INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Chaneys Ranch]

So it is day 14 on my first fall incubation and I only had to throw out 3 clear eggs. I still have all 6 silkie eggs in and 4 white leghorns and 5 SLW. I was almost dreading the candling this morning because we have had 2 power outages because of recent storms for a total of at least 8 hours the bators were off.

I was so happy to see that most of the eggs still look real good. I even saw a little beak in a few of them and some movement, so I am hoping these power outages haven't ruined them all. Guess I will have to get my hatcher ready for lock down on Saturday and maybe some new babies this time next week.

I'm excited to see what hatches from my silkie eggs, because I had my white hen with a black rooster for the first time. It'll almost be like Christmas morning seeing whats in the packages.

Hope everyone has a great, all be it soggy, day!!!!

Sending hatching vibes! I have had a couple instances of power losses during incubation. Its the most horrifying feeling. When it was just a few eggs a week, we would all be walking around with eggs or chicks stuffed in our shirts if it happened LOL!
I will be getting a battery backup before I consider starting up the incubator next year. It happens too often here, and I did loose a very important hatch because of it.

Quote: WOW he is very impressive already! Cant wait to see chick pics when you start hatching

Quote: This was tooo precious! My pug mix Sadie acts the same with the birds, she just sniffs and walks away.

[COLOR=900000]I am so mad!

A little at myself, too! I just noticed the feed we've been buying for the girls for a few weeks now has been medicated!

Is TSC the only place in the area that caries a non-medicated all-flock feed?! The real kicker is that the only difference between the labels on the medicated and non-medicated feed bags is a little strip of red on the ingredients label.

Now, duck people, I have about 10 days of medicated feed and we are 4 days to possibly bringing home ducks. I know ducklings shouldn't have medicated feed, but what about adult ducks? Should I just feed it to them or should I try and find a bag of non-medicated for them? I'll be switching to a non-medicated feed as soon as possible, of course, but still have all this feed to get rid of.

This is just so frustrating![/COLOR]

I have made that same mistake, but I have never had calls before. Just for my own peace of mind, I think I would get another bag of unmedicated food. My ducks and geese were ok, but its that GASP feeling when you realize! Supposedly it won't hurt them now. I am just not comfortable with needless medicating.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Processing a pig sounds like a really big job. I'd like to learn how to process a chicken someday. At this point I could never eat one of my girls, but I've done enough lab dissections to know I'm not squeamish. I even watched the process on youtube. (Honestly, I think you could learn just about anything there.) Do most people raise & butcher their own meat birds or do you take them somewhere when they're ready? For now we're just in it for the eggs, but perhaps someday....

LOL, even tho I have hunted and prepared game animals, I did watch several YouTube videos on hog processing. I wanted to be sure I was making the correct cuts when I started packaging. Its not easy emotionally for me, because almost everything here I have raised from a tiny baby or egg. As far as actually killing an animal here, I am not usually the one that "does it" but I have, and will. I cannot stand to see any suffering, it must be done humanely.
I do everything else in the cleaning, and packaging for any animal processed here. I will not pay someone else to do it. Those are my babies and I do not want them to suffer. It goes against everything my grandmothers taught me. AND since I worked in animal control, I know you do not always get your animal back that you take to a slaughter house. Several cases just in the 5 years I worked in it, take a pink pig in, get a blue one back.. Employees don't accurately mark the animal, and you don't get yours, its someones else's! So your non GMO hog that you treated with love and respect is not what you get from the butcher. Just scary, whats in your freezer then? Most butchers are very well respected and trusted, and a pure gem to find. Its the few that aren't that worry me.
I started raising our own food animals because of my parents. I care for both full time, and they live with us. A majority of their health issues are in part caused by processed, hybridized, and GMO'd food we buy these days at the grocery and restaurant . I decided it was time to provide my family real, healthy food from our own home. I know what my animals eat (mostly, you know how chickens are

) and how they are treated. That was my 2nd issue, I do not like how commercial farms treat their animals. The least I can do is offer compassion and good care to that animal that feeds my family. My hog knows I love him and gets a lot of back and ear scratches, pets and attention from us. Even tho he will have 1 bad day, he has had a full life wallering in the mud and rooting the ground. He felt love while he is here.

