INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[pbirdhaven]

So envious reading posts from students about spring break--wish it worked that well for those of us on the other side!

It's 12:15 AM on Tuesday and I'm just taking a break from grading--midterm grades due today. Last term I was finishing up posting my last class and the dreaded deadline hour came--at 1 minute after I received an email from the registrar's office telling me that my grades were late.

Oh well, got to whine about something!

My sis came down Sunday and helped get my Sportsman out of the shed. Scrubbed it down, disinfected, etc., then realized that a mouse had chewed the insulation off the power cord. Now need to call GQF and see what all replacement parts I need as the cord bone is connected to the motor bone, is connected to the..... So we got the hatcher out of the other shed; haven't cleaned it up yet, but it's safely in the house and all parts seem intact. Guess I'll turn the eggs myself for a while. Hope I can be a good mama hen.

 

[chick rookie]

Aw, shucks.

I don't know what to say.
Love the chicken stylist!

And your little chicken queen is adorable! I love Sebrights. They are too cute, even if they do take themselves too seriously.
Ah, that sounds amazing! I don't know if it's off topic or not, though. Do I see chickens in this picture?

I've never actually been out of the country, so the most exotic place I've been has been Arizona.

I'm jealous of all this adventure, but it's hard to travel when you have livestock as well, and the only one in my family who I know I can trust to take care of the girls the way I do is my mom, who pretty much wants to travel to the same places I do! Oh, well. But I think I'd enjoy being recruited for a local study as well. I remember in my first biology class in college how much fun all of those lab trips were, basically collecting samples and getting real-world practice for that sort of things. It's such an exciting opportunity whether you get to go across the world or just down the street.
Crashie is a little butterscotch Call Duck. You should get some once you move!!

Are they hard to get? I have never heard of them but I was never into ducks so probably just never paid attention. I would love some of those, they are so beautiful, strange how 1 breed can strike your fancy enough to get ya interested, when ya never really was to begin with.

Piglets are growing fast and becoming social, DS the mom is anxious to be back outside though.
She really wanted out today! Pushing a 250 plus pound pig back into the trailer is not an easy task!
They are eating solid food already. All 3 are boys and will be ready to go in less than 2 weeks.



Running around rooting, grunting and playing already.

So cute/.... I love piggys

Today was a great day with my son as we had a Jace and Mommy day and he was spoiled rotten today! It's the beginning of my spring break and I let my son take a day off from preschool. Well our great day turned into a sad one when we got home!

When we got home we needed to do our evening chores of collecting the eggs, feeding the chickens and cats, and other chores. As we were walking out to the coop my fiancé was yelling at us to wait. He told me that Jace shouldn't go in the coop and wanted to prepare me that I'm going to see something and will explain once he got Jace doing something else. I walked into the coop and saw a lot of feathers, white feathers. I collected 2 eggs and looked around for my chickens. By that time my fiance was walking towards me and told me everything that happened. Our rooster was killed by a hawk. When he got home and changed into his work clothes and went outside he noticed the chickens were going crazy so he walked to the coop, walked inside and about got nailed by a hawk who flew out of the coop, looked down and saw our rooster laying there motionless. He buried him close to our Great Dane that passed away over a week ago. Thankfully our Rooster did his job and saved all of our hens. Looks like we will be investing in some netting to enclose the chickens run and prolly will only be able to free range when someone's home. We have never had any problems with any predators before! Just sucks that our Rooster is gone!

So sorry to hear about your Roo. Like alott of others on here when your ready I have extra roo or two as well, free to good home. Need to get with @Indyshent and get another roo from her this one I keep, he is awesome.

@Indyshent one of thesse days to get another roo from her but him I keep, He is awesome.




FYI:

WH​

ERE:201 West State Route 45 Road, BloomingtonIN​

WH3201EN: Thurs​

 

[chick rookie]

ok this turned into a mess when I first tried to post it so ill try again. 3201 west state route 45 road, Bloomington, In. Thursday March 10th at 6:30pm.

 

[funnyfarmmom]

I'll definitely let everyone know about the Bedford Swap.

Guys, I could really use some moral support. Idont have many friends in real life, I'mtoo quiet and shy and my whole life has revolved around my husband and kids for a lot of years. Anyway, I have a job interview today. For a lot of reasons I need to get this job. But the job is very physical. Lots of lifting, pulling, standing and walking. IM only 36, but I already have pretty bad sciatica. So good thoughts, prayers, etc that I gget the job and can handle it would be appreciated! Hope everyone has a great day!

