INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[CRSelvey]

M2H as always, thank you ! We would not be able to keep information current without you and bradselig.
You are both awesome and I am thankful to know both of you, and grateful for all you do
Please, everyone if you would like to help as a "contributor" we need members willing to help keep our member list and event info up to date.
We are always looking for more help to keep our thread active, strong and working for us! We ask you are proficient in Google docs.
(Microsoft excel is a huge plus!) and active on our thread.
Our breeding member section is a huge help to find someone local and conscientious on breeding their birds.
The best lesson I have learned from keeping poultry and waterfowl.. the choice to make in new flock additions is from a private breeder.
Stronger hardy chicks without issues and health problems compared to shipped chicks from a hatchery.
EE are really hard to tell sexes. Boys get the typical longer legs, and comb goes red earlier but aside from that I look for the saddle feathers

I am familiar with docs and I use excel for everything. If I can help please let me know.

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.

I think you need a Welsummer. Their terra cotta speckled eggs are gorgeous. An olive Egger would be nice too. I have been collecting all these pics from the web for reference.

It's been busy here catching up on everything now that my family is finally getting healthy, so I haven't been able to read in about 10 days. I have read 25 pages today and still have 45 more to go. I guess everyone was feeling frisky. It must be all the cute baby pics. Kab, your ducks are adorable. Everyone posted such cute pics that it's not helping.

My chick plan is on track. I ordered the virucide and am waiting for its arrival. It's getting warm enough to wash everything down soon (not counting the possible snow day coming) I'm trying to be strong and wait for breeds I love but it's tempting to get a bunch of Banty surprises at TSC too.

We have been planning raised beds for our garden this year and I'm really excited about them. Our first two will be 4x12 and 24" high so I can get started planting. After that we will work on the run addition and then add more boxes as there is time. Our apple trees are ordered as well as the blueberry bushes. Do any of you grow other berries successfully here? What kind of dirt/compost etc would you put in the beds? I will make my own compost piles this year bur I'll have to buy fill for the planters this time.

 

[kabhyper1]

So I love my ecoglow, but I have been noticing at night the chicks peep like crazy right before bed like they are cold. Once they get settled they quiet down. I have it on the middle setting where they have to lay down under it. If it was at the lowest setting they wouldn't be able to get under it. Anyway I'm wondering if they are cold. My house temp is around 73 all the time. The thermometer says it is 86 under there. Do you all think I have a faulty ecoglow, or is that the right temps for one? The paper that came with it was very vague on pretty much everything. My chicks are a little over a week old, and have full sets of wings. They are EE and the two weekk and a half old ducklings. I'm not sure if any of you have used an ecoglow, but any ideas would be helpful. Thanks

 

[chick rookie]

chick rookie ~ I love your lone hen-- she looks like my BR Tweedy. Is she the one who just showed up at your house?

That's good that you're going to replace the moldy wall because it would be impossible to get rid of that since mold thrives on moisture.

We usually think of bleach as a way to kill mold, but bleach just kills surface mold. Bleach can't penetrate materials like wood or drywall that are porous. Bleach contains water and the water in bleach is absorbed in porous materials like wood, which gives mold moisture to feed on.

I found this explanation online about controlling mold:

Mold need four things in order to grow, and if you take just one source away, it cannot grow.

The four things that mold needs to grow are:

Food – Everything in your coop is a food source for mold (dirt, wood, paint, etc.)
There is no way to take the food source away.

The proper temperature – Mold can start to grow at temperatures as low as 39 degrees
Outside temperatures can't be controlled.

Oxygen – Mold takes the same oxygen levels as we do
There is no way for us to take the oxygen out of the air.

Humidity – Mold needs approximately 50% + humidity levels to be able to thrive and grow
This is the only thing that we can control. If we can reduce the humidity levels to less than 50%, then mold cannot thrive and grow, even if the other three elements stay in tact.

You can get an inexpensive humidity gauge for your coop at Rural King or a hardware store so you can make sure the gauge doesn't rise over 50.
Good ventilation (windows, open areas covered with hardware cloth wire) in the coop is also important to prevent mold.

I would make sure your new roof slants and has a gutter and long drain pipe to direct water away from the coop, so that during a big rainstorm, water isn't pooled around the coop (and leaking in to cause mold). Maybe other members have good ideas about guttering. (I don't have gutters because my coop is bolted to the back of my brick garage, so part of it is under the eave/house gutters, which protects it from too much rain).

I found this photo online, which isn't the greatest, but it shows that you could add an inexpensive plastic gutter extension to direct rainwater away from your coop. The farther away the better-- just like home gutter extensions.

Good Ideal. and yes that is the hen that just showed up, she is still here, guess she likes me. or maybe she likes having the house all to herself... ???? going to have her tested to see if she is carrying anything before the babies go out. Love my vet!!! O BTW check out my little gril, she is using her leg AND HER FOOT!!!!!!! I'm so happy.

Three new breeds I've started this year I can't wait to see how they work out.

ok I don't know my breeds by chick..... what are they? They are cute no matter what they are.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote:

if the property owner says no.. Immediately talk to you sheriff AND DNR, worried about you!

Hello new people!

Love the pics of chicks and bunnies! I need to get mine up the EE's are looking like little soldiers with their tail and wing feathers coming in and patches on their shoulders

Is it normal for them to lay stretched out? My dad says it is and they seem absolutely fine but it just looks really weird. Lol like they are sleeping on the butcher block with their necks stretched out in front of them. I'll have to get some pics of them sleeping its so cute.

Also I'd like to thank all of you for your kind words concerning the loss of my family's dog it means a lot to me.

