INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Chaneys Ranch]

Whew! Fair stuff is finally over for us after a pretty intense 3 weeks. I've feel like I've been gone away from home & from here forever! There's a lot of stuff piled up to do, weeds are all over the garden again and...yes...a couple of RED tomatoes!!! After a few days to catch our breath after county fair we headed down to state fair this past weekend. Chloe gave her rabbit illustrated talk on Food for Freedom -- How Rabbits helped to Win the War (WWII). She was able to do a power point with it (at least half the kids are using technology now instead of posters) and the WWII poster images we had found looked great for the presentation. A lot of people mentioned that they never knew the government had such a program to encourage people to raise their own meat rabbits and chickens. Oh -- and she took Champion in her age division which also earned her a 4-H achievement award trip to Washington DC in October!! She placed 5th in the Rabbit Ambassador contest. She's kicking herself after looking at the scores of the top 5 people. 3rd, 4th & 5th place all had the same score (not sure how they decided to place them). The champion & reserve spots were only a couple points higher. She realized if she had answered 1 particular question on Breed ID differently she could have placed Champion! She's still very happy with how she did. I wore my BYC t-shirt on Sunday, but no one came up to say Hi! Guess that means either none of you were there or you didn't see me or you saw me & I scared you away!!

Now we're getting ready for school to start on Thursday (waaaayyyy too early), but maybe I'll be able to finally focus on my stuff instead of all the kids' things for a change, although....I told Chloe she couldn't start driver's ed until all her fair projects were done....Yikes! it's here now!!

I am soo sorry we couldn't make it, but its hopeless for me right now. Chloe excelled, she is amazing!

I soo cried when my youngest got her license, the clerk.as well. Our girls grew up together and both were the babies of our families.
Talk about empty nest syndrome and 2 silly women that day!

Morning all! Have some chicken pics

You have some lovely happy babies!

Quote: I have a quad of millies and really like the breed. The roo is just as sweet as the hens.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

I recall some folks asking about how corn was doing. .well I took a pic..unfortunately I didn't think about it until after we harvested most of it but here it is. It was our best year yet! So far we pulled 157 ears of Ambrosia which is really hardy and did great. Now this weekend we'll finish it off with the Candy Corn pictured here. There are approximately 50 stalks with almost 2 ears per..those cobs are about the size of my forearm and stalks are approximately 9-10 ft tall! I've never eaten it before so that is yet to be determined.

I checked some today... so did my goat

Sugar says not ready to pick yet.

excuse the messy countertop. ..it's a norm around here!! But this is the harvested Ambrosia. .mmm mmm good!

YUMMMM

Quote:

is it? I am too!

Quote: They are so small, maybe he wont see them

 

[kittydoc]

First, the fun stuff! I have 7 black/lav English Orpington eggs chugging along, halfway to hatch. I believe all 7 are alive.

Now the bad news. As some or most of you know, Mt. Healthy hatchery has a salmonella problem for the third year in a row. They sell to Tractor Supply and other retailers. These are human strains. No deaths, but lots of people landing in the hospital. The cdc.gov page has lots of good info. I just don't understand why this has not been eradicated.

FYI!

 

[hoosiercheetah]

I just [don't] understand why this has not been eradicated.

Money. But I'm cynical.

I also think Mt. Healthy's name is a little ironic. Like the "White" River. Not what you're expecting it to be.

 

[Thriftymom6]

I built a communal next box for my Bielies.  Heiser the rooster was in there immediately clucking up a storm.  He is so ginormous he barely fit.  The Bielie pullets are smaller, I hope they fit!  I did make it extra large for them but it still looked small with the rooster crammed in it!  

Kab, those EE are gorgeous!  I would love to know what mixes throw some of the different EE colors.  

How many bielefelders do u have? I have some too, I can't wait till they get bigger. They are so much bigger now at 2 months. Have urs been affected by the heat? Mine seem to pant and they are not as good at foraging as the other breeds.

 

[ChickCrazed]

How many bielefelders do u have? I have some too, I can't wait till they get bigger. They are so much bigger now at 2 months. Have urs been affected by the heat? Mine seem to pant and they are not as good at foraging as the other breeds.

They do pant in the heat. I think it is all the "junk in the trunk" that creates heat. LOL. I know my junk in my trunk makes me run hot! LOL. Mine are very close to laying! I can't wait! I have 1 Roo and 6 pullets. They are gorgeous and such a nice docile breed! I don't have mine out free ranging. I am an overprotective mommy. I really should but I let the egg layers out daily (super spoiled) and hate the think about locking them up when they are used to being out. I could try letting them all out together...hmmmm.

In other news, my flock is Isbars is also coming into maturity. My Isbar roo thinks he is very mature, and demonstrates it very often. He is torturing the poor, slower to develop pullets. Last night I made a very loose hobble out of baling twine. It is long enough that he can still move well, but should slow him down so the pullets can avoid him better. I'm hoping it will work out for a couple of weeks until they start laying and are more "amenable" to his charms. Poor Harris. LOL. Has anyone else tried this?

 

[Thriftymom6]

Well finally back from the fair! I entered a chicken wrong an ended up bringing one back home. Oh well, life goes on. I did this project interact where you pretty much sit at a table with a chicken and people can pet them and ask you questions. You don't have the slightest idea how many little kids asked me if my splash Ameraucana was an owl lol

That's great! My nephew lives with me and when he first came he seen a deer in the field and yelled look at that moose guess ya had to be there to appreciate his city outlook on wildlife. He still can't get over all the frogs, and bugs.

 

[Thriftymom6]

They do pant in the heat.  I think it is all the "junk in the trunk" that creates heat.  LOL.  I know my junk in my trunk makes me run hot!  LOL.  Mine are very close to laying!  I can't wait!  I have 1 Roo and 6 pullets.  They are gorgeous and such a nice docile breed!  I don't have mine out free ranging.  I am an overprotective mommy.  I really should but I let the egg layers out daily (super spoiled) and hate the think about locking them up when they are used to being out. I could try letting them all out together...hmmmm.

In other news, my flock is Isbars is also coming into maturity.  My Isbar roo thinks he is very mature, and demonstrates it very often.  He is torturing the poor, slower to develop pullets.  Last night I made a very loose hobble out of baling twine.  It is long enough that he can still move well, but should slow him down so the pullets can avoid him better.  I'm hoping it will work out for a couple of weeks until they start laying and are more "amenable" to his charms.  Poor Harris.  LOL.  Has anyone else tried this?  

Don't feel bad u aren't free ranging them mine have the option and they stay next to the coop. They are not avid foragers. You have isbars too! Now I'm jealous I have never heard of that. Any pics to see what u mean?

 

[lilmizscareall]

Just stopping in!
My 2 year old and I will be heading to the State Fair today! She will definitely be wearing her BYC'er shirt and I'm debating still if I'm going to wear mine. I'm a tank top girl, this time of year. So if you see us, I'm Annie and she's Pearl!

 

[racinchickins]

If anyone goes, I'd love to know more about what they offer and their prices too. Their website just has an email link and not much else.