INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Leahs Mom]

(At least we didn't eat him.) LOL

 

[flyladyrocks]

Drum Roll Please! We have our First Egg!!! Yay!!

While were were out admiring it, my daughter got stung twice. Nasty Yellow jackets. Last year she got swarmed and ended up in ER.

Hubby has the camera at Robotics practice so at the moment the chickens are locked out of the coop so I can get pictures!

 

[atrueb00]

well I don't have allot to report, Sandcut Traders Fair wasn't the event I was hoping for.

I was the only one with chickens there. It was very cold and windy. I had to keep the birds covered cause they sat in 1 spot all puffed up. about 1 pm it started to warm up and the wind died down some and I was able to uncover the birds. Sancut is defiantly a buyers market, not a sellers, even being the only one with chickens I still had to take a big cut to keep from bringing the birds back home.
They had plenty of stuff for sale, just not farm animal related.... did have a few cages that would have been nice for ya'lls shows but they weren't cheep.
The vendors were supper nice and very friendly. We were told hat the last weekend it was in Sancut was the one we should have been too, lots of critters that week end and they said the sellers went home without their livestock, sold every last one I was told.
They food was great and not to high priced, the coffee was a bit on the high side but it was so cold out we got at least 4 cups each anyway.
Winter is going to hit us in the behind and we are not going to be ready for it at all....

Didn't get pic's this time ... sorry... the camera kept turning them red for some reason. DH was in charge cause I had to stay and take care of the birds. And I was stuck by the fire warming my hands and legs, o and catching my blanky on fire... lol good thing it wasn't one of my fav's.
All in all we had a good time talking with new people and getting out of the house for the day.

Dang-cold weather and buyer's market? Doesn't sound like fun but at least you had some good company from other sellers. Did you end up selling all your MF roosters? The one I got recently just started crowing (he's only 8 weeks old!).

good evening hoosiers (& WV) - started up the fireplace to take a little chill out of the air til the furnace repairman comes out wednesday + had a power outage from 645 til 1000.
here is our roo doing alot better after his injuries from the dog attack on our flock july 09th. hes still got some more recovery to go yet & prob wont regain full use of his left leg :

Glad he is doing okay, he looks really good in the pic-you must have taken excellent care of him!

So I have 6 girls missing feathers. From roosters, molting and I'm not sure what else, maybe mites. I Ivermectined all of them a couple days ago just in case. I really hope molt out before it gets colder. I have a feeling I am going to have some hens in the house.
Also I have found I am having a case of coccidiosis paranoia. I am going to dose all of the chooks before winter just to put my mind at ease, since I have a few fluffed up and less than energetic. This rain we've had seems to have brought out all of the creepy crawlies.

Almost have all of the in barn coops built, so that I don't have to deal with the gates being frozen to the ground this winter like last year. I'm hoping having 7 alpacas and 60 chickens in the barn will help keep it warmer this year in there.
I have a bad feeling most of my silkie grow outs are boys, but since they are getting nicer through breeding, they all look alike. Now I can't sex them even at 4 months old. They all look like girls, but have boyish qualities. I hate waiting to see what I am working with lol.
I hope everyone is doing well. I've been really busy getting prepped for winter, regular old life stuff, and having fun working with @raisinemright 's horses, so I haven't been able to get on here and be very involved lately. Pretty birds everyone. Have fun at your swaps. Don't forget we have an Indiana byc page on fb too. Hope I didn't break any rules posting that.

I hope everyone is okay! All this rain has made a mess of things. I didn't know that there was a FB group, thanks for calling it out!

I have no turkeys or turkey experience, but I can help you with the chicken part of this.

I use Ivormectin pour-on, but I have read where a lot of people have recommended using Wazine first. It's totally up to you, though, on which you use. I think Wazine is safer for younger birds, but it isn't as strong and can't be used often as the worms will become immune to it. It only works for round worms. Ivormectin is stronger and covers a variety of parasites, internal and external, but again I think Wazine is safer for younger birds.

Wazine has 2 strengths, 17% and 34%. I think I see 17% more often. The dosage for Wazine 17 is 2 tablespoons per gallon, provided for 24 hours. I imagine for Wazine 34, the dosage would be half that.

