INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Chaneys Ranch]

Is anyone currently incubating Turkey eggs to sell?

My DF (who always says "no more chickens") was at Rural King today and said he thought about getting turkeys. Really only want two female and one male, but you can't tell with those and then he would've had to get three chicks as well. I told him to wait so I could check with you all. I have a couple chicks being hatched by a friend so I really didn't want more RK chicks!

Let me know if you're currently doing hatches and what breed. They will probably end up being dinner at some point, may try to hatch out some youngin's at some point.

Several of us have. I raise Bourbon Red and Midget white. @racinchickins and @SallyinIndiana also keep turkeys.

Baby chicks in the house!!!! I woke up to two fully baked Bielies (one boy and one girl so far) and an olive egger (Bieliefelder/Isbar) dancing around on the other eggs. I have several more pips! Hatching in an incubator is so much cooler than broody hatching! I feel I am going to get very little done today!


Note, the boy Bielie has a piece of egg shell stuck to his head. LOL

I just read an article about the lady with the backyard flock that has Avian Influenza has chickens and ducks.

Also read, Diamond V poultry veterinarian, Dr Eric Gingerich, explained: “Turkeys can provide early warning of the spread of HPAI. It takes about 100 times more virus to infect chickens than turkeys.” source

Interesting! Thanks for sharing this.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote:
Try to get pictures of your scovies, face and body. They are old enough can tell by now 100%. I have Extra drakes, LOL!
Your new chicks sound adorable.

Just set for the first time a full 42ct incubator!!
This is quite the mix of chicks lol

Its really exciting to fill the incubator!

Quote:

hear ya, my 1st year on the sportsman it stayed full, wayyyyy too long

but had plenty in the freezer last winter too.

Finally got all my cochins seperated by variety! Still in temporary pens until the others dry out some more. I need to clean out all the coops and will spread straw down in the runs to prevent a big muddy mess. Also going to take down some fencing and make the lens larger this year.

Ugh the mud was awful here, but drying out fast with the sun and warmer temps. Loving it!

Thought I'd share here too since I know some of you have peacocks. Went to Brookfield Zoo today and saw this handsome fella.



Also another guy with his girl friend.

Lil guinea buddy!

Got our new boer buck home today! Solid red he is going to be a LARGE boy!!

Gorgeous! Congrats!

te girls were slacking today - only got a dozen

We are up and down still. Hens are picking up a little every day.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote: I did it already place my BBB turkey order, expect them around the 24th. I personally prefer the heritage birds, but my DH likes the WOW size of the BB's

Those birds will all be meant for food for our family.
Heritage turkey is just an amazing table bird, but it takes about 8 months to a year to get them to weight. Big difference in the personality, social interaction with other bird species, and the flavor of a heritage bird too is unmatched by a BB variety.
BB/Broad Breasted turkeys are strictly for meat, can't breed to create fertile eggs. I have tried, crossed a BB tom with a heritage hen... nope. BB hen with heritage toms... nope. Heritage turkeys will reproduce and even brood eggs, just like chickens do. They Artificially Inseminate the hens for the BB variety to be fertile.Usually, the turkeys at the feed stores are BB variety. Heritage are available through hatcheries, but its best to choose a breeder that works toward a quality bird. Temperament is what I look for, size and overall resilience in a turkey breed. My oldest heritage BR tom is 4 this year, and is still 100% producing fertile eggs with his hens.

 

[hoosiercheetah]

Hey Hoosiercheetah! Long time no see! How are you?

I've been good, but super crazy busy. I had to build new basement stairs, among other things.

I'm looking forward to the spring hatch! I should be adding 6 to 10 pullets to my flock, depending on how it all goes. So excited!

 

[kittydoc]

I don't know if anyone on this thread has English BBS (blue) Orpingtons, but I'm trying to figure out a reasonable offer price for someone who is going out of chickens (to get back into horses full-time). Hatching egg price paid for them was about $6.50 each, so I figure a day old chick is worth about double that ($12-13), but I don't know how much a one year old hen should be valued at. I don't want to offer too much and get ripped off, but I don't want to lowball the owner, either. It's someone I've communicated with since last year, but they weren't NPIP so nothing happened. Now they are, but I'll probably still pick them up in person since they're grown. I'd be buying 3-4 of them.

I've seen photos, and they're pretty nice. I had not planned to breed blues, but thought I might give it a go since I have several black Orps now, and figure why not?

Thanks in advance!

 

[birdman55]

morning everyone...hope everyones weekend was good...got only four coops left to put sand down...so off i go

 

[Little Ameraucana Mom]

morning everyone...hope everyones weekend was good...got only four coops left to put sand down...so off i go

I wish that is all I have left to do !! LOL ! We are sorting, deciding what breeds stay and which one goes. Moving into summer beedng pen. Hoping if we work hard yo be done today with most of it. I'm wanting to go fishing and hiking !!

