INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[amwchickin]

Francis, my first hatch is getting bigger! He/She is a Silkie x Easter Egger and I think the feathering is just gorgeous!

Any guesses on sex?

 

[Mother2Hens]

I have a couple of days posts to read, but I'm going to tell the latest Ditzy story. @bradselig is the father, so hence the name. hahaha
I am laughing now, but DH and I spend two hours searching for Ditzy last evening. I was sure she must've been plucked up by a hawk. I noticed her missing when I brought cut-up grapes out for the flock. DH and I looked everywhere. Although it wasn't dark yet, I used a flashlight to look through ornamental grasses and at the base of bushes. We looked all over our property and the neighbors' in case she had found a way to sneak out of the fenced-in part of our backyard. It was getting dark, so I headed up toward the coop with my head hung low, looked over, and there Ditzy was just sitting under a bush near the coop! I was like OMG! OMG! (I about gave Ditzy a heart attack). I think she must've been perching up in the verbenum bush to keep cool during our oppressively hot and humid weather. I didn't think to look in the middle of bushes since she doesn't usually go up inside of them to perch. Okay, brad, so I am the ditzy one!
Here are a couple of recent photos of Blue Splash Silkie, Ditzy. Her crest finally grew back from being pecked. It's interesting that since cutting her "bangs" a year or so ago, they've never grown back. I'm glad because I want her to have good vision, but it just seems odd.

 

[Indyshent]

Francis, my first hatch is getting bigger! He/She is a Silkie x Easter Egger and I think the feathering is just gorgeous!

Any guesses on sex?

Looks like a red pyle hen

 

[Mother2Hens]

Also want to mention...

Poison Hemlock popping up across Michiana

Toxic to people and animals

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Francis, my first hatch is getting bigger! He/She is a Silkie x Easter Egger and I think the feathering is just gorgeous!

Any guesses on sex?

Looks like a little hen to me. Shorter neck, has a tail already. And she is so adorable! Love the little mixes!

 

[amwchickin]

@Indyshent and @jchny2000 - thanks for the replies! I was really hoping for a hen! But either way, as a first hatch, she would be special no matter what!

 

[Faraday40]

Tonight was another candling event: Day 14. DD really enjoys getting to "peek" at the developing embryos & recording their growth. (The egg pictured is her favorite egg - a silver laced sebright - which is developing well.) DD is also very good at predicting which ones will hatch & noticing any abnormalities like air cell detachment or porous shells. Last year, we did the hatching projects together. This year, she's doing most it herself with almost no help. (Well, I had to acquire the fertile eggs & sell or rehome the hatch results.)

DS is also growing more responsible via his sister's projects. He has taken one of the chicks as HIS. The little chick even follows him when it's not being held. I believe we'll need to name it soon or he'll keep calling it "Chickie." Thankfully, it's showing no roo-like signs at 4-5 weeks, so he may get to keep it.

 

[Indyshent]

Anybody interested in a quad of hatchery Welsummers? Roo is bigger than expected and gorgeous, completely non-aggressive, but he crows really loud... and might be touched off by thunderstorms, if this morning is any indication. He's been crowing A LOT this morning (starting around 5:30). Sweet bird. Doesn't like being picked up, will eat from my hand, but won't peck. Gets along very well with my other roosters. Top cock of the yard. Ladies are all sweeties, get along with everyone, neither top nor bottom of hierarchy, and quiet. Roo and oldest hen were purchased Feb 7 of this year; the younger two hens were picked up several weeks later. All are from RK in Martinsville. Once I figured the trick to sexing them at hatch, they all conformed well. Oldest hen should be laying soon. I was really hoping to see some pretty eggs this year, but my boy's just too loud, and I'm too behind on bills to purchase a No-Crow Collar. If interested, I can throw in a young splay-legged Pekin drake who has deeply bonded with the younger two hens. They're best buddies, and I'd hate to break them up (of course, I hate to part with any of them).