If you do go for the Ivormectin, the dose is 1/2 cc for large fowl and 1/4 cc for bantams and younger birds, dropped directly on the skin under the wing or on the back of the neck. I don't remember for sure, but I believe the youngest I have used Ivormectin on was around 4 months. (It's sad I don't remember, I was just posting this info not that long ago.

) I'm not sure I would go much younger than that.

I'm not sure if there are different species of round worms for birds than for mammals, so I can't answer your question about the cat. For the doves, though, the only thing I can think of to do is to shoo them out and cover the pen with bird netting to keep them out.
Uck, yeah, I have a few hens that are practically bare at the moment. I'm just glad they're doing this now! I had one hen, rest her soul, that would molt between December and January! That was what finally did her in--being naked during winter weather.

On the topic of coccidiosis, are these adult birds that have been exposed to the ground before now? If so, they are likely not suffering from coccidiosis as they should have built up an immunity to the inactive cocci in the soil and have a strong enough immune system to fend off the active cocci in the wet weather. I would not treat adults for coccidiosis unless I was positive that was what they had, since the two most common meds for coccidiosis are either very harsh on the gut or actually blocking nutritional uptake. Just my opinion there. My girls huddle a lot when it's raining, too. Maybe they're just glum?

And I am still jealous of that barn of yours! I wish I had a nice, big building to put all my birds in for the wintertime! It'll be interesting to see how this winter goes with the usual two coops, plus quarantine over the winter with the ducks I will hopefully find next month.

Thanks for this helpful info! I added it to the Indiana BYC'ers page.

Drum Roll Please! We have our First Egg!!! Yay!!

While were were out admiring it, my daughter got stung twice. Nasty Yellow jackets. Last year she got swarmed and ended up in ER.

Hubby has the camera at Robotics practice so at the moment the chickens are locked out of the coop so I can get pictures!

Woohoo!!

 

[hogster160]

I have no turkeys or turkey experience, but I can help you with the chicken part of this.

I use Ivormectin pour-on, but I have read where a lot of people have recommended using Wazine first. It's totally up to you, though, on which you use. I think Wazine is safer for younger birds, but it isn't as strong and can't be used often as the worms will become immune to it. It only works for round worms. Ivormectin is stronger and covers a variety of parasites, internal and external, but again I think Wazine is safer for younger birds.

Wazine has 2 strengths, 17% and 34%. I think I see 17% more often. The dosage for Wazine 17 is 2 tablespoons per gallon, provided for 24 hours. I imagine for Wazine 34, the dosage would be half that.

If you do go for the Ivormectin, the dose is 1/2 cc for large fowl and 1/4 cc for bantams and younger birds, dropped directly on the skin under the wing or on the back of the neck. I don't remember for sure, but I believe the youngest I have used Ivormectin on was around 4 months. (It's sad I don't remember, I was just posting this info not that long ago.

) I'm not sure I would go much younger than that.

I'm not sure if there are different species of round worms for birds than for mammals, so I can't answer your question about the cat. For the doves, though, the only thing I can think of to do is to shoo them out and cover the pen with bird netting to keep them out.
Uck, yeah, I have a few hens that are practically bare at the moment. I'm just glad they're doing this now! I had one hen, rest her soul, that would molt between December and January! That was what finally did her in--being naked during winter weather.

Is this what I would buy for the Ivomectin? http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/ivomecreg;-(ivermectin)-pour-on-for-cattle-250-ml?cm_vc=-10005

I went there tonight and was just as lost. LOL. I ended up buying some Safeguard. But I can't use it on birds that are in molt and mine are just starting molt. So I will go exchange it tomorrow. I also read that I should not worm birds younger than 4 months, so the smaller ones will have to wait, turkeys too. Do I need to clean out the coup and such? I just find it weird that I have no birds who acts sick, they are all out and about in the yard doing normal chicken things. Just that one spot of worms. l be worming them because if those are in my birds I want them out. YUK.

