INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Birdylady3]

Bazinga! Please don't be like Sheldon. lol

 

[Old Salt 1945]

Hey, John -- you seem to have lots of clever ideas

What do you use for a waterer for your ducks? We're using a poultry waterer, but of course as soon as the ducks start using it after it's cleaned the water is dirty again. What do the rest of you with ducks do for their water? And if any of you have a duck coop we'd love to see pics. We're still trying to figure out what kind of permanent housing to do for them. Right now they're still in a barn stall and they really need something different that is permanently outside -- not just going outside for field trips to the kiddie swimming pools. Just not sure what to do given their issues of being messier than chickens, lots of water/splashing to deal with, whether to use solid flooring vs. hardware cloth for flooring, etc, etc......

My 8 Indian Runner ducks are mixed in with everybody else. I have a deep hay bed in the chicken coop. The ducks sleep on the floor (usually not under the roost). I'm sure you've heard the old saying "Like poop off a duck's back". The auto door comes down at 9:00 PM and they and the 25 chickens and 3 guineas are locked in for the night. Coyote safe.

I have a poultry waterer and a kiddie pool that I cut down to 6" height. They drink from both and muddy up both. I don't think there is anything that can be done to keep ducks from burrowing in the mud and rinsing their mouths in the water if you have a waterer with a trough or tray or any kind of an accessible reservoir. It's the nature of the critters. I wouldn't worry too much about the mud in the waterer. It won't hurt any of your poultry. If you have a dog, you know that she will pass up a bowl of clean water to drink out of a puddle.

I also have a 5-gal nipple waterer outside. If the other water gets too vile before I change it, they get clean water from the nipple waterer.

There are 2 nipple waterers in the hen house. When it gets too cold to be monkeying with outside water, they will have to get their water from the inside nipple waterers. I will put a heat tape in each of them to keep them from freezing.

John

 

[Birdylady3]

Here some more pics! Beetlejuice and Lydia going to "goose" Eagle

Look! I grew a chicken!

 

[kabhyper1]

What kind of scraps do you all give your chickens? I have just been giving mine greens and fruit. I have leftovers in my fridge that I need to get rid of, but I don't want to give them something bad for them.

 

[Birdylady3]

What kind of scraps do you all give your chickens? I have just been giving mine greens and fruit. I have leftovers in my fridge that I need to get rid of, but I don't want to give them something bad for them.

We give ours bread, grains, chips, cereal bars, hot dogs and stuff like that, they seem to do fine

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/chicken-treat-chart-the-best-treats-for-backyard-chickens

This is a good list that I follow when deciding if I can give something to my girls or not. Citrus, which they have on the 'do not give' list, is disputed whether it is bad for them or not, but the rest is solid. In general, DON'T give them avocado or guacamole ANYTHING, raw or undercooked beans, green potato skins, anything overly sugary, salty, or caffienated, or anything that has any sign of mold on it whatsoever. I also recommend against giving them raw eggs because it can start them on egg eating, but others do so with little issue, so that's up to you.

 

[CRSelvey]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free

Your cows are so pretty.

I have in iPhone 3GS and it's the mobile site. It acts like its going to load but it won't. The tapatalk app worked but it sure asked for a lot of access to my information!

I'm not sure. I was hoping I could figure it out but I use an iphone and it works for me unless the server is busy. Once in a while it just won't load and I have to try later.

I LOVE this color. So pretty.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/chicken-treat-chart-the-best-treats-for-backyard-chickens

This is a good list that I follow when deciding if I can give something to my girls or not. Citrus, which they have on the 'do not give' list, is disputed whether it is bad for them or not, but the rest is solid. In general, DON'T give them avocado or guacamole ANYTHING, raw or undercooked beans, green potato skins, anything overly sugary, salty, or caffienated, or anything that has any sign of mold on it whatsoever. I also recommend against giving them raw eggs because it can start them on egg eating, but others do so with little issue, so that's up to you.

When you say undercooked or raw beans, do you mean like green beans or other types? I'm asking because I gave them some raw green beans the other day and nobody touched them. My birds are probably smarter than I am.

So I have let the little Appenzeller babies out with the big kids and they are so funny. Its a little scary because they are tiny but they try to sit on my shoes and follow me around when we are in the garden. I have to put them all up by the coop and then run to get out of the gate so that they don't get there are the same time. I learned the hard way that they will follow me out of the gate because they are super fast and then they will sit there squawking at me for leaving without them. The one that got out just stayed by my feet until I picked him up. It scared me so bad that she/he would end up in the woods.

Not sure about sitting on the big roost. I need to get them a smaller one.


