INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Little Ameraucana Mom]

Day 2 of building is done--just 4 more cinderblocks and the bottom layer is done! I can already picture what it's going to look like!

Oh, and my babies are 6 weeks old as of yesterday!

Hika Ma the Easter-egger bantam:




Huka the silver Lakenvelder:




Ihi the golden Campine:




Marama the Egyptian Fayoumi:




Po baby the black Cochin bantam:




Rangi the Ancona:




Roha the Exchequer Leghorn:




Tiwhiri the light brown Leghorn:


What a great variety of chickens you have !!!!

 

[Too Fast]

Grab a bag of cracked corn and make a trip to a fishing tackle shop and grab some crickets. Feed before the weekend. The corn and fresh bugs make for beautiful golden yolks.
Fried eggs show off the freshness. The yolk should sit high and round unlike the store brought, which lack colouring and are flat.
Scrambled eggs yield a nice dark yellow colour not a light yellow.
For future reference the fresher the eggs the harder it is to peel for hard boiled. I have been working on a perfecting the timing for the fresher eggs but I still struggle to get a consistent peel. Eggs around a month old peel like a dream.

With the eggs you are not eating you should fry up anyway, cook one next to a store egg and see the difference.

As for the best flavour... Ironically I have all these chickens with more eggs than I know what to do with...I don't eat eggs.. Not scrambled, fried, poach, boiled etc... Have to take DHs word for it.

Thanks! I did know about not trying to peel the freshest eggs.

But, wait a minute. You don't eat any eggs? What are your chickens for, friends? Or do you show them? They have been having some cracked corn lately. We get crickets sometimes also.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Quote: Sure if you want. The good incubator with turner holds 41 chicken / small to average duck eggs. There is a 42nd spot but that egg would need to be a small to med chicken egg.

Is anyone close to Dubois County (Southern Indiana) that is willing to give away / sell chicks yet? I had a horrific week of racoons getting most of my flock and I am down to 6 chickens. This is just not enough!! PM me with any info! Thanks!

I hope you find what you need. I have some chicks but you are about 2 hours from me.


Is there anyone here that would like a RIR hen for free? She was laying eggs before and right after she sprained her leg. But She has not laid for 3 days now. I can't really keep providing her a recovery place but if anyone wanted a special needs hen, I would be glad to give her to you.

 

[BackyardBitten]

Sooooo.....
I wanted to get some treats for my chickens that did not have cracked corn in it. I know they love milo and millet so I bought a bag of Dove mix from Tractor's supply. On the drive home, because I was bored, I read the back of the bag. Yes, I am also a cereal box and canned food label reader. In smallish print on the back of the bag it states, “Do not feed to pet or animals meant for consumption. Make sure to wash hands thoroughly after handling." WAIT A MINUTE!
What the heck? So I Google the feed name and look for any articles regarding this.

Ends up Scotts, the fertilizer company, was sued for several million dollars and pled guilty last year for using harmful pesticides on their Wild Bird seed and not placing that disclaimer on it. Apparently many individuals lost personal flocks because they did what I was about to do. On top of that untold numbers of wild birds have died from eating the feed grandma put out for them. Here is a link to one of dozens of articles I found about this.
http://www.naturalnews.com/036253_Miracle-Gro_poison_chemicals.html

Any way, I will be taking that feed back. Is there nothing I can buy any more that is not going to poison me, my pets, and the wild life without paying outrageous prices for organic?

By the way Scotts makes the following wild bird seeds if you are interested....
Meijers brand
Publix
Harris Teeters
Royal Wing
Purina
Nutri Plan
Anderson's

Surely they have stopped using the illegal pesticides on the feeds, but the fact that the disclaimer is on there tells me they won't guarantee it to be safe at all.

it's a weird coincidence that you post this on here....came home today from work and there was a robin in our front yard just laying there. It could move and tried it's hardest to get away from me, but acted like it's head was made out of lead or something. Had another robin laying in our driveway dead several weeks ago. And then it seems that I remember one being dead in our back yard way back in like March. I didn't start feeding wild birds until like May i think...........thinking maybe i should stop buying bird seed at feed stores or just stop feeding wild birds in general....I don't want to kill them at all! But I never really see robins on the feeder, it's always finches.....after reading this, it makes you wonder!!!!

 

[Indiana Dave]

Hey all! New here to the forum. I'm 40 years old and have had chickens since I was 10. Showed chickens, geese and turkeys 10 years in 4-H, and now my girls show chickens in 4-H. We have FBC Marans, Barred Rocks, Americaunas, Buff and Black Cochins, Wyandotte bantams, Old English, Buff Orps, Brahmas, Brown Leghorns and a few mixed barnyard birds we hatched and couldn't part with Excited to be a new member. Lots to see here! Been wanting to find some Cream Legbar and Rhodebar hatching eggs locally (Indiana). Anyone have any leads on either from decent stock? Thanks, Dave

 

[PeacefulWalls]

The quail hutch is finished and in the barn!! Still needs bottom trays yet, but at least Chloe's first birds can live in their new home.



