INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote:
Its just a horrible experience.

Quote: I need to raise my prices too, its pretty expensive to raise a pullet to point of lay.

@dennislambert79 I am so sorry for what you are going through!

I can't imagine how upset and frustrated you are. "IMO" I agree with @chick rookie and the other supportive thread members that your neighbor should have to pay, which would make more of an impact on him. After he pays — or if he doesn't pay or take action to keep his dog contained in his yard, you should definitely report him and keep following up to make sure he corrects the problem.
@leslea I meant to respond to your earlier post asking if I like the adventure aspect to fossil/rock hunting, and the answer is YES. I find amazing fossils and rocks every day, which keeps me excited about the next find. Even though my finds aren't rare or valuable, they're unique and fascinating. I like the adventure of going to out of the way places, too.

@iamfivewire Thank you for your fossil/rock input! I am familiar with Petosky stones and have found some under my deck! I've been to Michigan many times, but unfortunately not in recent years. It's a beautiful state, especially this time of year when the weather is typically wonderful.
It's in the 90s here with dew points in the high 70s, so it's miserable outside! At least the rain either misses us completely or rains for a short time. I just remind myself that it's better than wintertime. I remind the chickens that it's better than the snow that they despise!
MOLD
The dampness and humidity is enough to cause mold problems. I saw something weird in the far backyard and thought it must be a big dark pile of deer poop (I don't know what deer poop looks like, but it was too large for dog!) Then I happened to read a newspaper article today about slime mold, and that's what it must be. The article said not to hose down slime mold because it will just spread.
MULCH for PLANTS
Btw, when I recently posted photos of all the tiny mushrooms sprouting from our mulch, I found this online article that has good info about combatting fungi: Control of Nuisance and Detrimental Molds (Fungi) in Mulches and... I thought of @Leahs Mom when I read that diseased trees that are mulched may have pathogens that are harmful to plants. That's not a problem when using it inside coops, but the interesting part is that if you use it for plants, chicken poop (nitrogen) will kill the harmful pathogens. The article also mentions that mulch should be in pieces of 3/4" or more because finely chipped/ground mulch causes rot and other problems for plants. Again, chicken poop to the rescue! (of course you have to look up the correct amount).

I feel really bad for all of you with constant rain and flooding! Have any of you had issues with problem fungi?
@pipdzipdnreadytogo ~ Congrats on your BYC award!

Its just mud wet and yuck for us. I am using the fill dirt DH had brought in to dry up coops and pigpens. We are seeing unusual "toadstool" mushrooms sprouting This has been a terrible summer so far, my garden is done for. I may get some corn, thats about it. We are in a deep valley, next to fall creek. House, barn and buildings are still dry but most of the land is saturated badly.

Processing day is over here. Originally planed for yesterday, but my DH went into work so it got moved to today. I truly hope I do not get another 85% or more rooster season again for a long time. Its a lot more effort than the standard 50% roosters or less. First I tossed in 3 extra sets of eggs in hopes of getting some more females and second I now have more than double the roosters I need. The extra chicken dinners will be nice but the roosters are taking over my freezer planing and it looks like our fall pig will be out.

As for the rain, the weather site is saying it will take a break on Wed and Thursday. So just maybe we will be able to mow the 2 sections of our yard that need it the most. I'm really getting nervous about a local hay shortage. If anyone sees good hay for sale, or has some of their own, please message me.

Hay is going to be a problem. It cant lay and dry, I am dealing with that here on just the 2 acres we use for hay. Anyone buying hay watch it close for mold, this has been a bad season.

