INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[CRSelvey]

Smother the girl with kisses. Smother the roosters with gravy.

Your spiel at the bottom says 7 roosters, 3 hens. Kinda got that upside down, huh?

Killing chickens is not hard to do, unless you have named them and turned them into pets.
Racinchickins has a cone. That should make it easier. Not so personal.
I was raised to use a hatchet and log stump. A bit more messy.

Bring them to the Poultry Fest. If you can't bring yourself to do the deed, someone will do it for you.
Then all you have to do is the feather picking. Bring a cooler and ice for the carcasses.

John

I do smother her with kisses because she is awesome.

What do you mean upside down? I'm not supposed to have 2.3333 roosters per hen? You are joking! Seriously, my kids named the little suckers so I have to get rid of the two that don't have names before they get one. I can still manage the rest. Only one seems to bother the girls and if they get out of hand, their is always a processing place down the street (assuming I can't handle the job).

According to all my books, my coop (6'*8') and my run (16'*8') should hold 10-14 chickens depending on their size. They also get to run around the 7 1/2' fenced garden (32'*32') during the day. If I get rid of two bantams, that would leave me with 6 LF and 2 bantams. I'm hoping that means I can have 4-6 more hens of various sizes. Its not quite 1 roo to every 10-20 hens, but its probably the best I can hope for at this moment. I have a wish list of Buckeye, Welsummer, Orpington, Speckled Sussex, Cochin, Wyandotte and hopefully a couple are bantams.

I know I can pick feathers.


Quote:

Ok, I've decided to start making my own whole grain chicken feed instead of buying commercial feed. Does anyone on here do this? If I can figure out the whole raw food diet for my dogs I should definitely be able to figure this out for chickens. I'm finding that I'm starting to get the same feeling about the crumbles that they are currently on that I have about dog kibble. It just doesn't look like food. I don't eat things that don't look like food, so why should my animals. Especially when my animals are producing food for me. I'd like to find some good local sources for my grains which is why I'm wondering if anyone else makes their feed.

I haven't done this yet, but I have been buying my feed at Central Indiana Organics. They feed smells like something I'd make Herb Bread with. I tried to take a pic but it came out blurry. So it has corn, soybeans, calcium, acidophilus fermentation stuff, a bunch of vitamins and minerals, DE, Apple Cider Vinegar, yeast, charcoal, fish meal, dried tomato, dried potato, dehydrated egg, all from organics and cayenne pepper, peppermint, garlic, parsley, dandelion root, elder flowers, ginger, chamomile, lemon grass, thyme, fennel, basil, sage, and cloves. There were a few more, but I'm not a great typist. The 50 lb bag of grower is $31. I knew some people are probably gasping, but I'm in it for organic eggs and interesting pets for my kids. I figure that my dogs always get the good stuff and they don't give me eggs back, so its all good.

I'd be interested to know what you come up with when you start making yours though.

Too Fast- That kind of awesomeness would be overwhelming if there were five of her!! Maybe 5 different kids would be better.
Chickens- Good luck with your chicks!
Pipd- Good Luck with starting your coop.

Happy Wednesday everyone!

 

[julie0477]

yeah the judge pointed out the production reds that were there too.  In the end I think half or over half never had a chance.  Then the judge pointed out age, for RIR showing age is well past 5 months so of course the hens that were 5 months at the show lost out as well.  We did not stay for the other breed showings but I have a feeling the judge would have been just as tough on the araucanas. 
Hatching is fun after a while but can be stressing the first few times.  Many people build their own incubators on here.  I recommend starting with a still air and turner.  Both go on sale at TSC in the month or two before Easter, just in time for hatching season.

I am in the midst of my first incubation. I have two I BELIEVE gold star buff Brahma crosses due to hatch on Sunday with a little mini dome incubator I picked up from mcmurray. I have my heart set on a brinsea. My only worry is I'll try to hatch them all lol

 

[freeflyin]

I haven't posted in a while because seeing how many new posts I would have to read is intimidating! =] I hope everyone is doing well. Have fun incubating Julie! I hope to start incubating before fall arrives (quail). Right now I'm in the planning process of my little quail pen. I'll post pics when it's finished.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Quote: How are you rhodebar eggs doing?
By chance do you have an extra rhodebar rooster, one that is pet quality. I can trade you a heritage RIR red rooster for it. I need a colorful rooster for my children to fall in love with. Theirs was killed in an owl attack a while back and they keep asking me to get them another "Buster". But I don't have any plans to try and raise BLRW chickens so I really don't need another one. I was able to pin down why they liked him and it was his pretty arched tail feathers and redish neck feathers. So I'm hoping a rhodebar rooster can replace buster.

