INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[flyladyrocks]

Not much new here, still downsizing some. Will be wrapping up chicken hatching in 2 weeks. May still set my Modern Games but aside from them, hatching will end this year. Except my turkeys, won't be setting anymore eggs this season. With daughters getting married and my Moms health its difficult finding time socializing the babies enough to be people friendly. nite guys!

 

[flyladyrocks]

Can we talk Turkey???

We are wanting to add 2 Turkeys. My main questions are: Can I brood them with my chicks? And What do I feed them?

Brooding: my understanding is they need higher temps - for how long? If I had them separate for 2 weeks or so, then can I put them with my chicks? Or is it okay to just have them all together from the start? The light is at one end, and I know it has gotten to 100 under the light, but I'll bet it is at least 5 degrees cooler on the other end.

Feed: I was talking to the grain mill where I get my feed. Right now they don't have a feed specific to turkeys but are having enough people ask that they are trying to figure it out. However according to their Fetrel Poultry Nutritionist, the optimal thing is to make their feed with wheat not oats. I am finding all over the internet that you can feed oats to turkeys, so I am not sure what the issue is. I am going to e-mail the guy and ask. I will not be keeping my turkeys separate, apart from perhaps the first part of their life. We cannot do wheat, wheat in feed transfers to the eggs and I have 1 Celiac and 1 gluten intolerant and wheat in the feed does bother them.

Good grief, look at the time - I better go I work tonight!

 

[atrueb00]

Bees! That's amazing that they made the trip. I know so many people that have trouble keeping them alive over the winter.

I want to know more about bees. We're wanting to use top bar hives.

I think we are going to "host" a hive on our property (not top bar, however) from some folks we know so that we can get some experience with their hive. We're planning on trying to trap a swarm so we have local bees rather than purchasing...we shall see how it goes!

@PeacefulWalls
The fellow that got your equipment is planning on hosting a hive on our property.

Good luck with your hive party! Hope it goes well so you can see a full inspection and get more familiar.

I am torn with the top bar hive, whether to use them over the traditional Langstroth. My DH says he is going to build one and see how it goes. My fear is that since the bees will build their own comb, most of it will end up being drones instead of worker bees. In the past when we've let the bees fill in comb (experimenting with half sheets of foundation instead of full to save money), they built most of the comb for drones. Drones are a total waste of space and make the colony less productive.

 

[Bawk]

I don't know if you're going to find this Xanadu chicken. Something good always comes at the expense of some other good quality. In general: 1) Bigger chickens and some bantam breeds tend to be more docile and good with children. 2) Middle/lightweight Mediterranean breeds have great feed/egg conversion but are almost always flighty, wily, cunning, love free ranging and typically have aggressive roosters 3) Bigger chickens don't always lay bigger eggs (like Orpingtons vs Leghorns) nor do they lay more eggs than smaller chickens (Jersey Giant vs Leghorn) If it lays huge eggs all the time and isn't terribly big, it's likely flighty and/or mean. It is certainly not likely to be the most personable, sweet natured, fluffy friendly girl or guy on your farm, and you'll likely have a very tough time trying to catch it. If it lays medium-to-jumbo eggs a bit less often, it's likely a bigger chicken but probably more docile, more attractive (and fluffy). If it lays a variable amount of small eggs, it's likely a bantam (which can still lay large eggs for their size and quite a number of them--particularly if the parent breed was an industrial strength layer like Leghorns and RIR).

I agree with all of this. You have to compromise somewhere. I would also second (or third) the previous recommendations to look at the Bielefelders. They lay JUMBO eggs and are a super docile and sweet dual purpose bird. They are also gorgeous!! I would say most (if not all) of the breeds that convert food easily are going to be on the flighty end and on the smaller side. I have heard good things about the Dominiques, but I think you are going to have to seek out a reputable breeder. A hatchery bird will not conform to the breed standard and you will end up with a small and flighty leghorn looking bird with Dominique coloring (in my experience).