I've got a call into my vet, who in turn had to do an emergency surgery so she hasn't called me back. Waiting to see about my other animals. I will probably just take a poo sample down tomorrow and have them checked out. I'd rather play it safe.

Thanks so very much for offering your advice. It is very much appreciated!

I'm sorry that you lost one to an odd molt time. Mine were hatched in January and molted in Nov and Dec last year I think (could have been Oct and Nov.) I'm glad they are starting earlier this year. My chicken yard is too large to try to cover, I suppose I will just knock down any nest I see in the trees before the eggs get laid. I do try to shoo them away, hopefully they will stay away.

Deb

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Well, I went out and took a bunch of pictures. I've been meaning to for a while, and I guess once I was out there I went nuts. So brace yourselves! Lots and lots of pictures!

Molting, molting, molting! This is just a sample of the molts in my flock--there are at least a dozen molters in all!

Here's Cressida (an Easter-egger) in her molt:

Fancy the Partridge Plymouth Rock giving me a rather dry look as I took pictures of her molt:

Miss Mako, another Easter-egger. I think we have a winner for worst molt in my flock thus far!

Scooter the little Silver Sebright, at the tail end of her molt. This is what they're working toward.

Cubby, 9 1/2 year old Easter-egger, poking around the undergrowth:

Frou-Frou la Frou, splash Marans, who was feeling neglected as I took pictures of others. I also took the picture of her that is now my avatar today.

Margaret the Silkie! She's very squat happy right now!

Poggy the Speckled Sussex, also with a rather serious look:

Iddy Biddy, Poggy's runt sister, who always looks pretty grumpy.

And the queen of grumpy faces, Freema the Grumpy-Grump. (Oh, I mean Barred Rock!)

A Guinea boy snuck in here. I think this is 'Curly'.

I split it into two posts so there weren't so many pictures all at once--the rest of the pictures are in my next post.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

More pics!

Huka Kairakau the Silver Lakenvelder. She had just stretched and I guess she forgot to draw her wing back in. (I had to trim her wing when she was younger because she was flying the fence. She hasn't molted yet, but it should regrow when she does.)

Huka again, rockin' the eyebrows.

Welsummer Mabel! I think she's the only one of the babies this year that actually willingly poses!

Georgette the Black Copper Marans. This is one bird I don't think I'd want to meet in a dark alley.

Tilde the Swedish Flower Hen. Her crest seems so much larger in person!

She looks like she's wearing a winter hat in this one.

Violet the Bielefelder, hurrying over for attention! (Or food. Yeah, she was probably after food. )

A better look at Vi's color. She's so pretty, and has such soft feathers!

Elda the Silver Gray Dorking! I love how she feathered in! Such a pretty young lady!

Elly again, checking out my Indiana BYCer shirt.

Elly snuggled up next to me while her twin, Kit-kit, waits her turn. These two are the sweetest little ladies!

That's all. I have so many birds and a lot of pictures I took just didn't make the cut. I got a picture of Sora, but she must have moved as I hit the button because it was out of focus. But like I said before, she's doing fine.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

 Is this what I would buy for the Ivomectin?    http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/ivomecreg;-(ivermectin)-pour-on-for-cattle-250-ml?cm_vc=-10005

I went there tonight and was just as lost.  LOL.  I ended up buying some Safeguard.  But I can't use it on birds that are in molt and mine are just starting molt.  So I will go exchange it tomorrow.  I also read that I should not worm birds younger than 4 months, so the smaller ones will have to wait, turkeys too.  Do I need to clean out the coup and such?  I just find it weird that I have no birds who acts sick, they are all out and about in the yard doing normal chicken things.  Just that one spot of worms.  l be worming them because if those are in my birds I want them out.  YUK.

I've got a call into my vet, who in turn had to do an emergency surgery so she hasn't called me back.  Waiting to see about my other animals.  I will probably just take a poo sample down tomorrow and have them checked out.  I'd rather play it safe.

Thanks so very much for offering your advice.  It is very much appreciated!

