INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[kittydoc]

As a follow-up to my post about needing a written biosecurity plan (and following it) to get reimbursed if HPAI strikes your area and your flock is depopulated, here's a link to a page with more links on what they're looking for. I knew it had to be on the USDA site somewhere.

http://www.uspoultry.org/animal_husbandry/intro.cfm

Cheers!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Not much happening today. Had to re=wrap coops since most of my tarps tore off, bracing for the frigid temps coming. Big change from Sunday!
Positive note, we are gaining 2 1/2 minutes of daylight a day now.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Missed some posts, catching up!

DH and I took my mother to dinner at our favorite Mexican place last night, She loves it when we take her there, the waiter kept calling her honey.. lol momma don't like it much when KIDS s she says, calls her honey dear or ?? but I had to laugh just couldn't help it, she would tell herself " be good, I got to be good"... lol
Then DH and I went to big lots and walked off the great food both of us ate too much of!!
Then we went home.................. to find baby goats greeting us at the door with the dogs, ( not supposed to be free ranging the house), trash lined the floors from 1 end of the house to the other and 2 bloody heads!! Our GP had got into a fight!!!
Buddy ( the bigger 1 ) got the worst of it, his eye looks real bad ( could be me just being a worry wort ) so I call our vets ER number and get a RECORDING telling us to call this other number to the ER animal clinic in TH!!! WTH!!!! Sooo I call the number and in talking to the woman that answered the phone I got that in this clinic they keep a vet in house until midnight and then the vets got on call.. And it is $90.00 just to walk in the door!!! My vet ER charge is $45.00. I ask who the vet was that was on duty because is was only 9 pm and it is Well I'm not going to name him I don't like him 1 little bit!!! He don't care about the pet he only cares about the money he can get from it!!! They are 2 that are a husband wife team and they both are the same way!!
Anyway I get off the phone and tell DH I will take care of Buddy myself until Monday and then I can take him in to see OUR vet, and you can bet I will let him know I am not happy about being redirected to that slaughter house!!
And what if I had a large animal ER was I just supposed to watch them die? My vet is the only large animal vet in town, the next closest is 40 minutes away in 0 traffic!!
Anyway I cleaned Buddy up the best I could and started him on antibiotics and am keeping my fingers crossed he will not lose the eye.

Oh my. Hopefully he will be ok. My DIL has a pyr and he is a very dominant fella. They added a dane/mastiff mix recently, and last week had a similar situation. He had an ear injury but otherwise was ok. Its so hard finding vet care for emergencies! My guy does house calls, its not cheap. But our cow for example, is such a huge investment I had to be sure we have arrangements in place.

Off topic, CONGRATULATIONS to the Denver Broncos and to our beloved Peyton Manning on his second Superbowl Ring and probably his last professional football game. I don't have a thing against the Panthers, just rooting for Peyton. He didn't play very well, but their defense and special teams were great. Poor Cam Newton just fell apart (had to be nerves). I'm sure he'll be back and some day wear a Superbowl Ring of his own.

With that, we resume our normal chicken programming. Thank you, and goodnight!

DH and I am not much into sports, but I have huge respect for Peyton Manning. He gives back so much, and donates to very worthy causes.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote: DH enablers are so awesome! I could not do it without mine. If I hit a spot where I am so frustrated, somethings not going well, my DH is always supportive. He goes to livestock auctions and will text me asking if I want certain critters. I would so love to go to more, parent care is really hard to arrange.
I have at least one gilt pig I plan to sell, if you want to get into them again. I am so happy with my hamps and the spot gilt, I have been trying to decide if I really want so many girls.We have 6 total hogs right now, and my Hampshire sow is due at the end of the month. All my freezers are packed full, so I may sell the feeder barrow we have and the mixed gilt pig.

Are roll-away nest boxes worth the trouble?

You can't use bedding in them, correct? Otherwise the eggs won't roll.

I'm finalizing coop 2.0 details, and I'm leaning towards going with roll away boxes, just to keep the eggs cleaner. It doesn't bother me if they are dirtied up a little bit, but my wife doesn't care for it, and once the new girls start laying i'll be distributing to friends and family, and if I can save the trouble of washing, I want to.

Anyone have any personal experience to share?

Also, still no chicks at the TSC in Columbia City. Stopped in for just a second this morning to check and nothing. But I did help a lady with her feed bags on my way out, so I got my good deed for the week out of the way early...lol

I have a roll out breeder cage for my quail. Its really helpful, and the eggs do stay cleaner. I have kept them in other cages, and its much simpler and keeps the eggs intact. I would love to have one for the chickens!

News of the weird, while I was out yesterday, someone came by the ask if we could take in her pet chicken. Landlord of her apartment found out about her and said the poor gal had to go. DH figured one more wouldn't hurt and put her straightaway into the backyard. Good news is that nothing seems to be wrong with her (checked her over pretty thoroughly, and I'm going to be treating them all this week anyway). She's a RSL/Comet, bit on the small side, and still getting used to having bunches of other birds around (and a yard!).

Someone may be coming around to buy all of the aquariums & fish-keeping paraphernalia on my front porch too

Also, I'm putting Denagard now in the brooder because abruptly while I was at school, one developed a lot of sneezing and difficulty breathing

Ugh, but at least they asked you! I still find random birds I have no idea where they are from. Especially roosters, seems like they appear overnight. Great news on the aquarium supplies! I am so sorry you are fighting with respiratory issues. Its really hard to fix once its started, but denegard sure seems to work.

 

[chick rookie]

Missed some posts, catching up!


