INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote: The thing that always seems to surprise me about the cornish is how compact and heavy they are for their size. With their tight feathering, they look so small, and then you realize there is nothing hidden in fluff like there is on other breeds.
I have really thought about adding them next year. Wonder how the roosters temperament is? Its going to be a heritage bird for sure, doubt I will raise CX again.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote: Loved your pics! And I warn you now, beware of the chicken math virus

Usually strikes suddenly in the spring, while you are at the feed store. You hear peeep peeep peep! Turn around and there they are

Next thing you know, you walk into your front door with that "peeep peeep peep!" in your hands

Saw this at Big R yesterday. Never saw these before. They werent priced yet so no idea what they run.

So coooool!!!! I am going to google them!
Found it at jeffers
http://www.jefferspet.com/products/k-h-thermo-peep-heated-pad-9-x12
wow, may be getting that for my moderns!

Quote: You are so right! Great post! We have get togethers here, and a pitch in usually. for processing, the guys do help tho

or they don't eat! (just kidding guys) I have done the deed alone, and its harder to do, and makes me feel so much worse over it. If I do, its because an animal is so out of control it needs to be gone (killing another animal) or a severe injury that can't be mended. Most everything meant for the table I have hatched, or seen hatched, or helped birth, raised and cared for.
Next month we have a couple friends coming to help Wilbur's departure (our hog). He has a great life, and is spoiled like a baby. Still gets his back scratches and ear rubs! He wallers in the mud, runs around like a puppy when I bring him hay, pumpkins or squash. I respect him for feeding my family, and treat him like a pet. And I will cry having to say goodbye to him! I feel better knowing how he was treated, what he ate, and that he was happy the year he was with us.
I also notice the household is much more respectful about leftovers, and wasting food too. My nephew has caught on fast to the reality, and is able to be comfortable participating somewhat now. He also asks about every critters future purpose when its born or hatched. It helped me learn young from my grammas', and my parents to respect the animals and show them love, they deserve it. I put the time in to study each animal and know whats healthy for them, and for us later. And I've made painful mistakes too, and learned by them.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote: I want to add rollout egg trays.. someday. I am watching the auctions so many useful things come up.

Quote: I'm more than interested in pictures.

Here is a picture I found on google of the commercially made nests. They run a bit small for my layers. But the big nests offered has only 4 holes and costs even more. Then there is the need to buy the mats and an assembly gun. I don't even need 10 nests, 5-6 would be more than enough. I was thinking of 6 with the ability to block off the lower three.

Watch the auctions. DH sees those for a crazy cheap price from farms selling out. Look above in bright red for the heater link.

Quote: That may work too.

Quote:
My barn cats did not need their own water last winter. They just ate snow or the other animal's water. They did not get fat off of bagged cat food either, although the black Moses sure got his fair share of food somewhere. He won't eat chicken food or goat food so I'm sure it was rodents and such that he was catching.
I bring my sassy cat indoors to my office trailer for the winter, There is a lot of mice since I brood and store food there. She gets fresh water and food daily. Summer, she is fat and does her job, I make sure she has water available. I watch. If she is hungry she is fed, and I deworm her 4x a year.

Quote:
Thanks for sharing that.

I also never thought I'd butcher ANYTHING. But after getting chickens, and knowing that I would much prefer to raise my own food if possible, I knew that part of the reponsibility I would need to take would be that I at least know how to do it and the basics of anatomy so that I could detect if there were any problems with the bird.

I have my "favorite" video on processing. But my husband and I got the opportunity to process a couple of birds to learn "hands-on" on some chickens we didn't know. (You can see the post here from our experience...but know that it is detailed photos... https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...keeping-thread-ots-welcome/4490#post_10304325 )

I'm very glad I got the opportunity. And I now know that I could do it - and that it wasn't as hard or time consuming as I thought it would be. I still might opt to have a local Amish lady do processing on the birds that I "know" well rather than doing it myself. But I have the skill and training and I'm not afraid of the process.

I don't think it will ever be easy to kill ANYTHING for me. But knowing that I have that skill makes me feel more able to be self-sufficient and not have to depend on someone else for my food source.
Good post. Enjoyed the link too!

Quote: Cats wont. And they ignore raccoon! Be sure to take up any food before dark. Raccoons love to dine on chickens.

 

[Mother2Hens]

It's late and I need to get to bed, but wanted to post chick #4 that hatched today-- I spotted it shortly after hatching. So far, Bonbon hatched one last Friday, one Sunday, one Monday (19 day mark), and one Tuesday. She has one to go. Has anyone had a broody that hatched over 5 days or more?

Bonbon did "go to the ladies' room" --lol-- yesterday in the brooder. Broody poop is the worst!

The third chick had already hatched and the other two eggs looked stable, so I whisked Bonbon off of the nest while I quickly cleaned up the brooder mess. While I cleaned up that mess, she made another one on the deck. I noticed she had a messy back end, so I ran her inside, washed and trimmed her rear feathers, and blew dry them in record time! I returned her to the nest, and she was fine-- she lets me do anything.

