INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Chaneys Ranch]

So I know the heritage breeds generally take longer to start laying but what do you guys think about either a hatchery RIR or a black sex link that has taken 29 weeks to start? Problem or just a late bloomer?
Pretty much all my other girls that I got in the spring are laying but the last two days I've gotten really tiny pullet eggs again. I've had the occasional day before that I've gotten 12 eggs from 12 girls but never two days in a row.

My GLW were 26 weeks, my EE wasn't until the following spring! she was about a year old, I was about to give her away!

Hi! I'm not sure if this is the right place to post, but I live in Bloomington IN and am hoping to refresh my small backyard chicken flock of 5 hens. They're 2.5 years old, broody/molty right now and I think it's time to make chicken soup. Any tips or suggestions on where to get just 5 new hens? The online orders have much larger minimums than I can use (legal limit is 5 here in town). But if anyone lives in south/central Indiana and is ordering some soon, I'd love to share, or if anyone knows of local places to buy chicks/pullets, please let me know. I've done a little web-searching but not found a lot this time of year. Thanks!

Steven

and our thread

there's a few members in your area, bet you will get some responses!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Had to post a few photos

Broody mom and 5 week olds:


The 2 black babies are SFH/BA mix.

New SFH Baby 5 wks.



SFH Baby parents:

Mister @ 9 mos. old.






Miss Gray @ 9 mos old

I just love miss gray, beautiful colors! The roo is quite handsome too! and of course

love the babies!

Quote: Yikes, thats scary

Quote: UGH too fast hope you didn't just jinx yourself....

Pipd - my older two have been pretty friendly towards everyone that has come in contact with them. We even had a family get together Labor Day weekend and all the kids were really excited to see the chickens and turkeys. It was fun doing a little petting zoo. My great white hunter/know-it-all uncle yelled at the kids to stay away from the turkeys, they're mean!! I said, you just watch this sir... and I had them come and pet the birds and I was feeding them out of my hands (they LOVE raisins) and my uncle was stunned.

The younger ones haven't been handled as much since I got them (got them all around the same age, the 2 older ones were from RK and the 3 younger are from a farm) and they aren't mean so far, just timid. I definitely can't "pet" them or scratch their heads like my older two. That may come later, or they may always be a little stand off-ish.

Gosh, I feel like I know more about my turkeys than I do the chickens!!

I am really surprised how many people think they are aggressive. My BBW's are to chicks/keets, but I think they assume they are food. My RP tom actually fathers the babies, chicks, keets whatever in the coop, and lets them snuggle under him.

Quote: Oh my, handle them a LOT and it will pay off tenfold. I swear if I had got turkeys first, I may never have got chickens! I am totally in love with my bourbon reds. My oldest poult still sits and snoozes and trills on my lap. He is just over 4 months now. He swoops in from the barn roof, finally broke him of the shoulder perching

That really hurts with a tank top on! Love my palms too, but not as cuddly, the pair were adults when they came. The poults from the pair are very sweet, but I know it will all change as they get older.
Totally different, guineas will bond some but some of mine are terribly flighty. My first pearl, Quasey I can pick up and she comes to me. She will still perch on my lap if no other birds are close. I have one group I had to brood in the den, we had an electrical problem in the garage.
They are by far more friendly. They will even perch on my lawn chair for treats, and follow me like a little wave of wind up toys

. All i say is ginnyginnyginny and they all come flying!
My turkeys and geese are the most affectionate & friendly birds I have. Not so much for my gander, Gee, he is not trusting of strangers and can be aggressive.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Picture time. Just a few pics, but mainly wanted to show off the first chick i hatched from my flock, a naked neck chick. I'm loving its color!

Start with the little monsters, the quail.

How about a little game of name the breeds? Lol. There are 5 breeds in here. Winner gets a free rhodebar or legbar roo lol! I'll even let you have one of each!

And now my favorite. I'm not sure what the color would be called but it's from a buff NN hen X Birchen Marans roo. It's like a barred pattern with red/buff thrown into the mix.

I swear the quail are like lil tumblebugs, so fun to watch

I bet she will be striking as an adult! Love her colors, very unusual! Abstaining from anything that includes a free roo.... ugh, I am buried in the after this last hatch!

So my latest quail hatch. I set 60 eggs and didn't touch them until lockdown (which I was about a day late on that as they had already started to hatch). I only set the older eggs that I don't sell. I set 60 eggs. 2 chicks died hatching (weak chicks?), 4 died later during incubation around day 10, and 7 were clears, non fertile eggs. I have 47 little chicks running around like crazy with zero hatching troubles! I'll take these hatches anyday! I'm liking the still air hatcher!

Agreed! Once i went to still air I have rare problems with shrink wrapped chicks. The lil quail do SO well, I really enjoy them!
I found a great link on building your own roll-out style cage. Gave me several ideas once I saw it.
http://floridahillbilly.com/quail-housing/

And...one of my hatchery BR's...my former bumblefoot girl!




The BRs always remind me of Aunt Bee

She is a beautiful girl! I love my mabel, but her comb is all twisted as she gets older.

 

[HappyHappyHappy]

THis has to be the best Idea ever. I am going to build it, only I will use a FIsh tank heater rather than a birdbath heater. I have everything ready just have to buy a pump and the PVC.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

My older and only sister came to visit Mom & Dad early this evening. I am out in the big coop, just finished shoveling out, and laying fresh hay down.
She asked me what I wanted for my birthday. since this is the "big one".

