INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[slutter]

I am sad to post that my beloved pet Muscovy duck, Huey has been missing almost 2 weeks now. DH, DD and others are holding out hope that she has "went broody somewhere". I hope so too, but even my AWOL broody hens show up to eat. Those of you that are attached to your birds as much as I am know what I mean. You still see them at least a few days a week. Huey expects and gets a handful of chick feed from me every day, and its been our "thing" for 4 years now. I hope I am wrong but feel she is gone. She has had a lot of love from us and we adore her. Huey has also been a very independent duck, and escape artist. She was unhappy with the new rules regarding no free ranging unless supervised. RIP my precious little lady.

I am so sorry to hear that i hope they are right, and she does end up coming back!

I was going out to the barn monday afternoon to feed the birds, and look who was waiting for me:

It was my first time seeing him up close and personal. He had no fear of me at all. And he was shaking his feathers at anything that walked by. Chicken, turkey, cat.... it didn't matter what it was, he was just hoping someone would notice how pretty he is. Unfortunately for him, except for me watching him, he might as well been invisible....such is the life of a boy bird on the farm. lol

Wow, what a beautiful peacock! peafowl are a breed i admire but will sadly probably never have glad hes so friendly for you!

 

[Dish chickens]

I am sad to post that my beloved pet Muscovy duck, Huey has been missing almost 2 weeks now. DH, DD and others are holding out hope that she has "went broody somewhere". I hope so too, but even my AWOL broody hens show up to eat. Those of you that are attached to your birds as much as I am know what I mean. You still see them at least a few days a week. Huey expects and gets a handful of chick feed from me every day, and its been our "thing" for 4 years now. I hope I am wrong but feel she is gone. She has had a lot of love from us and we adore her. Huey has also been a very independent duck, and escape artist. She was unhappy with the new rules regarding no free ranging unless supervised. RIP my precious little lady.

so sorry you are going through this, I hope all turns out well.

 

[Indyshent]

I am sad to post that my beloved pet Muscovy duck, Huey has been missing almost 2 weeks now. DH, DD and others are holding out hope that she has "went broody somewhere". I hope so too, but even my AWOL broody hens show up to eat. Those of you that are attached to your birds as much as I am know what I mean. You still see them at least a few days a week. Huey expects and gets a handful of chick feed from me every day, and its been our "thing" for 4 years now. I hope I am wrong but feel she is gone. She has had a lot of love from us and we adore her. Huey has also been a very independent duck, and escape artist. She was unhappy with the new rules regarding no free ranging unless supervised. RIP my precious little lady.
he

You have had so much loss this year, and my heart just breaks for you every time. Hoping she's gone broody, too.

 

[ellymayRans]

@Crista all i would add for the broody input is if the dog crate I'm assuming is a cage crate i would recommend lining it with a smaller wire like hardware cloth or cardboard, otherwise those new babies might leave the crate and find themselves too cold, etc and not able to figure out how to get back to momma. Or worse, stumbled on by the family dog or cat.

 

[pbirdhaven]

I am sad to post that my beloved pet Muscovy duck, Huey has been missing almost 2 weeks now. DH, DD and others are holding out hope that she has "went broody somewhere". I hope so too, but even my AWOL broody hens show up to eat. Those of you that are attached to your birds as much as I am know what I mean. You still see them at least a few days a week. Huey expects and gets a handful of chick feed from me every day, and its been our "thing" for 4 years now. I hope I am wrong but feel she is gone. She has had a lot of love from us and we adore her. Huey has also been a very independent duck, and escape artist. She was unhappy with the new rules regarding no free ranging unless supervised. RIP my precious little lady.

I'm so sorry--a beautiful duck.

 

[Mother2Hens]

I was going out to the barn monday afternoon to feed the birds, and look who was waiting for me:

It was my first time seeing him up close and personal. He had no fear of me at all. And he was shaking his feathers at anything that walked by. Chicken, turkey, cat.... it didn't matter what it was, he was just hoping someone would notice how pretty he is. Unfortunately for him, except for me watching him, he might as well been invisible....such is the life of a boy bird on the farm. lol

Those girls must have high expectations if that display doesn't impress them! Haha I'm sure that is so rewarding for you to have him "open up" literally and figuratively.

 

[Crista]

@Crista all i would add for the broody input is if the dog crate I'm assuming is a cage crate i would recommend lining it with a smaller wire like hardware cloth or cardboard, otherwise those new babies might leave the crate and find themselves too cold, etc and not able to figure out how to get back to momma. Or worse, stumbled on by the family dog or cat.

Yea!! I did line it b c I thot they might fall out or someone else might poke their beak in

. I just checked and I don't hear any pecking noises yet. Those eggs are so thick it will need "super chicks " to peck their way out. I used to laugh that when I pitched eggs out into the field and the dog brought them back, unbroken. What a hoot !
Thankyou ellymayRans

 

[Greenthumb83]

   @Rebelshade
 [COLOR=8B4513]~[/COLOR] [COLOR=A52A2A]Welcome to the Indiana Thread![/COLOR] [COLOR=8B4513]Thank you for the Seymour link—we are working on updating info, and ordinances are very helpful because some city/county ordinances are difficult to track down. Are you moving to Seymour and/or are you getting chickens?[/COLOR]
[COLOR=8B4513]Please check out links about our Indiana Thread at the bottom of this post.[/COLOR]
[rule]@Greenthumb83
 [COLOR=8B4513]~ Hope all goes well with your son's eye surgery at Riley.[/COLOR]

They said he is healing nicely and may not need any more surgeries. This was his 3rd surgery in 2 years, so that is amazing news.

@jchny2000 So Sorry to hear your Huey is missing. I hope she makes it home.

 

[Faraday40]

My son's hen (a Leghorn mix) is about 3 yrs. She's been an amazing layer of daily Jumbo eggs. For a few months her egg shells have been getting thinner - sometimes they have calcium deposit bumps. I switched to a better feed, but still only her eggs have weak shells. Today she laid a shell-less egg!!! She will eat the chicken feed but prefers to find her own treats in the yard. Her eggs were stronger when there was snow & she was forced to eat the layer feed. I have never seen her peck at oyster shell. The other hens have nice strong shells (similar to what Crista described).

Is there anything I can do to help her out or is this how I know it's time to cull? (She's not an affectionate bird, but we enjoy those giant eggs.) Because 40- 50% of her eggs get broken in the nest box, I'm nervous about getting an egg-eater. Any suggestions?

 

[iamfivewire]

@tmctlt : we have some americauna/chantecler mix eggs due to hatch this weekend if you're interested in chicks , although we are a few hours away