INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[birdman55]

thanks....its so great to have so many people backing you with the birds....if your on my forum im sure you understand...but been thru alot and had to literally give away over 500 birds just so i could keep my head a float..people can want to stop you but will never slow the birdman down...as i have come to far to just call it quits......until then.....we shall meet again

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

thanks....its so great to have so many people backing you with the birds....if your on my forum im sure you understand...but been thru alot and had to literally give away over 500 birds just so i could keep my head a float..people can want to stop you but will never slow the birdman down...as i have come to far to just call it quits......until then.....we shall meet again

I am, haven't visited since you had to leave a bit. Excited to see you back! I know you are a survivor keep fighting!

 

[kittydoc]

First off thanks for the info on HPAI! Has anyone heard anything about its spread statewide, where it is, where is isnt? To answer your Speckled Sussex question, yes, i have 6 hens and one rooster. My hens are great, friendly, tame, averaged 3-4 eggs a day since they started laying in october and beautiful. The rooster is beautiful but not the best tempered! i would recommend them though a friend of mine is incubating 25 of them right now!

Is your friend in Indiana or nearby?

 

[chick rookie]

Try oxy clean. Ive not had to get goat pee out...lol..but it works great with little boy pee who sleep walking thought the hallway was the bathroom! !

Boys!?!? Haha!

I had that problem with my son... whats up with that I wonder... lol Thanks will see if she has tried it. Do u use it a cleaner or spray on or just pour on?

Quote: Never heard of it. Where do u get it?

So my plan is i am absolutely building pens for every breed very soon, a layer pen and 1 for the turkeys and ducks. I wanted to do this last year and just didn't. This year is a must. Ive lost too many since this past summer. Very bad predator issues. Daytime hawks, coyotes and opossums killing chickens and a Tom, to nighttime predators owl and fox, juvie pea and female ducks!! I can't win!

I like this open style but the coops will each only house approximately 10 chickens each, some less. Is this even possible on a very small scale to be affective?

Thoughts?

My plans are drawn out for the runs and the coop portion is a work in progress. .i plan to free range all of the chickens rotating about an hour each day for each individual pen.

11 runs total. The turkey and duck housing will just be a lean to type as they sleep outside in the elements by choice anyway. The peas will be the only ones not penned. They go in the coop during the day to roost and sleep when all the chickens are out so my hope is that they will roost at night in an empty house which will solve my owl predator issue with them. To date that is the only predator that has successfully ever gotten one.

I know i am adding only 2 more breeds this spring if all goes well with the Sand Hill order several of us here went in together on last spring. That will be Salmon Faverolles and Spangled Russian Orlaf for me.

Ive struggled every year with breeding by breed, such a pain, now adding the losses this is just a must here.

I hate i have soo many breeds but there isn't a one that i am willing to part with but the layer flock as they are just some crosses and other randoms I've taken in or hatchery birds.

Figured i should keep a layer flock so I'm not eating my breeder eggs.. that layer flock though is getting close to rotating out...it will be nice to separate and see who is laying well and able to actually keep records, which i plan to do also!!

A ton of work but what a relief once its all done.. i will then be able to restock my duck hens. So frustrating.

I lost my last duck hen the last snow we got. Got it on my game cam...a fox. Walked right onto the deck and got both in pics, she flew across the pool and it just ran across it since frozen and got her. It was a small fox but that morning no sign of her besides the pics i got of them. I feel awful. Built up from 2 to 4 and one by one within that week all gone. I still have both drakes but seeing the size of the fox they are just too big for it, same for the peas and turkeys out there.

Sorry Janet. I always feel 100x's worse when it was someone else's babies.

Hoping Patrick sets me up with some eggs before his vaca otherwise i will be shopping for hens very soon. I'm keeping penned from day one here. I wish i would have kept it that way. I just couldn't get them after already releasing.
Sorry, just still really sore over the whole ordeal!

Thats what I ended up doing, I have 4 winter pens and 2 are covered with netting, and 1 has trees near the house and the other is next to the garage.
Haven't lost a 1, once I got them done, and haven't see either hawk or falcon in about 3 weeks I think. So I guess they have moved on to easier prey. I have no free rangers anymore, the losses outweighed the free rang benefits for us. the chickens are not happy about it but..... they are alive.

Love the pup, he is so cute!!!

 

[wheezy50]

I too am making plans for more enclosed coops/runs. I have had my chickens for 5-6 years now and have lost more in the last 6 months to predators than I did in the first 5 years of having them. I unfortunately have an explination for the problems here. I had to put my old girl (Maggie, almost 15 yr old chocolate lab) down last June. Since then my predator problems have gone through the roof. She wasn't a guard dog but her presence near the birds kept predators away. I doubt she would have even attacked a predator but luckily I didnt need her to because they stayed away. Since she's been gone I lost birds to both coons and possums. I even lost some birds to a hawk this fall, which had never happened to me before.

So, im working on finishing a couple enclosed smaller tractors for rotating around the yard right now, they will double as breeding pens to separate some breeds. Im also working on trying to enclose or cover my main layer flock's run, as well as enlarging it some. Hope to get some work done this weekend with the slightly warmer temps

 

[Hholly]

I had that problem with my son... whats up with that I wonder... lol Thanks will see if she has tried it. Do u use it a cleaner or spray on or just pour on?

