INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

55 degrees here today and tomorrow we're expecting freezing rain, then several inches of snow. I assume everyone north of me will have it worse-- except maybe not the first layer of ice. I'm taking a little break while trying to make the most of being outside with my hens. Hope everyone has a good Saturday!
yippiechickie.gif
 
We cleaned out the duck brooder last night.  That was a mess and moving it up out of the basement made the smell worse.  But at least it is out of the house for now.  As soon as warmer weather hits, the ducks are first out of the basement.  So stinky.

I finally revamped my watering and brooder set up for my ducks. I only have two and I'm not in your.... "condition" ....so I can sympathize, you poor dear!
:p
 
This is Maggie, one of my australorps.

My first broody hatched her eggs and raised her chicks out in the hen house. First batch were hatched New Year's eve 2012.

Never brought her in. Chicks thrived. I have a friend who has a broody that broods 4 x/year. His takes them out at day 2 or 3 even when there is snow. If she's a good mamma she'll know what to do to take care of them.

My vote is to let your chickens be chickens :D



It was in the teens when they were hatched. Temps fluctuated between teens, single digits, and 20's.



Kids out to eat in the teens.


Learning to dust bathe in the 20's.


Ah...this is more like it. Temps in the 30's.


 
Quote: For the most part taking care of the ducklings is as easy as the chicks. Thankfully DH gets the dirty jobs now. But wow the smell. I air freshened the entire house last night and again around 10 am this morning. So now my house smells of vanilla and more vanilla. But the basement still smells like a wet barn.

I got my order in from Welp. For the most part the chicks are looking good. There are a few that have passed but the PO took a day longer to get me the box.
 
Just got back from a trip into Plainfield. They have their chicks now. Got them earlier this week and only had red sex links, and RIR left. They all had the starts of some nice wing feathers so I would guess them at 5 to 7 days old already. I'm pretty excited, our Austrolourps should be here thursday!!!
 

This is 1 of the RK ISA's that I got cause they were injured, she still has to be by herself cause they are still picking on her, So she gets to free range the chick room. and ride around on my shoulder, she took a shower with me today, I have a seat in the tub and she was bathing in the spray of the shower too. She started sitting in the clothes hamper and flew ( if you could call it that ) into the clear shower curtain.
I think I may have a bit of a problem with her come time to go out to the coop. She will call for me ( loudly ) in the middle of the night, and I have to go spend at least 30 min. with her before I can go back to bed.
 
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I've got a pretty good mixed flock of layers going. Red sex Link, GLW, SLW, Black Australorp, Buff Orpington, Birchen Maran, EE, and in the incubator are BPR & RIR! I'm hoping to acquire some BLRW in the near future. Is their a breed that I am missing in my flock LF egg layers? I want to end up with a good mixed flock with lots if beautiful colors running through the yard.
 
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I knew this day would come. Our neighbor asked if we could muzzle our rooster. He said it was waking him up. Which I'm sure it is. I have no idea what his sleep schedule is, but let's face it buddy. I'm not getting rid of him, because of you...
He has knocked on our door twice to ask who was parked in his parking spot, on a public street. Cleaned his gutters out into our yard and on top of our car. Complained about our car that was not running(public health cited us, yes we were at fault) buried my driveway while digging his car out from the snow.
He rents, I own. If he wants a battle... not that I'm going to actively participate, he can have it.
Ugh it's just so frustrating. He is obviously not normal and looking for trouble...
I just want some backyard birds.
 
This is 1 of the RK ISA's that I got cause they were injured, she still has to be by herself cause they are still picking on her, So she gets to free range the chick room. and ride around on my shoulder, she took a shower with me today, I have a seat in the tub and she was bathing in the spray of the shower too. She started sitting in the clothes hamper and flew ( if you could call it that ) into the clear shower curtain. I think I may have a bit of a problem with her come time to go out to the coop. She will call for me ( loudly ) in the middle of the night, and I have to go spend at least 30 min. with her before I can go back to bed.
I think that all sounds normal. I'm brooding my second group indoors and there's always a chick more vocal than the others. My first batch had a bad night once, I went in to check on them and they were fine after that. I think chickens pick and peck. I'd give her another week and put her back with the others. Even though they're young, they are developing their pecking order. She needs to find her spot in that.
 

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