INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[chick rookie]

leslea ~ I remember posting that link a year ago because the photos are so adorable! Chicks In Hats by chicksinhats on Etsy
Originally Posted by chick rookie
Short funny story for ya all, while getting feed ready for everyone yesterday morn. DH YELLS at me to come quick, so I go running ( DH never YELLS ) to the chicken yard where he is at and he is all flustered about something being around Romeo's neck ( guess you need to know who Romeo is or you wont get the punch line )

Romeo

So I stand there looking Romeo all over and I'm dumb founded cause I see and feel NOTHING... DH says cant you see that BLUE thing on the side of his head??????

Guess DH never noticed Romeo's ears before now......

chickrookie ~ That's hilarious that your DH thought your Silkie's blue ear was something that wasn't supposed to be there! Btw, did you notice ChickCrazed's idea for keeping wild birds out of the coop? (see below) I know you had a lot of problems with wild birds.

Originally Posted by ChickCrazed
You can also see my "elegant" wild bird solution in the bottom, a thick [clear] plastic car mat from wal-mart (about $2 each) cut into strips and secured over the door. The chickens learn to push through it (that is a chore to teach them!) but the wild birds are too small to do so.


ChickCrazed ~ Excellent idea ! Your Bielefelders are lovely!!
Originally Posted by gunchief25
Morning all Cockadoodledoooooooooo!!!

gunchief ~ It's always reassuring to hear from you!

I tried really hard not to laugh cause I hate to make him feel stupid... he just didn't know and was concerned.... but it was really hard... I haven't seen her post till now thank you for pointing it out I think I will try that it looks like a great Ideal.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote: Usually if its totally pulled it regenerates quick..

Quote: I would sure call the store! If we let it go, they will keep doing this to others. Most hatcheries promise at least 90% and the farm stores should honor the hatchery promise, usually they do. M2H had the same problem when she started her flock. Its not ok to rip us off and promise what isn't true. Many of our members can't keep a rooster where they live. I always ask everyone to please contact your store and tell them.

Oh...and forgot to say that I thought it was rooster overuse. But this year I noticed that it first started as some disturbed feathers back there. Then I caught one of the BR girls picking her feathers out on the roost as they were going to roost. It wasn't "malicious picking", more like "curious picking". Something was looking different because they were fuzzing. And I think she pecked at it and continued to peck on it every night, plucking more and more.

So while hers started by being scruffed up by the roo, I think Miss BR was doing the plucking.

I've started putting the 2 brs on a roost that I can separate them away from the others at night to alleviate that problem.

No matter how it's happening, though, the problem is still the same. A bare back that really looks like we're malnourishing them or something of the sort.

My BR Mabel took a long time to regrow hers, so I agree 100%. She was a give up we took in almost 2 years ago now. Her back, most of her wings and tail were bare. Bad conditions and a LOT of roosters. Mabel is fully feathered now but I keep an apron on her if the boys start pestering her much. Bunny my EE was also from there, and a mess. Just gorgeous now! Roosters pick certain hens, and those hens need more protection.
I have cx hen thats 2 in july. LilX has always been more like a regular chicken, but she self picks her feathers off her tummy. She lays an XL egg every day. These birds ugh, so many oddities.. but we love em.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

nite all..off to bed

 

[PeacefulWalls]

Peaceful Walls ~ Thank you! My Blue Splash came from Kiniska who breeds Imported English Orps. The fancy Orps are extra gorgeous, and have nice personalities although my Jubilee, Adeline, hasn't been very nice to my Splash chick, Eliza, since Adeline wants to make sure Eliza knows she's lower in the pecking order. And those Orps have big beaks, too! I can tell that a peck from one of them can hurt! I had suggested to Brad that he keep his Chocolate Orp since we love our Bonbon so much. I bet you could give it more attention, though, since Brad has so many to care for.

Oh yes, I agree Brad has too many chicks to care for & needs to foster out his chocolate orp!

You also mentioned in another post (and I couldn't get it to quote for some reason) that you saw cherry eggers. I forget which hatcheries carry them, but they appear to be along the same lines as red sex link, cinnamon queens, ISA browns, etc.

 

[gunchief25]

Morning all Cockadoodledoooooooooooooo!!!

 

[hoosiercheetah]

We do an inspection of the outside of the feed bag first.

So, do you inspect every bag of feed you're going to buy?

 

[leslea]

You guys/gals...I think I am allergic to pine shavings. Since the day I changed the chicks' bedding from paper towels to pine shavings, I have been out of commission. I have barely been able to stay awake all day. Yesterday I was awake for 4 out of 24 hours.