My little Ameraucana is still just not happy. Little Ameraucana Mom- I really would like to come get a friend for her. Pretty sure my dh won't notice or care at this point, lol. He is so overloaded on chicken info that I think he might be in a daze. On a high note, he's working on the run and coop again now that he's back home because we have a deadline. I have reserved a house at the beach for my family during Fall break and it has to be finished prior to our leaving. My friend can take care of our animals while I am gone, but it needs to be a more simplified procedure than what I am doing currently. I just can't expect anyone to jump through hoops to baby them like I have been.

Speaking of finishing- That auto door looks amazing Racinchickins. I need one to keep them safe while we are out. Can't wait to have all security measures complete. Well done you!

 

[Little Ameraucana Mom]

My little Ameraucana is still just not happy. Little Ameraucana Mom- I really would like to come get a friend for her. Pretty sure my dh won't notice or care at this point, lol. He is so overloaded on chicken info that I think he might be in a daze.

Just let me know when you want to come over. !!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/chicken-treat-chart-the-best-treats-for-backyard-chickens This is a good list that I follow when deciding if I can give something to my girls or not. Citrus, which they have on the 'do not give' list, is disputed whether it is bad for them or not, but the rest is solid. In general, DON'T give them avocado or guacamole ANYTHING, raw or undercooked beans, green potato skins, anything overly sugary, salty, or caffienated, or anything that has any sign of mold on it whatsoever. I also recommend against giving them raw eggs because it can start them on egg eating, but others do so with little issue, so that's up to you.

When you say undercooked or raw beans, do you mean like green beans or other types? I'm asking because I gave them some raw green beans the other day and nobody touched them. My birds are probably smarter than I am.

As I recall, all beans if raw or undercooked can contain a substance that is poisonous to birds. I would say your girls probably knew something was up. I don't remember where this was, but not long ago, I read an article within which they spoke of chickens' abilities to (usually) determine what they shouldn't eat. If I'm remembering correctly, it spoke of chickens having just enough taste buds to determine through taste whether they should eat something or not. This was showcased in a test by someone putting a bowl of tossed leaves and lettuce out for their flock to eat. Part of the leaves were not good for chickens to eat (not deathly poisonous, but not good, either), and the rest was fine for chicken consumption. The chickens ate around the not-so-good stuff and left it behind without a second glance. (I'll see if I can find this article. I think it was in one of the chicken magazines I get.) Now, obviously when it comes to unnatural things like Styrofoam or insulation, they are not so keen on what they can and can't eat. The one time I used my incubator (it's a hovabator or whatever they're called, made out of Styrofoam), I put it outside to be cleaned and the hens started to eat it! One corner has small, beak-sized chunks missing from them eating it!

 

[vickichicki]

Your cows are so pretty.
I'm not sure. I was hoping I could figure it out but I use an iphone and it works for me unless the server is busy. Once in a while it just won't load and I have to try later.
I LOVE this color. So pretty.
When you say undercooked or raw beans, do you mean like green beans or other types? I'm asking because I gave them some raw green beans the other day and nobody touched them. My birds are probably smarter than I am.

As I recall, all beans if raw or undercooked can contain a substance that is poisonous to birds. I would say your girls probably knew something was up.

I don't remember where this was, but not long ago, I read an article within which they spoke of chickens' abilities to (usually) determine what they shouldn't eat. If I'm remembering correctly, it spoke of chickens having just enough taste buds to determine through taste whether they should eat something or not. This was showcased in a test by someone putting a bowl of tossed leaves and lettuce out for their flock to eat. Part of the leaves were not good for chickens to eat (not deathly poisonous, but not good, either), and the rest was fine for chicken consumption. The chickens ate around the not-so-good stuff and left it behind without a second glance. (I'll see if I can find this article. I think it was in one of the chicken magazines I get.)

Now, obviously when it comes to unnatural things like Styrofoam or insulation, they are not so keen on what they can and can't eat. The one time I used my incubator (it's a hovabator or whatever they're called, made out of Styrofoam), I put it outside to be cleaned and the hens started to eat it! One corner has small, beak-sized chunks missing from them eating it!

I often give them stuff from the stand that I can not sell, like bruised or starting to dry out. They eat a huge variety but refuse point blank to eat bell pepper.
As for the green beans, I threw a handful of raw green beans in all of the pens. Not a single chicken ate them. However... If they are cut and boiled they will eat them faster than anything else I put in there.

DH always tells me how tragic I am for sitting on the sofa for hours at a time snapping green beans into bird size chunks. Then my house smells like beans for the whole evening as it normally requires two stock pots.

You can see all the chickens grinning at me when I walk out with a big pot of green beans. They know they have got me under their toe on that one.