INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[leslea]

O yes. They call and I go around back to their delivery dock and ring the buzzer and they get them to me immediately. Takes all but 5 mins and they are in my warm vehicle on a seat heater. It really is important to get them settled as soon as possible. Knowing you live in IN and how post offices are built they aren't going to be in proper temps while they are there.

Just talk to them and they should be very willing to accommodate.

My post master is great! Calls as soon as eggs or birds arrive to pickup. She will let me come in the back where a bunch of signs hang saying "authorized personal only" and "Trespassers will be prosecuted" lol. She also has my phone number posted so if any box of eggs arrives with out my number on the box, they will still hold it for me to pick up and call me.

My advise would be to speak with the post master. In my small town if She is working and I call, she always answers the phone. She also is at the counter quite a bit. Just ask the post master if they could call you ASAP and if it's before they open how can you pick them up.

Okay! I will call them tomorrow!

 

[goodb]

O yes. They call and I go around back to their delivery dock and ring the buzzer and they get them to me immediately. Takes all but 5 mins and they are in my warm vehicle on a seat heater. It really is important to get them settled as soon as possible. Knowing you live in IN and how post offices are built they aren't going to be in proper temps while they are there.

Just talk to them and they should be very willing to accommodate.

and if you get the tracking number, the PO just started sending text updates regarding the status of the package. You should sign up for that on their website...it helps relieve some stress as it's updated more often than the website tracking.

 

[ellymayRans]

Hello there! I am in Columbia City and new to chickens and wanted to start following this thread... We have 6 chicks, about 3 weeks old (I think?) 2 buff orpingtons, 2 black australorps and 2 RIR's... In the process of converting our shed to a coop, so I may have lots of questions... Glad to see so many people from IN!

Welcome! Great starter flock! You definitely have some neighbors on here! "Warning: This site contains enablers! Enter at your own risk! " Lol

Glad you joined us! We have a wonderful bunch here!

 

[hoosiercheetah]

Hello there! I am in Columbia City and new to chickens and wanted to start following this thread... We have 6 chicks, about 3 weeks old (I think?) 2 buff orpingtons, 2 black australorps and 2 RIR's... In the process of converting our shed to a coop, so I may have lots of questions... Glad to see so many people from IN!

From one chicken newbie to another, welcome! And you're in the right place.
I just did a shed conversion myself, and I'm really happy with how it turned out. I'm still tweaking some things, but that may be an endless process. ;-)

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Quote: It sounds like your small town PO is similar to my small town PO. If you wait till 9 am there are much higher odds of loses as the others have posted. The thing is that your small town PO may not be staffed till 8:45. Mine is not staffed till almost right before they open. The catch is because my Town PO is so small the chicks are actually a town over at 5 am. When I get the very very early call it is from the town over. They ask if I want to pick up in my small town or drive and pick up chicks at 6 am.
It used to be that a wonderful lady named Susie worked in our small PO but now she works a town over. Susie took care of the chicks by keeping their box warm and she would arrive early so chicks were not in a cold storage area. The new PO person meets her job requirements but is not Susie.
I recommend trying to find out where your chicks will be around 5-6 am.

 

[leslea]

It sounds like your small town PO is similar to my small town PO. If you wait till 9 am there are much higher odds of loses as the others have posted. The thing is that your small town PO may not be staffed till 8:45. Mine is not staffed till almost right before they open. The catch is because my Town PO is so small the chicks are actually a town over at 5 am. When I get the very very early call it is from the town over. They ask if I want to pick up in my small town or drive and pick up chicks at 6 am.
It used to be that a wonderful lady named Susie worked in our small PO but now she works a town over. Susie took care of the chicks by keeping their box warm and she would arrive early so chicks were not in a cold storage area. The new PO person meets her job requirements but is not Susie.
I recommend trying to find out where your chicks will be around 5-6 am.

Okay. Will do.

 

[hoosiercheetah]

I have a twofold fermented feed question that I didn't see answered in other threads on the subject.

I started fermenting my dog's food as a prelude to doing chicken food, and that was going really well. The dog liked it better, and after a couple weeks she stunk less. The problem was that no matter how saturated the dog food was, it would not sink. It insisted on floating on top of the water. Eventually, I did have some go bad because of contact with the air. As a side note, the difference in smell between fermented dog food (which was a pretty horrible smell) and rotten dog food was not subtle.

So my question is this. Right now I'm giving the flock Dumor layer crumbles, and that's what I want to ferment first - will it float? If so, I'm sure I can devise some kind of weight-plate to hold it down. This is what I'm going to do with the dog food, too. But I'd like to know what I'm in for.

Second part of the question. Eventually I'm going to either buy bulk grains and mix my own feed, or find a feed store or mill that will make it for me. I'm not real big on soy, which I'm sure is a major component of the dumor. I could be wrong, but I'd be shocked if it's not. So, will the grain feed float? Or does it sink politely to the bottom of a bucket of water, where I want it to be?

Thanks in advance!

 

[bradselig]

Just a guess here, but the vast majority of dog and cat foods are sprayed with an oil. The oil is probably making it float. I do know Bil-jac dog food does not spray fat and oils onto the feed. I'd be curious to see if that feed would float too or not. If you wanted to try I know petsmart sells little $3 trial bags of the feed. It is definitely an interesting food that my dogs did great on. It went against everything I thought about dog food and had corn in it. However all my dogs did much better on it than they did when I was feeding other corn free foods like Wellness.

 

[racinchickins]

I have a twofold fermented feed question that I didn't see answered in other threads on the subject.

I started fermenting my dog's food as a prelude to doing chicken food, and that was going really well.  The dog liked it better, and after a couple weeks she stunk less.  The problem was that no matter how saturated the dog food was, it would not sink.  It insisted on floating on top of the water.  Eventually, I did have some go bad because of contact with the air.  As a side note, the difference in smell between fermented dog food (which was a pretty horrible smell) and rotten dog food was not subtle.

So my question is this.  Right now I'm giving the flock Dumor layer crumbles, and that's what I want to ferment first - will it float?  If so, I'm sure I can devise some kind of weight-plate to hold it down.  This is what I'm going to do with the dog food, too.  But I'd like to know what I'm in for.

Second part of the question.  Eventually I'm going to either buy bulk grains and mix my own feed, or find a feed store or mill that will make it for me.  I'm not real big on soy, which I'm sure is a major component of the dumor.  I could be wrong, but I'd be shocked if it's not.  So, will the grain feed float?  Or does it sink politely to the bottom of a bucket of water, where I want it to be?

Thanks in advance!

I don't know about the grain, but the crumbles will sink and then expand as they absorb water.

 

[ChickCrazed]

Did they let you in even though they're not open? I'm confused.

Yes, my PO had me come to the back door and let me in at 6:30 am even though they weren't open.