INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Dish chickens]

I'm a backyard chicken owner/lover. I live in east Indy, and have a flock of 3 barred rocks, 2 buff orphingtons, and 5- 3 week old ee's. I just wanted to join the board and keep up with all you Hoosiers

welcome to the thread
enjoy

 

[raisinemright]

I dont remember who found the shrooms the other day, but if I were a betting man Id say they were south of Indy?! Because I dont think we up north have had the warmer nights to get them sprouting. I just walked my 4 acres of woods and didnt find not one of them yummy yellows (or blacks)!!!

 

[leslea]

I have had an interesting few days. I took Monday and Tuesday off of work to plant my vegetable garden. I have about 200 square feet to plant so it takes a while to do. I also decided to utilize companion planting so I planted a redic amount this year! It is a pretty cool concept! Of course we had gale force winds and rain for most of my time off so I ended up working REALLY hard to get everything done before the bad weather hit. I ended up planting on Sunday in 30 mph winds and had seeds blowing everywhere. It will be pretty interesting to see what it ends up looking like! I may have some unplanned "companions" lol.

My parents suffered a tragedy, their great dane (rescued a year ago) attacked one of their dachshunds and he ended up dying after 3 hours of surgery to try to repair broken ribs, a punctured lung and kidney and liver damage. He was my dad's dachshund and it is so hard to hear your dad sobbing on the phone because his best friend is now gone in such a horribly violent and unexpected way. The great dane had previously attacked two other small dogs and they had been working with a behaviorist to try to fix the behavior, which the behaviorist thought was fixable. They are now blaming themselves for not sending her back to rescue after the other incidents. If they had this dog would still be alive. It is human nature to blame yourself when this stuff happens and there isn't much you can say to comfort them. We have all been a crying mess over the whole thing. The great dane went back to the rescue within 12 hours of the latest incident, so in a way they are mourning the loss of two dogs. Such a horrible situation.

I woke up last night to "no no bad dog" laying on my select comfort mattress control. My bottom half was sagging! My sleep befuddled brain thought I was under attack at first from the whirring of the mattress box and my body being moved...kind of funny. Then since I was awake I heard coyotes CLOSE, they were carrying on and sounded like they were right outside my window, which would probably mean the chicken coop or horse barn. So I spent the rest of the night awake stressing about the chickens and my old skinny horse. So now I feel like a zombie from lack of sleep. BTW everyone was fine but this is the first time I have known of coyotes getting this close to the house and I don't like it. There isn't any woods near me so they usually stay on the other side of the ravine/creek in the fields to the back of my property. Not sure what I am going to do if they decide to start lurking. They are becoming such an issue EVERYWHERE and I haven't heard of a good way to stay safe from them. If they decide your property is a buffet they will come back until they get what they want. I guess in Carmel a lady left her house to run an errand and came back to a destroyed house. A coyote had busted through her door and killed her dog IN HER HOUSE. It really is terrifying.

Wow! Are you sure you don't want to be a horror writer? Because there are some good stories in this post. Sorry for your dad's loss. That is heart-breaking. Sounds like a no-win. I hope the rescue keeps the dog this time. That's awful.

 

[leslea]

I am nervous about bullets being shot around my property because of the horses. Plus it is very flat out here with no trees and bullets travel very far if they don't hit a hill or a tree! I have considered hiring someone, but like I said I don't want someone accidentally shooting my horses. I thought about adding a strand of electric to the bottom of my horse fence (the top of the fence is already hot for the horses) to keep them from digging into the property, but i have enough fence that it would be a big issue keeping the grass/weeds off the electric and then the top part would ground out as well.

I don't think a shotgun blast would go far, and they're nice and loud for a firm "do not go" impression.

ETA: I live in the woods next to a gunsmith and although I'm locking down my coop tight, we hear coyotes on the neighbor's property. If it comes down to it I think DH will go out there with a shotgun. It scares me, but you gotta do what you gotta do, I think.

 

[leslea]

Okay, question about my first brooder! Attention all experts!

I went by the Chicken Chick's post on brooders and made this today.






I used puppy pads, but as you can see from the "mother in law suite" photo at the end, it doesn't fit the box very well. Should I tape it down, or will it not matter? Will the chicks pull it up and get smothered under it? Sorry if that is a dumb q, I am feelin' paranoid.

Also, do I need to cut hardware cloth to go over the top to keep my dogs out? I may have guineas in here, too, and I know they fly by the end of two weeks, but I wondered if the plastic netting would be sufficient. The boxes are really high so the dogs can't really see what's in there unless they go to great lengths. I figure if they go to those lengths then hardware cloth would not stop them, either.

