INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Chaneys Ranch]

Hi guys

we had an inch of SNOW overnite but its pretty well gone. UGH, please let this be the last.
Off to try to catch up am several days behind.
Hoping everyone is well and your birds are happy

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

My last brooder batch got some free range time! They are 7 weeks old.











Boy or girl?


@jchny2000 , you think Girl?

Here are a couple videos. There are 2 silver Sebrights. The one with the very prominent tail is MEAN to the littler one!!! They are the same age, so I'm surprised at how much smaller it is. Could that be a gender thing?

The SLW should both be pullets, yes?
What about the Sebrights, Any guesses?

That last one has a lotta comb developing, you may have a roo there. The bantam OEG and Sebright roos get their combs in fast. The hens get them, but its very slow. My Sebright roos were mostly flighty and very determined little guys. The OEGBs are sweet, if socialized a lot.
4th pic, chick on left of the SLW may be roo also..

Enough about chickens! Can't we talk about something else??



Lol just kidding!!
Moved my RIR & BPR's into the big grow out brooder inside the barn.

They are not sure what just happened lol !!
And this morning we let the goat kids outside to play for the first time. They love it.

Flying goats

love watching the goats play!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote:

I'll let y'all know when we've finally got things settled here & can host, although perhaps I don't want to find out the "bad" from when racinchickins hosted! I can't imagine that there was any, though

PeacefulWalls ~ I was wondering what jchny was alluding to re good and bad at racinchickins chicken fest!?

I really feel if there was any issues that arose, personal conversation is always the best way to go. Honest feedback one on one answers all!
I think we all had a great time! But Racin made a good point too, bio-security should be stressed and followed at any house hosting an event.
A small flock, that rarely or never free ranges, could be at risk from a pair of shoes worn at a farm with a hundred free range birds, like mine.
I don't invite folks into the coops and runs. I also don't go into their coops and runs unless its shoes and clothes that either have never seen a coop, or can be disinfected thoroughly. My flock poses a risk to the average small backyard flock, absolutely! They eat worms, grubs, mice, frogs, snakes,and I have even seen them with a wild bird in their beak on occasion, really not a good thing...who knows what else out here! I respect others enough to make that known up front.

Was carrying out a bucket of water to the hen shed yesterday.

I had removed one of the block steps and forgot it wasn't there as the bucket I was carrying was blocking my view. When I stepped on the "invisible step that wasn't there anymore", I came crashing down to ground level with my ankle between the shed and the lower level of blocks. Hit my shins on the floor edge of the shed, and the water from the bucket went flying onto the rooster and 2 pullets that were in the separation pen.

They thought I was attacking them and they went nuts.

It was quite a scene.

My husband was gone picking up some kennel panels that we were given free. Went out there 4 more times hobbling to finish things up and was taking care of my dad who can barely walk. I look like this guy

This is the worst sprained ankle that I remember ever having. How the heck are you supposed to take care of animals with a sprained ankle?

all i can say is OWWWCH! If its not better, have it looked at. Its easy to do I always am moving stuff around to clean.

Insert "help wanted" sign here!
Lol got a bit of work ahead of me.

Oh sweet, lots of awesome fence! sounds like a good upcoming co-op project! We got a 3 point fencepost auger a couple weeks ago, FYI. we have a tractor and am not afraid to use it

Are you doing wood post, or Tpost?

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote: Oh my, I feel for you. My oldest DD was almost 3 months of all day morning sickness..yuk! Then she came 6 weeks early. She was 4 lb11 oz..and wore doll clothes a few weeks. Seeing that precious lil life the first time makes every second worth it all.

Flock update. Now I'm raising quail again. Johnny2000 sent me over 80 wonderful eggs. I highly recommend Dixie rainbows for meat birds so far. Mine are 4 weeks old Monday and twice as big as the buff orphingtons, partridge rocks, Easter eggers, and tetra tints that are the same age. Big but less messy and much heslthier than cronish crosses.

Excited for you and hope its a great hatch! Where were the dixies from? I haven't started CX this year, dread the mess and odor. This last group were fantastic using fermented feed, cut the smell a lot, and they were much healthier.

I passed the test! I am officially an NPIP certified tester. The class was pretty fun. Thy had a poultry vet speaking and I loved heati her stories and talkin to her. She may even bring her class out to see my flock. There was also a guy who was quite funny. I enjoyed it

CONGRATS TO YOU!!!!! Now I know who to call, LOL! Ran out of ovations ugh! I am planning ahead now to do it next year.

Quote: Its not simple for sure! Love your colors the red barn look is always my favorite, and the quilt idea is fantastic!
Tell your DH he is doing an excellent job for sure.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote:

Hrm, that's intriguing! So he just does it a couple more times to see if he can do it faster?

Thanks! We're nowhere near done...have to finish the "downhill" side, build a door there, put up the hardware cloth, put on the roof...cut the pop door on the coop...finish waterproofing in the coop, put down lino/vinyl in the coop, fix the door so it latches tight... All of that is just to make it functional. Then there's the other stuff like the rain barrel and the raised beds, and the lights inside. It's going to be an ongoing project, for sure!

More of I ask for items that can be used for multiple purposes. That way I can ask for more than one and keep using them. For example my breeding pens are also miniature tractors and grow out pens. I'm thinking of designs for a bit more permanent breeding pens that would be a set of 4 or 6 pens. I would make them all the very similar in pattern to a coop we made last summer / fall. That way he already has the basics down pat.

