INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[SallyinIndiana]

I have 9 turkey poults available that hatched 6/29/2015.
Then I have a few other turkey poults that buyers backed out on. They have various hatching dates, just message me what you are wanting.

 

[ellymayRans]

I just plain don't have room to keep a bunch of birds over the winter so...

I was confused after the sexlinked talk the other day so I did some digging. The way I understand it for barring to be sexlinked the FEMALE has to be barred and the male solid. If the male is barred ALL his chicks will be barred (I think). I love genetics but my brain doesn't absorb information like it did before I had three kids screaming at me all the time

Lol! I use this link to try to reference when I get confused! !

http://www.diyseattle.com/chickens/barred-gene-use-in-chickens/

 

[racinchickins]

So am kinda "upsizing" rather than downsizing lol. Working on adding marans back to my flocks again, and dark cornish hopefully. Have my chicks for next years chicken breeders picked out. Really pleased with the colors and variety I am seeing hatch with my EE/OE flock.

So guys, what breeds or species will you continue to keep, or not keep? What birds have been a headache, or a joy to have?
For us, turkey, guinea, ducks, quail, geese and chickens will still be here next year.

Downsizing on turkeys: getting rid of the Midget Whites, just don't click with me. Keeping the Sweetgrass.

Hopefully adding Lavendar muscovies if Janets girls will cooperate.

Added Bielefelders and possibly partridge brahmas to the laying flock.

Sticking to just breeding Cream Legbars, American Bresse and Mottled Javas.

Trying to keep my winter flock at about the same number of birds as last year. That means I will have adult laying hens for sale later this year as I try to figure out who stays and goes.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Quote:
I'm trying to get some Bielefelders. If you have extra, let me know. I want to try them to consider replacing my BLRW. I like the BLRW but I have not had the best results at getting color from them.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

So am kinda "upsizing" rather than downsizing lol. Working on adding marans back to my flocks again, and dark cornish hopefully. Have my chicks for next years chicken breeders picked out. Really pleased with the colors and variety I am seeing hatch with my EE/OE flock.

So guys, what breeds or species will you continue to keep, or not keep? What birds have been a headache, or a joy to have?
For us, turkey, guinea, ducks, quail, geese and chickens will still be here next year.

Well, mine are pets, so I'm not sure if I should bother saying this, but everyone who's here is staying here.


EDIT: And it just occurred to me what you probably actually meant...
So, to keep it short, the birds that I won't be getting any more of are the Guinea fowl (they're just too loud and wild, not fun to deal with), red sexlinks (too many laying issues that too often lead to shortened lifespans), Leghorns (once again, wild and crazy and not my thing, with the exception of my Exchequer who is a sweetie), and production Rhode Island Reds (too aggressive to the other birds, and the roosters are about the meanest things I've ever met).
Birds that I will always have if I can help it are Dorkings (They are the best pet chickens. Seriously.), Plymouth Rocks (great pets, dedicated layers, and so pretty when you get the heritage / breeder quality ones), Cochins (sweet, calm birds and good-tempered roosters), Bielefelders (big, calm, loveable, and easily handled), Easter-eggers (because they make beautiful eggs and add color to the flock, of course!), Marans (for their dark eggs mainly, but I love their personalities as well), and Call Ducks (because they're so darned cute!).




As for next year, I've kind of lost my battle with myself over not getting more chicks for a while... So I'm looking at getting just a couple more Dorking pullets next spring, and maybe a couple other breeds, too. And I'm just going to have to try hatching more call ducklings as well. Crash is just so precious and I want more already!





Speaking of Crash, oh my goodness, this picture of him this morning! I have no words! He's trying to be so serious!

He's getting so big, can't believe he's only 5 weeks old!

I was confused after the sexlinked talk the other day so I did some digging. The way I understand it for barring to be sexlinked the FEMALE has to be barred and the male solid. If the male is barred ALL his chicks will be barred (I think). I love genetics but my brain doesn't absorb information like it did before I had three kids screaming at me all the time

You are correct, but only if the rooster is carrying two copies of the barring gene. If he is carrying one copy, half of his offspring will inherit barring, but it won't be sexlinked. It's sexlinked when the female is barred because of how their chromosomes are paired. This image was helpful for me to visualize that:

It's the same in chickens as it is in ducks. Male birds have ZZ chromosomes, while females have Zw chromosomes. That's why in pure breeds, barred hens are darker than barred roosters; the female can only carry one copy of the barring gene, which exists along the Z chromosome. As you can see, the mother gives her Z chromosome to her sons only. Because barring is not on the w chromosome, which is given to her daughters, if she's paired with a non-barred male, then her daughters have no way of receiving the barring gene, while her sons always will. And that's how sexlinks are made. Meanwhile, if the male has just one copy of the barring gene, he passes it to half of his offspring. Because it's the female that determines the sex of the chick, the male should pass on barring evenly between male and female chicks, and so he will not make sexlinks when crossed to non-barred females.