Never heard of it. Where do u get it?

Thats what I ended up doing, I have 4 winter pens and 2 are covered with netting, and 1 has trees near the house and the other is next to the garage.
Haven't lost a 1, once I got them done, and haven't see either hawk or falcon in about 3 weeks I think. So I guess they have moved on to easier prey. I have no free rangers anymore, the losses outweighed the free rang benefits for us. the chickens are not happy about it but..... they are alive.

Love the pup, he is so cute!!!

You get Nature's Miracle at Petsmart or Petco.

 

[raisinemright]

It is true I am still alive!!
How has everyone been. Already have a couple (9) chicks in the brooder. If anyone is looking for scovys let me know I'm getting over run by them lol. I have a few that I would like to get rid of perhaps trade for some young layer pullets. Other than that been the same around here. Am changing things up with the goats. Starting with a fresh heard in a few months. Hope all is well with everyone!

 

[pginsber]

Hatching a Plan
Last night, I avoided our thread because I had an ad deadline, but I took a quick look anyway (very dangerous, I know!). All the talk about new spring chicks is contagious, and I have Spring Chick Fever! I prefer to purchase chicks from our thread members, but some breeds may not be available. Some hatcheries have minimum orders, and I can't order a crate of chicks!

For those of you who have ordered chicks before, if you could comment on good/bad hatchery experiences with business names and locations, it would be helpful for any of us thinking about ordering. I remember that one of our long lost members, @leslea had a bad chick ordering experience with mypetchicken.com. My intention is not to bash businesses, but share experiences to help make informed decisions.

My wish list includes two English Orps, or maybe one English Orp and one Dorking, two Silkies or one of them could be a Sizzle—silver cuckoo, partridge or buff. I found some random photos online. I'm not sure what the red color is called. I'd like a silver double-laced barnevelder, too. (I said this was a wish list, not a realistic list!) Haha

M2H--
Your wish list sounds great. I have had hatchery experiences prior to joining BYC, and hatching egg experiences after.

I had a singular experience with Meyer Hatchery and it was a good one. However, I caveat that by saying the chicks I originally ordered months in advance didn't hatch according to their planned hatch dates and I was called to substitute breeds. I was shipped several packing peanuts, two died, but one is still alive today. All the birds I ordered arrived safe and sound, properly sexed and are still alive today, 3 years later. I give Meyer pretty high marks in my book.

I purchased 4 started Cream Legbar chicks from Jordan Farm which also goes by the name of Pampered Poultry. I had initial trouble with the shipment information Jordan Farm provided. It eventually worked out and the birds arrived safely and alive without packing peanuts. Within 2 months I lost a bird to Marek's-like symptoms, 2 months later another died mysteriously, and last fall, I lost the third hen. I have only one left and she's 3 years old. I would've expected started hens from a farm specializing in 'rare breed' poultry to outlive mass-produced Hatchery packing peanuts, but that's not proven to be the case. I corresponded with Jordan Farm about the Marek's-like illness and subsequent death of the bird and requested their NPIP certificate, but they never replied to my email request. I will not buy from Jordan Farm/Pampered Poultry again.

Since joining BYC, I've not ordered any chicks. That packing peanut that survived from my Meyer hatchery order 3 years ago turned out to be a Bantam Orpington hen that goes broody two times a year. I have purchased hatching eggs from BJs Poultry. I have had very good hatching rates and highly recommend them for hatching eggs.

I am interested to know where you order from and what you order.

 

[tmarsh83]

Morning all, been a while.

I was downsized the week before Christmas, so i'm on the job hunt at the moment. Fun times let me tell you.

Since I've last posted I've integrated two barred rocks into the flock. They are laying well and get along famously with my leghorn. The ancona on the other hand stalked the rocks and tore one of them up around the comb enough to draw blood. She was eliminated with extreme prejudice. Since her removal, the three are doing well. Currently working on limp on the leghorn, laceration on top of the foot between the middle and right toe of her left foot. Got it cleaned and gauzed last night, and already seeing improvement with her bearing weight on it this morning when I let them out.

Spring chicks ship from Murray McMurray on March 2nd. Splitting an order with a neighbor, adding a couple each of cuckoo marans, delawares, Sussex, new hampshires, and australorps.

Brooder box is framed, not much left to do for that, and new coop construction will start when the weather breaks, February looks to be a monster, but the brooder box I have is quite sizable and should last me awhile.

Also, the puppy hardly is at this point. He's running up on 25 pounds at 14 weeks. He's going to be a monster.

 

[racinchickins]

Patrick, it's been a helluva long time. I've been doing other stuff. I'm an addictive personality. Full on project A; drop project A, full bore project B, etc. Then loop back to dropped projects.
Right now, I'm in the process of building a CNC router. I have it completed; just trying to get everything tuned up and working reliably. It isn't all that complicated if you are willing to spend a few kilobucks. It is complicated if you go the (nearly) cheapest route.