In go the little quail!


Buttercup, the odd white one


Everyone's in with no escapees!


Checking out the corners in the new home





Checking out the Frisbee dust bath


Hey, we like this!


Yes, all 6 quail can fit in a Frisbee with room to spare!

And apparently hour long dust baths are just as pleasurable as soaking in a tub!

 

[BackyardBitten]

welcome to our thread Indiana Dave

you will really like it on here!! We are a pretty fast movin' bunch so even if you take a couple days off, you'll find you have several pages to catch up on, but it's all very good information. I do believe that there is at least one member on here who is also into cream legbars, but not sure i can remember where they were from. You'll find that there is no shortage of breeds on here or other members willing to sell or swap! Glad you came!!!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

The quail hutch is finished and in the barn!! Still needs bottom trays yet, but at least Chloe's first birds can live in their new home.



In go the little quail!


Buttercup, the odd white one


Everyone's in with no escapees!


Checking out the corners in the new home





Checking out the Frisbee dust bath


Hey, we like this!


Yes, all 6 quail can fit in a Frisbee with room to spare!

And apparently hour long dust baths are just as pleasurable as soaking in a tub!

Great photos, and the cage turned out very nice!
Judging by the photos, everyone is pretty pleased especially the quail!

Hey all! New here to the forum. I'm 40 years old and have had chickens since I was 10. Showed chickens, geese and turkeys 10 years in 4-H, and now my girls show chickens in 4-H. We have FBC Marans, Barred Rocks, Americaunas, Buff and Black Cochins, Wyandotte bantams, Old English, Buff Orps, Brahmas, Brown Leghorns and a few mixed barnyard birds we hatched and couldn't part with Excited to be a new member. Lots to see here! Been wanting to find some Cream Legbar and Rhodebar hatching eggs locally (Indiana). Anyone have any leads on either from decent stock? Thanks, Dave

and our thread, glad to meet you!

You can see the member list for indiana at the bottom of my post (signature line) Hope it helps you find the breeds you want.

 

[Mother2Hens]

Thanks for posting this! I was reading her blog the other day on Facebook and when I questioned her about the play sand she told me that the finer the sand the better, so I am confused. I like the idea of this sand better though because it costs significantly less than the play sand and the reasons she listed seem sound. As much as I like the initial smell of the shavings, they get so messy and smelly fast. My family thinks I'm crazy to think chickens shouldn't smell bad, but I just don't think the overwhelming farm smell is completely necessary if I only have 13 chickens and enough time.

I usually just run across sites when I google about something specific. I have seen that photo of that woman on so many sites and ads that I thought it was just a stock photo-- sorta like how "Betty Crocker" is fake. haha I still use pine shavings in the nesting boxes and in the two cat litter boxes I put under their perches because I like the fresh smell, too. I use sand in the bottom of the coop since it sits on the ground. I've been using play sand, too (although there's some dirt and small rocks mixed in from the ground). I think I'll try some "washed construction sand." We have an area on the opposite side of our fenced-in free-range yard where the hens like to hang out because there's a lot of foliage. Because of that, the grass doesn't grow well. It's an oval shaped area and my DH and I were just talking about outlining it with rocks and putting sand in the area for the chickens. Yes, it's a weird idea, but it's so private that no one would notice unless we pointed it out.

Back to the subject of smell, I happened to remember (I should have written it down in the first place!) that someone posted about using PDZ.
Here's a description of it that I found on Meyer Hatchery's site:


Sweet PDZ Chicken Coop Refresher

Not just for the horse stalls anymore! Sweet PDZ is a safe way to reduce harmful ammonia odors in your coop / brooder. Keeping a low ammonia odor in your coop will help keep your birds respiratory system healthy.

-Safe & effective Ammonia Capture / Neutralization & Moisture Absorption
-Non-toxic, Non-Hazardous, All Natural Mineral
-Economical & efficient to use, a little goes a long way
-Contains no masking scents or chemical perfumes
-Safeguards bird health by reducing harmful levels of ammonia
-pH Neutral & Environmentally “Green” Mineral
-Granular particle approximately the size of coarse sand
-Not harmful to birds if ingested, it actually will help with the grinding of their food

OTHER APPLICATIONS INCLUDE:
For Animals: Horse stalls, pet waste containers like cats, dogs, rabbits, reptiles, birds, etc, livestock housing like cattle, llamas, alpacas, goats.
In the Home: Garage & basement that are damp or musty. Food and flood clean up.

DIRECTIONS FOR USE:
Approximate Rate of Application:
In a typical coop and/or run you will apply a visible covering. Typically 1-2 lbs.

Re-apply every couple of days or as necessary (your nose can tell you). The amount and regularity of reapplication will depend on the number of hens and/or chicks you have in a coop, as well as your ventilation.

Sweet PDZ can be applied with bare hands, a cup/scoop, or spreader.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote: I get it for around $10 a bag, use it in the poo boards. Its great, and safe for my birds. It sure did away with any odor problems. Just scoop like a kitty litter box. Will be using it in the trays for my quail too.