 

[amwchickin]

Good luck with the interview @funnyfarmmom , I have an interview to move departments later this week. I so want it to happen. Hope it goes well for you!

 

[Faraday40]

Re: Cuddles
She had a good day yesterday. We're looking at it as hen hospice. She seems to be much happier outside with her flock, so I am checking her abdomen & crop & skipping the tube feedings. When inside, all she did was sit on the floor by my computer chair & stare longingly outside. Now that she is back outside, she's scratching & pecking just as a chicken should. She's still quiet & thin, but not lethargic.

Re: Cookie
We have a broody hen - AGAIN! I put her on some eggs (ones that shouldn't be fertile) for the moment. I'm thinking about swapping them out for a few from the incubator. Those are due to hatch next Tues. Opinions? Do you think that's enough time for Cookie to bond with the eggs? She started what I consider the "pre-broody phase" several days ago, but has been sitting tight ("full broody") for 2 days. She has successfully hatched out eggs before, but I've never tried to shorten her incubation time.

 

[amwchickin]

Rant #1

Last weekend I wanted to get more chicks (reason why is in Rant 2...) My RK in Jasper didn't have a whole lot, mostly red sex links and all straight run. Between the AI problem and being the only place to get chicks in the county, It seems that getting chicks from there this year is a flop.

So, my loyal sidekick and furchild, Roxy and I took an unplanned road trip. First we went to Paoli, then made my way to Bedford and then Bloomington and Elletsville. All in all, we went to 3 RK's and 3 TSC's.

TSC 1 and 2, no chicks, only ducks and they were crowded!
TSC 3 had no clue what their chicks were, they were all straight run, and they begged me to take more than I got. I ended up buying 6 golden sebrights (was really looking for Mille Fleur).

Although the conditions seem to be cleaner at TSC, the workers clearly don't want to deal with chick days and I think they group whatever together just so they don't have to keep cleaning out all the bins.

RK 1 and 2 - no chicks whatsoever!
RK 3 - Bloomington - They had chicks, many were straight run and several kinds were thrown together. There were 2 other people wanting chicks and NO ONE came by to help. One guy kind of walked by and we asked if he did the chicks and he said no and kept walking. Heaven forbid he send someone else over. We were all getting fed up with waiting, so we all got the boxes out and started getting our own. The stickers were there too, so I put a sticker on the other's boxes. Thankfully, RK's are getting better at pricing. Straight run $2.29 and pullets, $2.99. I (hopefully) got all pullets. I had to weed through the pasty butt chicks, which I hated to leave, but who knows how long they were like that. I didn't want to get home and hour and a half away and lose a few just because of that. I ended up with two white leghorn, an australorp, 2 EE's ??, and I think an amber link.The amber link died 2 days later, It was not moving around very good and it's wings looked oversized for it's body after looking at it more closely.

I know stores having chicks available is kind of a game, everyday is different, but wow. I was really amazed after that trip!

 

[daskhan]

If anyone is interested a friend of mine (clodfelter's) Donny and carol are saying all of one of their show winning goats.. I think the pigmy line not sure my wifey was talking about it and like usual I was only half paying attention I was off in la la land about my new pavlovskaya roo and svart hona roo so if anyone has any interest please let me know

 

[amwchickin]

Rant #2

Since I moved all but a few chickens in December, I have had nothing but trouble. I moved close to 25 chickens. All my birds are healthy, thankfully. We made it through the Dubois County A.I. problem and did great over the winter. I don't even remember my exact number of birds, since they were moved as I could grab them at night from my parent's house. Some birds were a year, some were two years, and a couple roosters were around 3 years.

Sometime in Dec/Jan I had a coyote problem. If I wasn't home to lock up the coop, I would end up losing a bird or two. One night about 5 went missing. Some nights I work until 9:30-10. I put up a trail camera to see what was going on, watch patterns, etc. My DF brought over a trap and I set that every night. Since then I hadn't lost any at night. A large male fox had been coming around, but I think he figured out he can't get to them and has moved on. During the day, if I am home, I definitely know when a hawk is around...there is a ruckus outside! They have plenty of cover, so that isn't a huge threat.

Roxy, my good girl, (sorry, for gushing on her, she is just really starting to get into the whole LGD thing and loves it!) barks and chases off anything that breathes. Sometimes in the middle of the night, it drives me crazy, but she always has an ear on alert.

