INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[gunchief25]

Morning all Cockadoodledoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

 

[ChickCrazed]

I need to get a dust bath set up in the coop. They're doing a pretty good job wallering up their run, but I'd like them to have something indoors for rainy days and winter time.

So I scored an awesome plastic parts bin. It's about two feet by two feet wide and a foot and a half deep. It's heavy-duty plastic, half an inch thick, and when it's half full of dusty stuff, the whole flock won't be able to tip it over.

I've read that a lot of people use peat and ash, some add DE and some don't, some use sand or various other things. I like the idea of peat because whatever goes in the litter will just make more compost for me later. I was trying to think of a way to sift ash from my burn pit in the back yard, but honestly I put some nasty stuff in there that I don't think would be good for chickens, even after it's burned down.

Then I remembered that I only use hardwood lump charcoal in my grill, (Kingsford is for people who like eating kerosene burgers. Guhnasty.) and because I'm really lazy, I haven't dumped the ash can under it in a very long time. :-D

So the moral of the story is that being a slacker pays off in unexpected and delightful ways!


ETA: If anyone is paying as much attention to me as I secretly think everyone should, you will have noticed that almost all of my posts are edited. The reason is that I foolishly submit my rough drafts, then five seconds later I re-read them and find several things I want to change. Then five minutes later I find several more. For example, this is my fourth edit on this ETA alone. Now you know. I'm sure you'll sleep better for having that mystery solved. ;-)

LOL now I'm going to be looking for it and I WILL be paying as much attention to you as you crave. Feeding the beast....

 

[babymakes6]

I need to get a dust bath set up in the coop.  They're doing a pretty good job wallering up their run, but I'd like them to have something indoors for rainy days and winter time.  

So I scored an awesome plastic parts bin.  It's about two feet by two feet wide and a foot and a half deep.  It's heavy-duty plastic, half an inch thick, and when it's half full of dusty stuff, the whole flock won't be able to tip it over.  

I've read that a lot of people use peat and ash, some add DE and some don't, some use sand or various other things.  I like the idea of peat because whatever goes in the litter will just make more compost for me later.  I was trying to think of a way to sift ash from my burn pit in the back yard, but honestly I put some nasty stuff in there that I don't think would be good for chickens, even after it's burned down.

Then I remembered that I only use hardwood lump charcoal in my grill, (Kingsford is for people who like eating kerosene burgers. Guhnasty.) and because I'm really lazy, I haven't dumped the ash can under it in a very long time.  :-D 

So the moral of the story is that being a slacker pays off in unexpected and delightful ways!


ETA:  If anyone is paying as much attention to me as I secretly think everyone should, you will have noticed that almost all of my posts are edited.  The reason is that I foolishly submit my rough drafts, then five seconds later I re-read them and find several things I want to change.  Then five minutes later I find several more.  For example, this is my fourth edit on this ETA alone.  Now you know.  I'm sure you'll sleep better for having that mystery solved.  ;-)

Can we flag someone for a "best of BYC" post-kind of like a "best of craigslist?"

 

[CRSelvey]

Babies day out!

Kab- with expressions like this one, I can see why you like the Silkies so much. Gorgeous pictures!

Quote:

Happy chicken keeping everyone!

Happy chicken keeping to you too Am. Its so good to see you having happy chicken stories again. Good luck with your new flock.

CRSelvey ~ So did you hear peeps? (I haven't caught up on the thread, so you may have already announced the hatch) What breeds are original parents-- the bantam roo and LF hens?
kabhyper~ Awwww! So pretty. Btw, I passed along your great info about caring for a broody and the hatch process to CRSelvey. I felt like you were my birthing coach! haha

M2H, I am almost light headed over this whole experience! I went down this morning and checked on her, but there was nothing going on. I get back an hour later from dropping all my kids off at school and look what I have!!!!

I'm so confused about this chick. The sitting hen is Bella, the Bantam Ameraucana that I got from LAM last year. She is not exactly friendly, but she's a good girl with the flock and a protective mama. She had three different colored eggs under her, so that's how I can tell who laid these eggs. This chick came from the white egg, so its a cross of a silver spangled Appenzeller Spitzhauben and Red Pyle OEGB. Both are light colored, so I have no idea how I got an all black chick. Bella still has two other eggs also from the OEGB roo but the green egg is from my EE named Nutella and the brown egg is probably from my GLW named Winnie. There is a small chance that it is from one of the Buff Cochins, but that will be easy enough to tell when the chick comes out. Bella won't let me get a good enough look at the egg to be sure right now and I've forgotten since the last time I was able to see. I just don't need to know bad enough to stress her out. She already has her feathers full!

 

[amwchickin]

M2H, CRSelvey - thanks, it's been a long road to get to this point in chicken keeping. I'm not....counting my chickens yet....but I hope the worst of the worst has happened and I can just start enjoying them.