Trying to avoid snipping hardware cloth, but if y'all think it's necessary vs the netting, please let me know.

Thanks!!! 5 more days!

 

[ChickCrazed]

Wow! Are you sure you don't want to be a horror writer? Because there are some good stories in this post. Sorry for your dad's loss. That is heart-breaking. Sounds like a no-win. I hope the rescue keeps the dog this time. That's awful.

Thanks! It is a really great rescue and my parents wanted to give her every chance since she had such a horrible start to life. My parents have and will keep her sister. Here is an article about the danes and their rescue. It is so sad, I don't understand how anyone has it in them to be so cruel and do this to an animal.

http://news.mywalworthcounty.com/?p=1822

The dane that had to go back is the one that is jumping up on the mans lap in one of the pictures. She only weighed 31 lbs when she was rescued - up to her eventual weight of 110 lbs. It really was a horrific situation and we will all miss her, but the story got such news coverage they don't think they will have trouble finding her a new home. They have already said she won't be placed anywhere with other dogs or children with her recent history.

 

[LonelyPageTurne]

I had another overnight egg.  This time, she dropped it into the PDZ on the poop board, so at least it didn't break.  What's weird is she used the nest box yesterday.  I wish I knew if there's something about the box she doesn't like, or if it's just unfortunate timing when she needs to lay. I hope it evens out with time.

Last night when they were all getting settled on the roost, one of the little comets decided it was a good time for a PDZ dust bath.  She fairly irritated everyone around her, but it was kind of hilarious.  :-D

I think the closet bar I used is too small a diameter for the bigger chickens.  The Orps don't seem comfortable on it.  Fortunatly I have lots of room; I was thinking they'd like a lower roost anyway.  I should be able to find a nice tree branch in the pine pile.

Use a 2x2 or 2x4

 

[ChickCrazed]

Okay, question about my first brooder! Attention all experts!

I went by the Chicken Chick's post on brooders and made this today.






I used puppy pads, but as you can see from the "mother in law suite" photo at the end, it doesn't fit the box very well. Should I tape it down, or will it not matter? Will the chicks pull it up and get smothered under it? Sorry if that is a dumb q, I am feelin' paranoid.

Also, do I need to cut hardware cloth to go over the top to keep my dogs out? I may have guineas in here, too, and I know they fly by the end of two weeks, but I wondered if the plastic netting would be sufficient. The boxes are really high so the dogs can't really see what's in there unless they go to great lengths. I figure if they go to those lengths then hardware cloth would not stop them, either.

Trying to avoid snipping hardware cloth, but if y'all think it's necessary vs the netting, please let me know.

Thanks!!! 5 more days!

Love the "MIL Suite". I had to put an "addition" on my chick "house" after a couple weeks (they grew so fast!) and called it the "sunroom" I would probably tape down the puppy pads to be safe, and deter them from pecking the edges and eating them. I would also make every effort to keep your dogs out of the room the chicks are housed in, and then I would think netting would be fine. The chicks will be so fragile you will want to keep your uneducated canines away at all cost.

 

[LonelyPageTurne]

Okay, question about my first brooder! Attention all experts! e I went by the Chicken Chick's post on brooders and made this today. I used puppy pads, but as you can see from the "mother in law suite" photo at the end, it doesn't fit the box very well. Should I tape it down, or will it not matter? Will the chicks pull it up and get smothered under it? Sorry if that is a dumb q, I am feelin' paranoid. Also, do I need to cut hardware cloth to go over the top to keep my dogs out? I may have guineas in here, too, and I know they fly by the end of two weeks, but I wondered if the plastic netting would be sufficient. The boxes are really high so the dogs can't really see what's in there unless they go to great lengths. I figure if they go to those lengths then hardware cloth would not stop them, either. Trying to avoid snipping hardware cloth, but if y'all think it's necessary vs the netting, please let me know. Thanks!!! 5 more days!

I prefer plastic totes. I cut a window out and bolt in hardware fabric and rest the heat lamp on that. But even without the fabric it's nice go have a window. Since you don't need to support a light with it, insect screening should work fine.

 

[Minminme]

Awe I have been waiting and waiting to hear about them and see pics!! I can just about guarantee sex if you post some pics ..not too close but..lol...the boys are so obvious at only about 3-5 weeks really!

Big boy!
They do grow big fast...they are dual purpose and are known for not only their eggs but meat as well.
So glad you are happy with them. They really are wonderful birds all around!

My little bits have the copper in th neck feathers like yours but their combs aren't quite as prominent as that one ...yet!