INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Mother2Hens]

I'm a newbie to this site. I live in Madison. We have 3 adult India Blue pecocks an 1 India Blue leaven who has just laid six eggs. I have hatched them under a brooch hen before but only 2. So the husband went and bought me a still air incubator. I've done my research and I'm hoping to have 6 peachicks in about 27 days. I do intend on selling them. I'm looking for purple and green mating pair of peachicks, yearlings, or even adults. My peahen has been laying a clutch of at least 8 eggs. Any tips or info on incubating would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks so much!!
@StellaBlue81 ~ Welcome to the Indiana Thread!

Originally Posted by bjohnson425
Hello from Clark County. Not necessarily new to chickens but new to this website. I came across it while trying to figure out what breed these 2 new ones we took in are. Seems like there is a lot of good information here.
@bjohnson425 ~ Welcome to the Indiana Thread!

Originally Posted by Candy442
These are auto sexing chicks from a cross between a Bielefelder roo and a CL hen We got one girl from the four total hatch. These guys will be a great size hopefully. The Biele Roo is about 10 lbs, but CL's are typically lighter birds.
Should turn out to be very pretty gentle giants.

@Candy442 Welcome to the Indiana Thread! Thank you for identifying those velvety chicks that
@iamfivewire posted, and feel free to join us anytime!

Hi! Clark County here too! I may have to message you as I'm just getting into chicken keeping!
Also, I am new to the forum as well. I'm located near Henryville Indiana! I've already got a lot of help from the forum, but I look forward to talking chicken!
@crobbins2009 ~ Welcome to the Indiana Thread! We love talking about our chickens—and other animals!

Anyone interested in more info about our great thread, please click here: Indiana BYC'ers Members, Events, & Links
@Greenthumb83 ~ Chicken Math hit you hard! Haha They are lucky chicks, and I'm glad you could help the pasty one.


@weezerfish ~ Your post about sleepy chickens brought back memories. Here's a photo from four years ago of our first flock (Six RIR "pullets" from RK—five turned out to be boys!). The chick on the right was dozing off and leaning on the other one who was about to fall asleep. I remember panicking after seeing chicks just fall over. Don't hesitate to ask questions anytime! I constantly learn new things from our thread members.

@Mother2Hens the blue bird in front of my son is a western crowned pigeon. It was very large. Out of curiosity i looked them up and found a pair for sale for $5000!

@ellymayRans I love the bird's blue shades that remind me of the sky and clouds before a rain. Thank you for posting the species! Your photo intrigued me to look up more info…and it's great that Disney's Animal Kingdom is all about conservation.
The western crowned pigeon lives in lowland rainforests of Papua, Indonesia section of New Guinea. Hunted for food and its plumes, it remains common only in remote areas. Due to ongoing habitat loss, limited range and overhunting in some areas, the western crowned pigeon is evaluated as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

@amwchickin I'm so happy for you to have an automatic chicken door! That should be a stress reliever. Hope things are going better with your landlords, etc.
Originally Posted by pbirdhaven

This weather is a bother! At least I haven't had power outages and trees down like some of you, and I'm thankful for that. Came home from my mom's on Sunday and 4 orpingtons met me at the back door. The wind had lifted the tarp on their pen so that the bottom of the fence was off the ground. Put them in a different pen, and they seem to like it better anyhow. Also had taken some scraps out to the chickens in my popcorn bowl (plastic), set it down while I fed, and haven't seen it since. I suppose it's off in the woods somewhere.

Because the temps have been getting so low, I haven't moved my golden comet chicks (about 4 weeks old) to the shed, even with their heater. So I have 7 of them in my bedroom and 8 in my office area.

Looking forward to reclaiming my house!
Welcome new peeps!

@pbirdhaven Your Orpingtons are nicely trained to go to the back door!

