INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Chaneys Ranch]

3 hatched between 11 pm and midnight.. 92 to go..

hehehe wait till morning! You will swear you have a bater full of busy bees!
I just love the babies, soo tiny and cute

 

[Mother2Hens]

3 hatched between 11 pm and midnight.. 92 to go..

You are HappyHappyHappy!!! Congratulations!

 

[PeacefulWalls]

Awesome! If you have a few minutes can you post the recipe?

Sure! I use a 4 lb. box of washing soda, a 4 lb. box of baking soda & 2 bars of Kirk's castile soap. I shred the soap bars with my kitchen grater which makes soap curls. Then I dump those in the food processor for a few whirls to break it down into smaller bits. I use a big stainless steel bowl to mix/sift the ingredients together & it's ready to go. I store the big batch in a gallon size pickle jar and keep a small jar of it by the washer. I only use 1 Tablespoon per load ( I have a front loading HE machine). I wash most loads in cold water. My first batch I used the same recipe, but I had added a 4 lb. box of borax and a 3rd bar of castile soap. I liked that, too, but since then I've done more reading about borax and its potential toxicity, so this time I left it out. I mixed up my new batch today and did laundry & it washes just as well without the borax. Some people would suggest leaving out the baking soda as well as it is a diluted form of the washing soda, but I decided to use it. I made my first batch last March and just finished it up yesterday, so it lasted a whole year. Since the recipe I made today leaves out a third of the ingredients I'm expecting it to last 8 months. I paid $3.28 for a 3 bar pack of the castile soap (just used 2 bars), $3.39 for the washing soda and $2.39 for the baking soda. So for about $8 I should get 8 months of laundry detergent. There are a lot of variations out there for detergent. Some add purex crystals for scent (I'm trying to avoid extra chemicals & leave this out, plus I don't like the scented laundry!) and some add oxyclean stuff too or use Zote soap, etc. I just found what I thought would work for me & I'm very satisfied with it!

Really enjoyed the warm weather today, I know the flocks sure did too!
Looks like we may see 70 next week, Ahhhh, spring!!!

Getting all my veggies started in the house, I will have a garden this year, somehow if I can get DH to plow it up for me

Hope they start selling the kiddie pools soon, My babies are getting too big for the brooder boxes.

With the frost so much deeper in the ground than usual I wonder how long it will take for the ground to thaw and warm up enough to plant this year. I'm hoping our growing season doesn't get shortened any more than it already is. If I remember right our local weatherman forecast a cooler spring, which doesn't bode well for getting seeds & plants started early in the garden. Next week I need to get some more seeds started inside, too.

 

[raisinemright]

My DW makes her own laundry soap. It's very similar to yours. I'm in need of this snow to be gone! My new 10x10 coop was supposed to be built by now. But where it's going to stand there is still 3' of snow drifts! I hope by the end of this week it's gone!!! Spring can't get here fast enough.

 

[lajohnston]

[COLOR=4B0082]lajohnston[/COLOR] [COLOR=8B4513]~ I just checked it out on Indianapolis CL. http://indianapolis.craigslist.org/grd/4352453174.html  (for anyone who wants to look)[/COLOR]
[COLOR=8B4513]It looks like the same coop as the Nap Town Chickens group uses: [/COLOR][COLOR=8B4513]a fresh egg on every plate - Nap Town Chickens[/COLOR]

[COLOR=8B4513]I noticed on the CL ad that the price is actually higher if you purchase it as pictured-- with wheels. I'm not sure how much land you have or if yours will free-range or if they will be in a run, but this type of chicken "tractor" is handy since you can move it around. The problem with using this type of design as the chickens' only home is that the run section is not covered with hardware cloth (wire), which keeps out predators especially when the bottom sections of hardware cloth are buried in the ground.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=8B4513]The coops that RK or TSC carry are fine for an extra quarantine or emergency coop, but they are basically small, cheap, and don't have hardware cloth. Newbies, like I was two years ago, are often surprised at how much coops cost and how long they take to build. Some members have concluded that buying a yard barn or shed that can be customized is easier and less expensive. The main thing to consider with those is that there is enough ventilation-- windows or openings that can be covered with hardware wire.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=8B4513]For anyone who needs a quarantine/emergency coop or small chicken tractor, I thought this looked like a good buy! It doesn't give the measurements, though. Although it's used, it could be sanitized and painted. http://indianapolis.craigslist.org/grd/4358778972.html[/COLOR]

Thanks for the response. I hope to someday have a nice big permanent coop. Unfortunately, my DH hates the idea of having chickens around (his head is full of misconceptions that I plan to dispel) so I promised to start small and by having a chicken tractor to move around, we wouldn't destroy any part of the lawn. I had the same thoughts about the RK and TSC as you and was hoping the "Urban Chicken Coop" would be a step up.