Fantastic way of thinking, planning! I need breeding pens the most right now. And tractors are great for meaties too, less stress raising them and keeping them clean.

Quote:
The AB look to hatch well. I am really thinking I would love to try them! I was super impressed with yours on the plucker test day.

Quote: I will look for it, camping season coming I can sit and read a bit more.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Closer and closer. After a long day of bending conduit and stapling wire, I have 90% of a run. It's 6' x 16', about 3' tall at the peak. The shed is steadily being reborn as a coop, it's 12' x 12', so I should have plenty if room for half a dozen birds. I have a ton of pics and I'll do a build thread when its finished.
Apparently I can't imbed images from my phone? Or I just can't see then and now there are three. oh well, I'll fix it later.
I said all that to say this: I AM the DH, and I'm tired and its bed time now.

Lol, you and DH both fantastic job and looking great! I like the conduit idea. Goodnite and rest well.

Hey guys, love all the pictures of new coops, new goats, new puppies, and new poultry. Man does this thread move!
I have 17 eggs in the bator, 7 days in and 15 are definitely viable.

This will be my 4 th batch of chicks so far this Spring.

hatching vibes!

Hey jchny2000 - they have arrived!!!!!!

37 is the current count and a few more are pipping but not yet zipping. Two are yellow!

I had all my birds outside today while I was cleaning cages and getting things ready for the quail chicks. It was the first time that Singer, my dominant Serama, met my "chicken king," Dandy Randy - a blue splash silkie - he was ready for some action!

It was a good, productive day - and such beautiful weather!

I wish tomorrow's forecast wasn't for more rain.

I am always so in awe of the boys, and so worried they will hurt each other! Good idea with the fencing.
Congrats! The yellows are Texas A&M and will be white with black mottles/spots, my first line had several in them. You may see tuxedo, and reds also. They are happy thriving lil things, I just love the quail chicks, they are precious and sooo tiny!

Ok i kind of have a dilema. So i just got a new digital thermometer for my incubators this week and i'm trying to calibrate/figure it out. Right now i have two different thermometers in my incubator that is currently running, one of the old fashion ones that have the "red dye" in it, and then my digital. The problem is, i'm not sure which one is right. I really want to get it figured out as I have some really nice hatching eggs coming in a few weeks. The old fashioned thermometer reads higher than my new digital thermometer. I did everything the paper that came with the digital said to do. Any thoughts? not quite sure what to do.

I don't trust those red dye thermometers a bit, mine never matched. Someone on our thread once suggested...go to walmart and look at the display, if you see 2 digitals that show the same temps and humidity, get em. I used a wet bulb thermometer to check the temp and they were spot on. Those things are not cheap, but can be calibrated and are accurate. I broke it a few weeks ago, dropped it and the glass cracked, ugh! But the sportsman has been right on temp so I guess I don't need it anymore.

Just set my last batch of eggs for the season. (Maybe) lol! I got eggs from kabhyper1 due to hatch Easter. And then the shipped SLW eggs I just set tonight. I will transfer the shipped eggs into kabhyper1's bator to let the other eggs hatch in my bator (no mess in the barrowed bator). Thanks again for bator and fun evening at your place!! We all had fun! Will do again soon.

Congrats and best of luck, sending hatching vibes!

Kabs eggs did fantastic for me, but all our power losses wiped out all but one chick. Beautiful black silkie suspect is a pullet!
I am never hatching in the winter months again, too risky and painful to lose the babies.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote: I love pattern in the silkies, any birds really. I have some solid breeds, RIR, WL, LO, BA etc. The Silkies are always a delightful surprise in colors. Really enjoy the laced birds too, like the wyandottes and polish.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Will catch up more tomorrow, falling asleep

Everyone has so much going on, hate to miss any posts!

 

[jen214]

Quote: Yes, I looked it up online before I went but the website didn't show they were open yet either. The store was much cleaner and larger than Decatur. They had a few ducks, not sure what breed, RIR and SLW pullets, and two bins of straight run. The straight run chicks were very mixed in color, so I think they had at least a few different breeds in each. They didn't have any of them labeled by breed, but I asked an employee if they knew the breeds of them. The lady showed me that they had put generic "egg laying pullet" signs over the breed signs. So if you want to know the breed you have to look under the generic sign. I believe they would sell more if they didn't cover the breeds, but I don't work there..... My visit certainly didn't help with my chicken math problem!

 

[hoosiercheetah]

Lol, you and DH both fantastic job and looking great! I like the conduit idea. Goodnite and rest well.

I meant that I'm the DH literally, sorry for any confusion. I'm Aaron, my wife is Beth. I'm both the chicken enthusiast and the nail-pounding male person around my place. My DW only tolerates the construction and my going on and on about chickens because she's looking forward to quality eggs for less than 7 bucks a dozen.

At least I think they will be less... I'm actually looking forward to the accounting. I think it will be fun to balance expenses against egg production. Bookkeeping is joyfull!

Also jchny, I'm very curious about your experience with fermented feed. I've only read one article about it, but I'm way into fermentation - I make my own kraut and such. I'm going to do plenty of my own reading on this, of course, but I'd love to know how you go about it on a day-to-day basis.