INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

Who else got a short but powerful downpour? DH and I were out watering the chickens. We have new waterers and they are working wonderfully. We got ours from premier after seeing @racinchickins
Our new waters fill from the top it is so much easier than tipping and refilling. Of course it would have been even easier had we removed all of the tops and let the rain fill the waters up a bit. The duck pen has open water bucket along with a kiddie pool. The rain nicely filled their water for the night.
We did and I was lucky enough to be driving
 
Well my first experience with a hatchery and mail order chicks was an epic fail! I ordered 16 chicks from Meyer hatchery. Mostly rare breed stuff. After a miscommunication about weather or not they could ship the order complete, they did have what I ordered back in December. They shipped out on monday USPS priority mail. Fed ex and ups are both next day from ohio standard ground. This morning, they came in, 3 live, 13 dead. One has a broken leg and might not make it. Of course they dont have most of my original order to ship now, so I settled forwhat they had. Hopefully they dont take two days to come in and they are not dead.
 
Hello all - sorry ive been M.I.A, for the past month & 1/2 (& about 3000+ posts behind) - so here's the cliffnotes version since late april :
Took a week off for a family vacation to N. Carolina & stopped near Baltimore on way back to get some things from my DWs Grandmas estate (have another trip to make out there in a couple weeks to bring back more "stuff")
Pretty much since early May i havent been on BYC much at all - been busy at my job (which often has less than convenient shift schedules) , The in-between times, have been busy doing some yard clean-up (still got some yet t work on after the early winter ice storm), lawn mowing, garden planting, built a hoop house & other chicken housing projects. Did get the barn cleaned out & semi-organized for a garage sale last weekend. Our chicks from our hatch in March are growing up nicely - except the Delaware & EE cockrels are getting closer to be invited to dinner. Just sent out an Iowa Blue hatch to a customer today, although was under a 50% hatch rate of what was originally set. Got our flock NPIP certified.
So - maybe someone(s) could post the highlights of anything ive missed the past few weeks . . . .
Probably wont be able to attend the chickenfest this year, but thank you for the invite. We'd like to get to the Rural King some time in Angola, so if we do, maybe could meet a few people that are near NE Indiana at a coffeshop/restaurant someday
 
I, like fivewire, have been awol also, but am trying to get back on this site more often. Our 6 girls, born in March 2013, are still giving us 30-35 eggs/week! Such prolific layers they are. We've had some quick, sudden downpours here, everything looks so healthy and green.
 
My babies are growing up!!!! My 6 week old hedemora roo and my 16 week old Isbar roo both started crowing this morning. It was hilarious and sounded more like high pitched dinosaur shrieks than crows. Hilarious!!! Also funny, I walked in the Isbar pen this morning to scatter some food and wasn't paying attention. My clingy Marans and Barred Rock pullets all trooped in the pen right behind me ready for some breakfast. The Isbars all ran back to the coop looking concerned at the invaders and I yelled and started trying to herd them out. I got them back out without issue but I guess I need to pay better attention in the future!

Really frustrated with Purdue at this point. I still don't have an answer on Gregor. It has been 6 days and for the fees they charge I am really mad that it is taking this long. When I used the University of Missouri I had an answer within 2 days and they were a third of the price.... not happy, especially because if it is something serious I have delayed action and treatment for another week at this point. I called up there twice yesterday and finally had a student call me back, still no definitive answer. She said there were no tumors and no lesions but she is saying she thinks it is Mareks, but then said that she couldn't say that with certainty until another doctor with more experience on Mareks weighed in. I kept pressing as to why they are saying Mareks when there were no tumors and no lesions and I kept asking when they could tell me for sure and got no real answer. I kind of feel like they are going with the EASY diagnosis, especially if they can't tell me WHY they are saying Mareks. Plus I am now starting to panic over the potential Mareks diagnosis. I am going to be heartbroken if I have to watch them die off one at a time. If it is Mareks I will try vaccinating and will obviously be closing off my flock completely, but 26 of my 30 birds are in the "danger age" of being really susceptible to Mareks so now I am really depressed.
 
Can you reach out to your doctor and get a note saying your chickens are therapy chickens for your depression? Also, can you borrow a silkie to carry into the meeting?
big_smile.png
It might help your cause.

http://www.today.com/parents/boy-autism-can-keep-therapy-chickens-city-council-decides-2D11775878
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/re...ursing-home/Oj9mrJmiCmAI74ryCe4JuK/story.html
http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/blog/p...visitors-university-minnesotas-st-paul-campus
Thank you for sharing these links!
 
Hey all...a bit off topic but thought I'd share something that I found a couple days ago...isactually working!!!
I have an issue with mites (presumably because its bn raining so much the girls couldn't dust bathe???
Anyway I looked up "natural mite remedies" and came up with these, am using both and can't believe how well they are working!
Coop spray/treatment: in a spray bottle put 2c water, 1c cooking oil, 2T dawn (blue) dish liquid. Put on lid and shake before spraying, spray coop heavily first day in cracks, walls, and perches then once every three days for a couple weeks. This breaks the breeding cycle and kills the fresh hatches but doesn't harm your birds if they happen to "taste" it. If you see them on your birds spray them with this mixture: 10 oz water, 2oz garlic juice and a TOTAL of 1Tablespoon of essential oil (lavendar,thyme,lemon,tea tree,peppermint,or cinnamon). Spray directly on your birds being sure to get their vent area and under their wings. My girls were pretty cooperative on the second day of spraying and the coop smells fabulous!!!! Oh BTW I used a tsp of lemon essential out in with the coop spray (flies hate lemon!!! No flies or mites could be seen today!!! I used a combination of thyme and lavendar in the bird spray. So if anyone else is having issues give it a try seriously good stuff!!!!
Great tips! Thank you!
 

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