 

[chick rookie]

ok I got my talk out, thank you.

now got up this morning and turned the Silkies light on for them to start the day and within 30 sec. the Blue or gray, starting making a very horse kind of sound and would flap it's wings almost like a rooster crowing.... was it a attempt to CROW????
Would be great if it was cause I am hoping this one is a roo and the buff one is a pullet. So now as long as the other don't crow I be good!!!!

BUTT they are only 8 weeks old. Is it common for them to start that so young?????



Anyone have any ideals what this may be????

Dogs woke me at 2am to go out and pody, this is what I saw in my back pasture. I kept looking at it and it just stayed so I went in got the camera and took this, if you look bottom right of center you will see 2 little dots too...... it kinda freaked me out a little. in the pic it is small but remember it was at the back of my back pasture of 2 ac's. It was huge!!!! If it wernt for being 2 in the morning I would think sun coming up... but in the wrong place. it was at the west side of property.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Has anyone purchased "The Original Urban Coop" from Mark on Craigslist? If so, what's your opinion? I'm particularly wondering about it's strength, durability and size/capacity.

If not, any recommendations where I can get one for 4-6 chickens for about $500 or less? I'm not too impressed with what I see at RK or TSC, and I'm not convinced those will house 4-6 birds comfortably.

http://www.naptownchickens.org/aboutus
I have met the coop maker for nap town. He is good and knows his stuff. Also from what I can tell, his prices are clear. And he delivers with or without chickens.

About the soap making, we make our own laundry soap and dishwasher soap. The dishwasher soap is so simple to make too. I have to google the recipe every time though as it lasts so long I forget it before the soap runs out. We use vinegar instead of jet dry too.

 

[chick rookie]

http://www.naptownchickens.org/aboutus
I have met the coop maker for nap town. He is good and knows his stuff. Also from what I can tell, his prices are clear. And he delivers with or without chickens.

About the soap making, we make our own laundry soap and dishwasher soap. The dishwasher soap is so simple to make too. I have to google the recipe every time though as it lasts so long I forget it before the soap runs out. We use vinegar instead of jet dry too.

I guess I may have done something wrong, I clicked on the link but saw no coops that this guy builds.

 

[Primal Momma]

Ok so out of 27, we had 3 DOA, lost one yesterday, and spent the day helping three others. I just went and checked on the three and one had passed and another is really weak. Ive been syringeing sugar water and ACV water. This morning I even softened up some crumbles fir them but they weren't interested. I'm going to run into tiwn and see if I can find some baby parrot food to offer as well. Does anyone else have any ideas I can use? The rest if them are running and jumping around the brooder and figuring out the pecking order, its just the smallest three that are having the hardest time.

 

[kabhyper1]

ok I got my talk out, thank you.

now got up this morning and turned the Silkies light on for them to start the day and within 30 sec. the Blue or gray, starting making a very horse kind of sound and would flap it's wings almost like a rooster crowing.... was it a attempt to CROW????
Would be great if it was cause I am hoping this one is a roo and the buff one is a pullet. So now as long as the other don't crow I be good!!!!

BUTT they are only 8 weeks old. Is it common for them to start that so young?????



Anyone have any ideals what this may be????

Dogs woke me at 2am to go out and pody, this is what I saw in my back pasture. I kept looking at it and it just stayed so I went in got the camera and took this, if you look bottom right of center you will see 2 little dots too...... it kinda freaked me out a little. in the pic it is small but remember it was at the back of my back pasture of 2 ac's. It was huge!!!! If it wernt for being 2 in the morning I would think sun coming up... but in the wrong place. it was at the west side of property.

Can you post a picture of the same spot during the daytime? It may be easier to get a sense of scale to get an idea what it might be.