 

[Greenthumb83]

Turns out I couldn't save the pasty chick. Every time I checked it, it needed cleaned. What was drying on it seemed mucousy and that concerned me. I also noticed, that particular chick was not looking bigger each day. He/she just sat under the heat lamp most of the time quietly meeping. It still ate and drank but I felt like something wasn't right with it and this morning it was dead. All of the chicks I got from TSC seem smaller for age and their feathers are much slower coming in. Should I be worried they are all ill? The rest are active and happy...just runty. Seems like the dead one could've had Cocci. Any Advice?

 

[pbirdhaven]

I am SO mad I could spit nails!  

BRINSEA SUCKS!  I can't recommend that anyone buy their products.  They don't even honor their own warranty!

The turner for my Octagon 40 died.  I sent it to them with an RMA number, and paid Priority Mail to be sure they couldn't lie about not getting it.  I wait for almost 3 weeks, and the parts were returned to me in the SAME box with the SAME packing material (multicolor plastic grocery bags) and in the SAME NON-WORKING condition.  No email.  No phone call.  No note.  No NOTHING.

That incubator and turner are 13 months old.  If you register the products within 30 days, which of course I did, there is supposedly a 2 year warranty.  Starting a month and a half after I bought it, they extended the warranty to 3 years (not that it matters!).

I sent them a nastygram email and they better make it right.  I know all kinds of wonderfully free ways to make trouble for a company if they persist in screwing me over.  It's really not my nature, but this is just outrageous.  My incubators are stored indoors all year, no attic, garage, or other possibly dicey storage, and of course I only used it from March to July last year (I got it in late February).

SO I need both the Octagon 40 and the Octagon 20, so the 20 will have to be hand-turned.  Clearly I am not doing a great job.  In the Brinsea, the eggs are of course pointy end down, and all I can really do is spin them around about 180 degrees a few times per day.  Do I need to prop up one end, then the other, too?  What do you hand-turners do if you have eggs incubating straight up and down?  Fortunately, I am going to use the turner that works on the 40.  The only difference is the length of the spacer rods.  The mechanism is exactly the same, and JUST a turner costs nearly $100.

Also, do any of you use a Hovabator Genesis for hatching?  I know they are cheaply made (styrofoam), but aside from that, they have decent reviews.  If I get one, I'm going fully electronic.  I either need to buy one or make a lockdown/hatcher.  If most of the eggs I'm about to set are fertile and there are no bator malfunctions, there isn't enough room for them to hatch in place.  I've always moved them.  I used my Brinsea Mini until the motor burned up (just out of warranty), and used my generally empty Octagon 20 after that.  But I really need to set eggs in both the 20 and 40.  I have lots of brooder heaters (Brinseas ARE good for that, but I have had to make repairs to them myself--they use cheap adhesive and the undersides come loose for no good reason), but I can't use them for lockdown.  

I am so frustrated with this company.  If I make enough selling chicks this year, I'm buying a Sportsman for next year even though I really don't need that much capacity.  I just want something that will WORK.  I paid $400 for my Octagon 40 with turner.  For the price of the 20 and the 40, I COULD have bought a Sportsman but hated to spend that much all at once.

People have asked me what I think of them.  Since the turner broke, I have been less enthusiastic.  I am now totally PO'd and would urge against getting them because they won't even honor their own warranty, and communicating with them is ridiculous.  They rarely respond to emails, and when they do, it's at least a week later.

GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

BTW, I still have my Biele male chick, but he's become a trusted babysitter.  I had three more lavs hatch from a handful that I threw in the bator out of sequence to help make up for infertiles from the first hatch.  The chicks each hatched a full day apart from each other, and the last one was malpositioned and had to be helped out.  One foot had no movement or sensation, but it's slowly getting better.  It can really boogie across carpet!  The foot was jammed against the side of the egg.  It's a little gimpy but I'm going to keep it for a while (maybe permanently), so the Biele boy will be keeping that little one company after the other two lavs go to some folks who have bought birds from me twice before and had dibs!  DH suggested using half a nasal strip (like Breathe Right) to stick to the bottom of the chick's foot and position/support its toes, and by golly it worked.  We put the other half on top of the foot, though I don't know if that was necessary.  I can make a cardboard chick sandal but can't get it to stay on even with thin strips of Elasticon/Vetwrap.  