Now for my biggest problem: I rent my house from someone I kind of work with. She and her husband are pretty cool, a few years older than me, and have a couple kids. They had no problem with me having chickens and whatever else at the place since it is the country. Mostly everything is going good aside from some repairs that need to be done, that sadly, I need a man for...He is trying to get over and do things when he can, so I'm alright with that. They moved to a house just over the hill (I could walk there). They have two outside dogs that roam freely.

Up until a couple weeks ago, they never came onto my property...that I knew of. Two weeks ago, I lost a couple birds without a trace. No coyote/fox/raccoon tracks. And they went missing during the day. Right now I am working a straight 8-5 schedule, so I have been opening the coop when I leave in the morning and closing it up around an hour after I get home. I am hoping after an interview this week, I get to continue this schedule, which is in a different dept. and I love it!!

This last Thursday, Roxy starts barking as soon as I open the door, so I go out and investigate. It is one of my landlord's dogs. He's just nosing around the property. Roxy tries to let him know he's not welcome, but he thinks she's playing. I decided to not open the coop, and put food and water inside. I fired my .22 to get him to go home. He left and I went to work. I let my DF know and he said he would visit later in the day. He texts me at 2pm and said he was too late. The dog had torn through the coop door and throughout the morning, had successfully killed 3 hens and two roosters. I got home at 5:30 and walked around my whole yard and there were feathers EVERYWHERE. I could see each bird's coloring. I was bawling by the time I walked in the coop to see who I had left.

Friday, I didn't let the rest out again, I put concrete blocks up so nothing could get in. Friday, everything was good, even though the dog came by. I love having a trail cam up!

Saturday morning, I am working on some things at my computer, which is right by the back door. I start hearing crazy chicken sounds and swing open the door and a chicken is flying into the house with one of the dogs hot on her tail. He has feathers in his mouth. I let her stay wherever she landed and grab the gun. BOTH of their dogs are here, trying to get chickens. Now at this point, I have one rooster, 5 hens and my sweet Mille Fleur left. I fire off shots and I am screaming! Roxy takes off, I don't know where the chickens are, if there are any left. At this point I am steaming and I shouldn't have a firearm in my hands. So I go back in and get dressed, grab my phone, and my handgun, just in case. I call for Roxy, but she isn't coming out of wherever she is. I have a GPS tracker on her, so I follow that and find her hiding underneath a big mess of fallen trees in the woods. It took a half hour to coax her out and to come back home with me, poor girl! So we walk around the yard and the coop. 2 girls were in the coop, and 3 were under the coop. (I was going to get some more blocks to close the underneath up, now I am glad I didn't, because it's low enough that only a rooster and smaller can squeeze under there) One girl is in the house and one is missing. I am not happy. I get the hen from the house and check her over. She was behind the couch... Feathers missing, but no damage.

I texted my parents because I was planning on going over there and getting the last of the outside supplies and do some laundry. I told them I would be there much later and what was going on. Then I texted my landlord and explained what was going on. Just this week I have estimated a loss of $150. Some of my chickens are RK/TSC, but many are/were from my friends here on BYC. I have driven all over the lower half of the state for some of these birds. A friend of theirs that I am working with right now mentioned that a couple weeks ago that they mentioned a couple dead chickens showed up in their yard. So they have known about this for weeks and haven't said anything!!!!! When I texted him and told him the dogs were up here, I have trail cam photos of them and I am losing all this "money/chickens" because of them, all I got as a response was, "Yeah, I need to do something with the dogs, they'll kill anything." No, I'm sorry, or take some money off the rent, nothing. I am so furious right now!!

Does anyone have advice or suggestions on how to handle this situation? I went to Home Depot and bought stakes and good fencing, and I have an automatic door on the way, spending yet more money. I am doing all I can to save my birds and keep them protected. With the weather getting warmer, I am able to get more done outside with security, it's just getting enough money saved for doing more.

 

[amwchickin]

Thank you everyone for letting me take over conversation this morning and get that all off my chest. No one understands better than you all. This seems like justa silly hobby to most people I talk to, and yes, that's how it started out. Now I want to do a breeding program and get birds other than chickens...and get goats...and so one! I love doing this, it is so much fun, even though it is work and it's not cheap sometimes.

I know it's kind of hard to see, but here is the fence. I will try and buy another roll every month until I have the whole yard covered, but this is a start!