Very pretty.. Also liked Swedish Flower Hen (lot of variety, very pretty, not so much worry about the standard) but unsure of the roosters. .. Understand Bielefelders are more rare but large. We use eggs to pay for their feed. Orpingtons were our last ones... Thinking back we know better get smaller. We may just end up w regular size more common ones. Will show my husband.

 

[kabhyper1]

I'm not sure who on here lives in Mooresville, but thanks for the recommendation. I had a nice lady come today from Indy (2 and a half hours away from me) to pick up silkie eggs. She said she was told from a craigslist contact in Mooresville that I had some nice silkies. She didn't get a name, so thanks mystery person.

 

[PeacefulWalls]

I'm 53 posts behind, but I wanted to post this as it is time sensitive.

Check this out. Lots of good speakers and topics, and it's free. Starting Monday, April 6 through the whole week. Workshops will only be available 24 hours after posting so take a look at the schedule and see if anything interests you!

http://www.homegrownfoodsummit.com/

​

Wanted to say a HUGE thank you to Leahs Mom for posting about the Home Grown Food Summit!! I hope some of the rest of you were able to watch at least part of the presentations. There was sooo much helpful information about gardening/growing your own food. I have quite a few new ideas I'd like to try this year.

Those of you who have been cleaning up branches & sticks the past few days brought to mind one of the seminars during the Home Grown Food Summit on gardening without irrigation. It was presented by Paul Wheaton of www.permies.com. He described fairly in depth the permaculture method of building a hugelkultur bed for growing plants/food. The basis of this bed is a large pile of logs, branches & sticks. You can find out a lot of info about hugelkultur on his website (and other websites) also. Before you make the final decision to burn the wood, at least check this out. I'm rather jealous at the moment that we don't have any branches or sticks laying around, because I'd kinda like to try making one of these beds!

 

[Indyshent]

Can we talk Turkey???

We are wanting to add 2 Turkeys. My main questions are: Can I brood them with my chicks? And What do I feed them?

Brooding: my understanding is they need higher temps - for how long? If I had them separate for 2 weeks or so, then can I put them with my chicks? Or is it okay to just have them all together from the start? The light is at one end, and I know it has gotten to 100 under the light, but I'll bet it is at least 5 degrees cooler on the other end.

Feed: I was talking to the grain mill where I get my feed. Right now they don't have a feed specific to turkeys but are having enough people ask that they are trying to figure it out. However according to their Fetrel Poultry Nutritionist, the optimal thing is to make their feed with wheat not oats. I am finding all over the internet that you can feed oats to turkeys, so I am not sure what the issue is. I am going to e-mail the guy and ask. I will not be keeping my turkeys separate, apart from perhaps the first part of their life. We cannot do wheat, wheat in feed transfers to the eggs and I have 1 Celiac and 1 gluten intolerant and wheat in the feed does bother them.

Good grief, look at the time - I better go I work tonight!

If you can, free range until you figure out what works for turkeys as far as feed goes. Pretty sure wheat being optimal does not mean oats aren't options. Turkeys live on acorns and bugs in the wild; I'm pretty sure they'll eat oats just fine. Truthfully, they can live on and enjoy about anything.

I've never had a problem brooding turkeys with chicks and even ducklings. If anything, the extra early socialization seems to help them all get along in a mixed flock.

Other consideration is breed, which depends on space and purpose. I love turkeys as pets but am open to the idea of eating them. I have four BB turkey poults at the moment (two bronze, two white). We'll just eat anyone who doesn't get along or have much personality. If you're after pets, go heritage (and, in the event you want to eat one, they taste better according to all the taste tests). Heritage has far less size and breast meat and takes longer to get to 'eating size'. Broad breasted breeds, however, have a plethora of health woes, short lifespans, can't breed naturally, etc.

 

[HouseKat]

I went on a trip in February and saw this lovely rooster just wandering the streets of St Maarten:

 

[irtehun]

Lol it was very cute. Very informational visit. Thanks again @bradselig for having us.

