INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[ChickCrazed]

Wow you guys have been a chatty bunch! I personally don't lick my eggs. I prefer the container/sponge method of raising humidity

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[raisinemright]

Remind me where you got these please! Editing to add that I'm so easily entertained that I'm still laughing over licking. Hmmmm I'm thinking you have to get some of @peacefulwalls pretty colors with some flavors and have some real good licking!

I got these at TSC. I really do like them. Hoping for larger ones to come. Only downside is the price.

 

[RouletteRun]

I had an unforgettable moment last night, my niece and her son (my great-nephew) Brody came over last night, Brody is about two and one-half years old and has never seen live chickens before. My niece was telling him about the "chick chicks," and told him to come see the "chick chicks," and they are chicks, but Brody took one look in the brooder and the first thing he says is "chickens." It was so funny, to him, those were not chick chicks at all, those are chickens. I have no clue where he got that from at such a young age, but it was priceless.

 

[ChicagoClucker]

I had an unforgettable moment last night, my niece and her son (my great-nephew) Brody came over last night, Brody is about two and one-half years old and has never seen live chickens before. My niece was telling him about the "chick chicks," and told him to come see the "chick chicks," and they are chicks, but Brody took one look in the brooder and the first thing he says is "chickens." It was so funny, to him, those were not chick chicks at all, those are chickens. I have no clue where he got that from at such a young age, but it was priceless.

I just began keeping chickens last year. I was like you, but started smaller only 4 chicks. And like you decided it wasn't enough. I have 2 grandsons. A 3 year old and 1 year old. Being able to share this experience with them is priceless in my opinion. Dominic (3) loves to help me clean coop, collect eggs and feed the girls. Although, I learned my lesson letting him collect eggs by himself one day, must be supervised. This will be something they will remember and I will never forget! Loving it!

 

[hoosiercheetah]

You can help them out by dipping a few of their beaks into the water and they will show the rest how to drink. But I usually dip all of mine so I know for sure they are drinking. I've never had an issue with feeding. I start the new hatches on newspaper and sprinkle some feed around. They seem to figure it out quickly. Then introduce a feeder. Good luck!

I tried the beak dipping thing, and they would have none of it.

There is one week-old in with the day-olds, so I'm hoping she'll show the others what to do.

 

[Indyshent]

thanks to ellymayrans, I cant stop picturing you licking your eggs before putting them in lock down. It is a very funny mental picture! Lol!!

I read that gynandromorphs or chimera are made from one egg being fertilized by two roosters... all I have are cochin and polish boys, so this should be interesting!

Chimeras are two separate zygotes that fuse. It's like conjoined twins but on a cellular level. This is how fertile calico males happen (skin came from the girl, gonads came from the boy twin. Infertile male calicos are XXY). Chimeras are one creature made from the multiple whole genomes.

What's super interesting is that all female mammals are a kind of chimera because one of our x chromosomes randomly deactivates in each of our somatic cells. So roughly half of your cells have a different genome than the other half (this is how the calico cat pattern happens). This difference, however, is much smaller (one out of 46 chromosomes being different) than that of a chimera in the usual sense because potentially all of its genome could be different in neighboring cells even.

 

[Indyshent]

Hear ya~ I still have my horrible Bruce, and so many other roos that need to GO. Several muscovy drakes.. Have to make myself face a processing day.

Pretty sure our Muscovy's a girl. She's maybe 8lbs (smaller than the Pekin drakes and one of the Rouen hens even), very small caruncle and still trilling about everywhere she goes. If you need to get rid of one, I may be able to house him Our gal's chocolate if that makes a difference. I've noticed her rapidly moving her neck back and forth and sticking her butt up in the air, but I have no idea what she means by it. My youngest named her "Giddy". He was really distraught when the little lilac one passed away.

Do you know if any of the ones who need to 'go' are one's we gave you?

If you need help processing, my husband and I might be able to arrange child care and come over. I'd like to learn how to do it and really need to get over my squeamishness (but I'm REALLY squeamish). My husband's done processing of roos before, but neither or us has processed ducks.

Another turkey poult passed away this morning. No idea what happened to it. It had a little gasping the night before but seemed healthy for the most part. Again, it waited to die until I picked it up and gave it something to drink. Found a wood chip in its throat and pulled it out with tweezers, but I'm not even sure if it was involved in this baby's death. Really weird. I was up past midnight last night because any time I would leave to do homework (ugh... chemistry) they would start peeping hysterically. Wound up having to bring my chemistry homework into the living room and do it in front of the brooder until they fell asleep.

I made some prosthetic moms for the chicks yesterday by twisting lots of collected feathers into pipe cleaners so that they formed a wing of sorts, then hooked it into the gaps on the brooder door and sides. Tossed in a bunch of molted chicken feathers and the chicks seemed a bit happier overall.Having turkey poults reminds me so much of when my own children were babies because I was having to sneak around like a ninja to get anything done last night. Love having them though

 

[FlockMaster-614]

Talk about Chimera/Gynandomorph Chickens has made me really want one, they are so neat. The genetics behind it is really cool and very interesting. They look awesome too.

The two welsummer chicks I have are doing great and their wing feathers have definitely come in quickly, they love to throw themselves around the brooder, especially the rooster. And they poop, a lot!

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Quote: You can also try sweetening the water with a bit of sugar. I had not done that yet so maybe that will help.

Cats are strange and won't take to new water some times. Maybe chicks are a bit picky too. Or maybe they are sneaky and only drinking when you are not there. The brooder box they were in had a constant light on for them so they don't know darkness yet either.

 

[PeacefulWalls]

For those of you who use Martin's Chicken Butchering on CR 142 in Goshen (Foraker area): if you are not already aware, the owners of Martin's sold the business to some other family members. It is still at the same location, but is now called Roland's Chicken Butchering (24454 CR 142, Goshen, 46526). Their new phone number is 574-354-1246. I was aware this was taking place but just picked up the business card with new info at the feed mill today & thought I'd pass the info along.