INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[SallyinIndiana]

We've got a bit of mud here too. We added pine chips to the path in the goat yard but the path around all of the chicken coops was not drastically needing it yet. The duck run and the other large run will be getting pine chips tomorrow hopefully. So much rain the grass and the weeds are growing faster than our goats can eat them. As soon as it is dry enough our yard will need to be mowed. I was hoping to avoid doing that at least in the back yard this year, what with the goats out there but nope I have prickly weeds at least 2.5 feet tall. My smallest adult goat can now hide in the weeds.

 

[bradselig]

Broody raised chicks almost never have problems with cocci.  They get the proper amount of early exposure from their mother.

No I'm more worried about the adult birds and cocci! It is really muddy!

 

[kabhyper1]

No I'm more worried about the adult birds and cocci! It is really muddy!

Sand! We elevated our coops and put sand in all the runs. It dries really fast. I do have some of my birds on cocci meds right now precautionary, its a flippin' mess here.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote:
I wish. Puppy always laid a huge egg for a turkey, goose sized. I have set every egg she gave me and none were fertile. Many were double yoked, which am sure didnt help. She had a prolapse early into laying season, and we were able to "fix" it. A few weeks ago, it happened again, and there was no fixing it this time, too horribly severe.. I won't go into detail, but she was bleeding heavily, we had a heartbreaking decision to make. Puppy was 2 years old March 16th.
I still miss her, following me like a "lost puppy" everywhere I go

Both Bacon and Tom, my MW turkey called for her for days after she was gone. There are 2 of the BBB hens this year that are soo sweet, but I can't line myself up for another heartbreak. Time will tell, If they stay tiny I may try again!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Well, I'm back again. LOL. Mama kicked the rest of the eggs out of the nest and while doing that she accidentally killed her only hatching poult, or it was hurt while both broodys were in the box. So we put more eggs under her, kicked out the the part time broody hen, and gave mama an enclosure of her own. She has been sitting diligently for the past 26 days. I candled 4 of the 6 eggs (2 days ago) under her and saw lots of veins and poults moving. Beaks heading towards the air sack. So have left them alone since. Should be hatching soon. And I'm getting nervous lol. I checked while she was off the nest this morning. No external pips.

I have had another turkey hen go broody, (not the PT broody) and we put her in her own enclosure after a week. She's sitting on 10 eggs. She chose the chicken coup by the nesting boxes. Needless to say, the hens wanted that prime real estate property to lay their eggs. So about a week of that and shes now in her own condo, and loving it and the hens are back to their rentals lol. She hatches in about 2 weeks.

Then I have PT broody to deal with. She has 5 eggs. The problem with her is she has not committed to the nest yet. And I'm guessing she won't. So I go out to the turkey coup, well because I had 4 toms outside the door, 2 just sitting there and 2 pacing back and forth. Hmmm what trouble is she up to now I'm thinking. I get out there, and she's bickering with another tom over her nest. The tom won! He has been sitting on her nest for the past 4 days. Gets up to eat, drink and poo and back on the nest he goes. I do believe she has given up her nest. Shes back to laying again. Smaller eggs than normal, but laying she is, 1 yesterday morning and one today.

So now my question is, will he stay on the nest to hatch them out or should I just remove the eggs? They have been sat on for the last 9 days. I also had 2 chickens try to take the nest from him and go broody, they were laying on him for 2 of his 4 days. They both gave up!

Welcome to my world of Broody Drama....

Deb

I have an EE roo that chooses the appropriate nest box and will set with his hen. He will sit on eggs, but won't leave her out of his sight either! He is a mature rooster at least 4 years old. I have seen it in my WL roo, and my EE roo cricket also. Have not seen any sit for the long haul to hatch.

I have RIR and they are 5 months or 19 weeks when are they going to lay eggs or what can I do to help them lay eggs

26 weeks is the normal target for heritage breeds.

Indy Rezone Update - hope you are not all sick of me yet! I am getting sick of the lack of transparency and what seems like secrecy regarding trying to push Indy Rezone through. It is downright ridiculous!!

What is going on? That is my question. This is a direct quote from and e-mail our councilor forwarded to us from the Indy Rezone office:
"The Indy Rezone ordinance will be introduced to the Metropolitan Development Commission (MDC) at its June 17th meeting. At that time the MDC will hear public comment. Then the MDC will decide if it wants to take a vote on passage or may decide to continue it to a later meeting."

Here is the page where you get the agendas for the meeting: http://www.indy.gov/eGov/City/DMD/Planning/Zoning/Legal/Pages/mdc.aspx

Here is the agenda for tomorrow as of 10:40 AM June 16, 2017 - Indy Rezone IS NOT LISTED: http://www.indy.gov/eGov/City/DMD/Planning/Zoning/Documents/2015_documents/MDC_2015/6-17-15MDCD.pdf

If you are in Indianapolis,take a few moments, make a call, send and e-mail and ask why it is not on the "public hearings list" for tomorrow- I just talked to John Neal, when I said it is not on the public hearing agenda his reply was "Humm"
the e-mail quoted above came from:
Tammara Tracy 327-7834 [email protected]
John Neal 327-5265 [email protected]

the above contact info is from here: http://www.indy.gov/eGov/City/DMD/Planning/Pages/staff.aspx

Keep posting! And good luck Indy!