And sorry for rambling on about it. I love genetics, too...

 

[Indyshent]

Who should stay, and who should go?

Well, as for what not to acquire anymore: guinea fowl (wild, crazy, LOUD!), Leghorns (strong willed and fly over fences, don't like being handled, reputedly evil roosters), most mallard-derivative ducks (hate people, lay filthy eggs all over the yard, horny devil boys with giant manly bits that are really hard to explain to small children, mean broodies, LOUD girls), ISA/RIR/sexlinks because they tend to pick on newbies and have to test all boundaries, geese (too loud for neighbors), anything that is vicious, vilely rapacious scum, too loud or flies over fences is a no-stay if said behaviors cannot be altered. Too loud, too mean and flies over fences are the biggest reasons I have to part with a bird.

What to keep? Anything that gets along with everyone and is pretty quiet. Lays passably well is a massive perk. Other perks include: fluffy, pretty, soft, friendly, curious, has a unique personality, is amusing to watch, eye-candy and yard art.

Turkeys are a keeper as often as possible for me. I just love their mannerisms and personalities. While the species as a whole is much maligned and poorly understood, I just can't get enough of them (until those nasty hormones kick in, and the babies start growing up and fighting, that is). They're also the closest thing to dinosaurs I'll likely ever own. As another perk, if they grow up to be jerks, you can eat them cheerfully and have lots of leftovers!

Wyandottes. I'm new to them this year, but they are the softest, prettiest hens I ever met. If innocence had a texture, it would be a Wyandotte's feathers. They lay passably well (esp for a "pretty bird"), have unique (spunky) personalities, are quiet and fun to watch.

Silkies. So far, they've turned out to be very mild-mannered, quiet, easy-going cottonballs about the yard. Bottom of the flock hierarchy is what it is, but at least they've never pecked anyone for any reason. I'm allergic to pretty much all mammals, so it looks like silkies are the closest thing to rabbits and other furry pets as I'll ever be able to have in my face without a sinus explosion.

List would definitely change if I depended on them for a huge part of my income or as a food source. It would also change is I had space and no close neighbors.


Birds I eventually really, really want to get into: emu, golden pheasants, peafowl. Maybe call ducks.

 

[hoosiercheetah]

So am kinda "upsizing" rather than downsizing lol. Working on adding marans back to my flocks again, and dark cornish hopefully. Have my chicks for next years chicken breeders picked out. Really pleased with the colors and variety I am seeing hatch with my EE/OE flock.

So guys, what breeds or species will you continue to keep, or not keep? What birds have been a headache, or a joy to have?
For us, turkey, guinea, ducks, quail, geese and chickens will still be here next year.

I just have my same flock of assorted egg layers: Three RIR, two golden comet, One welsummer/brown leghorn, one EE who has stopped laying, and now I have seven Black Star pullets who should be laying in a month or two. I just integrated the pullets with the main flock, and so far it seems to be going okay.

The older hens are basically ignoring the pullets, but the pullets are scared of everything including their own shadows, so whenever a hen comes around they bunch up and run in one big black seven-headed feather pile.

I'm a little concerned about the pullets getting to the food and water when they need it, but I've got enough feeders and fonts, scattered around, that I don't think it should be a problem. I hope.

 

[Faraday40]

Hatching update:
Broody hen= 86% 6 out of 7 eggs hatched & a day early
Incubator = 54% 7 out of 13 eggs hatched. (Worst hatch of 2015!!!) All 13 looked to be the right sze on Day 18, so I'm not sure what happened. Today's Day 22, but usually, the hatching is done within 24 hrs. of the 1st chick. No pips on remaining eggs, so I'm doubtful. I did everything the same & normally get around 90%. I can't blame the eggs b/c they all came from the same sources.

Shipped Dominique eggs = Received scrambled eggs in the mail. Only 2 developed. Placed under a second broody on their day 18. Found cold eggs after hen walked away yesterday-day 19. Cookie babysat overnight but got off the nest this morning to take care of her 2 day old brood. I set up a different incubator last night & popped them inside this morning. Eggs were still warm this time. Growth looks good, but no movement when I candled.