They're cute little Black Bantam Cochins/possible frizzles ~ eggs from @ellymayRans

Chick #4

 

[chick rookie]

Oh, ick, I didn't think of that...

I wonder how difficult it would be to build a wall-mounted version of those pipe feeders to fit between the studs in the wall...

I am going to make some of the pipe bucket feeders, ( as I have 100 buckets around here ) and am going to hang mine, going to have 2 for my layers and put them in corners, to keep the floor space as much as possible.

Left is Cupcake; Right is Princess
These two are Tweety and Miranda!
We recently moved to Indiana from Cincinnati (suburbia), and are in a rural area/neighborhood (the best of both worlds we feel). We decided to get chicks for Easter, but I am an instant gratification person ha ha, so we got them this past weekend. And we are learning so much already! I have been doing research for about 2 weeks, and now my husband is really getting into it. We have 4 y.o and 2 y.o daughters, that already love the chickens and want to see them all time. We have been touching them/holding them a lot to try to get them used to it. This is our first time owning anything like this, so right now we just wanted hens for the eggs, and to learn how to care for them before we get into the rooster and reproduction part of it. We are very excited about the whole journey!

Is that better pginsber ?lol

like the names... look out for "chicken math" ... lol chicken math is when 2 becomes 4 and then 8 and then 12 and so on and so on.....

@pipdzipdnreadytogo

Take a look at this feeder setup by @RonP :

cool

Saw this at Big R yesterday. Never saw these before. They werent priced yet so no idea what they run.

I almost got 2 of those last Saturday at Cory Creek, but the KID didn't know the price and DAD was MIA.

I looked into the ones for cats and dogs and they look just like that. I came to the conclusion that they wouldn't work for chickens because they are weight activated...meaning that they don't heat until the cat or dog lays on them and it senses their presence. I had considered using one for a broody box one year and then thought better of it.

Not sure if these work the same way or not. If so, I have several questions:
-In a "non-broody box" situation....If the chicken doesn't know it's a warmer because it isn't on until there is weight on it, what would draw the chicken to sit on the mat?
-Will the weight of a chicken trip it to come on?


-

was wondering that myself, figured if I got then and they didn't work would give them to mom for her little dogs, they would love then, cold natured as they are ..

There are more northerners than I realized on the thread!

Oh, those babies! The fuzzy feet!

It took Po a long time before he sounded as impressive as he looked (or, more accurately, as impressive as he thought he looked)! Even then, the big girls wouldn't even give him the time of day.

Po was a smooth feathered Cochin out of black frizzle Cochin bantams, how uncanny! I have lots of pictures of him growing up if you ever want to compare or are worried you might have some boys in the group.

He had little pink wattles and a reddish comb by a few weeks old, gave me no reason to doubt his manhood.

Just because we're on the topic, Po's first crow:

ETA: Something went wrong there!

Everything was in color!

very cute, sounds a little like my white Silkie when "he" first started crowing, scared the life out of me, didn't know what was happening ...

Hi peeps!

Sorry I dropped off the face of the earth for awhile. Can't tell you how much I miss the stress relief being on here, and the lazy days of summer...

The kids and I were out of town for 2 1/2 weeks, then we jumped back into life full speed ahead since we got home. I homeschool so we started school, the kids activities started, out of town guests, 2 birthdays and I have hardly had the time to sleep since we returned. Being on the computer has just not happened (in the rare free moments I'd rather go out and hang with the chickens!). I am only about 1700 posted behind - this time I won't even try to catch up! I really don't even have the time to read anything now, I need to finish dinner and go to work.

We are still waiting for our first egg - any day now it should happen. I need to send my daughter on an egg hunt again in case they are laying under a bush somewhere.

Anyone in Indy hear anything about rezoning? When we sent our comments in Emily e-mailed back saying she would e-mail us back "when our comments were submitted". Well never heard back, and when I e-mailed her to ask she never responded. The latest thing on Indyrezone.org was 8/13 and says "we are now in the deep dark bowels of editing to produce the tools you need to create the more sustainable, more livable Indianapolis that you want." Not sure whether to laugh or cry about that comment b/c the last proposed draft certainly was not conducive to a more sustainable Indy!

Have you seen this shirt - I soooo want one! Here is where you can get them:
http://teespring.com/crazychicklady?p=pe

With that I must run. Hope everyone is doing well!

Welcome back!! I seen those shirts. love them.

He sounded much better once he got the hang of it.

He was a great guy, I hope some day I can find another rooster as good as he was. He had his moments, but he was so good to the girls (even if they didn't give him a second thought) and never once even thought to show aggression to humans.

Yep got it down there. lol

Well it is day 23 and no chicks. I have given up hope and pulled the plug. My DD has some hens sitting and said I could have some chicks if any hatched. I would have been better if they were from my hens and Roo but sometimes you have to take what you can get.