I said (of course) ...more birds! Her boyfriend wanted to know what birds, so I brought him out my littlest bourbon red poult snickers, he knew what he/she is!!!!
Wow, WTG Sissy!! (was thinking ) She has never liked farm life, or birds, livestock period. HATES geese!
She worked at an egg farm in the 70s and it turned her away from chickens all together. I sent a dozen duck eggs home with him

Sis got boring chicken eggs lol, didn't want to try the duck eggs. We talked birds quite a while. Wispered to her "he's a keeper

" and she laughed.
So later while grocery shopping my sis calls me. The BF had called a friend at a hatchery and got me hatching eggs

The surprise is how many, I told her to make sure its a post office pick up. Now I am really excited!!!!!
Sooo if I get the porters order, that may give me 4 different lines on my BRs if the hatch goes well. Dying to know which hatchery too!
What an AWESOME gift, she has no idea how excited I am!

Getting a battery backup set up before the eggs come, and kerosene.
Not taking any chances of a power failure again and no heat!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

THis has to be the best Idea ever. I am going to build it, only I will use a FIsh tank heater rather than a birdbath heater. I have everything ready just have to buy a pump and the PVC.

This is a fantastic idea! And I like the fish tank heater. Have several of them just sitting in the garage.
I can use it for all the poultry except the waterfowl. I am looking at heated buckets for them, but it still needs changed daily.

 

[toodlesmom]

My older and only sister came to visit Mom & Dad early this evening. I am out in the big coop, just finished shoveling out, and laying fresh hay down.
She asked me what I wanted for my birthday. since this is the "big one".

I said (of course) ...more birds! Her boyfriend wanted to know what birds, so I brought him out my littlest bourbon red poult snickers, he knew what he/she is!!!!
Wow, WTG Sissy!! (was thinking ) She has never liked farm life, or birds, livestock period. HATES geese!
She worked at an egg farm in the 70s and it turned her away from chickens all together. I sent a dozen duck eggs home with him

Sis got boring chicken eggs lol, didn't want to try the duck eggs. We talked birds quite a while. Wispered to her "he's a keeper

" and she laughed.
So later while grocery shopping my sis calls me. The BF had called a friend at a hatchery and got me hatching eggs

The surprise is how many, I told her to make sure its a post office pick up. Now I am really excited!!!!!
Sooo if I get the porters order, that may give me 4 different lines on my BRs if the hatch goes well. Dying to know which hatchery too!
What an AWESOME gift, she has no idea how excited I am!

Getting a battery backup set up before the eggs come, and kerosene.
Not taking any chances of a power failure again and no heat!

You're HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY!! That will be quite a flock you'll have with all of your turkey eggs and poults! You will need to start a new thread - Happy Hoosier Turkey Farmers!

 

[lilmizscareall]

Picture time. Just a few pics, but mainly wanted to show off the first chick i hatched from my flock, a naked neck chick. I'm loving its color!

Start with the little monsters, the quail.

How about a little game of name the breeds? Lol. There are 5 breeds in here. Winner gets a free rhodebar or legbar roo lol! I'll even let you have one of each!

And now my favorite. I'm not sure what the color would be called but it's from a buff NN hen X Birchen Marans roo. It's like a barred pattern with red/buff thrown into the mix.

Should I bring extra money? ;D

 

[vickichicki]

DH and I have spent the majority of the night draining refilling and such.  Then I wise up and check the water that is coming out of the heater valve, almost clear only a tiny tent of yellow.  BUT our new tub that was installed less than a month ago has hot water that looks like toddler urine.   Then it dawns on me, the plumber must have installed something that is leaching yellow into my water pipes.  Since we only use hot water in our tub ore at least 90% of the tub water is hot, the leaching is really only noticeable in the hot water.  I did see that the tub water was tinted when we first got the tub.  however I had just had my hair darkened and I thought it was the hair coloring slightly fading.  But the yellow has consistently gotten more and more yellow.  When it first started it was a if you look close at the filled tub there was a hint of light brownish yellow color to the water.  Now I could add cornstarch and paint a coop.  I have a call into the plumber and we are not drinking the water until it is clear.

That pen is the hatchery mix.  It is most likely a mix of straight run including pullets something like Meyer's Leann's "Adopt Me" Bargain.  The sign is clearly wrong and misleading.  But almost all hatcheries offer some form of a leftover straight run assortment with no letter stating what is in the box.  I have seen some all girl assortments too so the sign could be wrong about straight run instead of the pullets part.  The chicks could have been form a mix like the Meyer Brown Egg Layer Assortment Either way I avoided that pen.  Mixed assortments I can do if the list of breeds is narrow but straight run and mixed breeds I avoid.

First off do you have city water or well water?
Do you have a water softener?
I suspect the yellowing to be rust. Did the plumber have to change any pipes during the bathtub replacement?
I am on my phone so I can not type a huge reply. Let me know the answers to the two questions and we can go from there.

 

[Old Salt 1945]

Just found out I need to clean the water heater for my house. Any recommendation for how to do this, the heater is electric.

John I'm sure you will have an answer that is economical and easy.

An electric water heater has 2 heating elements. Upper and lower. There is a cover over each for access. They are 220 volt, which is a killing voltage. Shut off the power at the breaker box before messing with it, unless you want curly hair (and toes).

When the heater is working, scale will build up on the heating elements and occasionally flake off. This will build up in the bottom of the tank until it covers the bottom element, causing the bottom element to burn out. You will suddenly notice that you don't get as much hot water as before.

To avoid this, you should drain the tank occasionally. I do it once every few years or thereabouts.

There is a drain faucet at the bottom of the tank.

Step 1. Connect a garden hose to the drain faucet at the bottom of the tank and turn the faucet on full blast until it runs clear. You're done.

John