 

[ellymayRans]

Well I picked up the little Mille fluer d'uccle roos today. If anyone is interested let me know. I'm going to post them on our FB page too.

 

[racinchickins]

I cant remember who posted about the greenhouses on clearance at Plainfeild TSC but thank you! I went and picked up the last one today.

how have everyone's turkeys been laying? I have yet to see an egg out of my 6 hens.

6 of my 9 hens are laying. The midget whites and the Narragansett mixes. My three Sweetgrass hens are holding out on me.

Quote: how have everyone's turkeys been laying? I have yet to see an egg out of my 6 hens.

Mine are not yet, I am farther north east. My oldest BR is 3 this year so watching her for eggs first. Nothing yet from my MW. My toms are both very active and hens are squatting so it should be soon for us. I hatch every turkey egg I get here, not wasting a single poult!
Turkeys sort of freak me out! I don't know why...but they do! I would love to raise a few, but they are super creepy to me! LOL
Turkeys have great personalities. Much more curious than my chickens. Also much easier to herd if I need move them.

One of my co-workers knows I want to get bees and sent me this. Can I borrow someone's money tree? It is a really cool concept, a couple of guys from Australia asked for crowdfunding and got like 8x their goal! LOL I WANT ONE!!!!

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/flow-hive-honey-on-tap-directly-from-your-beehive

We saw this too. Decided to wait a year or two and see if they really do work.

Quote: I know people who live right in Downtown Indy with bees. Their neighbors are right next to them and there have never been problems, most of the neighbors don't even realize they are there.

Questions for everyone, but first just had to tell you all how wonderful my husband is (it is all related!). Unfortunately I thought I had finally found a type of Math I am better at than him, but not so sure anymore! We had a guy come give us an estimate on painting our house. We start talking chicken, find out he can build coops. He asks, "how many chickens do you ultimately want to have" and DH says "40". A month ago it was 30, then 35 now 40! Looks like he may have trumped me in the chicken math department! Then the guy leaves and DH tells me to start designing my coop. How could I NOT love this man? So that brings me to my questions:

What do you like about your coop - what don't you like. What features do you wish you had? What do you wish you could get rid of?

We are looking at 2 options - first, the guy building from the ground up, second, getting a shed and him transforming the shed.

So brag about your coops everyone and help me design mine! I have learned so much the past year and am glad we did not build the coop we thought we wanted last year b/c I now see all it's flaws!

Not so much bragging on my coops as a little advice on what I have learned (I've seen your coops, so you will know most of this. Thought others might like to hear):

• If you are a breeder, try to design a way to temporarily divide your coops for breeding, then open them back up when you combine flocks when you are done. I'm trying to figure out how to retrofit my setup for this, would've been much easier if I planned it from the beginning.
• any hidden/sheltered area WILL become a nest. I left a small opening under the step to get out of the coop, and ended up with some interesting unplanned barnyard mixes when my phoenix hen snuck in there to brood.
• make sure you have a planned area where your feeders and waterers will be and a plan on how to elevate them out of the litter. I didn't really think this through when I built mine, and it is a bit of a pain. Also think through on how to handle winter watering. (also a huge pain)
• If you can make the room. Build in a secure area to keep food, cleaning supplies, etc.... The closer to the coop you can keep stuff, the easier it is. I didn't, and hate how disorganized it makes me. Planning to add that area this year. And when I build my eggmobile this year, I will have an area sectioned off on it also so I don't have to run back and forth.

Quote: I have two phoenix hens. Great personalities, and they are my first choice as broodies. They have been great mothers.

I'm kind of glad the turkeys will cost a bit more as this year I fully intend to raise my own and sell off the extras. Typically the stores sell the turkeys for much less than it would cost me to feed a turkey. the 88 cents a pound last year was unbelievable. Someone had to be taking a loss to get more profit elsewhere. They just had to be.

Grocery stores use turkeys as loss leaders to get you in the store to buy all your other Thanksgiving items. So they actually are taking a loss on them. I've been selling Thanksgiving turkeys for two years now. I do it more as a favor than a money maker. All I can do is just about break even. This may change if there is a shortage this year....

Is anyone currently incubating Turkey eggs to sell?

My DF (who always says "no more chickens") was at Rural King today and said he thought about getting turkeys. Really only want two female and one male, but you can't tell with those and then he would've had to get three chicks as well. I told him to wait so I could check with you all. I have a couple chicks being hatched by a friend so I really didn't want more RK chicks!

Let me know if you're currently doing hatches and what breed. They will probably end up being dinner at some point, may try to hatch out some youngin's at some point.

I have midget white and midget white/narragansett mixes in the bator right now, with more going in tonight. Wish my sweetgrass would get with the program.

 

[Acornewell]

I'd love to get turkeys, but now am afraid to because of the flu thing!?!