They are fine if they are free from drafts, dry environment and plenty of room. My issues last year were with my Sebright roo William. He would not stay with his girls or in a coop, period. Flighty and just insane, hatchery bred fella. This guy would roost in trees, rooftops. The severe below weather finally took him last winter.

Thinking ahead...

In the spring, Lord willing, I'd like to add a few hens to the flock. Egg production is my primary concern, so I'm considering leghorns. Is there anyone sort of near Indy breeding them, or would I have to go through a hatchery?

I will be raising leghorns next spring. They are excellent egg producers! Tiny things for as many eggs they lay. I have a good flock of them now, and they are much better production and less feed than some of the larger breeds. I added them to have some white eggs to offer customers.

Quote: If you go with hatchery, I have had very good luck with Meyer. Great response time and customer service. I have purchased BB turkeys and geese, no issues and healthy stock.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Wow--I feel like a newbie! Haven't been on for almost a year with moving and also couldn't get into the site. BYC kept telling me my cookies weren't enabled with Firefox and Chrome; IE let me log in but not type anything. On a tablet now and it seems to be working but small and slow.
Anyhow, howdy everybody! So many new "faces." No way have I tried to catch up on everything--just the last few pages.
Moved in the spring, got sick during the move, knee went out in the summer, so coop building, hatching, etc. have not gone as planned. My house looks like a hoarder's with all the boxes; can do that in the cold weather but need to get the peeps settled first. I couldn't stand it any longer so set up the incubator in the laundry room instead of a dryer--have to get one soon, though. My lasr hatch for this year is pipping now.
I plan to be at Lebanon; hopefully not all of my entries will be molting then; some already look like ragamuffins. I may bring a few silkie and Marans chicks if I get them sorted. Will be in a red Dodge Ram with camper bed. Hope to meet and greet some BYCers there.

So glad things are better for you! Wow it sounds like a lot happening for you this year, hope you are feeling much better. I'll be trying to find you when we get out walking around!!

Went outside today to take pics of the chickens for a reader...I think it's possible my readers are bigger fans of my birds than my books...

Anyway, pretty leaves out there, too!



Lynda worked really hard to find some dry dirt to bathe in!



Amy and Farrah look so cute among the leaves.



Gayle is slowly integrating into the flock better now that Otis is gone.



Have you carved a pumpkin yet?

Okay, and here is a fun country story (not really chickeny, though). We took the kids to Deere Farm over the weekend, in Lanesville. They had real pumpkin patches (not like at Huber's where they drop pumpkins into the field every morning), 14 acres of corn mazes, corn cannon, bouncy house, pony rides, you name it. I took about a zillion photos, and I will spare you all those, but this one:



"Tank," the winning pig in the pig race. Two of my sons competed in the race, chasing pigs around the "track." One of my sons won chasing Tank, the other was second place chasing "Elvis."

If you desire to watch that silliness, it is here.

It wasn't an inexpensive outing, but they had so many fun things to do (and the pork chop sandwiches were awesome!) that I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for something fun to do on a weekend, if you're within driving distance to Lanesville. My only regret was that we didn't get there earlier in the day to have more time to spend.

Loved the pictures! Especially the video, that was too cute! W had around 40 pumpkins but all have been fed to the critters. I will be lanting a much larger garden next year!

A swap meet question for those of you that take birds to sell.

For Sellers:
-When you go with birds, do you usually sell all the birds you take? If not, do you quarantine when you return?
-Is there a way to take your birds and not expose them to the other birds there? (How close are they to other birds?)
-If you have heritage or landrace breeds, can you price them appropriately for what they are?

For Buyers:
Have you actually found good quality, healthy birds at the swaps?


I think I'll have some very nice SFH next year but really don't like the idea of selling at shows/swaps so I'm just wanting to hear your experiences.

very curious too! Great post!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

[COLOR=900000]Well, I'm beat.

I finally got the quarantine pen up for my future ducks! It needs just a little bit more work before it's ready for occupancy, but what's left is simple! Now, just to finish the coop they'll live in if they pass quarantine!

Speaking of, we've also gotten the windows hung in the duck coop. It's looking more and more complete!

All that's left is finish work; shingles, latches, hardware cloth over vents and windows, and painting inside.

We're almost there![/COLOR]

That's awesome, I can feel how exciting that is! I hope you find a trio. Looking forward to pic's!