I found this link and thought maybe someone besides me could find the info useful. It's for a DIY auto egg turner. Sorry if it's been already posted. Has very detailed instructions.

Wow what a nice day! Got quite a bit done outside and FINALLY got the blrw seperated from the brahmas! So I will finally start being able to offer eggs in several weeks. I still need to get some coops cleaned out but darn wheel on cart was flat and I bought the wrong size replacement tire.

Had a great visit from @irtehun. i had to watch when he left though as I thought his son might have tried to sneak my self blue showgirl roo! The roo was flirting with him and he was eating it up. It was comical!

I have a splash silkie roo if anyone is interested. I received him last fall when I bought out someone's flock. he isn't aggressive but is pretty flighty. Don't know if he would calm down or not.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Can we talk Turkey???

We are wanting to add 2 Turkeys. My main questions are: Can I brood them with my chicks? And What do I feed them?

Brooding: my understanding is they need higher temps - for how long? If I had them separate for 2 weeks or so, then can I put them with my chicks? Or is it okay to just have them all together from the start? The light is at one end, and I know it has gotten to 100 under the light, but I'll bet it is at least 5 degrees cooler on the other end.

Feed: I was talking to the grain mill where I get my feed. Right now they don't have a feed specific to turkeys but are having enough people ask that they are trying to figure it out. However according to their Fetrel Poultry Nutritionist, the optimal thing is to make their feed with wheat not oats. I am finding all over the internet that you can feed oats to turkeys, so I am not sure what the issue is. I am going to e-mail the guy and ask. I will not be keeping my turkeys separate, apart from perhaps the first part of their life. We cannot do wheat, wheat in feed transfers to the eggs and I have 1 Celiac and 1 gluten intolerant and wheat in the feed does bother them.

Good grief, look at the time - I better go I work tonight!

I brood mine with the chicks for about 3-4 weeks then they get their own pen or mixed in with other turkey poults. Turkeys need higher protein so game bird or turkey feed. I get mine from Lowes pellets but i get my goat feed from there too. Its a drive for us so we get a lot at one time. After 4 weeks my chicks and ducks get chick starter with 18% protein but I keep the turkeys on the higher protein until the last bag runs out after 7 months for the youngest turkey I plan to keep or am in a rush to process.

I'm not sure who on here lives in Mooresville, but thanks for the recommendation. I had a nice lady come today from Indy (2 and a half hours away from me) to pick up silkie eggs. She said she was told from a craigslist contact in Mooresville that I had some nice silkies. She didn't get a name, so thanks mystery person.

Please PM me your contact info, I get requests for silkies at least once a month. I don't have the set up for silkies or quail as I prefer the much larger chickens and the medium turkeys.

If someone is selling Quail, I have gotten a request or two in the past for those as well and I don't have any seller's contact info now that @jchny2000 is no longer incubating full time.

Quote: Wanted to say a HUGE thank you to Leahs Mom for posting about the Home Grown Food Summit!! I hope some of the rest of you were able to watch at least part of the presentations. There was sooo much helpful information about gardening/growing your own food. I have quite a few new ideas I'd like to try this year.

Those of you who have been cleaning up branches & sticks the past few days brought to mind one of the seminars during the Home Grown Food Summit on gardening without irrigation. It was presented by Paul Wheaton of www.permies.com. He described fairly in depth the permaculture method of building a hugelkultur bed for growing plants/food. The basis of this bed is a large pile of logs, branches & sticks. You can find out a lot of info about hugelkultur on his website (and other websites) also. Before you make the final decision to burn the wood, at least check this out. I'm rather jealous at the moment that we don't have any branches or sticks laying around, because I'd kinda like to try making one of these beds!
I wonder if the free tree chips from the tree trimmers would work. I know they compost quite well as we use them in our runs and adult bird coops. When working with the deep liter, the tree trimmed chips have composted much better than the prepackaged bundled pine chips.