INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote: I did, but I didn't care for the pair I had. I got both as adults. Very aggressive hen, and the tom both liked to bite at other birds. They wound up rehomed at a horse farm with no other poultry. They are very common, so I bet you can find a tom pretty easy.

Anyone in Indiana raise mille fleur d'uccle?

I have a roo and 3 or 4 hens I am trying to rehome, getting away from bantam breeds aside from my OEGB and MGB. PM if interested, The hens are just too sweet and adorable, the roo is a handful at times, but only 12oz to a pound at most, these are very tiny birds. They were given to me last fall, and just don't fit our needs as a farm. 2 of the hens are the gorgeous light color, the others are traditional.

Had a great day with the children today. Took them to see the Indy Children's museum again. Mrs Lilly (from the early to mid 1900's) really understood a lot about children. The theater they named after her has live plays. These live plays retain the attention span of all of my high energy toddlers. My toddlers that can't get through any standard 30 programs do great for their live plays. The planetarium is wonderful too. And since my youngest is in kindergarten now, I took him to the Ruby Bridges area. Here my children again got to see a live play (a wonderful actress who plays the part of a teacher at the white school).
Still missing my tom and the 3 turkey hens looked lost this morning without him.

I love going to the childrens museum! There is always something new to see, and its so much fun with the little ones

Turkeys really grow on you, they are so much like a puppy. I bet the hens are very confused and sad. I have several emails out to "turkey friends" looking for a blue tom..

I'm not sure who has decided to lay but for the past three days I have gotten two eggs a day. My one silkie hen lays every day but the others stopped laying about a month ago. Then all of a sudden a brown egg showed up next to the white silkie egg. I wish I knew who is leaving me these presents. She deserves a big kiss.

LOL it boils down to individual birds. I found a stash of about 3 dozen eggs today, all different colors and sizes

soooo they decided the old washing machine on the scrap pile had a cozy tub, full of leaves to hide eggs! Thats the only problem with free ranged hens... egg hunting! I saw 3 hens going to the pile of metal DH is saving to take in.. and sure enough, eggs. My piggies enjoyed a feast, no idea how old the eggs were.

Any Advice?
None of my blue eggers are laying. My 2 adult EEs went into molt in Oct & are still taking a break. My Cream Crested Legbar pullets both started laying in early Sept but stopped when it got cold near the end of Oct. I didn't add supplemental light b/c I thought I'd get a few eggs from at least the pullets. My Orpingtons (hatched in April) still don't have bright red combs, so no eggs from them. Out of 13 chickens, I only have 3 laying. (OK 12 since one is a roo.) That's why I'm wondering if some breeds (like the blue & green layers, which is most of my flock) just stop producing in winter while other breeds (or mutts in my case) simply slow down to an egg every 2-3 days.

Is this normal? If so, what month do they return to laying?

If it's not normal, could some of my young pullets be going through a mild molt? ( like the ones who stared to lay in Sept then stopped.) Their combs are now pale but they're not bald & prickly like when my hens molted.. I don't see mites. Is there some symptom I should be on the look-out for or a winter vitamin I should add? They have multiple feeders. I have layer feed in some & feather fixer in others. Grit & oyster shell are also available. Kitchen veggie scraps (1-3 cups daily) & scratch grains (1/4 - 1 cup) daily. These things are just thrown around. They get a little grass time (20 min to 4 hours per day) but it's been severely limited due to a Coopers hawk.

Its normal, don't worry

you are taking great care of them. Naturally kept chickens slow or stop laying when daylight drops to like 9 hours or less. My EEs have always been seasonal, along with some of the more unusual breeds like the legbar and marans. I have considered using light, but always decide against it. My girls are good hens, produce well most of the year, and socialize with us without fear. My birds are my "pets" for the most part, I don't mind them taking a break. Now if they aren't producing in the spring and summer, I get concerned... Most of my hens will stop laying late november and resume in late february.

 

[birdman55]

morning everyone...was up till 430 am designing the big incubator...and doing research but off to work I go...have a great day

 

[bradselig]

Anyone in Indiana raise mille fleur d'uccle?