I'm setting nothing but Orps tonight/tomorrow because I have a couple of good sized lav orders, but want to hatch out some blues and chocolates and cross my fingers for better luck this time.  The lavs are tough little birdies!  I honestly didn't expect any chicks to hatch from the first batch that went up to 105 then 102, but several lavs and just the one Biele did.   For a big roo chick that can already fly at just a couple of weeks old, he sure is mild mannered with the chicks less than half his size.  My roo, Hopper (in German, Hauper, LOL), doesn't especially like to be touched but he is very easy going and doesn't mind close human proximity at all.  He does have an annoying crow, not the deep resonance of the English Orp roos.  Anyway, I wanted to end on a happier note than I started.

It is expensive in the beginning, but the Sportsman saves a lot of headaches and expense down the road. I lucked out in finding the incubator and hatcher for $700 for the pair several years ago. They were old then, but I have never had a problem with them until a mouse chewed the cord on the incubator. Now I'm using the hatcher and hand turning until I can get the other fixed. And you can always get replacement parts or upgrade with the GQF.

Turns out I couldn't save the pasty chick. Every time I checked it, it needed cleaned. What was drying on it seemed mucousy and that concerned me. I also noticed, that particular chick was not looking bigger each day. He/she just sat under the heat lamp most of the time quietly meeping. It still ate and drank but I felt like something wasn't right with it and this morning it was dead. All of the chicks I got from TSC seem smaller for age and their feathers are much slower coming in. Should I be worried they are all ill? The rest are active and happy...just runty. Seems like the dead one could've had Cocci. Any Advice?

I would start them all on Corid and give vitamins. Several folks have recommended small pieces of beef liver to boost vitamins and protein.

 

[chick rookie]

Turns out I couldn't save the pasty chick.

Every time I checked it, it needed cleaned. What was drying on it seemed mucousy and that concerned me. I also noticed, that particular chick was not looking bigger each day. He/she just sat under the heat lamp most of the time quietly meeping. It still ate and drank but I felt like something wasn't right with it and this morning it was dead. All of the chicks I got from TSC seem smaller for age and their feathers are much slower coming in. Should I be worried they are all ill? The rest are active and happy...just runty. Seems like the dead one could've had Cocci. Any Advice?

Sorry your chick didnt make. Hope that will be the only one.

 

[amwchickin]

@kittydoc - I haven't had that bad of trouble with Brinsea (I have the Mini Advance), but for some reason my humidity pump doesn't work right anymore. I have to start it at least a week before setting eggs to get it going and sometimes have to force water through to get it going. I talked tried to talk to Brinsea about it, being that I've hardly had the thing a year and when the issue started, it was only the second time I had used the bator. I changed the tubing and everything, my engineer brother looked at it, and Brinsea said I was doing something wrong. I was so annoyed with them when I tried to get help! So good luck and I hope you get things figured out.

@Mother2Hens - I love the door. The chickens get more time outside now because as soon as that door is open, they run out (instead of me waking up at 9-10am and them wanting to bust out!!) I still worry when it gets close to evening and they start making their way inside and think, "What if something gets in before the door closes??" Then I get home every night from work and they're all snoozing happily!

 

[hoosiercheetah]

I think I'm finally ready to buy spring chicks. Does anyone know offhand a feed store that has white leghorns in? I'll call around the few in my area (Indianapolis), but I thought I'd ask here, too.

EDIT:

Nevermind, I found them! TSC in plainfield says they just got a batch in today, so I'll be up there first thing in the morning. Yay!

 

[funnyfarmmom]

Does anyone have any turkey poults for sale? I only want 3-4, so can't order any. I'vegot one lonely little poult that needs some buddies lol. Not picky on breed and straight run is fine.

