INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote:
I am so jealous on the NNs, I adore my girl! They are as sweet as orps or beilies IMO.

For those of you with dogs. News covering story of Purina Beneful possible issues. I have to find the story now cuz we didn't record the 11 o'clock news!

I saw it on national news too.. Terribly upsetting. I remember the Iams scare a few years ago. Thats what I have always used, it made me switch a while. I went back to Iams after my pug developed skin rashes. FF for dogs is helpful too, but you have to alternate so they get the hard food to keep teeth clean. Anyone switching be sure to do it gradually so your dogs don't suffer digestive problems.

 

[bradselig]

Well I did it! I finally caved and ordered a sportsman 1502! Expected to arrive by next wed! I also ordered some egg trays from cutler. They don't hold as many eggs (30 eggs per tray) as the gqf trays (45 eggs per tray if I remember) but for the price I couldn't pass on them. I think I paid $16 shipped for 6 trays from cutler and all the gqf trays were around $55-$60 shipped for 6 trays. What kind do you sportsman users have? Am I forgetting anything else I need? I already have the auto humidity bucket. Eventually I'll likely order the full acrylic clear door, but right now it isn't a must have.

 

[bradselig]

For those of you with dogs. News covering story of Purina Beneful possible issues. I have to find the story now cuz we didn't record the 11 o'clock news!

If only I had the time, money, and confidence to make my own dog food! So many issues the last several years with recalls and dog foods/treats causing illness and deaths. I have always tried to feed quality feeds for my dogs. I used Wellness for many years until I got the Frenchie. It gave him horrible gas! I always avoided foods with corn. I never really went fully grain free. I finally decided to give Bil-jac a try. I honestly loved the food but got tired of driving 45mins-1hr away to buy it. Now my dogs are on Purina pro Plan and Ive been very happy with it.
IMO, people need to feed the best food they can afford and that works for their dogs. I can't stand it when people talk down to others for what they feed their dogs. If the dog is healthy and thriving, then who cares!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Well I did it! I finally caved and ordered a sportsman 1502! Expected to arrive by next wed! I also ordered some egg trays from cutler. They don't hold as many eggs (30 eggs per tray) as the gqf trays (45 eggs per tray if I remember) but for the price I couldn't pass on them. I think I paid $16 shipped for 6 trays from cutler and all the gqf trays were around $55-$60 shipped for 6 trays. What kind do you sportsman users have? Am I forgetting anything else I need? I already have the auto humidity bucket. Eventually I'll likely order the full acrylic clear door, but right now it isn't a must have.

AWEsome!!!!!! you wont regret it! I have the 1502 https://www.gqfmfg.com/store/comersus_viewItem.asp?idProduct=68
And I really wish I had the clear door. I tried some aftermarket trays, and they are not stable like GQFs, you have to use a bungee to keep them stable, its a pain.
The bucket is a good thing, I don't like to hatch in the tray, but I do. With the humidity bucket you should be fine, my house is old and way too dry. If I don't add water (forget, long day etc), the humidity can go as low as 10%! I just use a good quality paper towel for hatches in the tray, and some pebbles to hold it down. If you do run into humidity issues, I put sponges soaked in warm water the day before I expect external pip around the eggs. It seems to correct the problem. Our biggest issue is the house being drafty, so its terribly dry, and electric heat.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote: When I worked in dog training, you would be surprised on how many breeders and trainers recomended pro plan. Science diet and Iams are also highly recommended, all 3 are because its true meat protein. Working dogs especially perform better on a true meat based diet. Its just healthier for any dog, since they are after all a carnivore. I just read labels, and see what is listed first. We have a store brand rarely on the shelf I get for the barncat that's chicken based.

 

[ellymayRans]

They are looking good! Such loving little babies, I adore this breed. Its so hard to tell, then one day you look at them, and the roosters have fluffy tails, and huge combs. My hens combs came in pretty large, but you look at my trio now and you wouldn't know it. The original groups wound up 9 hens, 6 roos. I should have kept more hens! Was trying to be very particular on who I kept.The hen with the dark lavender comb was my favorite, and a fox took her that spring. That's when I bought more geese! Lockdown and anxiously waiting!!!! Hatch is due 2/26 and am a nervous wreck I want to have around 4 hens and my roo eventually. Would love to find a splash hen in Johnny's colors. I need to get better pictures of him, this was on my older phone and not a good pic. For others not sure of the MG size, he is eating crumble out of a small crock used for hamsters, guinea pigs etc. You aren't kidding, I cant tell until about 6 weeks or so! I have 5 from week 1, and 3 from week 2. If I have even 2 hens I will be happy. My backup LO rooster went missing last week, so now I really only have my trio as adults, has me very unnerved. I will keep the next 2 weeks also and then be offering up eggs/chicks for our chickenfest auctions! I wish I would have had more feedback on last years chicks. I sold locally and only heard from one person a few months later. They wound up with 2 roos, 4 hens and brought me back an extra rooster. I will always take roosters back and find homes for them if possible.

