INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Minminme]

Have a question for you peeps. I'm trying to arrange a chicken train (so to speak) for LeahsMom. I may be able to get her bird picked up from Va and I'll bring it as far as Richmond In. I am looking for either BO, Maran or Cochin pullets 2-3 of them. If it can b arranged t pick em up and bring em t Richmond for me.??? Anyone willing to help? Or have those breeds of pullets theyd be willing to part with?

 

[Kassafrass]

Dumb question probably, but...i have looked into poison ivy and chickens, and it looks like it doesnt hurt them if they eat it. However, one drawback is that they could propagate it from their poop. My question is, if they eat some on our property (we dont have much) but they only eat leaves/vines (no berries), it wont spread, right?

 

[Granny Hatchet]

it spreads from their skin to yours. i dont believe it has anything to do with eating it. they walk through, get the oil on them, brush against you, you have the oil. them not breaking out from it dont mean you wont.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Sorry to butt in ladies and gents, but I was wondering is anyone here has 2 pullets they are looking to get rid of in the Columbus Indiana area. I have lost 2 due to predation in the last week and I am looking to replace them. I was offered chicks but with the onset of winter my father doesn't want to be wintering over babies in the garage. Pm and we can work something out. If not, thank you anyway!

I am so sorry. I have a few mutt pullets but we are pretty far away.

Quote: LOL more land is so awesome

White and pied appear to be less hardy. My IB were very sturdy healthy birds. My neighbor loves mine, its been too long to try to move them back here.

I miss my Bacon, but I'm glad Janet gave him a good home, and that her DH loves him so much My yard looks naked without him, but at least he has ladies and no dog tackling him. I'm going to miss kissing his bald, wrinkly head though.

My younger brother (sugar daddy of bird funding) refuses to put up any more more money now that the birds aren't cute anymore. He doesn't mind paying for some feed, but he doesn't want to put up the larger fence necessary to keep the birds in our yard, so I've had to find another home for the ones who keep jumping into the neighbor's yard. Janet said that she could take in my birds, and I know that she'll give them a good home, so I've brought the first car-ful of them over yesterday.

Looks like I'm stuck to birds incapable of fence-hopping, which appears to limit me to ducks for the moment.

Does anyone know is a Muscovy can clear a four-foot fence with one wing clipped? My chickens have all been able to so far.

I adore him! Bacon is a tired fella tonight. He followed me through some of my chores today. Thats about 6 miles of walking. Lots of pets, hugs and encouragement for this big guy. DH adores him already. It was great to meet you, please feel free to visit again. I am waiting a few more days to introduce him to any other birds. My geese startled him a bit and he was pretty tired by 6pm.
Drakes. nope they stay put. Hens fly well the first year. I would clip both wings to ground them otherwise they will be over a fence and fully able to fly. They stay grounded after a year old. Scovy are quackless and your neighbors will not realize you have them.

 

[gunchief25]

Morning all Cockadoodledoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote:
Yes. I just joined, however. I haven't posted but have sent pm to one person with no reply.

Dumb question probably, but...i have looked into poison ivy and chickens, and it looks like it doesnt hurt them if they eat it. However, one drawback is that they could propagate it from their poop. My question is, if they eat some on our property (we dont have much) but they only eat leaves/vines (no berries), it wont spread, right?

Mine run through the PI. (Hoping to clear some by hand soon...) It doesn't bother them, but when I pick up a hen....or gather eggs.... I'm exposed to it because they have the oils on them due to being in it.

I don't know about spreading it around. I haven't observed them eating any of it. I just know they have the oils on them so if you work w/them and are allergic to it you need to either wear gloves and/or wash the oils off yourself afterwards.

 

[racinchickins]

I'm not looking for chicks right now, hopefully started pullets. However I would love to hear more on your idea of a Tilapia pond, and if they could be raised in a large pool.

I've raised tilapia before. A reasonable number would be fine in a large pool with adequate filtration. But remember they are tropical and die if water temp gets below 50. That limits you to just summer, and it is would be hard to go from fingerling to table in one of our summers, it takes 8-9 months.

 

[CharlemagneRoost]

Could you post a photo or 2 and a link to some info? Is it spelled Jaerhon?

