INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[SallyinIndiana]

Quote:
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also praying

 

[Mother2Hens]

I just want to mention (so that I don't look insensitive) that despite all that jchny/Janet is going through with her Dad's condition, she asked me to go ahead and post the Chickenfest announcement so that she has a happy event to look forward to.

barb s has volunteered to send the announcement to all members on our list. Hopefully, we'll have other volunteers to help ensure a fun afternoon because we certainly don't want our Thread Starter Janet to feel overwhelmed. She found a place to get together and that's the most difficult job.

I am working on catching up on the thread-- I think I might try a new method of going backwards to catch up! I do like to read every post; I wouldn't want to miss anything. My Indy trip was successful, but hectic as usual. I stopped briefly at the Plainfield Barnes & Noble to say hi to CRSelvey/Cheryl and her kids.

Then I went on to Indy where I stayed with my daughter Meredith, and after my voice treatment on Wednesday, we went to Fountain Square where lilmizcareall/Annie works to meet her and her adorable little daughter named Pearl.

Meredith happens to works nearby at Thunderbird, so she and Annie knew some of the same arty friends. We picked up Annie's handsome BR mix roo -- originally from bradselig (like all other birds) lol. I dropped Meredith off and then drove the roo to Rural King West in Evansville where I handed him off to new member chicks47720.

He lives in a nice area that I am familiar with and has other poultry. I had bonded with that roo on the way home (I even bought him an apple at a convenience store) haha, so I kinda hated to give him up

--though I don't need another chicken, much less a roo. Even though I saw way too many orange construction barrels on my trip, at least I avoided the big thunderstorm event. I am crazy about clouds and sky colors, so I loved seeing the array produced by upcoming storms churning around. My kids always give me a hard time about looking at clouds as I'm driving.

This evening I was showing my son who had stopped by some photos of where Meredith is moving. He was swiping through my photos when he spotted my cloud photos that I had taken while driving home on I70! Oops-- I heard an earful.

 

[Mother2Hens]

@indianachicken @brian5161986 @Crooked House @sealmonk

Welcome to the Indiana Thread!

About the Indiana Thread~
To participate on the Indiana Thread, we ask that you follow byc.com’s rules for family-friendly posts. We have members of all ages. Our thread is known for being very active because our members are supportive, respectful of each other’s opinions, interesting, and fun! The Indiana Thread is a diverse group of fantastic members who range from newbies to experienced chicken owners, those who raise chickens for healthful food, and others who enjoy chickens as pets. And we love photos! Posts are not limited to the topic of chickens. There is no such thing as a “dumb” question! Whatever your questions may be, we likely have members who can help you.

Do you want to be listed on the Indiana BYC Members’ List?
“Being a member of this thread” just means adding your screen name and flock info, which can be helpful because the list is a spreadsheet format that lets you sort the list by breed, county, or other category. It’s an easy way to find other members who have the same breed you have or who live in a nearby county, etc.

Click on the link (Indiana BYC Members’ List) located below my signature to view the Indiana page. Just look at the bottom of the list page for sorting options.

If you’d like to be added, send a PM (personal message) by simply placing your cursor over my screen name: Mother2Hens, and you will see “Send a PM.” bradselig and CRSelvey (Cheryl) actually add the info, so you can PM either one of them directly, too-- whatever is the easiest for you. A personal message ensures that your info is added. Please send your screen name, county, and city. Also include the following information about each member of your flock: List each species (chicken, duck, etc.), breed (Barred Rock, Blue Cochin, etc.), is it a LF (Large Fowl) or Bantam? If you breed, please include the species. If you have any questions about this thread, please PM jchny2000 (Janet) who is the founder (thread starter) of this group.

Indiana County Map for instant member location/Avatars
If anyone would like a map of your county, like the one on my avatar, I will be happy to provide one. If someone wants a combo map and a chicken or an animal for your avatar, I can put that together for you, just PM me. When I read posts, many times I think “Now where are they from?” I look at the city and still have no idea what part of the state they’re from. The map icon with the county in red because you could quickly glance and see where the member who is posting is from. These avatars are not required-- they are just a free service if you’re interested.