Of 20 chickens, I wound up with 9 roos, and now five of them are crowing. The Brahma (the one that crows right now) isn't too bad, but the two EEs and mille fleur D'Uccle are pretty loud. They're just not as loud as the Wellie, who's perfected the fine art of maximum volume in the past week. He's super loud, and they're just loud. Given my "spare" EE, if interested, I'll let whoever wants one pick of either. They're both goofy guys. One crows "better" than the other (who sounds really awkward and kind of coughs his crow). the coughing one has no muffs or beard, has skinny tail feathers and likes to dance and "fight" around the yard (doesn't hurt anyone or even look like he's trying to). That one's #2 around the yard (#1 being the Wellie who is bigger, louder, older and very capable of bloodlessly putting down insurrections and has a best friend/eternal rival relationship with #2). #3 would be Blackbeard, the bearded, muffed EE who crows pretty well but not particularly often or as loud as the Wellie and never fights with anyone (doesn't even like manly staring competitions). Blackbeard was the first to crow (8 weeks), and Cordon Bleu (#2) was the first to try mounting a hen (10 weeks). Both EEs were pulled from a pullet bin at the Bloomington RK on Feb 14. Don't like being picked up but will eat from my hand. Cordon Bleu likes to roost on the back of lawn chairs while I'm sitting on them. blackbeard is voracious concerning oranges. Sweet birds and always a delight to have around the yard with their goofy antics.

Also have a partridge Plymouth Rock and no other Rocks, if anyone's interested. He's ultra-gorgeous. Taking forever to get proper butt feathers, but he was early to get the beetle sheen and absolutely covered in bars of sheen on a background of deep red. A stunning boy, very quiet so far, HEAVY for no bigger than he is (he weighs more than most if not all of my boys so far--very muscle-y under his fluff). Absolutely nothing wrong with him; I just have a surplus of roosters and no other Rocks. He's about three months old and has not crowed yet.

Oh, and 20+ ducks. Please, for the love of everything holy, I need to find another home for some (or all) of these ducks. They're eating a ton of food, but it's actually the noise that bothers me. I have really close neighbors, and it seems like right about everything that moves sets off a quacking storm with these ladies. A few are somewhat friendly with me, but the whole truth is that the lot of them are scared to death of being picked up and panic on a dime. As much as I want to keep a few of them for the kids' sake, they're just too loud and messy for my tiny yard in this kind of number. Swedish black, Pekin, Rouen and mixes (Pekin drakes over all of the above), plus a Khaki Campbell hen and Indian Runner drake. Last two belong to my kids, but they're not friendly enough to be proper pets, and the hen is the single loudest duck I've ever heard. Tiny thing, but, holy crap, does she honk. All the time. Oldest ducks are a little more than a year old; youngest hatched last week. One of them gives me giant eggs that weigh more than my banties every couple days. Eggs are delicious and great for baking.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Tonight was another candling event: Day 14. DD really enjoys getting to "peek" at the developing embryos & recording their growth. (The egg pictured is her favorite egg - a silver laced sebright - which is developing well.) DD is also very good at predicting which ones will hatch & noticing any abnormalities like air cell detachment or porous shells. Last year, we did the hatching projects together. This year, she's doing most it herself with almost no help. (Well, I had to acquire the fertile eggs & sell or rehome the hatch results.)

DS is also growing more responsible via his sister's projects. He has taken one of the chicks as HIS. The little chick even follows him when it's not being held. I believe we'll need to name it soon or he'll keep calling it "Chickie." Thankfully, it's showing no roo-like signs at 4-5 weeks, so he may get to keep it.

Too cute - I love the "favorite egg" part, a child after my own childhood heart! Fingers crossed for her to have a successful hatch - and for your DS's chick to stay on team pink!

 

[bradselig]

Ok. I really need to downsize! I have a breeding trio of blrw available, single cream legbar hen, english mottled orpington hen as well as 3 younger pullets and 2 black split for mottled pullets, possibly started partridge brahma trio, possibly some buff/buff barred bantam Cochin breeders, and possibly partridge bantam Cochin breeders.

I'm planning on keeping all silkies and showgirls at this time and my lavender barred bantam cochins. Also the barred rocks and silver barnie bantams.

If anyone is interested please let me know. I also have chicks available in most of those as well as showgirls.