You have the correct spelling. It's a bit of a challenge to find information about them online, so I'll share what I've researched and have experienced, together with some photos:


The roosters are very mild mannered. I have handled them since they were chicks and they've not displayed any aggression, whatsoever.


This is my pet, GG - she'll fly across the yard to land on my shoulder and keep me company. The hens are all very friendly, but she has the most personality of all my Jaerhon hens.



The hens come in dark and light. GG, above, is obviously the light Jaerhon. The dark ones are a beautiful golden color.


Jaerhons are excellent fliers and foragers. The larger chicken breeds that are good layers typically are not as good as foraging as the banty breeds. The Jaerhons are more like a banty breed when it comes to foraging. Because they are excellent fliers, some Jaerhon breeders prefer to keep them in covered runs. I let GG free range this summer, however, and she stayed right around the chicken shed and the barn.


Here you can see the dark and light hens snacking together. One of the roos is in the bottom righthand corner. They have a handsome barred pattern to them.


This is GG with my youngest daughter ... personality plus - both of them



Norwegian Jaerhons lay large eggs for the size of bird that they are. The egg on the left in this photo is abnormally large because it's a double yolker. However, once they mature, their eggs will fall between the size of the two eggs pictured here - both of which are Jaerhon eggs. The one on the right is a pullet egg, so it's a tad smaller than what I am collecting from them now. Also, where most chicken breeds lay well for two seasons, Jaerhon will lay well for three seasons. They don't eat as much as a larger bird, so you have an excellent feed-to-egg ratio. They are resistent to Marek's. And because they originate from Norway, they are a cold hardy breed. While their production does decrease some during the colder months, they will continue to lay during winter's cold and shorter days.


Jaerhons like to roost high, so I recommend having something they can fly up on in the coop for the night.

Hope that information helps! I raised somewhere between 15-20 breeds of chicken during my first two years of doing it, so that I could determine what breeds I liked best. I decided that I liked working with smaller breeds best, but was disappointed to find that all of the small breeds with which I was familiar were not good at maintaining egg laying productivity during the winter. Then I happily stumbled upon the Jaerhon! Based upon what I initially read online, I thought they would be more wild in nature and not too easily tamed, but they have turned out to be exactly the opposite! If you keep the chicks in a small brooder space, they will behave like little freakazoids until you move them into a larger run. I think this is because they are claustrophobic. I have a large brooder now with 10-15 chicks in it of mixed breeds. There are three Jaerhons in there and they are all very calm - so I definitely think it's a space thing with them.

 

[Rhandi74]

My Pekin is an egg laying machine. This morning she laid a huge egg.

This is her egg next to my mallard's egg

Here is a pic of Sunkist

 

[Faraday40]

Last year I was thinking the same thing. I didn't know if the feathers would ever come back and my girls all molted late last year. It was DECEMBER when they finally started. And it was way too cold to be running around undressed. But they all did okay.

Last year I didn't have an apron on her but this year I've kept one on all summer. I was mainly concerned about sunburn and also drawing attention of the others to continue plucking as I did see some of that going on earlier.

If I think of it, I'll get out there and take a photo of what she looks like before they grow in. She is VERY HARD to catch in the daytime. She'll hang around but doesn't want to be captured. I have to grab her at night and i can't get a good photo from afar because the apron is covering it unless it's flipped up.

Can chickens get "sunburn"?
I have a few chickens that still have the rooster damage (from July). The roo is gone but the wings look terrible. Nothing has grown back.
Here are the 2 worst looking ones:
1. This one had more baldness on wings & back but now I think she's molting. (It's my 1st time seeing a molt, so please confirm.) In 2 days all her tails feathers popped out, that's also when all the stubs started growing in. I have feathers all over the place!


2. This golden hen has redness (not just skin showing). I'm concerned that others may be pecking, but I've never seen blood or bullying. Once in a while in the morning it doesn't look so bad, but then it gets more red later in the day. I've been checking for mites & lice but have not found anything. (Even examined some feathers under microscope with nothing.) Any ideas? I removed the saddles when the roo left. I was afraid the saddles might have been rubbing the feathers off.


Here's an example of the saddles I have. The wing protection flips to the side easily, so I'm not sure how much protection it gave.