INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[kittydoc]

I need some advice about roosters, since this is my first year of having them "on purpose."

My best black/lav split Orpington cockerel crows like a mad fool. I still have two other cockerels from his hatch that I could keep who don't crow at all. I only want to keep ONE, but the crowing is driving me nuts.

IF I decided to keep one of the quieter boys, and culled Mr. Loud Mouth, how likely is it that that a formerly quiet boy will become a big crower?

I know part of the problem (probably a large part) is that these guys are living with the layers, and my lights come on at 4 AM. That's when the incessant crowing starts. My four older roos don't crow much until later in the morning, at a more respectable hour. I don't want my neighbors (I live on an acre in a suburb) to hate me!

My other alternative, I guess, is to provide a light tight separate crate for Mr. Loud Mouth within the layer coop, which is possible. Once we made the other roos "apartments" more light tight, it did help reduce their crowing. We don't have a third permanent space for the black/lav splits, and plan to let them hang out with the mixed layer flock until late winter/spring, when I will house them in a temporary breeding pen with my lavender hens.

Suggestions?

Also, has anyone tried using a radio (set to a talk station) to reduce crowing? I know that my older boys hush up when I am around, because they know if they crow much, I'm going to give them a walkabout upside down for a minute, and they don't much care for that. I actually got up at 4:30 last night and did that with the black/lav cockerel, but all he did was go back into the henhouse to get away from me, and continued to crow in there. He isn't stupid.

THANKS!

 

[Dish chickens]

Check the Indiana State Poultry Association website. They post information on when classes are available to become certified so you can do it yourself. Or you can pay someone who is certified (like me) to come out and test your flock. Last year, they had a class in April I believe. I didn't have to go that route since I'm a licensed veterinarian.

It's a great thing to do, whether you sell birds/eggs, or show, or whether you don't! You know that your flock is free of two serious diseases, which used to be common but are now relatively rare because of the NPIP program. However, the cases of pullorum and typhoid that are STILL found are generally in smaller backyard flocks!

Hope this helps.

Yes that does help, thank you.

 

[kabhyper1]

I need some advice about roosters, since this is my first year of having them "on purpose."

My best black/lav split Orpington cockerel crows like a mad fool. I still have two other cockerels from his hatch that I could keep who don't crow at all. I only want to keep ONE, but the crowing is driving me nuts.

IF I decided to keep one of the quieter boys, and culled Mr. Loud Mouth, how likely is it that that a formerly quiet boy will become a big crower?

I know part of the problem (probably a large part) is that these guys are living with the layers, and my lights come on at 4 AM. That's when the incessant crowing starts. My four older roos don't crow much until later in the morning, at a more respectable hour. I don't want my neighbors (I live on an acre in a suburb) to hate me!

My other alternative, I guess, is to provide a light tight separate crate for Mr. Loud Mouth within the layer coop, which is possible. Once we made the other roos "apartments" more light tight, it did help reduce their crowing. We don't have a third permanent space for the black/lav splits, and plan to let them hang out with the mixed layer flock until late winter/spring, when I will house them in a temporary breeding pen with my lavender hens.

Suggestions?

Also, has anyone tried using a radio (set to a talk station) to reduce crowing? I know that my older boys hush up when I am around, because they know if they crow much, I'm going to give them a walkabout upside down for a minute, and they don't much care for that. I actually got up at 4:30 last night and did that with the black/lav cockerel, but all he did was go back into the henhouse to get away from me, and continued to crow in there. He isn't stupid.

THANKS!

Well unfortunately very likely. I have 9 boys in a 25 x 33 barn right now. They have a half acre to roam in. I barely hear crowing, here is why; The 4 in the egg flock have a pecking order down. I hear my bantam cochin more than anyone because when I integrated him and the bantam polish into the large fowl flock, the bantam cochin took over territory. Over two large fowl cochin roos. I know it's weird. The polish crows, but only when he is out of range of the other 3 boys. I have 5 silkie boys in their in barn coop. I only hear 2 of them. I personally love to hear crowing so I don't mind it. I like to hear the different crows of the individual boys. They all get along, so that's all I care about. If I would take some of the boys out of the equation and leave the two lowest on the pecking order in each flock, they would pick up the slack so to speak and step up as the leaders. They would start crowing all the time. I would suggest you have your lights come on, if you can control it, at 7 am. That's when our timers are set for. It's unhealthy for them to have their days extended too long in winter anyway. I really don't hear much crowing right now. They are only in light between 7 am and 5:30 pm anyway.Crowing is natural. If you are worried about having boys It may be best to rehome them and just keep hens. That's all I can think of that would help in your current situation.

