INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Chaneys Ranch]

Hi all. I have a question about young cockerels. I have watched my 3 barred rocks bump chests from very early on, but they have never been mean to each other. I bought some Australorps a few weeks ago. They are only a week younger than the BRs but a few of them are much smaller. So my BRs are 4.5 weeks and the lorps are 3.5 weeks. One is a definite roo with a larger red comb already. Yesterday one of my BR boys was dust bathing and the little lorp roo looked like he was trying to lay down with him. But then out of nowhere he stands on top on his back, bites his comb and thrashes back and forth for a few seconds before jumping off. Blue was left with a little blood on his comb. Is this what I should start expecting as the boys get older or is Granger just a real ahole? We only plan to keep one roo. I was rooting for this one but not if he's a big meany.

They all should be out to the coop by next weekend, hopefully sooner. Really stinks it's going to rain all weekend. The finish line is in sight! I will get pics soon.

I keep several roosters, breed specific and free ranged. The less boys I keep, the more aggression issues I have. Any rooster that is aggressive to humans or severely aggressive to other birds is removed from my flock.
Looking forward to your pictures!

Quote:
My EE/OE flock is pretty social. Its all in how they are raised, and the parents disposition.

TIME-SENSITIVE!!

efowl.com specifically Cackle is offering free shipping on orders of 15 or more chicks. If you Indy-area folks want to share an order, please let me know. I only want 6-8 Australorps.

THANKS!!!!!!

What a great deal! I have to pass I am doing seasonal species now, brooders are full.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

A question for free-rangers that don't have an outdoor pen.

For the first time since moving the birds to the pole barn I'm going to be integrating new chicks. The barn doesn't have an outdoor confinement pen attached so they are either in or out on range.

At my hen shed there is an outdoor pen that can be divided so the adults could go out to range and the kiddos could stay in a covered kennel pen until older and "safer" from hawks.


So... How do those of you that don't have an outdoor pen work on integrating the kiddos into the flock? I don't like mine out in the "big world" until they're pretty large and it pains me to think of having these kiddos inside with no outdoor time for that long. How do others handle that?

I'm contemplating ways to make make them an outdoor pen but it's hard to get them from their indoor pen to the outer door in the barn. So in the meantime, looking for ideas of how other folks do it!

My best setup was to have a 3 sided wrap pen on 2 sides of our detached garage. Waterfowl and poultry babies were centered between the 2 pens.Will show you when you are down for your Buckeyes!

Anyone want some chicken netting. I have 2 pens that need the netting taken down. If you can help take the netting down it is yours.

I want to get it, not sure when I can fit in with DDs graduation and wedding events this next month. She has chosen a fully formal event and its really pressed my free time.

Lost two grown hens (both Brahmas) and one of the broody-raised bitties over the last two days. All had been erstwhile healthy, then suddenly dead. Both hens had purple combs when recovered, but that's apparently normal (?). One hen was under the coop-to-be, the other on the floor of the current coop. I'm starting to wonder if this child is being sneakier about how many and when he kills/maims them. The big hen this morning looked like she might have been throttled because her neck was pretty limp. I really don't want to blame this on the kid if there's something else killing these birds, though.

Keep making police reports. I am so sorry you are struggling with the losses.

PS:

I know someone that had a roo get into poison. Perfectly normal in the morning, then staggering, blue comb in the afternoon. Dies within the hour. In that case, neighbors had just had the exterminator out and roo visited there - probably either got mouse poison or roach poison.


Re the kid... When my parents used to raise collies, someone once fed one of their dogs bread in which they had hidden poison. We think the situation was similar...they found a piece of the bread w/the poison in in.

Thats a good point too.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

OK, I have a chick and I don't know what color it is! I had the egg marked as from my black hen Cleo bred to my chocolate cuckoo roo Hershey. I very clearly made a mistake because the chick is no version of black, chocolate, with or without barring. It's this beautiful platinum color overall, with a few areas that look like normal blue. I do have a blue hen whose eggs have the same color and shape as Cleo's (Cleo's are just slightly smaller). I figure I'll know for sure when it feathers out! Is this one of the usual presentations of a splash chick?





It's wings are starting to feather in with a mix of white and blue (I think). If this is a lav, it is the palest one I have EVER seen, so I do not think it is. All I'm sure of is that it's a purebred Orpington!!!!

Comments?

I see blue, or splash possible.

Hello Im interested in Silkie Hatching eggs. It would have to be shipped. I am also going to be in Indiana in the beginning of July if anyone will any Silkies available then. Thank you

Several members here raise silkies, and welcome to our thread

Re the kid... When my parents used to raise collies, someone once fed one of their dogs bread in which they had hidden poison. We think the situation was similar...they found a piece of the bread w/the poison in in.

Quote: Agreed, game cams are awesome determining whats really happening.

Just wanted to share some happiness with everyone! My Sumatra (Hedwig) that went broody, right before the last of the older chickens were killed, is a wonderful mother! The four eggs I let her keep never developed, and @wheezy50 just happened to have some partridge silkie chicks available at a perfect time, so I met him the other weekend in Martinsville and brought 4 babies home, along with stopping in Solsberry for Marans and Ameraucana chicks, then to Bloomington RK for even more of a variety.

So chicken math: 4 + 8 + 8 = complete happiness!