I need some help PLEASE!!!!
I want to deworm my flock, I have over 50 birds, so doing each one individually is not something I can do. I bought ivermectin pour on and I also bought safe guard for dogs( this is a packet of stuff that you can dissolve in water). My question is which one is better and at what dose do I give. the dog stuff says it has 4g per packet or 4000mg. I was thinking of dissolving one packet in the water. I have almost 30 birds in the one area, would this be enough or not enough. I just don't want to kill them, I already lost over 20 chickens last week to a horrible 2 day attack from coons, I cant handle loosing anymore. I just need to know dosages please.

Let me look...
1 drop - OEGB sized small bantam female
2 drops - OEGB sized small bantam male
3 drops - average bantams
4 drops - large bantams, small commercial fowl
5 drops - most commercial fowl, small giant hens
6 drops - giant breeds of chicken

from https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/687442/treating-with-ivermectin

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Of course broodies had to hatch chicks today and decide to take them out in all the mud! Took chicks inside. Now to go find some straw for some pens. Mud everywhere! Afraid of a cocci explosion soon!

Its got me worried too. All of them are gathering worms from all this rain. So concerned about a cocci outbreak. We are supposed to have 5 more inches of rain by monday.

Looking for lavender Orpington hatching eggs! Does anyone in Indiana have this color and selling eggs? Thanks

I do, my hens are starting to moult but still laying.

 

[bearbottom]

[COLOR=8B4513]Very interesting! I didn't know male turkeys sometimes sat on eggs (I googled for more info after reading your post). Your Tom is very responsible! I wonder what he thought when hens laid eggs on top of him! [/COLOR] [COLOR=8B4513]Funny story about your broody turkey hen taking over the chicken coop! [/COLOR] [COLOR=8B4513]Crazy days at your place. You'll have to put up a sign! [/COLOR]

There's been an explosion of chicks at my house over the past week and now I need to mark some so I know who's who. I remember a discussion a while back about tagging chicks and now I can't remember what everyone said they liked. So, how do you tag your chicks? I've tried zip ties but I'm bad about forgetting to check them as they grow! They work great on my adult birds.

i personally don't have a bunch of chicks to keep track of but, i have a couple of the same breed i marked them by using a q-tip with a little food coloring and wiped it on their backs. It doez not last that long but, it works till they are big enough to put leg bans on.

 

[Indyshent]

I wish. Puppy always laid a huge egg for a turkey, goose sized. I have set every egg she gave me and none were fertile. Many were double yoked, which am sure didnt help. She had a prolapse early into laying season, and we were able to "fix" it. A few weeks ago, it happened again, and there was no fixing it this time, too horribly severe.. I won't go into detail, but she was bleeding heavily, we had a heartbreaking decision to make. Puppy was 2 years old March 16th.
I still miss her, following me like a "lost puppy" everywhere I go

Both Bacon and Tom, my MW turkey called for her for days after she was gone. There are 2 of the BBB hens this year that are soo sweet, but I can't line myself up for another heartbreak. Time will tell, If they stay tiny I may try again!

I've tried a few times to respond to this, Janet, but nothing's coming out right. I am so sorry for your loss.

None of mine this year are shaping into Puppies or Bacons. They have this weird fascination with pecking my fingertips every time I'm in the yard--hard enough to hurt. They nip my kids too. It's hard enough to hurt but not badly and no drawing blood, but they don't seem to get that we don't like being pecked. Not sure if there's anything I can do to relieve this pecking need or if it's just something the birds are compelled to do. They weren't like this as teeny poults and still occasionally like to cuddle. They follow me everywhere... but the pecking! Rargh!

I bought a suet bar on the cheap cheap yesterday and plan to put it somewhere high enough to give them some serious exercise. Hoping that'll give them somtthing else to peck at.

 

[pginsber]

There's been an explosion of chicks at my house over the past week and now I need to mark some so I know who's who. I remember a discussion a while back about tagging chicks and now I can't remember what everyone said they liked. So, how do you tag your chicks? I've tried zip ties but I'm bad about forgetting to check them as they grow! They work great on my adult birds.

If it's only a temporary need, you can paint their toenails to differentiate chicks from each other. The paint will come off after a period of time, but you could reapply if needed. Just don't use red...it will cause pecking from other birds.

 

[browncow15]

i personally don't have a bunch of chicks to keep track of but, i have a couple of the same breed i marked them by using a q-tip with a little food coloring and wiped it on their backs. It doez not last that long but, it works till they are big enough to put leg bans on.

That's a great idea! But my chicks are black I'll have to try that in the future. I may try the nail polish until they get big enough for zip ties. I just need to keep 3 of the OEs straight from the BCM chicks.