 

[Faraday40]

I need some advice about roosters, since this is my first year of having them "on purpose."

My best black/lav split Orpington cockerel crows like a mad fool. I still have two other cockerels from his hatch that I could keep who don't crow at all. I only want to keep ONE, but the crowing is driving me nuts.

IF I decided to keep one of the quieter boys, and culled Mr. Loud Mouth, how likely is it that that a formerly quiet boy will become a big crower?

I know part of the problem (probably a large part) is that these guys are living with the layers, and my lights come on at 4 AM. That's when the incessant crowing starts. My four older roos don't crow much until later in the morning, at a more respectable hour. I don't want my neighbors (I live on an acre in a suburb) to hate me!

My other alternative, I guess, is to provide a light tight separate crate for Mr. Loud Mouth within the layer coop, which is possible. Once we made the other roos "apartments" more light tight, it did help reduce their crowing. We don't have a third permanent space for the black/lav splits, and plan to let them hang out with the mixed layer flock until late winter/spring, when I will house them in a temporary breeding pen with my lavender hens.

Suggestions?

Also, has anyone tried using a radio (set to a talk station) to reduce crowing? I know that my older boys hush up when I am around, because they know if they crow much, I'm going to give them a walkabout upside down for a minute, and they don't much care for that. I actually got up at 4:30 last night and did that with the black/lav cockerel, but all he did was go back into the henhouse to get away from me, and continued to crow in there. He isn't stupid.

THANKS!

I don't have enough experience to answer your question, but my rather quiet roo actually crows when he hears people. ie- When he hears me in the garage, he crows. I think he knows food is coming, When I'm inside the coop next to him, he's quiet. If our closet neighbor is working in his garage, Tank will crow. Of course, our neighbor doesn't care about the noise if he is already awake.

 

[kabhyper1]

Okay guys I have news.............. Holy smokes, my splash silkie Arctic is cured. He has been ill for a month. I treated for cocci, wormed him, and still couldn't get to the bottom of his issue. Green poops, lethargy, not hungry. So after corid and sulfadimethoxine treatments he was still sick. I finally said screw it and got out my wine bottle of colloidal silver. 1 cc of 20 ppm CS for 3 days so far. His stool is normal, he is scratching around, eating like a piggy and standing tall. That stuff is awesome! My family uses it all the time for wounds and infections successfully, but it never occurred to me to use it on my chooks. Yogurt, kale and Colloidal Silver for 3 days and he is feeling great. I searched CS on here an there are several articles on it. I'm going to try it on my skinny hen and see if it balances her gut a bit. BTW if anyone is worried about argyria or turning gray, there isn't enough silver particles in CS to cause that to happen unless you were drinking it by the glasses daily.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

This is Ruby..... She doesn't keep track of the appropriate time to be naked. It's definitely not in December.

All thats half naked now is my BB turkey hen, Puppy. She picked a bad time for it too! Been some bad molts for this year!

I'm starting the setting of eggs for the breeding season. The basement has been spot clean but I know what DH will be doing this weekend. Collecting the chick waters and feeders, making sure they are all in working order and of course he'll count them to make sure we have enough. Some how they tend to go missing on the hatch day. Not this year, nope, this year we will be much better organized.

Us too, I gathered all my chick waterers/feeders and have all my tote "brooders" packed up but ready to go. Won;t start to hatch util late winter tho am guessing unless we start seeing seasonal eggs early. Since my lavenders are cooped now, as soon as they start to lay, I will be hatching them. Both hens and the roo molted in October, so it wont be long.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote:

Quote:
bacon grease (fat) does not taste like hamburger grease (fat). One way to compare it, is to fry up some potatoes and onions in a pan of each kind of fat. Bacon grease fried potatoes with onions are so good. Also corn oil another kind of fat has a much flavor compared to olive oil.
Yes, absolutely agree!

Quote:

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

well getting the incubator to test today..and hopefully getting it to run constant tommarow

Good luck!