I gave her the Silkie chicks and took away the eggs. It took about one night for her to accept them and for them to figure out she was warm! Now, she is one fierce mama! I can get close and change feed and water - Roxy (my furchild), not so much. There is a 5 foot minimum that she has to stay away from them or mama gets all puffy and mad and runs her off!

My only sad thing to post is, I am getting absolutely NO eggs. My stock is slowly dwindling down, and I use a lot of eggs. I know a few people that raise chickens in the area, so I'm going to be hitting them up for the next couple months until some pullets start laying!

She is beautiful! I keep Sumatra too. We had a lull in eggs this last week also. Weather and sun really play a role in egg production.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Last call, I'm stopping chicken hatching this season. Have had a few folks that's not followed through, and thankfully will have coops for the extra chicks... But what I have hatched is more than I had planned to keep for our needs. Will be hatching a few more Bourbon red turkey and geese, otherwise shutting off the incubators this year. I still have started BBS Sumatra, Some chocolate orpington available. Please pm if interested.

Cocoa, my Nubian doe kidded a baby buckling last night. Exhausted..she has had issues. Mother and baby boy are fine so far, but we have learned she does not like to be milked. Hand milked her to be sure we don't have issues with mastitis and the buckling got colostrum. . Udder was way too full. The milking pump frightens the doe. My lil buckling is precious and a huge little guy! Cocoa is not allowing him to nurse very long, certainly not long enough to sustain him. I keep bottles, milk and colostrum on hand for this very reason. This reminded me why I just don't normally keep this goat breed. She was re homed here and already bred when we agreed and took her in..She is normally a very sweet doe, so I will have our vet look over whar's happening.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

@jchny2000 Right now i have an offer to get the net down. If it does not work out, I'll let you know.

Everyone in our group is so helpful.

 

[pginsber]

An update on our broodies: We have 2 broodies hatching clutches of Araucana eggs at the same time from 2 different sources. The first has been sitting on the eggs since we received them in the mail. The second one has been sitting on the eggs after one week in the incubator. The mom of the incubated eggs was off of the eggs for 6 hours one day.

Both broodies hatched the first egg on the same day.

Mom #1 hatched 3 chicks. Eggtopsies showed: one had internally pipped then died, one late quitter, and 6 quitters.
Mom #2 with the incubated eggs, hatched a chick that had unabsorbed yolk attached to it and it died shortly after it hatched. So far (5 days later) no other eggs have hatched.


Since the purpose is to break the broodies, we have moved one chick from Mom #1 to Mom #2 overnight. Now both Mom's have chicks, everybody is happy and healthy and nobody is the wiser about it. We plan to take away Mom #2's remaining unhatched eggs tomorrow. Surely 6 days is plenty of time for late hatchers.

Here's the chicks. Only one has a mustache, but they're all tailless.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

A Big Thank you to @ellymayRans for the wonderful eggs and for taking down the netting that was trapping my goats.

 

[iamfivewire]

@pginsber : if one of the chicks has a mustache, that would probably be a boy chick . . . . . .
;-D

 

[daskhan]

So after how ever long it has been and countless hours and thousands of dollars and 30k miles put on my car I'm thinking of calling it quits on my breeder/hobby called Kelevra farms my spirit has just been broken so many times I want to run away so I have posted on face book basically all of my chickens for sale breeding groups and ransoms basically just what I have left I also have pens that I've spend 2k on and a lot of man hours of any one is interested I'll list what I have here I really want them all to go to a caring home
5 rir hens
1mix roo (maran/rir?)
4 rir chicks
1 polish rooster
1 maran rooster
1 ee rooster
1 Isbar rooster
4 buff Orpington hens
1 buff orp roo
1 mix hen
3 silkie Roos
4? silkie hens
2 barred rock Roos
1 barred rock hen
1 leghorn hen
1 leghorn roo
1 jersey giant roo
3?jersey giant hens
4 maran chicks
2 ayam cemani chicks
1 ayam cemani roo
1 pavlovskaya roo
2 light brahma hens
2 australorp hens
3 Cornish x hens
(50)

 

[ellymayRans]

So after how ever long it has been and countless hours and thousands of dollars and 30k miles put on my car I'm thinking of calling it quits on my breeder/hobby called Kelevra farms my spirit has just been broken so many times I want to run away so I have posted on face book basically all of my chickens for sale breeding groups and ransoms basically just what I have left I also have pens that I've spend 2k on and a lot of man hours of any one is interested I'll list what I have here I really want them all to go to a caring home
5 rir hens
1mix roo (maran/rir?)
4 rir chicks
1 polish rooster
1 maran rooster
1 ee rooster
1 Isbar rooster
4 buff Orpington hens
1 buff orp roo
1 mix hen
3 silkie Roos
4? silkie hens
2 barred rock Roos
1 barred rock hen
1 leghorn hen
1 leghorn roo
1 jersey giant roo
3?jersey giant hens
4 maran chicks
2 ayam cemani chicks
1 ayam cemani roo
1 pavlovskaya roo
2 light brahma hens
2 australorp hens
3 Cornish x hens
(50)

So why the broken spirits? ! To me i battle family, funds, time and losses but i am too invested and love it too much to toss it aside. Now family situations change, time and funds become constricted. ..those things i understand and respect. If you need advice or venting time many of us here are here to help. It pains me for those of us that have the love of preserving breeds, sustainable living. ..whatever your passion, to see someone have to give that up because emotionally they become exhausted or feel overwhelmed. Im sorry you are going through this but if you're willing to share there are plenty that will try to help.