I've offered to do the same especially with my Marans Roos but have never had any come back. I've still got one of my original BCM Roos and added a few more last season but of the 4 or 5 I have I only like one of them enough to test breeding. The few others from other breeders I'm just not liking. Plus some of the birds from one of the lines ended up With Birchen coloring, another with no shank feathering and overmelanized with not enough copper to him, one with white in the tail and a few other places...kinda all over the place really. I know it's expected with the breed...hard to get good type..now egg color is a whole other scary unknown. Sigh..and how will it affect introducing that to mine. I will only do a bit of test mating later in the summer with a few of them to see what they produce. Now to hope for a few hens to come from them to see how it affects egg color. My eggs have all been darker than any other breeders eggs I have hatched. Soo?? Not very promising in that respect. It takes so long to move forward when you only have a few to work with. I just hope this year is more productive than last.

 

[Mother2Hens]

@racinchickins So sorry to hear about your double laced Barnevelder! That is heartbreaking. They are one of my dream chickens as far as absolute gorgeous looks. How are their temperaments in general?
Sorry to hear about your two chickens @raisinemright It's terrible when you don't know the cause.
@pipdzipdnreadytogo If the poofy tail feather picking is from boredom, I guess that makes sense since they've been spending the past week hanging out in the garage for the most part. Fortunately, no one is picking on tiny Monday-- just her two larger sisters. I do think that their gregarious personalities cause them to get their feathers picked. Those young girls just get on the older ones' nerves when they're all suffering from cabin fever. haha
I let them out in the front while the afternoon sun was beating down.
For next winter, I'm going to make a note in my calendar to grow some grass indoors for times like this when ice and snow covers everything.
I have chopped up spinach and other greens, but there's apparently just something special about a tasty blade of grass!


Here's my Bon-Bon girl


And here's her baby, Monday ~ the runt of the hatching eggs from @ellymayRans , but full of personality. When I held my iPhone and leaned down to take pictures, she would hop onto my phone like it was a perch. It's her new adorable trick! lol
EllymayRans~ Monday lays a tiny beige egg and the two others lay green eggs, so does that mean Monday is a full-blooded Bantam Cochin? I'm just wondering. I think they all look alike even though their sizes are different, and they look like Cochins to me-- but what do I know.

Here's Tweedy, proud that she has the largest comb.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Well I did it! I finally caved and ordered a sportsman 1502! Expected to arrive by next wed! I also ordered some egg trays from cutler. They don't hold as many eggs (30 eggs per tray) as the gqf trays (45 eggs per tray if I remember) but for the price I couldn't pass on them. I think I paid $16 shipped for 6 trays from cutler and all the gqf trays were around $55-$60 shipped for 6 trays. What kind do you sportsman users have? Am I forgetting anything else I need? I already have the auto humidity bucket. Eventually I'll likely order the full acrylic clear door, but right now it isn't a must have.

Those trays are ok for collecting the eggs so you can have all of the GQF trays in the incubator but they will bend and are not the best size. I have 3 yellow ones I use to collect the eggs and sort the eggs by breed. The rows are nice and straight while the rows on the GQF trays are offset to make the eggs closer together. I like seeing all of the eggs sorted by breed before I put them into the bator and with the GQF trays I need to mix the small eggs in between the larger eggs or leave empty spots. And random empty spots just make seeing at a glance how many duds I tossed that much harder.

 

[racinchickins]

There is a lady west of Indy in Groveland (just a little went of Danville) who breeds several of these rare breeds. She got the Spanish clown face this year and is hoping to get some chicks. She loves chickens and loves to talk chicken and is commited to perpetuating rare breeds. I finally tracked down her phone number (neglected to write it down last year just had a list of her chickens and no number!). If anyone is interested PM me and I will give you her number. She is NPIP certified. Her girls are not laying much now with the cold but she is hoping for chicks in 4-5 weeks if we can break this cold snap! My search for Buckeyes last year led me to her. My biggest issue is narrowing things down. Which breeds to have for fun and which to breed. So many chickens to choose from and so little space!

Quote: I prefer a risk management type of approach. Since my rate so far is one loss a year like this out of over 100 chickens, I'm thinking of it more as a data point to keep an eye on than something that warrants a necropsy at this time. I've lost other chickens over that time frame, but I knew the cause for each.

@racinchickins So sorry to hear about your double laced Barnevelder! That is heartbreaking. They are one of my dream chickens as far as absolute gorgeous looks. How are their temperaments in general?

As far as temperament goes, they are on the calmer end. Not as big on foraging as some of the smaller breeds, but they do get out and wander with the flock.

 

[ellymayRans]

My eggs in the bator are due to hatch tomorrow. .had to go into the office today and of course just as I left I had one of the Blue NN's externally pipped!! I so love watching and it's just going to drive me crazy not being there! They never hatch very soon after so I'm sure I won't miss anything but!!hate it!