INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[browncow15]

@bradselig @SallyinIndiana @racinchickins
Any of you have any pure breed hatching eggs?

 

[bradselig]

@bradselig @SallyinIndiana @racinchickins
Any of you have any pure breed hatching eggs?

I have a couple legbar eggs and my white and partridge silkie/showgirls are still laying pretty well.

 

[browncow15]

I have a couple legbar eggs and my white and partridge silkie/showgirls are still laying pretty well.

I'd be interested in the Legbars, how much? Silkie/showgirls aren't really my thing

 

[Mother2Hens]

Ok, I'm asking. What is a bookshelf door? My DH and I are avid readers and keep running out of bookshelf space.

I should be getting ready to leave for Lville, but had to check the thread . . . I've always wanted a bookshelf that's actually a secret door to another room. I posted this before for a company I work for. The pic shows how the door opens to a storage closet.

My Silkies from bradselig are laying little, tiny eggs!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

I have another busy, long weekend! I just want to be home with my chickens. Never mind that my family is coming from different states to get together in Louisville for my sister's birthday. It's a big one. As I've mentioned before, in her "retirement" she became board president of Louisville's Farm Literacy Project, which sponsors programs on a working farm for inner city youth. Anyway, she didn't want a party so the director of FLP and my sister's daughter came up with a Field to Fork Dinner where people may donate to FLP in honor of her bday. My niece who has a fancy job in Boston is underwriting the event, which will include a special chef and will be held at Oxmoor Farm. I'm sure it will be a wonderful weekend, but I'll miss my flock. And I'm tired of chronically being behind on this thread!

I mailed most of the shirts on Wednesday at the PO nearest to me. To make a long story short, I've always felt like they up-sell at that location. They said that a particular envelope package with two shirts was too heavy for First Class, so it would have to go Priority. If I sent one shirt to the same address, it could go First Class. I took those back home and ended up putting them in two separate packages so I could send them each First Class. The next day I took them to the downtown PO where they quoted me totally different prices! She said that she'd just "tape the two packages together" (!) and send them Priority for less! I told her that I thought PO prices were supposed to me consistent, but that first location always seemed pricey. She responded, "Come to our downtown location because Betty and me will always get you the best prices!" Whaaat?
@chick rookie posted: do you guys ever sleep???
Some of us have The BYC Indiana Night Shift and some of you have the Ridiculously Too Early in the Morning Shift!

Those aren't sunglasses-- it's a sleep mask!
Oh gees, you really have a lot on going on! Hopefully you can catch a break soon.

sounds like you need a week of chicken therapy.

 

[Leahs Mom]

My daughter is the poison ivy queen - she can find it when noone else can, so if we make it to your place this weekend I will put her on the hunt. But if I remember correctly one theory was that it got on a cat is that right? If that is the case then it could come from off your property. And that reminds me that I need to get the recipe for poison ivy tincture form my best friend, she never e-mailed it to me. Fels Naphta soap is supposed to be good for poison ivy - I guess it helps dissolve the oils.
For the FIRST TIME EVER I got poison ivy this year. I believe it is because I'm exposed to it on an almost daily basis and I just reached overload. I've never been in the place before where I was exposed daily like I am now.

In the small wooded area where my chickens hang out in there is PI. So any time I pick up a chicken or brush up against a chicken I am exposed. Probably even reaching into the nest box to get the eggs I'm exposed.

I got a case of PI a couple weeks ago and it was pretty much done...had it on my chin and neck and left side mostly.

Then..............


Last weekend I was mowing into an area in the woods that hasn't been cleared yet. There was a downed branch and some brush. Got off the tractor and pulled them all out where we could load them. I was totally sweating - it was one of those humid, hot days with sweat pouring off my face. I kept wiping the sweat from my face.

Husband noticed that the area was FULL OF POISON IVY. Then I mowed through it probably stirring it up into the air too.

Wednesday night my face and eyes started swelling up....one eye swelled almost shut ever since.

I hate the idea of taking a steroid...have some waiting but I keep holding out using a couple of other things in the meantime...hope I don't have to go that route.



I'm going to try the vinegar and salt method to kill it. Can't (and really don't want) to use any chemical pesticides since that's where the birds hang out.

 

[Leahs Mom]

​

Just to add to this, if you have a particularly wet chicken yard, don't use straw for this. I tried to fix a muddy pen with straw and it turned into this nasty, spongy, sour-smelling mat that felt like you were walking over a wet mattress and oozed muddy water when it was particularly wet out. It was gross.

I had a compost pile at the back of the chicken yard that turned into a swamp after all that rain earlier this year, but has cleaned up nicely since I started dumping soiled shavings on that pile. I've not used wood chips, but shavings seem to work quite well at helping muddy spots.

At least in my limited experience.

Absolutely use the shavings! If I didn't have chips that's all I'd use. And I agree - straw is a bad choice.

LOVE the way those shavings and poo break down into a wonderfully healthy soil. The whole run is full of worms just below the surface. Sometime I go out with a shovel and all the birds come running because they know I'm going to turn up some of the soil for them. They stand and wait and watch while I turn each shovelful then dig through for worms.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

@bradselig @SallyinIndiana @racinchickins
Any of you have any pure breed hatching eggs?

My pens are really down for the season. My two breeding reds are molting so their pen while full of birds is not really producing any eggs.

@Leahs Mom I hope you can over come the PI but I would set up a temp fence and hit those plants with the strongest chemicals possible if it was me. And if I could I would be taking the steroids at any point once an eye swelled shut.

 

[Leahs Mom]

PS: On the poison ivy - Anyone have any non-toxic/non-chemical ways to kill PI? I'll try whatever works!

I'm even thinking I'd hire someone to remove it if I could find a place that does it without chemicals that would hurt the animals.

 

[flyladyrocks]

For the FIRST TIME EVER I got poison ivy this year. I believe it is because I'm exposed to it on an almost daily basis and I just reached overload. I've never been in the place before where I was exposed daily like I am now.

In the small wooded area where my chickens hang out in there is PI. So any time I pick up a chicken or brush up against a chicken I am exposed. Probably even reaching into the nest box to get the eggs I'm exposed.

I got a case of PI a couple weeks ago and it was pretty much done...had it on my chin and neck and left side mostly.

Then..............


Last weekend I was mowing into an area in the woods that hasn't been cleared yet. There was a downed branch and some brush. Got off the tractor and pulled them all out where we could load them. I was totally sweating - it was one of those humid, hot days with sweat pouring off my face. I kept wiping the sweat from my face.

Husband noticed that the area was FULL OF POISON IVY. Then I mowed through it probably stirring it up into the air too.

Wednesday night my face and eyes started swelling up....one eye swelled almost shut ever since.

I hate the idea of taking a steroid...have some waiting but I keep holding out using a couple of other things in the meantime...hope I don't have to go that route.



I'm going to try the vinegar and salt method to kill it. Can't (and really don't want) to use any chemical pesticides since that's where the birds hang out.