I'm sorry that you lost one to an odd molt time.  Mine were hatched in January and molted in Nov and Dec last year I think (could have been Oct and Nov.)  I'm glad they are starting earlier this year.  My chicken yard is too large to try to cover, I suppose I will just knock down any nest I see in the trees before the eggs get laid.  I do try to shoo them away, hopefully they will stay away.

Deb

Yup, that's the right stuff. There's also a generic brand in a yellow box, which might be cheaper.

According to what I was reading shortly before I replied to you, Wazine has specific instructions for chicks as young as 4 weeks. However, I do agree that the youngsters probably don't need to be wormed yet. I think I only wormed my younger set the one year because they were at that 'maybe' age and we had plenty of the Ivormectin so we just went ahead and did it.

Definitely take a sample to your vet! Then you can know for sure what you're dealing with. While you're there, you can talk to them about what they recommend for worming chickens and other poultry, too.



And yeah, poor Cricket. She literally lost most of her feathers when she molted and was practically bare, save for her wings and head. Every year, she struggled, so I think it was a matter of time. Still, I wish I had acted sooner and just brought her in. She was my camping chicken. :/ Camping just wasn't the same this summer without her.

Anyway, the rest of my girls do fine, especially if they molt early. I think only about half or fewer my girls go through hard molts like that. A lot of my girls have nice, slow molts and I hardly know they're molting until I start noticing them looking cleaner and shinier. They can keep that up as far as I'm concerned!

 

[chick rookie]

Dang-cold weather and buyer's market? Doesn't sound like fun but at least you had some good company from other sellers. Did you end up selling all your MF roosters? The one I got recently just started crowing (he's only 8 weeks old!).

Glad he is doing okay, he looks really good in the pic-you must have taken excellent care of him!

I hope everyone is okay! All this rain has made a mess of things. I didn't know that there was a FB group, thanks for calling it out!

Thanks for this helpful info! I added it to the Indiana BYC'ers page.

Woohoo!!

Yes I got them all sold. and all my Silkie roo's too, so I'm better with the hen - Rooster thing now... and the neighbors aint gripping any more... lol

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

GOATS--YES!

We've been tossing around the idea of pygmy milk goats for a year now. We have a list of several pros and a few cons for having goats.

We recently became foster parents of 2 puppies that were recovering from parvo.  Now, we're considering becoming permanent adoptive parents of these puppies, because they fulfill some of the benefits the goats would.  
For example: the goats (puppies) would be good company for our dog, the goats (puppies) would be good learning experience for DW, we would love the goats (puppies) and give them a good home, etc.

I know if we keep these puppies, we'll not get goats. Maybe that's a good thing, I'm not sure...remains to be seen.

The cons are: you can't milk a dog (ew, gross!), and you can't bring a goat in the house with you at night (again, ew, gross!)

Not true. You can definitely bring a goat in the house. I know people who have/do. They can be potty trained. Now that you all have me oftener as a hill jack I will go reading the other posts I skipped over lol

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote: I did not really think about it, but I paid more than $3 a pound for each of my female goats. The ones I got from the Columbus breeder were larger between 40 and 50 pounds. They cost $200 each. So I guess I paid between $4 and $5 per pound. I don't think I'm going to mention that to DH.

But consider the price of a breeder quality chick not sexed at $5 that would be a huge price per pound as tiny chicks weight hardly anything at all.

You've got me curious now. How much does a 3 month old meat calf cost? How much do they typically weigh at 3 months? How old are the calves when processed for steaks and such not just ground beef?
We are seeing older calves as high as $3 a pound for a beef bull calf! Last year, I got mine at week old for $65 each. they were about 65 pounds! We got holstein and jersey mixes. (dairy bull calves) More folks are doing it, so the price is going up.We save the cost of processing by doing all the animals ourselves. I did Wilbur's (hog) worming today, along with my 4 piglets. Once the withholding date has passed, we will plan a weekend to process. You and DH are welcome to come up for it, Jsummer's DH plans to come also. It really helps to see the process, then you can decide for yourself if its something you want to undertake.
Honestly, much of its no different between species..just the size of the animal and packaging time. I do grind a lot of meat due to my parents diets. DH is building a smoker to cure meats. Huge difference in the pork flavor and meat quality comparing to commercial pork.