 

[MillerBirds]

I haven't done this yet, but I have been buying my feed at Central Indiana Organics.  They feed smells like something I'd make Herb Bread with.  I tried to take a pic but it came out blurry.   So it has corn, soybeans, calcium, acidophilus fermentation stuff, a bunch of vitamins and minerals, DE, Apple Cider Vinegar, yeast, charcoal, fish meal, dried tomato, dried potato, dehydrated egg, all from organics and cayenne pepper, peppermint, garlic, parsley, dandelion root, elder flowers, ginger, chamomile, lemon grass, thyme, fennel, basil, sage, and cloves.  There were a few more, but I'm not a great typist.  The 50 lb bag of grower is $31. 

Where is Central Indiana Organics? That feed sounds amazing. I buy Natures Grown Organic feed at my feed store in Lafayette. It also is $32/bag. Good stuff, but yours seems really incredible.

 

[Old Salt 1945]

Where is Central Indiana Organics? That feed sounds amazing. I buy Natures Grown Organic feed at my feed store in Lafayette. It also is $32/bag. Good stuff, but yours seems really incredible.

Wow! I switched to TSC layer at $12/bag from the $17/bag chick starter to avoid the extra cost. Figured they can make up the difference on grass, bugs, kitchen garbage, and stale donuts.

I am putting a Japanese Beetle trap in the chicken yard. If you cut out the bottom of the bag, they fall on the ground for the chickens to eat. The darned thing attracts them from miles around.

John

 

[Old Salt 1945]

Out of all the wonderful eggs my girls produce I would say 90% of them are fertile. I know this seems rather high, considering the 9 hens to one roo ratio, however all the eggs I have personally cracked open I can remember two not being fertile. However I do sell a lot of the eggs so I don't see everyone one. I did just make 2 dozen scrambled eggs for the girls as a treat and all of them were fertile also.
DH was a little off put by the fact they are fertilized at the beginning, not so much anymore.

Does the lone rooster have a big smile on his face at all times?

John

 

[Webechickens]

Just looked up Rhodebar because I was not familiar with that breed. Ended up on the Greenfire Farms site in FL. Quite an amazing assortment of rare chickens. You can buy a pair of Ayam Cemani chickens for only $4,999.00. Have never heard of this Indonesian breed. They are entirely black, inside and out. Yeah, I have $4,999 in my wallet, how about I order 5 pairs! NOT!! They do have an impressive site if you'be never seen it.

 

[OlliePollie]

Just thought I would stop in a say hi!

Our 4H fair is this week and dd had a great time showing our BR roo. He is hatchery stock so not show quality but I figured for the mini 4-H they don't judge the birds but rather teach kids about chickens and what a poultry show is like. The judge was just lovely, he explained what he was looking for in the different birds and breed standards. It was a very educational time. We are excited about buying some show quality birds for next year!

I do have a question, if we want to raise show birds from chicks when would be the best time to get them for next years fair (about this time next year)? We are planning on going to the Lebanon show in October to look at all the different breeds so that dd can decide which breed she would like to get.

And a picture of my daughter with her favorite girl Garnet (production red).

 

[Quinstar]

I haven't done this yet, but I have been buying my feed at Central Indiana Organics. They feed smells like something I'd make Herb Bread with. I tried to take a pic but it came out blurry. So it has corn, soybeans, calcium, acidophilus fermentation stuff, a bunch of vitamins and minerals, DE, Apple Cider Vinegar, yeast, charcoal, fish meal, dried tomato, dried potato, dehydrated egg, all from organics and cayenne pepper, peppermint, garlic, parsley, dandelion root, elder flowers, ginger, chamomile, lemon grass, thyme, fennel, basil, sage, and cloves. There were a few more, but I'm not a great typist. The 50 lb bag of grower is $31. I knew some people are probably gasping, but I'm in it for organic eggs and interesting pets for my kids. I figure that my dogs always get the good stuff and they don't give me eggs back, so its all good.

I'd be interested to know what you come up with when you start making yours though.


Happy Wednesday everyone!

Good to know. I found a blog that had what seemed like a pretty good recipe online. The writer has done a lot of research on it and I think I may start there and alter as I become more comfortable with it. I want to ferment some of it as well and then supplement with kitchen scraps and free ranging. Here is the mix that I found.

Garden Betty’s Homemade Whole Grain Chicken Feed
Makes 8 1/2 pounds (fills 10-pound feeder)
4 cups oat groats
4 cups black oil sunflower seeds
4 cups hard red wheat berries
2 cups soft white wheat berries
2 cups kamut
2 cups millet
2 cups whole corn
1 cup lentils
1 cup sesame seeds
1 cup flax seeds
1/2 cup brewer’s yeast
1/4 cup kelp granules
free-choice oyster shells
free-choice grit


Read more: http://www.gardenbetty.com/2012/06/garden-bettys-homemade-whole-grain-chicken-feed/#ixzz2ZEIs00Ht

She also has a corn free mix that she uses as well. A friend of mine has chickens as well and wants to start doing this so we may buy some bulk and then split the cost and feed at the beginning. DH brews beer so we already have a grain grinder to crush it up a bit while they are still young and we have plenty of experience with the fermentation process.