Avatar Updates
If members would like me to change the photo(s) on their avatars, just PM me. Someone might have a picture of a chick that has grown into a hen (or a roo!) and would like to update the photo or someone might like something totally different.

BYC Indiana Google Map for detailed information
Cluck Acres (Curtis) set up a Google Map for just us INDIANA BYC’ers. You must first log on to your Google account or make a Google account. (If you have gmail, just use your gmail password). All you have to do is go to this link....http://goo.gl/maps/UShV6 . Here are the directions. You will see the state of Indiana.. Zoom in to where you live and then click on the red button that says Edit. After you click Edit you will see a hand, blue pin point and a zig zag line on the map. Click the pin point and drag it to where you live on the map. After you have placed your pin point then click on it and you can edit your description by adding your county. If you want to change your blue pin point to another icon or upload your own then up on the right of that box click the pin point icon and choose others or upload your own icon. If anyone has problems with this feel free to ask.

This information is submitted periodically by Mother2Hens




Originally Posted by shellybelly shellybelly~ I'm catching up, so someone may have suggested this for crossed legs, but check out Poultry Podiatry - PoultryPedia - Google Sites As far as wry neck, my health book says that it's a genetic trait caused by poor hen nutrition. Wonder who the hatchery was.
@Leahs Mom I loved your post on page 2856 -- Why did the chicken cross the road? hahaha

 

[Mother2Hens]

We raised 8 Cornish X in April & May, that is what the roasted chicken is. Definitely not one of my babies!

haha -- I noticed after my post that @pginsber was more astute in noting that the roasted chicken wasn't black skinned.

 

[pginsber]

When my DW was in the hospital for shoulder replacement surgery, I stayed with her 24/7. I'm not a trustful person, so I needed to hear and see everything that was being done to her by the 'professionals'.

In the wee hours of the morning, when the pumping and deflating of pressure cuffs, the rythymic beeping of the monitors, and the distant sounds of persons in the hallway were the only companions I had, I turned to my smartphone and surfed the BYC boards. It brought me comfort in a strange way.

People talking about their birds, their animals, and their daily challenges, was like a beacon in the night that normalcy would return to our life.

I knew our life would never be the same after the accident, but reading posts on the chicken board kept me reminded that outside those hospital walls, the world was still turning.
I really appreciated that, but don't know the I ever expressed it. jcny2000's circumstances reminded me of that.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

I hatched out 4 BLRW chicks today. BUT 1 has spraddle legs. I have tried to help spraddle leg chicks before. Most times the chicks don't make it for me. But the ones that do make it grow up fine with no other issues.

Would anyone here be interested in picking up a FREE BLRW chick today? Please message me as I get behind on reading the posts during the day. I have 3 black star rooster chicks I can toss in too so the little BLRW chick would not be alone.

 

[leslea]

Morning all. I am 516 posts behind, so about to go back and catch up, but first, I wanted to post these pics and see if you think my "Oprah" is really a Stedman.









She is not exactly crowing, but she has made a couple of strange "buzzing" sounds. She is not super aggressive, but she sometimes chest-bumps the other girls and I read today on BYC that her color may mean she's male.

What do you think?

ETA: she was 4 weeks old Monday.

ETA: She's an EE

 

[pginsber]

Morning all. I am 516 posts behind, so about to go back and catch up, but first, I wanted to post these pics and see if you think my "Oprah" is really a Stedman.









She is not exactly crowing, but she has made a couple of strange "buzzing" sounds. She is not super aggressive, but she sometimes chest-bumps the other girls and I read today on BYC that her color may mean she's male.

What do you think?

ETA: she was 4 weeks old Monday.

Oprah's cute--what breed is she? Depending on what comb that breed has, her comb size may not be of concern.

 

[leslea]

No she wasn't old enough to lay yet. I wish I knew what happened to her. Unfortunately there is no Purdue type facilities around here. I'd be afraid what the outcome would be but from the little I know of chickens I'd say she was poisoned. My neighbor just told me he put out rat poison on Sunday to try to control the growing population in his yard. The idiot has no concern for anyone or other creatures who might get into it. I'm almost positive that's what killed her now. I'm going to have to be very observant and alert to where all my babies are from now on. To all my friends with kind sympathetic words, I so appreciate your thoughts. THANK YOU. I know others have bn through worse than losing one bird, God Bless you I have no idea how you made it through. So many emotions!!!! Mostly angry at my neighbor!

