duck people. My brother wants me to pick him up some ducks at the swap this Saturday, but I need a breed that will migrate this winter. We used to raise baby wild ducks every summer as children and it was always need to see our ducks come back every spring. He wants to get some for his kids, but I'm not sure what breeds I should be looking for.


Thanks!

What swap are you going to this weekend? I can't answer your duck question thugh, sorry!

 

[Quinstar]

The Mallard males sure are pretty. Just curious, but when the ducks migrate, who takes care of them or do they become a problem for someone down south of us?

Basically we would take care of the ducks while they were babies and as they grew we allowed them to become wild. We normally had about 5 or 6 every summer. We would throw some food out to them now and again, but they lived like any other wild duck would. They would never let us hold them or get very close when they were grown, but every spring my dad would go out to the lake and "call" the ducks so we could see which ones were ours. The ones we had raised would come flying across the lake for food. No one needed to take care of them once they were grown because they'd take care of themselves.

 

[Quinstar]

What swap are you going to this weekend? I can't answer your duck question thugh, sorry!

Well, after looking at my calendar I realized it's next weekend, not this weekend. So, I was going to go to the Wolf Lake swap, but I guess I'll be going next weekend now. Bums...