Wow! Where is everybody today!!!

Crazy busy day yesterday

well almost done securing the bottoms of the four coops and then goes the netting on top and then the temp tarp for the winter..check out the progress below...also building my own incubator for you diy ers

Going to check out your thread next..

Quote: It might be, noticed the same with my pekins when I started removing drakes. My pekin usually lay year around. They have slacked off a bit too.

Quote: There are a few members that do NPIP testing here on our thread.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

I need some advice about roosters, since this is my first year of having them "on purpose."

My best black/lav split Orpington cockerel crows like a mad fool. I still have two other cockerels from his hatch that I could keep who don't crow at all. I only want to keep ONE, but the crowing is driving me nuts.

IF I decided to keep one of the quieter boys, and culled Mr. Loud Mouth, how likely is it that that a formerly quiet boy will become a big crower?

I know part of the problem (probably a large part) is that these guys are living with the layers, and my lights come on at 4 AM. That's when the incessant crowing starts. My four older roos don't crow much until later in the morning, at a more respectable hour. I don't want my neighbors (I live on an acre in a suburb) to hate me!

My other alternative, I guess, is to provide a light tight separate crate for Mr. Loud Mouth within the layer coop, which is possible. Once we made the other roos "apartments" more light tight, it did help reduce their crowing. We don't have a third permanent space for the black/lav splits, and plan to let them hang out with the mixed layer flock until late winter/spring, when I will house them in a temporary breeding pen with my lavender hens.

Suggestions?

Also, has anyone tried using a radio (set to a talk station) to reduce crowing? I know that my older boys hush up when I am around, because they know if they crow much, I'm going to give them a walkabout upside down for a minute, and they don't much care for that. I actually got up at 4:30 last night and did that with the black/lav cockerel, but all he did was go back into the henhouse to get away from me, and continued to crow in there. He isn't stupid.

THANKS!

Crowing... I have a few boys that crow in the middle of the night! We have quite a few roos right now, and I will be clearing out some stinkers soon too. I find that some just crow more than others. I find bantam roos are crowers, more than the LF breeds I have. Some do not crow, at all, until a more dominant rooster leaves.
Test your boy out by trying the light blocking idea, and I wonder if the others habits will change if they don't hear him as often.
When I rehomed my oldest rooster, It was crazy with the crowing until the peking order changed.

Okay guys I have news.............. Holy smokes, my splash silkie Arctic is cured. He has been ill for a month. I treated for cocci, wormed him, and still couldn't get to the bottom of his issue. Green poops, lethargy, not hungry. So after corid and sulfadimethoxine treatments he was still sick. I finally said screw it and got out my wine bottle of colloidal silver. 1 cc of 20 ppm CS for 3 days so far. His stool is normal, he is scratching around, eating like a piggy and standing tall. That stuff is awesome! My family uses it all the time for wounds and infections successfully, but it never occurred to me to use it on my chooks. Yogurt, kale and Colloidal Silver for 3 days and he is feeling great. I searched CS on here an there are several articles on it. I'm going to try it on my skinny hen and see if it balances her gut a bit. BTW if anyone is worried about argyria or turning gray, there isn't enough silver particles in CS to cause that to happen unless you were drinking it by the glasses daily.

Interesting! Glad he is better, thats great news

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Super busy last few days! My pullets are all starting to lay, the RIRs and the BRs. So we are getting lots of "pullet eggs" but thats ok, at least its eggs! I now have 30 lively tilapia fingerlings

I bought 25 and got 5 extra free. Shipped Fedex to me from NY, arrived 100% alive and healthy! I have them in a 20 gallon "tank" for now, super tiny lil guys. They are the "MOZAMBIQUE MOSSAMBICUS" strain, going to try them, and see how they do. We eat a lot of fish, so its time to add them to the farm.
Steady progress on the barn, UGH lots of dust. Sneezing our heads off even with masks on! Mud has been awful, so much rain the past few days. Finally had a dry sunny day today. Worked on adding wood chips to the hog pen, will be doing the coops tomorrow. Was laughing at my pigs, they are rooting in the composted chips, digging out the big fat white grubs. When they find them, the raise their snout and close their eyes while they munch, it must be like candy

My lil gilt seems to be recovering well from her prolapse, she is really unhappy being alone though, and the others keep going over to the fence grunting at her too.