INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[SallyinIndiana]

Good afternoon everyone! Thought I'd take a break from cleaning coops and say hi t all my Besties! Lol.
Been reading everyone's plans for next year. You all are so ambitious! My plans for next year is to keep on keeping on!
I want t be rid of the seven Comet/queen sexlinks I've got. They are just too aggressive for my taste. I want to add a White crested black polish roo, my girls are lonesome! Hoping to breed a few nice Silkies to get some fluffy butts. I'll keep what I've got now but have some acquaintances here that want some. Would like to just keep the other girls I've got now happy and healthy! I have two Americauna girls that are older, they probably won't make it through th winter (if we have another hard one this year) they had a hard time last year! Wanting to add a frost free water line out by the coops so I don't have t carry water quite so far this winter. Hoping to build a decent duck pond next Spring.
Going t be changing the garden plot some next year to make it easier only back and legs. Well that's my plans. Pretty boring compared to all of you. Oh one other thing- I plan on spending a week camping in Indiana next year...for Chickenfest 2015...hoping maybe one or two of my friends can splurge with some time off to join me! (Hint hint hint) lol. Ok gotta get my babies rooms cleaned up! Ttyl (we are feeling just "ducky" 'round here)


ETA: this is Darcy, Dingo and Waddles. Darcy n Dingo were supposed t b girls. Turns out I've got TWO Khaki Cambell Drakes! Darn Tractor Supply!!!!

I think about wanting a drake every now and then but I really don't need a drake. I like being able to have my ducks teach the chicks how to free range and a drake can be mean to hens. Not all drakes but many.

As for a week of camping, I think we should all pack up and head your way this coming year. If all of us chipped in, I'm sure we could find an old bus, paint some chickens and flowers on it. Just picture it now 20-40 of us Indiana Chicken people headed your way in either a bus or caravan. It could be a history lesson for those of us that missed the 60's. And the BEST part we can make it a surprise for your DH. I'm sure he would love to host the 2015 chicken fest with little to no notice

Just kidding around but it would be fun to travel your way.

 

[EurekaChic]

Our plans for this next year are to build a coop and run and get some chickens!

We're thinking of starting with 6 or 8, but building a 10x8 coop so we have room for chicken math.

We will start with all LF, try to keep to only clean-legged and non-crested breeds for now, and only hens (will rehome any who turn out to be roos). We want to start with some subset of:

Easter Egger, Olive Egger, Buff Orpington, Lav. Orpington, Barred Rock, Australorp, Speckled Sussex, Copper Maran, Ameracauna, Welsummer, some kind of laced Wyandote, Exchequer Leghorn. And I've recently discovered the Swedish Flower Hen, which I think is lovely but I don't know much about it.

We will almost certainly eventually get some silkies - can't resist those fuzzy butts! But we won't start with them.

Any advice on choosing our first flock, or local sources for these breeds, is appreciated.

 

[browncow15]

So my broody hen is on day 9 sitting on eggs. I went out the other day and realized there was one less egg in her nest than I had put in there. DH suggested maybe she ate it, then I found half a shell pushed to the side last night when I let her out. This morning I went out and another egg was broken in her nest what's going in? Thres egg yolk all over the other eggs too, should I mess with them or leave them be?

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

...

So my broody hen is on day 9 sitting on eggs. I went out the other day and realized there was one less egg in her nest than I had put in there. DH suggested maybe she ate it, then I found half a shell pushed to the side last night when I let her out. This morning I went out and another egg was broken in her nest what's going in? Thres egg yolk all over the other eggs too, should I mess with them or leave them be?[/quote


Spuds like she might be smashing them. If she wa eatig them it would probably be ALL gone. If you have an incubator you can move them to it. If not, just leave with her and hope for the best

 

[bradselig]

@ellymayRans


May I ask - did he lose the toes to frostbite?  And, if so, do you know how he got it?  Did he step into an open waterer? 

(I'm keeping track of frostbite hazards so I always ask folks how their birds got frostbite... just wanted you to know that I ask everyone about frostbite so I don't mean anything personal by asking!!)




Is that the Cream legbars?  I had wanted to try some just for the colored eggs and I like that they are auto-sexing over the EEs.  This was just for my own egg basket as I like the variety of color and LOVE that I'd be able to tell what they are at hatch.  The only thing that makes me hesitate is the crest.  I don't like crested birds as mine need to be predator savvy.  But their crests don't seem to be too excessive.... 