Oh my. Hopefully he will be ok. My DIL has a pyr and he is a very dominant fella. They added a dane/mastiff mix recently, and last week had a similar situation. He had an ear injury but otherwise was ok. Its so hard finding vet care for emergencies! My guy does house calls, its not cheap. But our cow for example, is such a huge investment I had to be sure we have arrangements in place.
DH and I am not much into sports, but I have huge respect for Peyton Manning. He gives back so much, and donates to very worthy causes.

Buddy will be fine, the eye is already 90% better and he will be on meds for the rest of the week. I hate ear rips too, and puncture wounds ( both boys have them, but they arent deep. It could have been so much worse.
I have a horse trl that I use to take the goats and horses in when need be to avoid those BIG $$$$$ house calls. But sometimes that just is not possible. I once had a horse ( you may remember ) Maggie May, that had to have her eye stitched right there in the horse trl.

 

[Mother2Hens]

Not much happening today. Had to re=wrap coops since most of my tarps tore off, bracing for the frigid temps coming. Big change from Sunday!
Positive note, we are gaining 2 1/2 minutes of daylight a day now.

My hens and I have noticed that extra time in the evening here in Central Time land— it sure beats a 4:30pm sunset!

I bought an extra and smaller dog kennel today for Lacy so I could move her to other rooms more easily (her home base is in a larger kennel in DD's room). I haven't finished setting up the new one in my office yet — I put plastic underneath, but still have to cover the area around the kennel so Lacy can walk around. A few minutes ago I noticed that my little cat, Tiger, apparently thought that I set it up for him!

 

[jenaman]

black or blue copper Marans, anyone have chicks, pullets or fertile eggs available?

 

[ChickCrazed]

Originally posted by ChickCrazed Last night two of the mottled Breda and a brave silkied Ameraucana even roosted with the big girls in the big girl coop! It is so much fun seeing them start to get more comfortable with life!
All of my June babies held off on laying before Winter hit, but one of the Breda is now giving me cute little cream pullet eggs! They are gorgeous! Several other girls have started back up, it is nice having eggs to go collect again!

@ChickCrazed Please refresh our memories about the Breda breed! I just looked up some photos and they look interesting. How did you decide upon them and what are their personalities like?
And thanks for posting your beautiful Bielefelders! I am hoping to purchase two from @kittydoc who is breeding them.

You are going to love the Bielies! They have the best personalities and are so pretty in person! With the Breda, I was looking for a new breed to support and really wanted to support a threatened or endangered breed. I was drawn to the Breda for a few reasons, they don't have combs which is a plus for winter, I loved their tiny crest poofs that add some pizazz without being large enough to interfere with seeing predators, they are known for being calm and personable and they lay cream colored eggs (a color I didn't have in my egg basket), and they are also really cool looking. So far they are not as calm and personable as my Bielies, but they are still young and I didn't handle them as much as my Bielies when they were young (too many in the brooder made it difficult to catch them and handle them all). I got mine from RFR of CA, and here are some pictures of their stock for those that have never seen them. I have the mottled variety.

Splash rooster and blue hen

Cuckoo

Mottled

 

[funnyfarmmom]

Scovy seem to do ok upright, the snow mallards don't. Pekin type, rouen, cayuga etc if its fertile it hatches LOL! I had set 60 pekin eggs when I first got the sportsman cabinet, oh my. All 60 hatched. I have learned geese eggs quit if upright so I use bungee cords to hold them on the tray sideways. I plan to order the large positioning trays for this year, since I have a huge goose order to fill.
DH enablers are so awesome! I could not do it without mine. If I hit a spot where I am so frustrated, somethings not going well, my DH is always supportive. He goes to livestock auctions and will text me asking if I want certain critters. I would so love to go to more, parent care is really hard to arrange.
I have at least one gilt pig I plan to sell, if you want to get into them again. I am so happy with my hamps and the spot gilt, I have been trying to decide if I really want so many girls.We have 6 total hogs right now, and my Hampshire sow is due at the end of the month. All my freezers are packed full, so I may sell the feeder barrow we have and the mixed gilt pig.
I have a roll out breeder cage for my quail. Its really helpful, and the eggs do stay cleaner. I have kept them in other cages, and its much simpler and keeps the eggs intact. I would love to have one for the chickens!

Ugh, but at least they asked you! I still find random birds I have no idea where they are from. Especially roosters, seems like they appear overnight. Great news on the aquarium supplies! I am so sorry you are fighting with respiratory issues. Its really hard to fix once its started, but denegard sure seems to work.

I am planning to get more pigs, but need to get a new pen built . When i sold the others I let the guy take their pen apart and take it too. Stupid moment . I'm hoping to get a trio this spring.

My waterers are frozen again this morning! I don't like it grrr. 4 chicken coops, 8 rabbit cages. Plus the chick brooder and inside bunny, but their water doesn't actually freeze. At least I'm not having to carry 5 gallon buckets of hot water this year though. But gah! I have Chicks shipping out today! Hopefully they stay warm enough. It'd be nice if they get here tomorrow instead of Thursday though.

@jchny2000- I may be with you soon on arranging parent care. My mom currently lives in new York. She had foot surgery a few (6) months ago, and still isn't healed. Now she needs a second foot surgery and back surgery that may leave her in a wheelchair. So she's coming home. And since my only brother livesi a second floor apartment and has two tiny babies, my house is the best option. I have teenagers to help for now, but they will fly the coop soon enough.

 

[bantam chicks]

Just a "Hi All" from a newbie in Indy as well. Fortville specifically. Looking forward to reading about your successes and learning how to better raise my flock from your collective knowledge.