I don't blame you. In a perfect world we would have all the fencing we needed and the nicest neighbors ever...

She was abducted by Stefano DiMera and taken to a secret location in South America for cloning. The clone will then return to Salem and sell him two percent of Titan Industries. :-D

Okay, the truth is the two GCs have exactly the same personality, so I thought one of them was unnecessary. Especially with the very limited time I have to develop them. I almost combined Anne and Catherine... But my Catherine really is as dumb as a bag of hammers, so I thought it would be fun to leave her in, as a counterpoint to Elsa and Penelope. I think it will give depth and flexibility to my cast.

I have too many thoughts.

It's called "being a writer." I totally understand.

I have a chick question for all you experts. My babes were 4 weeks old Monday - that means their brooder can be 75 right? It has been nice and toasty here and without the heatlamp their brooder is staying between 75-80. Most of the day they spend out in the run and I bring them in at night (under much protest). But the past two nights, without the heat lamp they freak out! It seems to be a light issue not a heat issue (if I put them back int he brooder when it is still nice and sunny they don't et so upset) and was worse tonight than last night. They are not acting cold or hot, they just don't like the dark and cry and cry very loudly for 20-30 minutes. Their brooder is far enough away from the light in the room and on the east side of the house so it is pretty dark in there even with the room light on. But they need to get used to the dark right? - so they are ready for the outdoors once they are there full time. In the meantime I feel like the meanest mama hen ever. Queen Elizabeth is older than the rest by several days to a week, she really flipped tonight and I took her out b/c I was afraid she woudl hurt herself. She kept flying of the roost into the side of the brooder. I got her calmed down and put her back. She stopped her seeming suicide attempts but was walking around the outer edge of the brooder scratching and crying. They even freaked the dog out - he takes his job of honorary roo very seriously and was outside and about knocked the door down to see what was wrong with his girls. After 15 min they began to calm down, it went in waves, they'd calm down and then get worked up, calm down, get worked up. By 30 min. they seemed resigned to their new reality and by an hour were making their normal chortling peeping noises. None of them are particularly happy about the dark but 2 are the most unhappy and really seem to get the rest worked up. So is this adjustment normal or am I just being a worried mama hen?

Thanks!

My chicks were 4 weeks on Monday and I removed the EcoGlow because it's been so hot. The brooder is in my garage. I don't know how many you have, but my 7 have been comfortably sleeping together in a huddle at night. They are very happy.

Be Proactive ~ IMPORTANT TIPS TO KEEP YOUR FLOCK COOL DURING A HEATWAVE

Buckets of Cold Drinking Water/Hydrating Treats
Use several plastic buckets of cold water placed in shady areas. Buckets are easy to pick up and replace with cold water during the day. You can place a large rock next to the bucket for easier access. If you have a hose in a handy location, use it to refill large plastic (not metal) bowls. Other treats to help hydrate: watermelon, cantaloupe, lettuce, cucumber, grapes. These can also be frozen in bags so they’re ready when the chickens need a cool treat. Freeze plastic bottles of water to put in water buckets, nesting boxes, and in front of fans. Electrolyte packets are available from farm stores or you can use 50% Gatorade with 50% water.

Keep Coop Well-Ventilated
Use fan(s) to keep air flowing in the coop especially near nesting boxes during the day and perch areas at nighttime.

Fans Combined with Cold Water
As water evaporates it cools the air, so keep a bucket or two of cold water near a fan. Or direct a fan toward misters, sprinklers, or a hosed-down area. Keep the area by the fan shaded. If there isn’t any shade, make some. A patio umbrella, golf umbrella, shade cloth, or lattice all work nicely. Avoid tarps, solid wood panels, or anything that will inhibit air movement.