I'm sorry that sucks.

we have a young pullet (5 months & been laying for only 3 weeks) starting to act broody - i'm not a broody hen expert, but doesnt that seem a little young to showing broody behaviour ? Normally, we would embrace the idea of a broody bird, but its getting too close to cooler weather time + we have too many young birds & chicks to figure out what to do with all of them

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/923916/too-young-to-be-broody

My hen that just hatched 3 is only 6 mths old.

It's late and I need to get to bed, but wanted to post chick #4 that hatched today-- I spotted it shortly after hatching. So far, Bonbon hatched one last Friday, one Sunday, one Monday (19 day mark), and one Tuesday. She has one to go. Has anyone had a broody that hatched over 5 days or more?

Bonbon did "go to the ladies' room" --lol-- yesterday in the brooder. Broody poop is the worst!

The third chick had already hatched and the other two eggs looked stable, so I whisked Bonbon off of the nest while I quickly cleaned up the brooder mess. While I cleaned up that mess, she made another one on the deck. I noticed she had a messy back end, so I ran her inside, washed and trimmed her rear feathers, and blew dry them in record time! I returned her to the nest, and she was fine-- she lets me do anything.

They're cute little Black Bantam Cochins/possible frizzles ~ eggs from @ellymayRans

Chick #4

congrats!!! So cute, love the little faces.

 

[gunchief25]

Morning all cockadoodledooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

 

[Granny Hatchet]

was reading the home page this morning and for best post? i think it was, Indiana byc ers got 1st,2nd, 3rd and 10th place.

congrats. to the posters

 

[chick rookie]

ok all caught up now ( again!! ) Well decided to use the new shed coop for the layers as they have outgrown their current coop ( actually I just went nuts with the "Chicken Math" lol. and will put the EE and the Silkies in the old coop after some modifications of course.
QUESTION : do I need to do a total clean out of the old coop before I switch the Silkies and EE's into it? the EE's and the Silkies live right next to the layers, so I don't think there would be a problem??? I'm thinking as long as they all live on the same property they will be fine, its not like bringing new birds in, is it??

QUESTION #2: Got deer netting up all the way around the pen I am going to put the MF"s in ( the old Silkie pen) Again, do I need to do a total clean out first? the MF have not been around the other chickens yet.


QUESTION #3: Remember my hen Baby Girl, she couldn't walk for a long time, now she is walking again. Well she is not stable enough to go up a ramp to get in a house off the ground. Would her Igloo dog box be good enough to keep her warm this winter if I put one of those heated mats on the floor for her?


QUESTION #4: If I made a wall out of the deer netting to keep the MF's and Baby girl apart, do you see any problems I might have? Like maybe getting tangled?? I would make sure it was really tight.

Ok I'm done with the questions for now.. lol Sorry I bombed you with them, my original plans feel through so I'm trying to make new ones.

 

[Granny Hatchet]

we have a young pullet (5 months & been laying for only 3 weeks) starting to act broody - i'm not a broody hen expert, but doesnt that seem a little young to showing broody behaviour ? Normally, we would embrace the idea of a broody bird, but its getting too close to cooler weather time + we have too many young birds & chicks to figure out what to do with all of them

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/923916/too-young-to-be-broody

I had a mama sitting and she had a brood about 3-4 months old . one of my other hens laid in the floor and the baby started sitting the egg ! she hadnt even started laying yet. it did hatch but died soon after. probably because it was in the floor with the flock

 

[ellymayRans]

[COLOR=8B4513]It's late and I need to get to bed, but wanted to post chick #4 that hatched today-- I spotted it shortly after hatching. So far, Bonbon hatched one last Friday, one Sunday, one Monday (19 day mark), and one Tuesday. She has one to go. Has anyone had a broody that hatched over 5 days or more?[/COLOR] [COLOR=8B4513]Bonbon did "go to the ladies' room" --lol-- yesterday in the brooder. Broody poop is the worst![/COLOR] [COLOR=8B4513]The third chick had already hatched and the other two eggs looked stable, so I whisked Bonbon off of the nest while I quickly cleaned up the brooder mess. While I cleaned up that mess, she made another one on the deck. I noticed she had a messy back end, so I ran her inside, washed and trimmed her rear feathers, and blew dry them in record time! I returned her to the nest, and she was fine-- she lets me do anything. [/COLOR] [COLOR=8B4513]They're cute little Black Bantam Cochins/possible frizzles ~ eggs from @ellymayRans [/COLOR] [COLOR=8B4513]Chick #4[/COLOR]

I have experienced staggered hatches from both broodys and incubation! I'm always so envious of those that post their day 21 hatching and all of them on or within that day! I don't think it's that uncommon though! So awesome you've gotten such a good hatch rate though! My % success has always been so much better with a broody. .my big Marans girls are bad about smooshing them before they make it all the way out but I have only had a couple that died early on. Your first hatchling is soon to be a week old and suspect that you should be able to tell if frizzled or not by now! More pics! ! Have you candled the last egg by chance? My 19 year old sister is having me hatch some of these cuties for her ..so I've got a handful myself under a broody. Only first week of incubation here.