INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[hoosiercheetah]

I guess miracles happen to chickens too.

Sadie, the gray EE, has recovered 90% function in her pecked right eye. She can see fine out of it, as far as I can tell. I did some scientific testing involving wiggling fingers and clover. She can't quite rotate it all the way forward, there seems to still be some swelling at the front corner, but that may even heal over time. I'm really glad; she's been a nice bird. My GCs are getting a lot less skittish as well. Everyone else is pretty much carrying on.

I have a grand scheme to triple the size of my run, add an automatic door to the coop, and double the ventilation. All I need is lots of time and money. Anyone have any they're not using?

 

[LonelyPageTurne]

http://www.cconlystore.com/CC-18-R1-CC-18-R1.htm


This is what dad bought without consulting me. 4 chickens til August it they're allowed out every few days?

 

[pginsber]

http://www.cconlystore.com/CC-18-R1-CC-18-R1.htm


This is what dad bought without consulting me. 4 chickens til August it they're allowed out every few days?

When you say they won't be allowed out, do you mean they have to stay inside the building itself without being allowed outside in the run area?

ETA: Otherwise, it looks fine for 4 birds to me, if they're allowed to be in the run area whenever they choose to be.

 

[ChickCrazed]

When you say they won't be allowed out, do you mean they have to stay inside the building itself without being allowed outside in the run area?

ETA: Otherwise, it looks fine for 4 birds to me, if they're allowed to be in the run area whenever they choose to be.

I agree, I would tack a tarp over part of the run so they have shade (otherwise they will spend too much time in a small coop and problems may arise). You could also add a run extension, would be really easy to do with some 1x1s from lowes/home depot and some hardware cloth. It will be fine for a few months. You have great parents for being willing to do this for you and to go out and proactively get their own coop!

 

[LonelyPageTurne]

When you say they won't be allowed out, do you mean they have to stay inside the building itself without being allowed outside in the run area?

ETA: Otherwise, it looks fine for 4 birds to me, if they're allowed to be in the run area whenever they choose to be.

Yes I mean allowed out into the back yard not just the run.

 

[LonelyPageTurne]

I agree, I would tack a tarp over part of the run so they have shade (otherwise they will spend too much time in a small coop and problems may arise).  You could also add a run extension, would be really easy to do with some 1x1s from lowes/home depot and some hardware cloth.  It will be fine for a few months.  You have great parents for being willing to do this for you and to go out and proactively get their own coop!

Yeah that's all my mom. I also have to drive out there every day to care for them which I expected. I wish he hadn't spent so much on a coop because we could have moved mine over and got a big dog run for less. But it's a nice little coop. And for 8-12 weeks it should be ok.

 

[hoosiercheetah]

http://www.cconlystore.com/CC-18-R1-CC-18-R1.htm

You could put a pair of 4x4s and a set of wheels under that and it would make a respectable tractor. :-D

Maybe your parents will like having chickens so well, they'll decide they need their own flock. Then they'll already have the coop. Win-Win!

 

[LonelyPageTurne]

You could put a pair of 4x4s and a set of wheels under that and it would make a respectable tractor.  :-D

Maybe your parents will like having chickens so well, they'll decide they need their own flock.  Then they'll already have the coop.  Win-Win!

Could you help? Maybe put it on a lever like mine so they can get fresh pasture...

 

[ChickCrazed]

Busy weekend for me! I hope the tractor build at Racinchickens went well, sorry I wasn't able to attend but I was nursing Gregor (he seems to be moving his legs more, but still has yet to stand). Yesterday I started building my last run. Here is my progress thus far. My goal is to get it painted this week, get the door built and then hang the hardware cloth next weekend. I also hauled hay yesterday. I am feeling pretty sore today!



So, filed away under the "this would only happen to me" category, I have a mouse problem in my shed. I have been resisting using poison (which I could put up in the shed loft and the chickens couldn't reach, but I don't want a poisoned mouse to somehow make it into the chicken pens and get consumed) and I don't have the stomach for any trap where I have to see the dead bodies. So I made a humane bucket trap to catch and release them a couple miles down the road. Yesterday I caught one, came back an hour or so later to take it down the road and it had given birth in the bucket! It literally multiplied in less than an hour. What does one do in such a situation? I felt awful dumping it along the road with new babies (eyes not open), and even putting it back in the shed wasn't an option because i didn't know where she would nest. I eventually dumped them all down under the hay (also infested with mice) where a lot of them seem to nest. I'm sure she abandoned the babies and I am not down ANY mice after releasing her back in my barn, but i felt better putting the family somewhere protected and not out in the sun to die. Who else would this happen to? Gaahhhh, I really don't want to use the poison but I am getting closer to doing it, the mice are such an issue and catching them one at a time is not going to help my problem when they are having litters like rabbits (which I also have a problem with).

Another thing I wanted to share with the group is my low feed alert system. I built several of the pvc feeders for my pens, but wanted an easy way to see when they started getting low on feed. I tied a "flag" on one end of a long string, drilled a hole into the feeder and fed that string through and tied a weight on the end that is inside the feeder. The weight sits on top of the feed and as the feed level drops, the weight also drops and pulls the string. When the "flag" gets near the top of the feeder I know it is time to add feed. It enables me to know what the feed level is without going into each pen. I need to fashion something similar for the waterers. Anyway, I am proud of it and it was really easy to do. It could be added to most DIY feeders.

 

[LonelyPageTurne]

Here's the address. It's tonight at 630
9001 E. 59th Street
Lawrence, IN 46216