 

[wheezy50]

Does anyone have any turkey poults for sale? I only want 3-4, so can't order any. I'vegot one lonely little poult that needs some buddies lol. Not picky on breed and straight run is fine.

Sending you a PM

 

[kittydoc]

UPDATE on my Brinsea gripe....

Believe it or not, my nastygram email got a next day response. That is unusual, but it was appreciated.

The office manager said she would have UPS pick it up tomorrow or Friday to see what happened. She assured me they are tested before they are returned, and told me they replaced the motor and clutch.

Well, I thought I'd plug it in one more time to be sure...and this time it worked. I have no idea why it didn't work the first time unless one of the outlets on my died (possible, but would be weird and should've tripped a breaker).

SO ANYWAY, at least I know what they did, that they were going to take it back and make it right, AND most importantly, it works...for now. I set 6 dozen eggs last night and had already started hand-turning the two dozen in my Octagon 20, but now I won't have to do that anymore (I hope).

Still, I think their products are WAY too expensive for the short duration of use they get. Two years isn't really two years unless you live down south and can hatch year-round because the chicks won't freeze. I raised winter chicks one year a while back, and won't ever do it again. No way, Jose! Too much work. As it is, we'll have to get out the "coffin," which is what I call our giant chick raiser. We can put anything from babies to a few adults in there (though now that I have enough dog crates, that's a lot easier on the adults AND me). DH made this thing soooo big. It's like 6' x 2' x 2' and we have to stand on a ladder to do anything inside from cleaning to feeding/watering to handling chicks. We don't have enough room for it on the garage floor, so it sits on his work bench, which is otherwise perfect for it.

I know that Brinsea products hit their lowest price on Amazon and Rakuten in November (for anyone who might care), and assume that other manufacturers may do the same, so I'll be saving my pennies for a Sportsman come late fall! I don't want to have to deal with them anymore.

I do still recommend their EcoGlow brooder line. I think they use the same technology as the Sweeter Heaters, just much smaller. Brinsea sells through Rakuten.com, which periodically offers a ton of points worth $50 or more for getting their credit card. We got one EcoGlow20 for free (DH's account) and I got one for very little (maybe $20 or so) when I opened my account. They have been used as much or more than the incubators, and except for resealing the bottoms with clear caulk at the end of last season, they have not failed to heat nor have they overheated. The chicks sure like them, and there is zero danger of fire unless there is a short. It's easy to configure any space so that the power cord is not accessible to little beaks.

 

[kittydoc]

One more thing (since I trashed one company)...I'd like to do a shameless product recommendation.

TSC has its own line of pet foods (dogs and cats only I think) called 4Health. It had excellent reviews from customers. I have always fed my cats premium foods like Hill's Science Diet plus a little Iams for variety. However, Hill's has gotten so expensive even on sale that I've been looking for alternatives where I don't sacrifice quality. 4Health fits the bill! We have fed both their grain-free cat food and have a bag of their indoor formula that I haven't tried yet. Cats are true carnivores, so grain-free or grain-reduced is the way to go if you can afford it. The indoor formula has some grain, but not tons, and has lower calories per cup if you have tubby tabbies.

I've been feeding it for several months now and have not noticed any negative changes in health, weight, energy levels, regurgitation/hairballs, coat quality, stool quality, etc., in my small herd of five cats (1-2 of which will go to DD sometime this year). I expected more hairballs to be honest, but it didn't happen. In fact, we have less problem with hairballs than we did before.

The dog foods also have excellent reviews. We don't feed them to Beavis since he is doing well on less expensive foods (even though 4Health is definitely inexpensive for premium quality). If you normally spend a fortune on dog food, it might be worth trying if you go to TSC for poultry/other items anyway. Just never change a dog or cat's food all at once--gradually mix in the new food over a period of at least 3 days, preferably 5-7.

This has nothing to do with chickens except that I know some folks on here supplement their chickens with cat food for the high protein level. (I do that, too--usually Purina Naturals or Meijer's knockoff of it). It sure helped with molting last year!