Cool Off Ground Litter
Pine shavings and hay hold in the heat. Rake everything up, especially chicken droppings which also contributes to an elevated ground temperature. Bare ground is a little extra work for you to keep clean, but a once over with a rake everyday is a small price to pay if it means saving your birds. Construction (coarse, mixed with gravel) sand makes a good, cool ground litter, but depending on conditions, it may need to be hosed down from time to time if it becomes too dry and dusty.

Dust Bath and Cool Dirt Bath
Besides a dust bath area, offer a cool bath area. Dig up a few inches of dirt to create a tub area in the shade. When you refresh the chickens’ drinking water, pour what’s left in the buckets into the dirt tub. Chickens will play in the water then lay in the mud holes to stay cool. Wet conditions are great for finding worms, a chicken favorite.

Heat Exhaustion: What to Do!
A chicken that is suffering heat exhaustion will be lying down, panting, and is lethargic or unable to stand. They lack color and are unresponsive to their surroundings. If you don’t act quickly they will die. Heavy birds such as Orphingtons, Rocks, etc. are the first to show signs of intolerance to extreme heat.

Be Proactive and Act Fast!
Grab one of those buckets of water in the yard, this time find one that is not freshly filled with cold water and place the bird in the bucket of water until it is soaked. Remove the bird from the yard [the others will pick on a distressed bird] and place it under tree or a shady spot, preferably on grass. If it’s not a breezy day, get a fan on the bird, a low setting is best. Stay with the bird and hold the wings away from the body helping it to cool quicker. Keep a plastic baby pool handy near the chicken yard; after the bird begins to show signs of relief usually about 10 minutes, place it in the baby pool with about three inches of cold water. Within 15 minutes the bird should be standing on its own, and most likely looking for the way out! Then return the bird to the shady area near a fan or mister, but under keep it under observation until the sun goes down.
Leahs Mom ~ I like your "foot bath" idea, but it seems like you'd have to constantly change the water because of contaminating it not only with poop, but whatever might be lurking on their feet or legs. It would be great to train them to know the difference between a foot bath and drinking water! You might not like this idea, but I suppose the water sanitizing method of adding 1/8 teaspoon of Bleach (adjust if Bleach is concentrated) to one Gallon of Water would be a good idea.

Great tips.

For anyone else who was curious, those shower/tub valves have a one-piece cartridge that you can remove and replace. That's the repair for this type of leak. The cartridges are readily available. It is definitely a good idea to take the old one into lowe's to make sure you get the right replacement.

ETA I'm partial to Lowe's because they give a 10% discount to military and veterans, and I are one.

Do you need any kind of ID for that discount? All my DH has is his dd-214 (I think that's what it's called).

Shed Windows
I'm still catching up on the thread, but noticed that someone mentioned making windows for ventilation. I happened to run across this resource, which looks like a good one: www.shed-windows.com They also have shed accessories.

Pinned it!!!

The babies are 4-8 weeks old. The older ones are smaller birds, silkies and a legbar. I have
3 blue partridge/gold partridge brahmas
2 legbar pullets
1 golden comet
1 tetra tint
3 silkies
1 blue orpington

Then my older birds are
1 rir pullet
2 blrw pullets
1 golden comet pullet
1 blrw cockerel
1 blue cochin pullet


And the blrw cockerel I'm finding a new home for with sally.

Wishing you all the best with this. I hate when you're finally surfacing and the universe decides to serve up another smackdown.

I think I am too far away to help you, but if it gets to the point of desperation, let me know. I know a few chicken folks down here.

I would take the chemical approach. I would spray it down with bleach water and let it dry. Then pressure wash to remove any residual bleach and let it dry. I would paint it inside and out even if it was already the perfect color. Maybe use a lime whitewash recipe if I ever bought the ingredients. I would then spray it down with seven just in case there were still critters hiding. Then I would use a test bird or two since they don't like to be alone. Then after what would be about 2 weeks I would trust that all is well and fill the coop with chickens.

Totally want to take the whitewash approach to my coop. Need to do it soon! We should be working on the roof this weekend (fingers crossed).

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.

Ingenious.

Your "funny" for the day. Copied from an email I got:

Every one of you that's posted and sent PMs, thank you so much. Prayers are helping he had slight improvement today. Is still in ICU. His numbers are improving and oxygen levels are rising finally. My Dad is of strong faith, and I am truly grateful for all your thoughts.