Chickcrazed - I'm glad your girls are getting some R&R without these two. Hate that you needed to give them up. I think they'll do well here. We already have a crowing contest with all the neighborhood roos. And congrats on the egg! Eggciting!

Bradselig - Ozzie is handsome, you go ahead and brag! I wish I was close enough to you I could get more of your good stock in the future!

 

[bradselig]

M2H, CRSelvey - thanks, it's been a long road to get to this point in chicken keeping. I'm not....counting my chickens yet....but I hope the worst of the worst has happened and I can just start enjoying them.

Chickcrazed - I'm glad your girls are getting some R&R without these two. Hate that you needed to give them up. I think they'll do well here. We already have a crowing contest with all the neighborhood roos. And congrats on the egg! Eggciting!

Bradselig - Ozzie is handsome, you go ahead and brag! I wish I was close enough to you I could get more of your good stock in the future!

Haha. Thanks. I can always send ya some eggs! Did you move farther south? I am going to Anderson area the Thursday of next week

 

[leslea]

Can't you move them out to the garage? As long as they have their EcoGlow I would think they would be fine. Also, I am sure you will adjust somewhat once they are outside. You don't have to hold them or get them near your face, and your allergies should be fine. Wear a mask when working in the coop as M2H's suggested. I have horse allergies like crazy and manage just fine. If I spend a lot of time grooming them I sneeze like crazy, but it has gotten better over time and as long as I don't go weeks or months without being around them I maintain some level of tolerance.

That's the plan. I just want to make sure it won't be 40 overnight again. You know how May weather can be. Maybe we can make the move this weekend.

 

[leslea]

nathanaf ~ My Blue Silkies from bradselig have turned more of a rich, dark gray as they've grown. My husband and son kept referring to them as "the black ones" and the Blue Splash as "the white one,"

which caused me to finally give them names.
ChickCrazed~ Haha I named my Splash Silkie "Ditzy" (pic/post on pg. 2716).

That's a funny story about your horse playing with a rooster in a box! I've read that horses in general have the intelligence of a 5 year old human. So your old horse is still curious and learning!

Btw, Thanks for the compliment, but I can't give up Bonbon. lol She's a family favorite.


Bonbon is teaching them to drink dirty water out of the handle of an upside-down lawn cart (even though a bowl of fresh water was a few feet away).

Raising Chicks Outside
Today Bonbon had the chicks out all day. Bonbon is very self-assured, and the other chickens in the yard are all very respectful. It all seems crazy since those bantam chicks are so tiny. In our fenced-in part of the back yard, Bonbon had them running around up and down hills and over rocks with no problems. I even saw one eat a regular sized worm. They are really interesting to watch, but I am terrified that I will step on one. After today, I decided to just let them out of their coop every morning like we do the other chickens. Bonbon brought them back to their coop this evening and taught them to go up the steps where they're now sleeping on the second floor.

She's such a good mommy!

 

[leslea]

Babies day out!

Cute overload!!!!!

 

[leslea]

Okay, what a week.

Those pics I posted of my littles really bothered me, how dirty they looked from the sand. Now that I know it's not the pine shavings but the chicks themselves I'm allergic to, I'm happy to say the chicks are cleaning themselves up. My guineas had sand coating their beaks. What a mess. I tried to clean Thelma's off and she was having none of it!

And here's another mystery I solved this week. I'd removed the old-fashioned water dispenser and left the chicks two nipple waterers. Well, they obviously knew how to use them, but I don't think they were working well enough, because the chicks would practically fight over them to get a drink. And all my chicks/keets were looking very lethargic. Between the dirty sand and the chicks falling asleep standing up in the middle of the brooder (instead of under the EcoGlow) I was getting concerned. I know chicks under a heat lamp will fall asleep anywhere, but this looked different.

After trying to clean up Thelma's beak, I realized she would probably clean it herself if I put the old-fashioned water dispenser back in the brooder. All the birds ran to it like they were thirsty. A day later, no more dirty/sandy beaks and no more lethargic birds.

I know those nipple waterers are supposed to be the bee's knees but what the heck!? I know mine aren't defective. I have watched the birds drink from them.

Crazy.

I am still getting over the allergy bomb. Doing mostly better. Was able to work today for the first time in 2.5 weeks. It was no vacation. My life is a shambles! But just think of how INTERESTING my future chicken mystery just got, huh? Death by chickens!!!

Here's a selfie from this morning. I am loving this look. No makeup for me!



Dug up some clover for the babies this morning. They are loving it! Mixed some minced garlic in with the feed and little Amy was enjoying it rather than engaging in the stampede to eat the clover:

The block and container are two new "toys" for the chickens. I just realized it looks like I threw a bunch of trash into the brooder. lol PS don't mind my daughter having a fit in the next room