INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

bradselig ~ You need to see your doctor asap because you're not acting like yourself! When you see little chicks like iamfivewire posted, you scoop them up and proceed to the nearest check-out lane.
minmin~ I certainly understand! Hopefully we'll have a get together somewhere in Indiana this summer and you can make plans to stay longer. Have a safe and enjoyable trip! I love that cute little Polish from bradselig that lilmizcareall posted a photo of.
goatluver ~ I think foxes are beautiful, too-- or any animal for that matter. What color is your Jersey Giant? I miss my BJG so much (vet put her to sleep a couple of months ago -- ovarian cancer). My Jersey was the only one who knew her name, and when I'd go check the coop at night when she was alive, I'd say her name and she always responded with a certain, cute sound. When I got home from Indy the other night after dark, I went out to the coop to see my hens for a few minutes, and I felt so sad not to hear Jersey's conversational sounds.

CCCHICKENS~ Your birds you posted are really pretty. From my untrained eyes, the Salmon Favorelle looks a lot like an Ameraucana (hope that comment wasn't offensive-- I'm not an expert). She is really pretty and sweet.
Salmon Favorelle Bantam

Thanks. No not offensive. I have many ameraucanas, they are one of my favorite breeds. I can see where you could see a resemblance. Both have beards, but different combs, colors, legs, eggs.

 

[minmin1258]

Th

My day started off with sunshine, clear skies and 50*! So I got out my saw, drill, measuring tape and building supplies... This is as far as I got:

This is my new Bantam coop, still needs hardware cloth and exterior perches but looks ok.

The "duck box"needs door attached and a small run fenced but has easy access to the pond addition from last year.
So what do ya think is it suitable??? Any suggestions? Other than cleaning the pond that is...lol... That's already in the cards.
Unfortunately by the time I got this far the sky was overcast it was starting do drip wet stuff all over me, not to mention the temp dropped 20 degrees in 45 minutes!!!! Was down right frosty before I got everything put away until the next semi warm day.... Brrrrrr!

Looks great, I'm envious!

Thank you. Don't b envious... My back n legs are paying me back for straining them today!

 

[Leahs Mom]

So I am making sprouts for the chickens out of black oil sunflower seeds. Also as an experiment, I am trying to make some out of scratch. I have no idea what will happen with the scratch, the corn in it is chopped up but the seeds are whole. Any thoughts?

@Leahs Mom used a colander when sprouting her sunflower seeds.

I'm not great with sprouting. I was able to do it in small quantities but it is hard to get out of the jar. Also to make enough to impact our feed bill would not be my kind of thing right now. Then there was the fact that our house is cool in the winter so it took longer for the seeds to sprout.

This is how I was doing it last year in the VERY SIMPLE counter top method. (There have been several blogs that kind-of "helped themselves" to this post and re-posted it like it was their own.)

This photo is a mix of wheat and BOSS.

I soaked them overnight like this:

Then in the morning dump out the water, rinse them well right in the colandar, put a canning jar ring in the bowl to raise it up out off the bottom of the bowl and set the bowl back in.

Then just rinse them thoroughly a couple times a day and put them back to drain.

You can read the rest of the story here including what the nutritional benefits of soaking or sprouting are and how I did the SIMPLE counter top method to take it to the fodder (grass) stage if you want to go to that stage.:

http://naturalchickenkeeping.blogspot.com/2012/12/easy-ways-to-sprout-seeds-for-your.html

 

[Leahs Mom]

This year I've been using Kassaundra's burlap bag method and I LOVE it. I had posted this video earlier in the thread but I'll repost. In this method you grow them in the bags then invert the bag over a post in the run and they can pick them off the bag. REALLY DO love this method... thanks @Kassaundra

Here are my chickens enjoying some:

 

[kabhyper1]

This is how I was doing it last year in the VERY SIMPLE counter top method. (There have been several blogs that kind-of "helped themselves" to our post and re-posted it like it was their own.)

This photo is a mix of wheat and BOSS.

I soaked them overnight like this:

Then in the morning dump out the water, rinse them well right in the colandar, put a canning jar ring in the bowl to raise it up out off the bottom of the bowl and set the bowl back in.

Then just rinse them thoroughly a couple times a day and put them back to drain.

You can read the rest of the story here including what the nutritional benefits of soaking or sprouting are and how I did the SIMPLE counter top method to take it to the fodder (grass) stage if you want to go to that stage.:

http://naturalchickenkeeping.blogspot.com/2012/12/easy-ways-to-sprout-seeds-for-your.html

I read that on the blog tonight. Is that your blog??

 

[Leahs Mom]

I'm only a contributor to the blog from time to time. I did write the sprout post.

 

[kabhyper1]

Can ducks and chickens live together? Or geese and chickens? I mean coop and free range and all. My crazy mind is now going to geese and ducks. Somebody help me. I'm losing it.

 

[bradselig]

I would not recommend ducks and chickens in the same coop. Ducks are very messy and your coop will be soaken wet. Real fun in the winter! Like an ice skating rink!

 

[kabhyper1]

I would not recommend ducks and chickens in the same coop. Ducks are very messy and your coop will be soaken wet. Real fun in the winter! Like an ice skating rink!

Lol I hear they eat tons of slugs. We have to vaccinate the alpacas every month for meningeal worm.. It is carried by white tail dear and it is spread by slugs. Would one of those little coops from tsc hold a pair of ducks? Could they free range with the chickens? Do you have ducks brad?

 

[bradselig]

Lol I hear they eat tons of slugs. We have to vaccinate the alpacas every month for meningeal worm.. It is carried by white tail dear and it is spread by slugs. Would one of those little coops from tsc hold a pair of ducks? Could they free range with the chickens? Do you have ducks brad?

I had ducks the first year I got chickens. If I were to get some again, I would gave them in their own coop. Males can seriously hurt a hen if he mounts her. So if you are wanting to free range with chickens I would only get female ducks especially if you only want a pair.