Quote: he is so precious! Loved the pictures.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

So we spent the afternoon in the ER with my nephews foot being looked at, no broken bones but badly bruised from our big hog stepping on his foot. I keep telling him, put boots on when you are around the livestock! My boar loves attention, and of course stepped on the kids foot when nuzzling up to be pet. He had flip flops on, and yep it really tore up his foot. A hogs foot is pretty small considering the weight it carries. And then, hooves if cared for correctly may be sharp on bare skin, he has a pretty sore foot tonight.
The rain last night has us so saturated. We have had dirt hauled in to reshape the flow of the property. Added several loader buckets to my small hog pen, the chicken coop run and every other area we could for our critters coops and pens. I hope this rain ends soon, its really been hard on the birds and almost impossible to mow.

 

[Indyshent]

Here's some updates:

Garden is doing well, largely, I think, to trenches and higher ground. Corn is flowering and tasseling. Small tomatoes and pumpkins are growing. Have harvested two cukes already, but the one didn't taste especially good raw, so I'm going to look into recipes or dice it and feed it to birds. The one pumpkin plant my neighbor's mowed is springing back finally Have a few zucchini, habaneros and jalapenos coming up. I'd thought all my zucchini were done for (and most of my other recent plantings) due to (cough, cough) turkeys reaching through the chainlink and over short fences to mutilate all the bitty plants, but it looks like three or four zucchini might make it, and maybe a couple more peppers too.

I am a glutton for punishment and so have more babies in the brooder. The seven muscovies from @jchny2000 are doing swell and are FAR more sociable than any other ducks I've ever owned. Looks like half or more are drakes. Good news is that they've more or less decided not to harass the little EE pullet anymore. Everyone seems to be settling in and getting along right now. The muscovy hen has taken to them rather well. First time I tried her with them, she started picking on the silkies from @chickrookie , but when I had all of them in the enclosed side yard, she was fine with all the bitties and seemed to derive a great deal of comfort from their presence. I think she's been really lonely since all of the other ducks found new homes. Her failed brooding earlier this spring could not have helped either. Hopefully, I'll get the bitties out into the yard tomorrow, provided it's warm and dry for any reasonable length of time.

Also have two bitty pullets from @Bawk , and they're doing fabulously. Pretty sure they're both pullets (despite all the mislabeling from the RK bins this year), largely because of their teeny tiny legs. Of course, most chicks look delicate and feminine next to Cornish crosses, of which I now have seven. I'm also pretty sure the EE is not one of the Legbars becuase she has small muffs and is getting dark legs now (yay!).

The Cornish are surprisingly sociable and affectionate. Of all the birds I've brooded this year, they're one of the most sociable with humans (not as much as my turkey poults, but way more so than ducks or most other chickens). They frequently go out of their way to get picked up and will gladly sit on my shoes and/or fall asleep on me. Very sweet babies so far which is really surprising to me given what I've read about them. I'm not wanting to get attached to them because, let's face it, they're meat birds with a very short, miserable life expectancy, and my husband feels like chicken tonight (like chicken tonight!). So, well likely be learning on our 99 cent specials in a couple months, but in the mean time, I'm going to give them a good life and try to learn as much as I can about them. I'd rather us practice butchering chickens before we attempt to butcher a turkey.

In speaking of turkeys, our four are probably pushing the 20lb mark already. They're solid birds... much to the chagrin of a tree they like to roost in. I hadn't expected our BBs to be this athletic at three months, but I do suppose Bacon could hop onto a grill four feet off the ground at four months, so it's really shouldn't be so weird that these guys are clearing four-foot fences, roosting on grill and up in trees. I'm just hoping they don't get hurt

. Not sure if I've mentioned this here before, but I went with dragon names for them this year, and so have: Vermithrax Pejorative, Trogdor, Falkor and Saphira (points if you know 'em!). Falkor and Saphira are the most eager to be in my lap, and Saphira is a particularly demanding and "green" gal when it comes to my affections. Her eyes are really neat. Initially, they were both pale blue, but now one's almost black, and the other is half blue and half brown. I'm thinking Falkor's a girl because she has a fuzzy, relatively pretty head and a racing stripe of feathers still. Trogdor's bald and now has the mean mug typical of toms. Both of the BBWs (Falkor and Saphira) have been spotted strutting this week, but they don't so it for as long or as often as Trogdor. This sex ratio will make it even harder to butcher them because the plan was to eat the jerks and extra boys... but with only boy and three girls (who can give great omelets!), it's just going to be much harder to kill any of them. Worse yet, they're all really sweet birds who like to nap at my feet and get their pets in every day. Maybe the raging hormones later in the year will make it easier to say goodbye, but currently even the thought of a huge, tasty roasted turkey isn't appetizing at all. I suck at this meatbird thing.

