INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Old Salt 1945]

Been up all night, we lost power due to the thunderstorms. I am just sick over it. Carried the incubators to the truck to keep them warm, the inverter won't support all of them. We have a generator thing that would not start. Battery backup failed in 2 hours. I have 3 incbators full of geese duck quail turkey and guinea.. oh my

over 200 birds! I buried the bators in blankets, and I hope it didn't harm my chicks. We were without power about 5 hours

Just sick over it, we had all the right stuff, but most of it failed. Ugh! I feel so hopeless, you do all the planning and it doesn't work when you need it.

Is there any hope for the eggs or have I just lost all of my babies?

Don't be too worried. Brooding chickens get off the nest and go out foraging letting the eggs cool. An incubator is the only environment where this doesn't happen.

John

 

[Old Salt 1945]

Hello! I'm in West Lafayette and am looking for a coop for my very small, residential backyard. I'm a master gardener and am excited to add chickens to my productive backyard...but first I need a coop.

Earlier, I suggested to someone else that they consider one of the many outdoor storage buildings. Depending on your budget, you can get some utilitarian or quite fancy to match your house. They aren't cheap, but if you give up on chickens, you still have a nice outdoor shed.

That way, all you have to do is add a roost and nest boxes.

John

 

[HouseKat]

"If you don't mind me asking being nosey, if you're pictured in your Google+ acct., then who is pictured in your avatar?

More nosey questions: When you were in library school, did you know Arrika Dedmond or Shawn Davidson?"

The avatar pic with the blonde hair is me too, but I was all made up and wearing a wig for a Halloween costume. It was the only pic I had available the the day I was creating my account.

I work with Arrika at USI and we used to work together at Ivy Tech, she's great! Shawn Davidson kind of sounds familiar, but I can't place him (or her?) I graduated from IU library school in 2005.

 

[vickichicki]

Earlier, I suggested to someone else that they consider one of the many outdoor storage buildings. Depending on your budget, you can get some utilitarian or quite fancy to match your house. They aren't cheap, but if you give up on chickens, you still have a nice outdoor shed.

That way, all you have to do is add a roost and nest boxes.

John

I like the idea of using a pre-fab building for those reasons. As most of them come without flooring, it is your option to add if you so choose.
DH brought one of the storage units home from the shop for his tools and the mower, gave me the use of the mini barn for the chickens. So much easier to know it is sturdy and well built and more than enough coop space. Has the advantages of being able to put the straw, shaving and food in there too with plenty of room. Going to section off a small walk in area for supplies with some cheap framing and chicken wire, install a cheap nifty pre built wooden screen door for easy access. Pop a few roosts in there, 5 gallon buckets for nest boxes. Cut a few holes for the run and presto... all done.

Although waiting on the turkey transfer before I finally take it all over.

 

[vickichicki]

5/16 if you want an extra tight fit. We could not get them in using a 5/16 but that is what the ebay auction listed for use. Then the 2nd recommendation was 11/32. That is what we used. it leaks very very slowly but we have our bucket outside so no big worry. I need to look into a better stand though. And my chickens are ignoring the nipples right now. They have had them for about a week.

Should be able to find some small rubber washers for a water tight fit, alternatively blob some food grade silicone around the shaft before installing. Nipples would not be coming off after that though.

 

[Crafty chick]

my daughter and i just checked on our broody. she has 1 BO hatched! still wet, so i figure they will be hatching for a while yay!

 

[EmSteele]

Oh. Man. I've missed so much. We should all schedule a daily check in to keep us from drowning in posts.....hilarious, sweet, and sometimes sad...how can you skip a single one?!? I haven't been on in 10 days if that tells you how many posts I just went through....

 

[EmSteele]

I got 2 7 week old Japanese Bantam hens with the roo thrown on for free. Now I know why he was free He had pasty butt so bad that I could do NOTHING to save him when he got here. Barely knew the roo but still upsets me. I found buff pros a while ago and they have turned out to be the most friendly birds!! Love them! Have 4 chicks left inside with only a few weeks left before I will feel safe brooding them outside... Also have worked out an egg deal for when I FINALLY have some laying hens! Buddy has an incubator and wants more chicks as well

 

[Too Fast]

So we've gotten 4 eggs. 1 on the 19th, 1 on the 20th (it was broken) 1 on the 22nd and 1 today. We are really happy to be getting them already, we were not eggspecting any until August 1st. Our chickens were all 16 weeks old 3 days ago. The eggs are from the white leghorns. Not sure which one, we have 2 leghorns. Our other layers will give us brown eggs.

Have not eaten any yet! Too scared. There is no tinfoil wrapped around the eggs, the space station was overhead the other night, the biggest moon until August '14 is showing right now. Expecting zombies any hour now.

Very happy, we won't have to buy eggs anymore this summer!

 

[Little Ameraucana Mom]

So we've gotten 4 eggs. 1 on the 19th, 1 on the 20th (it was broken) 1 on the 22nd and 1 today. We are really happy to be getting them already, we were not eggspecting any until August 1st. Our chickens were all 16 weeks old 3 days ago. The eggs are from the white leghorns. Not sure which one, we have 2 leghorns. Our other layers will give us brown eggs.

Have not eaten any yet! Too scared. There is no tinfoil wrapped around the eggs, the space station was overhead the other night, the biggest moon until August '14 is showing right now. Expecting zombies any hour now.

Very happy, we won't have to buy eggs anymore this summer!

It is always exciting to get your first eggs !!!