I managed to move the brooder to the mud room where it can be closed off, but just now I went in to check on the chicks and my head split open with the worst pain.

I had been thinking that I was having a bad reaction to pollen or mold, since this is our first spring at the new house. Tons of trees, and it's been so wet. Zyrtec isn't helping, though.

I guess I will be looking for alternative bedding today. And some other kind of medicine. I have lost so much work time already, and am just a bear to be around. Can barely think, no appetite, just feel awful. Wish me luck on the alternative bedding. I am so ready to feel like myself again.

 

[bradselig]

Most petstores you can find aspen bedding in the small animal sections.

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

Well, here is what has been keeping me busy the last 2 weeks or so! So thankful I got the older chicks outside to the garage or my house would have been FILLED with chickens. Lol

Legbars (1 roo, 3 pullets and 1 pullet I'm unsure if breed at this time.)

Modern game bantams

Silkies and showgirls

Tolbunt polish

Chocolate orp (bantam?)

Partridge barthuhner (I'm having trouble with keeping these guys alive, don't seem to be very hardy)

More tolbunts polish

Blue/gold partridge brahmas

More autosexing breeds. Most are legbars, but may have a bielefelder or two in there.

Buff/buff barred and lavender/lavender barred bantam Cochins (and a blue I believe)

And MORE tolbunts

Buff laced brahma

More silkies and showgirl (most of the silkies are going to @Ardizzone7)

And lavender orps for @PeacefulWalls

Oh my, love those moderns, Cochins, an brahmas! The polish looks pretty neat too. Sorry about the barthuhners, some breeds or strains just don't have that vigor

I had one last  year that was bald down to the skin.  She stayed that way all summer long.  No new feather growth.  This was from May all the way to late November.  I had begun to wonder if she would ever get feathered again.

Then, at molt time, the most beautiful feathers grew in with the new feathers everywhere else.

So...in my experience, they don't just grow in at any random time.  They grow in when it's time for them to grow new feathers which would be just after the molt.


Has anyone else ever seen a bird regenerate feathers just because they're broken or gone?  Or did they come back after the molt?

If I have show bird that has broken a feather within a few weeks to a couple months prior to a show, I usually pluck them. And they usually grow back. I have never waited for a molt to come for them to grow missing feather. Conditioning would be a huge pain if I had to wait for them to molt! Someone told that if you pluck the feathers they grow faster. I don't really know if it does I just listened to what they told me. I am curious about it but I don't feel like experimenting with a bird a showing a few weeks before a show. I think it might just depend how much feather loss. Because a missing feather on mine really doesn't take that long to grow back. But I have six hens that some roosters were terriozing ( the roosters are now gone) and they just look terrible. The roosters have been gone for around 2 weeks and the hens really don't look any better, just much happier. I am wondering if they will wait until their molt with all their lost feathers.

Oh my, YES I know they are very attractive! I really would love some! I have to get a few pens built so I can get a permit with DNR. Am really interested in ring neck pheasant, and want to add them, as well as quail that are native like bobwhites. Coturnix won't brood so they don't need a permit.

Nice color on the eggs! Fingers crossed for a good hatch, if there was a roo, you should get 2 to 3 weeks of fertile eggs.

It takes a month or so. My GLWs and EE were looking bad. With the aprons It was at least a month before I saw feathers coming in.

You have to have a premit to keep quail? What kinds require a permit and what ones don't?

ETA: spell check can sure switch something's around!

 

[hoosiercheetah]

You guys/gals...I think I am allergic to pine shavings. Since the day I changed the chicks' bedding from paper towels to pine shavings, I have been out of commission. I have barely been able to stay awake all day. Yesterday I was awake for 4 out of 24 hours.

I managed to move the brooder to the mud room where it can be closed off, but just now I went in to check on the chicks and my head split open with the worst pain.

I had been thinking that I was having a bad reaction to pollen or mold, since this is our first spring at the new house. Tons of trees, and it's been so wet. Zyrtec isn't helping, though.

I guess I will be looking for alternative bedding today. And some other kind of medicine. I have lost so much work time already, and am just a bear to be around. Can barely think, no appetite, just feel awful. Wish me luck on the alternative bedding. I am so ready to feel like myself again.

Do you have similar symptoms when you react to other allergens? I'm a lifetime sufferer, and I'm not familiar with drowsiness as a common airborne allergy symptom. Food allergies, on the other hand, often present with the things you're describing. Have you had an allergen panel lately?