 

[chknbrdr]

If we stay with what we have started for next year, we will have around 50 varieties of poultry up from 35. I'm not sure that everything will make the cut, but so far I am particularly happy with the Polish, Golden Campines, Cubalayas, Dark Brahmas, American Bresse, Pilgrim Geese that we have added this year. Time will tell on the others. For some reason, my White Homers have gone nuts breeding this year, I have close to 60 now, getting very crowded in the coop. We will be building a new barn later this summer to house everything, Should have lots of started chickens, bantams for sale this fall.
Would still like to add some Black Langshans and Black Minorcas breeders before winter.

Matt

 

[flyladyrocks]

Just am FYI - peafowl may be completely off the table if you don't get them b4 Indy Rezone kicks in. There is MAJOR opposition to peafowl in the city and they may end up specifically being excluded from the Livestock license and will not be under the general personal livestock section - what anyone can have without license. Basically, if it is not included under the personal livestock chart, and you don't have it before it is in effect, you can only have up to 12 chickens, quail, pigeons and ducks. Any more than that, or other poultry and the Livestock license will be needed.

This is why we need people to step up and let the city know how we feel. I think it is unrealistic to think this will not be passed. The city got a HUD grant to do this, but with enough opposition we can hope to get things changed and delayed. Ballard wants this passed and in effect so it can be credited to his administration. City council needs the pass it and they aren't real happy with him right now.
The Livestock license is in the draft stage - we have already gotten them to alter it, for example it said that breeding could only take place at night, indoors or behind an opaque fence. Now they've added breeding "large breed animals". We spent 2 hours yesterday showing them basic problems in the license draft.
Then there are things in there like REDUCING parking spaces downtown to encourage biking and walking! Explain how that helps my disabled husband!
In now getting off my soapbox.

Who should stay, and who should go? 

Well, as for what not to acquire anymore: [COLOR=800000]guinea fowl[/COLOR] (wild, crazy, LOUD!), [COLOR=800000]Leghorns[/COLOR] (strong willed and fly over fences, don't like being handled, reputedly evil roosters), [COLOR=800000]most mallard-derivative ducks[/COLOR] (hate people, lay filthy eggs all over the yard, horny devil boys with giant manly bits that are really hard to explain to small children, mean broodies, LOUD girls), [COLOR=800000]ISA/RIR/sexlinks[/COLOR] because they tend to pick on newbies and have to test all boundaries, [COLOR=800000]geese[/COLOR] (too loud for neighbors), [COLOR=800000]anything that is vicious, vilely rapacious scum, too loud or flies over fences[/COLOR] is a no-stay if said behaviors cannot be altered. Too loud, too mean and flies over fences are the biggest reasons I have to part with a bird. 

What to keep? [COLOR=006400]Anything that gets along with everyone and is pretty quiet[/COLOR]. Lays passably well is a massive perk. Other perks include: fluffy, pretty, soft, friendly, curious, has a unique personality, is amusing to watch, eye-candy and yard art. 

[COLOR=006400]Turkeys[/COLOR] are a keeper as often as possible for me. I just love their mannerisms and personalities. While the species as a whole is much maligned and poorly understood, I just can't get enough of them (until those nasty hormones kick in, and the babies start growing up and fighting, that is). They're also the closest thing to dinosaurs I'll likely ever own. As another perk, if they grow up to be jerks, you can eat them cheerfully and have lots of leftovers! 

[COLOR=006400]Wyandottes[/COLOR]. I'm new to them this year, but they are the softest, prettiest hens I ever met. If innocence had a texture, it would be a Wyandotte's feathers. They lay passably well (esp for a "pretty bird"), have unique (spunky) personalities, are quiet and fun to watch. 

[COLOR=006400]Silkies.[/COLOR] So far, they've turned out to be very mild-mannered, quiet, easy-going cottonballs about the yard. Bottom of the flock hierarchy is what it is, but at least they've never pecked anyone for any reason. I'm allergic to pretty much all mammals, so it looks like silkies are the closest thing to rabbits and other furry pets as I'll ever be able to have in my face without a sinus explosion. 

List would definitely change if I depended on them for a huge part of my income or as a food source. It would also change is I had space and no close neighbors. 


Birds I eventually really, really want to get into: emu, golden pheasants, peafowl. Maybe call ducks.