My dad wants me to get some turkey hens. I think it'd be good and we'll get free meals when its mating season for the wild toms around us. Having a hen would bring them in wouldn't they? If not that's fine I don't know how I'd feel having a bunch of wild turkeys around my chickens

Those are really pretty birds yankeedoodle love that roo's colors. I've never heard of half of your birds breeds, I'm going to look them up Jaerhon sounds fun

I love turkeys, I wish I would have started them a long time ago. They are very sweet birds, and loaded with personality too.

M2H, I love the Orschlens store that i go to. They are very helpful and the employees there are always willing to help carry your feed bags out to the car for you when you have a cranky toddler accompanying you. They are a really nice,family oriented store, a lot better than the TSC that is near me and Orschlens prices are a lot more decent. I go there about every two weeks, so when i go back, i can grab a couple of roosting bars for you if you want!? Just let me know! Even my newest baby chicks i bought yesterday are even giving it a go!

Awesome report on orschlens, which store? I have been to greenfields so far. I do like the staff there, they seemed more educated about the departments they worked in.

Hello, Racinchick! I have some mixed heritage breeds - most are a cross between bourbon red and spanish black. I have one tom that is a slate blue.

Mixed are a hardier bird usually and get to a good size!

Quote: X2.. this is odd.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote:
Call DNR ASAP~ they will nail him of its illegal stuff. That time of night, ya somethins odd.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote:
Roosters... I have hatched a LOT, at least 1000 chickens alone this last year. I really have only had one mean rooster, and he is still here, my first GLW Red.... Rebel was #2. But was horribly mean to the hens only (BA roo) and he paid the price fast. Roos that take care of their hens, but go after me just get ignored unless it hurts

.. then i chest bump or pin them. I really don't much care, unless they harm the hens. The ones protecting the hens they are in charge of stay as extra protection.

 

[Mother2Hens]

I am familiar with docs and I use excel for everything. If I can help please let me know.

So I love my ecoglow, but I have been noticing at night the chicks peep like crazy right before bed like they are cold. Once they get settled they quiet down. I have it on the middle setting where they have to lay down under it. If it was at the lowest setting they wouldn't be able to get under it. Anyway I'm wondering if they are cold. My house temp is around 73 all the time. The thermometer says it is 86 under there. Do you all think I have a faulty ecoglow, or is that the right temps for one? The paper that came with it was very vague on pretty much everything. My chicks are a little over a week old, and have full sets of wings. They are EE and the two weekk and a half old ducklings. I'm not sure if any of you have used an ecoglow, but any ideas would be helpful. Thanks

kaphyper ~ I'm wondering if that's just the normal "organizing for bedtime" chatter. My orp and silkie chicks go through that every evening when I turn the light down to just a nightlight. The Rooster orp starts calling everyone as though they need to head for a nuclear bomb shelter (he's an alarmist type --lol). They all make a lot of peeping and then settle down. Just like my hens, except the hens have to have a nightly battle about who is sleeping where-- and it can be a lot noisier!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Three new breeds I've started this year I can't wait to see how they work out.

Is that a wyandotte,

brahma and EE? just guessing

want to post a few pics of my coop. as many of you know, I have no chickens in my hen house ( well except for the lone visitor that never left ) So I want to take advantage of the time ans space to revamp my house. Here is what we are planing... take the back wall out ( due to black mold I found this winter) and replace it. put a new roof on it with an overhang on the back so no more water running in coop and causing blk mold. I want the new nesting boxes so I can gather eggs from outside and give more space inside. we are adding a covered porch so I don't have to deal with all the snow on tarps and going out to knock it off so it don't fall in on my girls. I want all my feeders and waters hanging to help keep the wild birds out and not to mention poo and dirt.
Any Ideals would be great. checked out allot of coops here. that's where I got the ideals I got.




And here is my lone hen on her new branch perch. it's new cause I gutted the house and burnt everything after I lost my flock.

you can see the mold on the back wall. I finally got it dried out but still there.

that is the only thing in the coop. just a 8'x6' empty box. Kinda real depressing!!!!!!!!!! but got 23 chicks to put in it in April

That one girl says you will make this work! She believes in you

You deserve a little good karma this year.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote:
LOVED these color pics for eggs! We have wild berries here but most the goats have taken.
Yes, we do need support. always! When I started our thread, I made sure we always had interested people involved to help it grow and thrive. We do have members come and go, thats ok. We are still here when they pop on again. It was really hard to find answers when I jumped in a few years ago and wanted to raise healthy egg layers in our state. No info for feed mills, avian vets etc. So I started our thread. I love our members here

consider many dear friends! I wanted an open minded chat and support platform, we can share, vent, and ask for help from others. We have that here and I hope it continues to grow

bradselig is handling our member list, so I will pm him. He has done a fantastic job updating our sort feature to find breeds locally and a lot more.

 

[racinchickins]

So I love my ecoglow, but I have been noticing at night the chicks peep like crazy right before bed like they are cold. Once they get settled they quiet down. I have it on the middle setting where they have to lay down under it. If it was at the lowest setting they wouldn't be able to get under it. Anyway I'm wondering if they are cold. My house temp is around 73 all the time. The thermometer says it is 86 under there. Do you all think I have a faulty ecoglow, or is that the right temps for one? The paper that came with it was very vague on pretty much everything. My chicks are a little over a week old, and have full sets of wings. They are EE and the two weekk and a half old ducklings. I'm not sure if any of you have used an ecoglow, but any ideas would be helpful. Thanks 

Mine do a short freak out when the lights go out. That could be what you are hearing. If it was temp related, you would hear it all during the day too.