[COLOR=900000]Oh, and one last thing I wanted to mention because it makes me smile a little. I was a bit surprised to see an old picture of my Blizzy circling the home page this evening!

I miss that girl, she was so silly and such the character!

The Blizzy picture on the home page:[/COLOR]




[COLOR=900000]My personal favorite picture of her:[/COLOR]




[COLOR=900000]Part of the reason why I love this picture. She always seemed to have that heart-shaped patch on her chest.

[/COLOR]

Thats so cool, congrats! I usually go to my profile page to see messages, then to our thread. Since I rarely get to take pictures I doubt any of mine will ever make the home page.

You know, I never enter through the home page so I wouldn't know if any of my birds were on there!

Me too!

Got some more of the clean-up and organize done in the pole barn late this afternoon. Actually my husband did...and I swept

Got plenty of kennel panels to set up inside for winter. I could use at least one more gate panel. Put an ad out on CL to see if anyone answers. I did get lots of panels that way for a good price, however

I really like the concept too. They are so fast and easy! Watching Rural king close, they had a full kennel last winter at $139 on sale. That was the 10x6 panels with 1 door. DH thinks I should just do several of them, and get the 2 door front panels for breeding coops. Sure would go up a lot faster than a traditional build. The housing could be adapted to the size and type of bird inside the kennels.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote:
That's what I was thinking too - nothing permanent so that if I want to move it to a different part of the barn - or reconfigure differently - I can without messing up a custom built pen. Only issue I see is if some kind of predator can enter the barn and get through the kennels. I imagine the main concern there would be weasels which I don't know if we have.

If I had a dog, I'd likely let it roam inside the barn at night which should take care of that issue.

So far I haven't seen any evidence of predator type animals inside that barn. It stays closed and is mostly storage which is a good sign.

I think I have two 6 ft. gate panels, five 6 foot panels, four 10 ft. panels, and about four-five 12 ft. panels around here. I've done a few drawings and have enough to put panels over the top of the whole thing to keep anything from entering from above or from pullets from flying out (yes...I had a pullet sitting on a 6 ft. gate this weekend...

All those panels are in addition to what I have permanently set up outside at the chicken shed. Now I just need to get things cleaned out and set up. (And maybe get 1 more gate if I can find any....I want to have an area that I can divide off if anyone is harassing or being harassed.)

 

[ChickCrazed]

Hi everyone! I hope everyone is having some success preparing for winter! I am VERY slowly moving through my list but am having trouble finding a handyman to help install a walk through door in my garage. After paying someone off Angies list they showed up without the proper tools and then have put me off 6 weeks. I really want it done soon so I am moving on and trying to find someone else. If anyone knows of someone with the skills to help (would involve cutting through siding, framing in the door and cutting through the cement blocks at the base of the garage)! I am, of course, planning on paying for the help and have all the materials!

I am also over-run with broodies!! Every day I am tossing one or two out of the nest boxes, none are super persistent but they seem to rotate through on a cycle throughout the week. The major repeat offenders are my Marans but I also have an Isbar, a young Hedemora, a Bielie and a hatchery barred rock all clogging up the nest boxes and toying with the idea of being broody. I would have thought they would be over this by now!

I also had a random pullet sized blue egg show up yesterday. I guess it is possible it is from the Hedemora since she is the right age and I have not yet identified her egg color, but that is a surprise color! The Crested Cream Legbar pullet is only 12 weeks so there is no way it is her. Very random!

 

[Leahs Mom]

Strange. And I haven't had 1 broody yet this year. My normal mamma bird has shown no interest at all.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

You know, I never enter through the home page so I wouldn't know if any of my birds were on there!

[COLOR=900000]I have the home page set to show all of my subscriptions with new posts, so I always enter from the home page. I'll keep an eye out and see if I recognize any of your birds! [/COLOR]

Got some more of the clean-up and organize done in the pole barn late this afternoon.  Actually my husband did...and I swept

Got plenty of kennel panels to set up inside for winter.  I could use at least one more gate panel.  Put an ad out on CL to see if anyone answers.  I did get lots of panels that way for a good price, however

[COLOR=13598B]Hope you find what you need! And that you post pics of the setup when you're done! [/COLOR]

For those that are interested, I have an update on my Tylan usage for some respiratory issues in my flock.