All that is to say that I may be interested in trying them out sometime if you have any at a time that I have room for them!


@bradselig

I remember seeing your pens with the dog houses and asking about predator safety.  Now I have another question.  Do you use that kind of pen in the winter or just summer? 

Last year I kept them out there for as long as possible. With all the snow last winter they didn't work too well. I plan on making an "entry way" to all my pens so it helps prevent wind and snow from blowing in. I've been making some very simple "coops" practically dog house for the remaining of my breeding pens. Again, so far working very well. We will see this winter. If they don't work out, they will be place in pens inside the sheds and possibly garage (I really don't want them back in there though!)

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Here he is. ..my poor baby with no toes!

Aw, handsome guy! I had a boy lose his toes years and years ago. He's now 9 years old and has outlived every other rooster I've kept. He has a bit more of his toes left than your boy, though. We call him Toes, for obvious reasons.

pipdzip : this young IaB boy looks similar to your Fayoumi (& mama in background):

Do you know what their color genetics are? The coloring Fayoumis have is called silver transverse penciling. He's a cutie, by the way.

So guys.. whats your plan going into next year? I am looking at the species and breeds we have now.. Holler out what your plans are next year!

Ducks! I don't know if my little egg is going to hatch, but either way, I'll be looking for more ducks! Thinking about trying again with call duck hatching eggs, or possibly buying a pair and hatching my own. And I'm also looking pretty closely at miniature Appleyards, though they seem harder to get a hold of. Mainly, though, I'm on the lookout for bantam ducks.
As far as chickens, well, my chicken coop is full at the moment, so I'll probably just focus on trying to get my duck flock going. But if I do decide I have room for more, I have a super long wishlist and a shiny new incubator. The world is open to me!

I am still on the fence whether I want to keep going with the Birchen Marans and legbars. If anything I will just keep the hens out in the free ranging flocks. I love the temperament of the Marans and their egg color. Legbars I like the egg color. I think I'd rather have silkied ameraucanas if I USA just judging on egg color. The autosexing is ok. It's nice for people who want pullets but then I'm stuck with a bunch of cockerels. I'm too soft to kill them just because they are Roos. I have a hard enough time to kill a crippled chick that I hatched! Lol. The market also seems to be over saturated now with them and selling the eggs is hard to do anymore.

Aw, I feel kind of guilty now! If it's any consolation, I'm very happy with my pretty little Legbar pullet from you!

You know, if you're thinking about getting out of both the Marans and the Legbars, you could probably make some really interesting Olive Eggers by pairing the two up. There are definitely a lot of Legbars out there now, although relatively few people are actually breeding them toward the UK standard, so there is still a niche. Even so, you know the market's pretty saturated when a hatchery starts selling them!

 

[Leahs Mom]

I'm right now trying to figure out how to make a sheltered "eating" shed or lean-to of some kind that will be totally snow proof just outside the hen shed. I want to keep food and water out there and give them a larger area during the winter that's sheltered. haven't figured out how it's going to be yet.

I'd love to see what you come up with.

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

Here are some picture of my chickens at the state fair.



White Rock-champion american


Splash ameraucana-2nd


Splash ameraucana-2nd




blue ameraucana-1st and RB


White rock-3rd


Mottled cochin bantam-1st

I spent entirely too much money at the fair. And i guess at the open show they might have some sale pens. I'm in trouble lol !


There is a junk pile in on of our barns, that we are slowly clearing away. And I have a few hens that kind of just do whatever they want and go from one barn to the other. And I found a stash of eggs in the piile of junk.




My precious "little" meat chickens. I don't want to butcher any of the girls. They are so sweet! And out of 10, only 3 are boys...........


3 tolbunt polish chicks from Brad.









And a fat, angry, fluffed up broody hen....standing on a saw?

 

[CluckAcres]

I was told i need to pop in more often. So here i am. Lol. How is everyone? I been busy all day working on my silkies coop. Making it better before winter comes.

sent from your friendly neighborhood poultry raiser! cluck... cluck...

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

I have 5 black Minorca hens for sale. Around 1 1/2 years old. Currently laying. $7 each or all for $30. Near bluffton. PM if interested