INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote:

Don't laugh, My dad will let his favorites in the back door when moms not around and feed them treats!
I have caught him in the act several times, stinker!

Good evening from the snowie and drifty laporte Indiana I have 11 hens and a rooster for now until 4 h comes around

and to our thread

I bet you guys are really getting lake effect right now, I grew up in Lake Co.

 

[bradselig]

I have a very large & prominent quail rooster I have to dispose of, I set him with my 4 largest hens, and he is terrible to them! 2 of my hens have wounds on the heads! Shame, he is very tame and social with people. This guy is nearly 14 oz, disappointing. My oldest hen Speckles was in there too (7 months old!) he is soooo lucky he didn't hurt her Going to give him time out and see how he does in 2 weeks.. but am sure it will be the same outcome. Have been working towards raising true jumbos, having a hard time getting birds over 10 oz without letting them go past 8 weeks. I did finally boil the eggs to try them, WOW are they yummy! Going to save up a bunch and try pickling the eggs next

I have yet to try a quail egg! Maybe I'll do that tomorrow for breakfast.

Next week is definitely going to be interesting. The silkies will be in the house. As for the big ones, we have a stall we keep the alpacas hay in, so we are going to throw the hay up above, and build a roost and put the large fowl chicken in there next week. I am hoping they stay warmer with the alpacas in 6 inces of straw in the barn, than in their coop. It was 32 degrees in the coop today with all of them in there all day. I don't have high hopes for those kind of temps next week. I haven't heard the blizzard thing yet, but at this rate it wouldn't shock me. Do any of you know if using a kerosene salamander heater, supervised, for a half hour at a time, would hurt the big chickens? We use it for the alpacas in the barn in extreme temps and they have done fine, but I'm not sure about birds. This feels like one of the winters we had in the 80's. Brad, sorry about your snowy silkies. I'm sure they are fine. They are pretty tough. Mine haven't come out of the coop today because apparently snow will steal their souls if they step in it. It is not to be touched.

They are all dried out now and seem to be fine. Even found an egg in their overcrowded temporary pen in the garage. Plan to get them back outside tomorrow but their pen is drifted BAD! They have a roughly 24'x24' pen. It is completely filled with 2-3ft of snow! Gonna take forever to shovel!

my lowes won't share their boxes. DH is in the process of building a taller wooden wall around our wooden chick brooder. the current wooden chick brooder was so easy to line with plastic and clean out but with it being winter, I'm thinking chicks this time of year will be in the brooder for up to 6-8 weeks. I wanted taller walls for more head space. now I just need to find a cheap protective barrier for the tall walls. I guess I could paint and wash it each time.

that stinks! I wonder why? They just put them in a compactor and a company picks up to recycle.

I also got some pictures of the Cochins!!! They are so pretty in the sun with the green sheen! One of the pictures is of them "helping" me tack up my horse for a ride They are so sweet and friendly - mostly I think because they are sure I am a human treat dispenser. For birds that weren't overly socialized they sure warmed up fast and I am always tripping over them because they are under foot! They also are hilarious when they run - they actually gallop because of their huge feathery legs. They are not super coordinated!

Beautiful! Got any hatching eggs? Lol

[COLOR=333333] No offense taken. I only said that because you posted almost my exact statements about extension cords from a couple months ago. [/COLOR] [COLOR=000080]pipd ~[/COLOR] [COLOR=8B4513]Since we've debated the pros and cons of heat several times in the past, I made sure to mention all of your cons to cover my bases. [/COLOR] [COLOR=8B4513]P.S. Rangi needs some snow boots.[/COLOR] [rule]

I have found from the two batches of bantam Cochins I've hatched, typically by the 4th week or so you can get a general idea of sex. Males feather out much slower than females. I'm excited to test this out with my next batches.

[COLOR=008000]pipd[/COLOR] [COLOR=8B4513]~ Yes, that's the thread's new year resolution! We all want to own at least one of brad's birds. Otherwise we feel left out. [/COLOR] [COLOR=000080]bradselig[/COLOR][COLOR=8B4513]~ I hope you made notes about the frizzle gene so you can produce one for me. A female of course.[/COLOR] [COLOR=8B4513]When I introduced my orps to the five mean hens, I did what you're referring to. At night I sectioned off the small run part of the coop, which has a perch. They could see each other. During the day they were all out together free-ranging. After a couple of weeks, I left the partition open a little so they could come out if they wanted. I just took it slowly and now they roost in the box part with the others. It's just hard to picture Silkies in there with the others. I guess it's one of those things where you just have to take into consideration their personalities and figure it out as you go along. [/COLOR] [COLOR=8B4513]I have got to get to work! It's so temping when you do your work on the computer to keep checking in with the thread. [/COLOR]:/

Yup, I got the frizzle gene. None of mine are frizzled but looking for frizzled eggs.

If your chickens end up being like ours you won't need to build a roost. Ours ignore the roost and perch on the top of all the stall walls instead!

I'm jeoulous of your barn!

Brad...do you still have my order down for a pair of Silkies (1cockerel and 1 pullet)? I've thinned out my flock this week. So I will have room for the babies. I plan in enlarging my coop in the spring also. The birds don't need to b show quality I plan on just having them as pets and for eggs. Thank you Cindy

Yup, got you down! Have over 2 doz eggs getting ready to hatch in the next couple days. Just got to figure out shipping. Any color preferences?

Good evening from the snowie and drifty laporte Indiana I have 11 hens and a rooster for now until 4 h comes around

Welcome!

I do notice the adult hen with the tom is much quieter. My 2 jennies, snoodles and snickers still make some of the trills and baby chatter sounds. I will introduce the 2 younger hens this spring, probably very soon. No worries... I was hoping to see more! She is a beautiful little lady now I have chosen Exchequer Leghorn for my first white layers, now looking for a good breeder. After seeing yours, I just love their looks! Hehe~ Jess is having a slowdown on their laying, like most of us. She was hatching them last we spoke but very few and far between. Whats other member's experience, are the LF cochin's eggs bigger than bantams? I have not raised either myself yet, just going off what others have told me.

i got an egg from my pair when I bought them, the egg was definitely a large possibly extra large in size. The bantam eggs I've received to hatch were silkie sized eggs.

 

[kabhyper1]

M2H, I have already succumbed to the crazy chicken lady with chickens in her house syndrome . So far it's just the silkies. If I start bringing the big ones in, someone come and save me from myself.

 

[bradselig]

Kabhyper- the silkies are becoming beautiful!

 

[kabhyper1]

Kabhyper- the silkies are becoming beautiful!

Thanks Brad! I have my chicken powered incubator going in the den with what looks like 6 developers. It will be neat watching them hatch with their mommas.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote:
Rangi is actually an Ancona.

My dear, sweet Roha is an Exchequer Leghorn:




I think we all love Rangi, but Roha is the beautiful hen that got me interested, Love how sleek and graceful they look.
Last I looked at Meyer they were only allowing 2-3 chicks at a time.
Hard to find I am learning.. So gives me a new goal for this year.
DH wanted white leghorn, but I think that may confuse some of our family... Usually the only white chickens here are CX!


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Cool, let me know when they do, I am very curious to know! I can argue the fact why raise the bigger bird if the small one can give the same size egg..
I already know his answer tho.. more meat on the big birds. And he knows I won't process a bantam.

 

[kabhyper1]

Look there is a snowman in my house!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Brad thanks, that gives me a much better idea of the egg sizes. We may go ahead with the LF cochins then, and keep DH happy too

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Look there is a snowman in my house!

Hey, remember the abominable snowman had black fingers too, look at the adorable toes!!!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

hehehehehe....