INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

Thinking of doing another processing day end of july/early august. If you'd like to learn how, or have some of your own that need to have that 'one bad day', send me a pm. Once I know more about my schedule, I'll post the actual date.
 
Good morning

Another rainy day here. The temps are fall-like. I'm not sure what we'll harvest out of our garden.
We are thankful that we got our hay baled Monday. Our ducks are loving our new ponds.
I'm sorry for those that have had much more rain. Sounds like the Indy area folks are swimming.

We have some new turkey poults we purchased. I noticed them pecking at each others wing feathers a couple of hours after getting them home. I would gently shoo them away. Last night, a couple were at it. Again, this morning I still see it happening. I can't tell if it the same ones doing it. We've not had this in the past with turkey poults or chicks this young. I've tried reading up on it, but have only come away with more questions. I am really leaning toward them needing more protein. We can not get the recommended 26% protein feed here, but have done well in the past with 22% and giving them mashed cooked eggs.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Try them on more protein. If you have cat food or dog food on hand, process it into smaller pieces for your poults. Another option I've had pretty good luck with is making feather toys for problem pickers to peck at. I just twirl pipe cleaners around a lot of gathered feathers and tie it somewhere the birds can reach and peck at with some effort. Yet another option is to give them something else to do--more room, different foods, more interaction. Some birds are predisposed to feather picking even if they have enough protein, so it helps to have other activities and feathers that aren't attached to other birds around at all times. I collect molted feathers because some birds--particularly young birds--need interaction with the feathers of other birds. I think it simulates a mother and fosters social grooming in some birds.

The good news is that many babies grow out of their fascination with feather picking, though they may never completely come out of an oral fixation. So far, turkeys are pretty bad about this. It comes of being really curious, I think. Mine do a good deal of social grooming, and so when they see specks on me, they "clean them off" (read: peck me). The other two occasions I've noticed turkeys pecking: 1) They are hungry, or 2) They want to be picked up, preened, babied, held, and/or generally loved upon.
 
For the last week (and the next couple, by the look of our finances and the stockpiled bags), they're eaten layer feed, and I've given them all the eggshells that come out of the kitchen since they came out of the brooder. From the look of it, it's just one hen who is consistently surprised about laying eggs (given that they've been in the middle of nowhere or next to roosts each time). Think it might just be her since everyone's eating the same kind of food right now. I'm really hoping her body gets the hang of this soon
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I've heard soft-shelled eggs can also be due to stress, and the majority of these have occurred since the 4th and since I rehomed most of the senior-most birds in the flock. Since this, my SLW has become top bird and has unfortunately become something of a biznatch to the other birds. She even bosses around the turkeys and definitely bullies the other chickens (esp the remaining roos), so I suspect this change in flock dynamics may be at least partially to blame.

I've noticed a number of my girls visiting the nest boxes for extended periods of time, and some of them haven't been leaving any eggs. Chief on this list is the other remaining hen from the first batch of seven picked up on Feb 7, the oldest of my four EEs. Her best friends have either disappeared or died, and the last one has turned into a total nasty overnight, so I think she may be the one with the supercalafragilistic eggspeedalidociousness all over my coop and yard. I haven't had any of her pretty blue eggs since her buddies disappeared.

Woot! I got my first blue egg since I dropped her buddies off! Hopefully this means she's feeling a bit better, but I'm sure the prolonged layer feed didn't hurt
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Past couple days, I've had dominant hens stalking me in the yard, making a LOT of noise. I thought they were mad at me because they use that, "Oh, no, you didn't!" voice. Alas, apparently my girls were horny because when I made to pet one, she squatted. She did this again today, and I pet her again, and then she got up and did the "I just did it!" ruffle and dance step. I have four roosters, and none of them are apparently man enough for the top ladies in my yard. One of them seems to think I'll take him because, all through last week, he would try to grab my wrist and mount my forearm, but he's so clumsy about it that the duck is his only other option. None of the other three ever even try to get with the ladies. As far as these birds are concerned, I'm apparently hot stuff, and I'm not even sure if I should pity them or be disgusted or just laugh my butt off... so I'm laughing.
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So, I met @indyshent and passed on the EE and Buff Orp. Biddies today:

700



Last night I got a picture of the two sweet Cream Legbar boys, a generation or two from GFF Which will go to @racinchickens. I am raisin them 2 months, he better hope I don't get too attached to these sweeties. ;-) I got the hatching eggs from Texas

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Sleepyheads
700

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@browncow15
  Sorry about the loss of your chick.  Congrats on your CCL chicks.  I lost a pair of CCL chicks from a broody hen last night.  I'm blaming the rain. Just so much wetness everywhere. 


Sorry about your chickies! :( the water really is becoming an issue. I've been really afraid one of the chicks is going to drown!

Here's the new babies!

Pair 1
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Pair 2
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And just because my lone survivor from hatch 1 and my orps from @kittydoc
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@browncow15 Sorry about the loss of your chick. Congrats on your CCL chicks. I lost a pair of CCL chicks from a broody hen last night. I'm blaming the rain. Just so much wetness everywhere.
Its making my turkeys miserable, and my smaller BBB poults are getting respiratory issues. We had very little rain, and it was a sprinkle tonight. Hope the weekend is dry, we need to bush hog the field and get some dry hay.

Past couple days, I've had dominant hens stalking me in the yard, making a LOT of noise. I thought they were mad at me because they use that, "Oh, no, you didn't!" voice. Alas, apparently my girls were horny because when I made to pet one, she squatted. She did this again today, and I pet her again, and then she got up and did the "I just did it!" ruffle and dance step. I have four roosters, and none of them are apparently man enough for the top ladies in my yard. One of them seems to think I'll take him because, all through last week, he would try to grab my wrist and mount my forearm, but he's so clumsy about it that the duck is his only other option. None of the other three ever even try to get with the ladies. As far as these birds are concerned, I'm apparently hot stuff, and I'm not even sure if I should pity them or be disgusted or just laugh my butt off... so I'm laughing.
gig.gif

Its that teenager mode they go into. They get very weird sometimes!
So, I met @indyshent and passed on the EE and Buff Orp. Biddies today:




Last night I got a picture of the two sweet Cream Legbar boys, a generation or two from GFF Which will go to @racinchickens. I am raisin them 2 months, he better hope I don't get too attached to these sweeties. ;-) I got the hatching eggs from Texas





Sleepyheads

Precious lil babies!

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Lovely babies, enjoyed the pics!
under the apple trees :
Great photo. I love watching the deer early in the mornings, they cross right through the yard to get to the creek. My goats Baaaah at them, but the deer ignore them.
 

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