I just want to mention (so that I don't look insensitive) that despite all that jchny/Janet is going through with her Dad's condition, she asked me to go ahead and post the Chickenfest announcement so that she has a happy event to look forward to.

barb s has volunteered to send the announcement to all members on our list. Hopefully, we'll have other volunteers to help ensure a fun afternoon because we certainly don't want our Thread Starter Janet to feel overwhelmed. She found a place to get together and that's the most difficult job.

I am working on catching up on the thread-- I think I might try a new method of going backwards to catch up! I do like to read every post; I wouldn't want to miss anything. My Indy trip was successful, but hectic as usual. I stopped briefly at the Plainfield Barnes & Noble to say hi to CRSelvey/Cheryl and her kids.

Then I went on to Indy where I stayed with my daughter Meredith, and after my voice treatment on Wednesday, we went to Fountain Square where lilmizcareall/Annie works to meet her and her adorable little daughter named Pearl.

Meredith happens to works nearby at Thunderbird, so she and Annie knew some of the same arty friends. We picked up Annie's handsome BR mix roo -- originally from bradselig (like all other birds) lol. I dropped Meredith off and then drove the roo to Rural King West in Evansville where I handed him off to new member chicks47720.

He lives in a nice area that I am familiar with and has other poultry. I had bonded with that roo on the way home (I even bought him an apple at a convenience store) haha, so I kinda hated to give him up

--though I don't need another chicken, much less a roo. Even though I saw way too many orange construction barrels on my trip, at least I avoided the big thunderstorm event. I am crazy about clouds and sky colors, so I loved seeing the array produced by upcoming storms churning around. My kids always give me a hard time about looking at clouds as I'm driving.

This evening I was showing my son who had stopped by some photos of where Meredith is moving. He was swiping through my photos when he spotted my cloud photos that I had taken while driving home on I70! Oops-- I heard an earful.

Pull over and take the pics, hon. Please. The photos will come out better and you won't crash.

Oprah's cute--what breed is she? Depending on what comb that breed has, her comb size may not be of concern.

She's an EE.

 

[ChickCrazed]

Oprah's cute--what breed is she? Depending on what comb that breed has, her comb size may not be of concern.

The rooster watch is the most frustrating thing about chicks. Even when they are "sexed" by the hatcheries they get it wrong about 20% of the time. I got lucky with my isbars and 4/5 were pullets!!! I am watching my Hedemora's carefully, the one I thought was a girl from feathering, stance and size got huge red wattles and is now very obviously a boy. The one I thought originally was a boy still has an uncomfortably large comb and manly stance, but the comb and wattles haven't turned bright red like the other. I am preying they aren't both boys!!! And I am on pins and needles over the two silkies. I still have a sinking feeling that crooked beak is a boy and have no idea what to do with him if he is.....

Good luck on roo watch!! The next 6 weeks it should get more obvious and maybe some of the pros out there can help. I only have experience with the single combs so my guess is as good as yours!

I have been dutiously working on my last run. I have it all painted and the door hung (that was a debacle, I really am not good at making doors). I am getting ready to go out and hang the hardware cloth. I took today off to do this and get my car serviced. Unfortunately netflix released the new season of orange is the new black so I am trying very hard not to sit and binge watch!!!! Boo netflix and your timing (and my lack of self control!!!). I think this run will be my last big project this year. I may build my bee hive and build deck boxes and have some fence to stain, but those are not necessary and timing is flexible. I'm looking forward to getting to relax a bit on my weekends and only tackle minor projects for the rest of the year!

Oh, and Gregor has started to bounce back. I am fighting with him to keep him in his sling. He is being a butt about it and would rather fling himself out of his sling and lay on his legs, but he lost so much range of motion and muscle tone by doing that. Now that I have him in the sling he is moving his legs around and getting range of motion back and even though he isn't strong enough to stand he is moving his legs and even his feet a ton more! I think we are on the upswing!!! I only wish I had tried harder to get him in the sling right away. I have a feeling he would be back to normal by now. Oh well, live and learn.