---

I'll give another update when the treatment is finished.

[COLOR=900000]Glad to see it's working well! Definitely go the full treatment--you don't want anything developing immunity to it![/COLOR]

I have made that same mistake, but I have never had calls before. Just for my own peace of mind, I think I would get another bag of unmedicated food. My ducks and geese were ok, but its that GASP feeling when you realize! Supposedly it won't hurt them now. I am just not comfortable with needless medicating.

[COLOR=13598B]That was definitely a GASP moment, realizing my girls have been on medicated feed. Ugh! I don't like feeding medicated to my chicks, let alone the adults that absolutely don't need it!



As far as medicated feed with ducks, I've gotten mixed responses, so I did some research. As it turns out, the well-known rule against feeding medicated feed to ducklings is actually a myth (or, more accurately, a held over belief). Medicated feeds used to contain medicines that were arsenic-based, and waterfowl are more sensitive to them, thereby making those feeds dangerous to waterfowl. As it is now, most if not all medicated feeds contain Amprolium, which is safe to use with waterfowl. It's not approved for use in waterfowl (basically meaning the FDA hasn't come up with a withdrawal time for eggs or meat), but has been safely used by some people for a long time. One such person has fed their call ducklings medicated starter for years. I feel if that person can safely use it with their ducklings that my adults should be okay--but I'll definitely be keeping a sharp eye on them, as per quarantine protocol!


ETA: Oh, just so y'all know, the arsenic-based medicines used in some feeds were roxarsone, carbarsone, arsanillic acid, and nitarsone, so if you're worried about it you can always check your medicated feed label for those names before feeding it to waterfowl. All but nitarsone are banned, and the last is supposedly not used anymore, but you never know, right?[/COLOR]

That's awesome, I can feel how exciting that is! I hope you find a trio. Looking forward to pic's!


Thats so cool, congrats! I usually go to my profile page to see messages, then to our thread. Since I rarely get to take pictures I doubt any of mine will ever make the home page.

[COLOR=900000] I'm hoping for a trio as well! Or at the least a pair. I'd really like snowies, too, but I'm not going to hold my breath on that. There will definitely be an abundance of pictures, both when we've finished the coop and when the ducks arrive.

And thanks for the congrats. The funny thing is, they're using that picture to link to someone else's thread. Oh, well.[/COLOR]

 

[pbirdhaven]

Thanks for the '"welcome backs"! I've misses connecting with my poultry friends.

On the subject of buying and selling at shows and swaps, I've done both. You just have to be careful. The only swaps that I sell at are Milton and occasionally Knox, though it's a bit far. Both of those are casual about where you set up instead of having marked spaces crowded together, like at Wolf Lake. At Milton some other friends and I set up together, so we have our own little compound. I seldom buy at swaps unless I know or at least know about the seller or find something really special I'm also picky about who I sell to. I set my prices on the high end of reasonable and don't often come down unless I think the person is really deserving: example, I had 3 older hens that I considered stewpot ready. An older gentleman wanted to give them a chance and see if they might still lay a bit, so I cut him a deal.

At shows I prefer not to use the provided sale cages but to sell from my truck when allowed. One breeder that I know sends in entries for several large fowl double cages of the same breed, variety, etc. so they're all together. Then he marks them out for judging and puts his sale stock there rather than around the other sale birds. Generally the birds being sold at shows are from exhibitors so you can find a better quality and the sellers are pretty willing to talk to you about their stock. Still, caution is the keyword; check the bird carefully and quarantine. I like to treat my show and sale birds with gallimycin and vetrx for 3 days before, during, and after a show--doesn't always happen due to changing my mind about who's going at the last minute, etc. Martha Light in Kentucky bathes all of her sale silkies in addition to her show birds--she might have 100 sale birds there! She also has them color banded and tells what blood line they're from, etc.

'Nuff rambling--better go feed!

 

[Leahs Mom]

At shows I prefer not to use the provided sale cages but to sell from my truck when allowed. One breeder that I know sends in entries for several large fowl double cages of the same breed, variety, etc. so they're all together. Then he marks them out for judging and puts his sale stock there rather than around the other sale birds.

Thank you. Very helpful. This is exactly what I was looking for.... I would prefer to not have the birds leave my vehicle.

Do you put a sign up somewhere to direct folks to where your birds are in your truck?