At this point, even attempting artificial insemination to breed them sounds more appealing as a way of the birds earning their keep (and this thought's pretty revolting too).

In some more good news, however, the roosters seem to have quieted down a lot, and the SLW isn't terrorizing the other birds so much (even the roosters!). She's still demanding when it comes to her food and pecks other birds for intruding on whatever she's eating, but she's relaxed a good deal, and I have high hopes that she'll eventually like the boys that are left (at least the two Dark Brahma roos).

 

[chick rookie]

today. she seen the camera and decided sh had to roll in the mud
first day




these are the 5 chicks I hatched out of 30 eggs!!! I suck!!!!
the last pic is the last chick hatched 2 day after the due date and she it still wobbly and weak.

@jchny2000 yes she is and a 3 time rescue at that. We have decided that someone is trying to tell me she belongs here, so she wont be leaving again. She is 23 and has 12 teeth missing and eats mush at feeding time. But she is a great horse. We are hoping despite the hard life she hs had she will stick around a long time.

 

[chick rookie]

Bummer...

Maybe you have a tree in your yard you could have them cut ...then you'd get the chips for sure!

Seriously, though, might just need to call them every once in awhile and remind them.

nah I'll just buy some once in a while. Or call a friends friend. Would have done that already but I don't like or trust him much. He's not the type of person I want to be here alone with

.

 

[chick rookie]

So we spent the afternoon in the ER with my nephews foot being looked at, no broken bones but badly bruised from our big hog stepping on his foot. I keep telling him, put boots on when you are around the livestock! My boar loves attention, and of course stepped on the kids foot when nuzzling up to be pet. He had flip flops on, and yep it really tore up his foot. A hogs foot is pretty small considering the weight it carries. And then, hooves if cared for correctly may be sharp on bare skin, he has a pretty sore foot tonight.
The rain last night has us so saturated. We have had dirt hauled in to reshape the flow of the property. Added several loader buckets to my small hog pen, the chicken coop run and every other area we could for our critters coops and pens. I hope this rain ends soon, its really been hard on the birds and almost impossible to mow.

Wow I hop he getts walking better soon. I am always on my kids for bring the grand kids here for a visit without shoes!!!

 

[leslea]

Bummer...

Maybe you have a tree in your yard you could have them cut ...then you'd get the chips for sure!

Seriously, though, might just need to call them every once in awhile and remind them.

Well, that's my hope when they're here for the REMC. If I can't get them to dump the chips they're making right here in my woods, then I give up!

 

[leslea]

PS The barn lime helped immensely.

 

[pginsber]

Still have the Broad Ripple Currant tomatoes growing like crazy, but now we've got another cherry tomato finally ripening. Here's a picture of the 'Black Cherry' cherry tomato. Both of these kinds of tomatoes taste excellent. The Broad Ripple (yellow) one is such a nice, low acid flavor. The Black Cherry one is low acid also, and has a great juiciness and meatiness/seed ratio, but finishes off sweet. Similar to the Cherokee Purple, only in a cherry tomato size.

Black Cherry Broad Ripple Currant


a cluster of Black Cherry tomatoes

We've had a couple of large tomatoes (normal sized, non-cherry) that have ripened, but only a few. I'm anxiously awaiting the tomato rush!

 

[Bawk]

The cream legbar roosters at 1 1/2 weeks, getting spoiled @racinchickins