Sounds like you're having fun with your free-range-in-the-barn feathered poop factories. My granddad kept his laying hens in a fenced in pen. When they got too old to be "worth their feed", he would chase them out, leaving them to fare for themselves, putting the replacement chicks in the pen. The suddenly free range hens seemed to do OK, eating whatever they could find on the farm. There was always spillage of feed and grain from the other animals. BUT every surface throughout every farm building was well fertilized. And rotten eggs were scattered about.

All my hens are getting old and laying very little. 25 hens, 3 eggs. Not worth their feed. It's time to replace them.

Are you hatching any CCL this spring? If so, I would like to buy a couple dozen. I like the colored eggs. I was real disappointed when I found that one of my current batch of hens laid white eggs.

John

Hi John! Great to hear from you again. I will be hatching out CCL again this year. Last year I hatched out some eggs from the a new line (Jill Rees). I'm excited to see what they will produce. I can definitely get with you and get you set up with some.

@racinchickins

I LOVE the woods style houses. Got the book a couple years ago and if I ever build, that's likely the style except larger than Jack's.


I have my birds in the pole barn but I don't let them have the run of the barn. I got a bunch of kennel panels from Craigslist and made them an indoor pen for winter last year so they'd have more winter indoor room. (I ended up leaving them there all last season. I think I'll use the chicken shed for meaties this spring if I leave these kiddos in the barn.)



We set the kennel pen by the slider, then I can open back the gate and hook it to the slider. I also put in plastic netting hanging in the slider to keep hawks and other birds from flying in.

This is 12x16 and has panels on the top too.

Gate on this side to enter and one on the far side for them to go out.

Built a 6 ft. roosting area - hopefully keeps a little heat in over their heads. 2 parallel roosts.

To the left of the roost area is another 6x6 area that I can close off... for brooding or for unruly roos in the winter to give the girls a break or for a place to divide off a mean bird if needed.

Gate to outside hooked onto the slider when open. Keeps them from getting into the rest of the barn.

From outside looking in.

You can see the plastic netting that keeps out hawks and birds here.

Netting attached so that it is not permanent if I want to change things or quit using this set-up altogether.

I usually hook a bungie across from side to side in the middle of it in case the wind gets blowing too hard...keeps it in place.
A couple inside photos of happy winter birds

Wow! great setup. My problem is I like to see the birds free ranging or at least outside getting access to grass and bugs (which they don't get even in their outside run)

So my plan is i am absolutely building pens for every breed very soon, a layer pen and 1 for the turkeys and ducks. I wanted to do this last year and just didn't. This year is a must. Ive lost too many since this past summer. Very bad predator issues. Daytime hawks, coyotes and opossums killing chickens and a Tom, to nighttime predators owl and fox, juvie pea and female ducks!! I can't win!

I like this open style but the coops will each only house approximately 10 chickens each, some less. Is this even possible on a very small scale to be affective?

Thoughts?



Hoping Patrick sets me up with some eggs before his vaca otherwise i will be shopping for hens very soon. I'm keeping penned from day one here. I wish i would have kept it that way. I just couldn't get them after already releasing.

I'll have to look at the book. I believe there is a minimum size for this to actually work. It can be scaled up from there, but not down. The key is the ventilation, The entire front is open to the air with just a screen on it, this lets natural air exchange happen and moisture to escape. The rest of the house is air tight so that there are no drafts in the house. I think you need a certain size for the enclosed envelope to keep the drafts out.

As far as duck eggs go, I'm at an even half dozen now and getting an average of 2 a day. Let me know when you'd like to pick them up.

Quote: I'm especially interested in the lavenders. Right now, I have a Lavender drake and a Black drake split to Lavender. The hens that are laying for sure are chocolate and chocolate pied. I do have a lavender girl who I think may be laying (because one day I got three eggs and I don't think I missed any the day before) but I haven't caught her in a nest box yet.

I too am making plans for more enclosed coops/runs. I have had my chickens for 5-6 years now and have lost more in the last 6 months to predators than I did in the first 5 years of having them. I unfortunately have an explination for the problems here. I had to put my old girl (Maggie, almost 15 yr old chocolate lab) down last June. Since then my predator problems have gone through the roof. She wasn't a guard dog but her presence near the birds kept predators away. I doubt she would have even attacked a predator but luckily I didnt need her to because they stayed away. Since she's been gone I lost birds to both coons and possums. I even lost some birds to a hawk this fall, which had never happened to me before.

So, im working on finishing a couple enclosed smaller tractors for rotating around the yard right now, they will double as breeding pens to separate some breeds. Im also working on trying to enclose or cover my main layer flock's run, as well as enlarging it some. Hope to get some work done this weekend with the slightly warmer temps

I think the dogs here keep a lot of the predators away even though they are kept in their own run and don't have the run of the farm. I also have a barn cat who allows no competition in the barn, and he regards raccoon and opossums as competition. Hawks are another story. I have to give my turkeys credit there, the hawks do fly by's, but don't seem to want to get to close to the turkeys. Everyone goes inside at night, so I don't think the owls get any opportunities. My only losses have been to coyotes when I didn't get the pens closed up in time at night.