I know SIMZ here on BYC raised them. She is up north.

 

[chisNchickens]

I know SIMZ here on BYC raised them. She is up north.

Thanks Brad but I don't see any on their website...I will message them though.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Just got an email notification that Premier is offering 10% off all their electric netting on Dec. 15 & 15 only. YOU NEED TO H AVE A CODE so if you're interested, PM me and I'll give you the information.

 

[number9]

Any Advice?
None of my blue eggers are laying. My 2 adult EEs went into molt in Oct & are still taking a break. My Cream Crested Legbar pullets both started laying in early Sept but stopped when it got cold near the end of Oct. I didn't add supplemental light b/c I thought I'd get a few eggs from at least the pullets. My Orpingtons (hatched in April) still don't have bright red combs, so no eggs from them. Out of 13 chickens, I only have 3 laying. (OK 12 since one is a roo.) That's why I'm wondering if some breeds (like the blue & green layers, which is most of my flock) just stop producing in winter while other breeds (or mutts in my case) simply slow down to an egg every 2-3 days.

I have 2 pullets and 2 EE hens. One EE started molting a couple weeks ago, Until then I was getting 10 eggs a week from the EE's but now maybe 4. They are both old hens (3 t0 4 years old ) and have been great layers laying x-large eggs. One of my pullets started laying 3 days ago and I have gotten 2 eggs that look like they came from a bantam. This is more eggs than me and the good wife use so I have been very happy with my egg production. My grand daughters though are disappointed that they aren't getting any grandpas green eggs

 

[PeacefulWalls]

No desire or time to search through 1000's of posts! A number of months ago Brad & several others (can't remember who) were experimenting with different types of leg bands for their chickens. Could you refresh the memory which bands you ended up liking best and where you got them? Right now I'm not too worried whether or not they are numbered. Would anyone also have a suggestion for the best type of leg bands for the ducks? We're wanting to integrate our young ones with the rest of the duck flock, but want to ID them first.

 

[Dish chickens]

Okay I am so excited, I got my first feed mixed. Main reason was so I could add fish mill to their diet. So I took out oyster shells from their (grain elevator)) layers grind mix added fish mill and alfalfa to bring protein up to 21%. Cost was the same as the layers pre mix just higher protein. Now it is very powdery so I'm wet feeding it which is fine until it freezes again. Summer it should be great for FF time. I think there may be to much alfalfa because it is strong and very green, I may cut it back next time.
So I know several of you mix your own feed and didn't know if you had a mix that works well for your flock that you would be willing to share with me. If not I will work off of the base I have and figure out through trial and error. Now the guy was concerned on how much fish mill should be added due to possible over powering the mix so much that they wouldn't eat it? They have had that issue with other animals and wasn't sure about chickens. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

 

[birdman55]

well the day went great...took a bit of the day off but still got a little work done...I put in half the base in the existing pens 1thru4 and moved the silver golden female...

 

[Leahs Mom]

Okay I am so excited, I got my first feed mixed. Main reason was so I could add fish mill to their diet. So I took out oyster shells from their (grain elevator)) layers grind mix added fish mill and alfalfa to bring protein up to 21%. Cost was the same as the layers pre mix just higher protein. Now it is very powdery so I'm wet feeding it which is fine until it freezes again. Summer it should be great for FF time. I think there may be to much alfalfa because it is strong and very green, I may cut it back next time.
So I know several of you mix your own feed and didn't know if you had a mix that works well for your flock that you would be willing to share with me. If not I will work off of the base I have and figure out through trial and error. Now the guy was concerned on how much fish mill should be added due to possible over powering the mix so much that they wouldn't eat it? They have had that issue with other animals and wasn't sure about chickens. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

I have a basic mix recipe that my feed mill originally formulated for me. There IS a maximum level of fish meal that you can use before causing "fishiness" in the eggs. Drop me a PM and I'll send you the specific recipe they used (which I now follow as my base that I grind myself). It has the max of fish meal. The alfalfa is not as important in the summer as winter if they can get out and forage insects, etc. during the summer.

Anyhow, PM me and I'll send it along