INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Indyshent]

Great advice! Thank you! We do want to breed on a small scale, mostly for our own needs. But we will sell barnyard mixes locally, as well as hatching eggs. That is just hoping we get some good mommas. I do not plan to incubate just yet. Protection is more of our concern. We really want to be able to free range. I also know that I will have issues with a roo that mistreats his girls (aside from onset of puberty).

I am leery of Mr Blue. He doesn't seem like he will ever be nice. I was just worried since he acts "more like a rooster" that I should keep him. Red was never a keeper really, because he is so small. He is half the size of Bob and Blue.

I think I will stick to the original plan.

Bob is like my baby. He has been handled more than any chick we have. Granger is just too pretty not to try to get chicks from lol. If nothing stands out to change it up, we will probably process Red and Blue about 5 months, instead of 4. If things get stressful for our girls while they are all together, we will put those 2 boys in a tractor on the other side of the barn. We have already been making plans to build a small one for reasons like this.Thanks again!

I'd stick with nicer roosters; they can be just as protective without all the hassle and risk. A black rooster will have all black offspring (unless you have blue, splash, lavender, barred and/or possibly a couple other oddball genes in your ladies). Breedbook.org has a super cool genetics calculator you can toy with.

I second the observation that lower rung roosters are almost universally rapists-in-waiting. Wun Wun (the giant Dark Brahma roo here) was rather that way when he was toward the bottom of a nine-roo ladder, but now that he's alpha, he's far more chivalrous with his ladies. Still waiting for the Sumatra/EE to age out of his rapey phase. Provided a rooster is far enough down the pecking order, you may not ever see him crow or attempt mating. we have a lame roo who never crows and only once attempted mating (a turkey poult, of all things). A formerly chivalrous, silent, ninja Breda rooster here abruptly decided to get into the rapey scene when I took away many of the younger, fitter guys between him and Wun Wun, so flock dynamics (particularly when it comes to roosters) is definitely a fluid measure. Pretty much all roosters have a multifaceted personalities including varying degrees of rapaciousness, chivalry, sacrifice, paternity, Napoleon complexes, goofball, and death-before-dishonor.

 

[Indyshent]

Lost another turkey poult last week, but the good news is that (knock on wood) the other sickies appear to be heading to wellness.

Curly the Turkey is falling apart, however. I thought the curled toes were a b vitamin issue so I was supplementing her like crazy, but nothing's been working and her legs look terrible. If I wasn't so darned dehydrated, I'd probably be crying every time I looked at her. One of her hock joints looks almost completely turned around a lot of the time. If anybody's familiar with turkey leg problems and is willing to look at her, I'll take a drive to come see them. I'm at a loss. She's such a sweet girl and even looks so much like Saphira that it's like losing Saphira all over again. I'm not finding a lot of info so far on curled toe paralysis, twisted leg (which is more and more what this looks like, but it doesn't seem to have any cures). It started with curled toes, which is why I started b-vitamining the heck out of her water, but it never got any better, and has been getting more and more horrible to watch. She's in pain and struggles to do all of the most basic and joyful turkey activities.

Finally got a little more garden put in (including beans, corn, flowers), and the tomatoes-onions-garlic garden is also doing well. Going to borrow a wheelbarrow and get some icky-smelling compost spread over the whole shebang soon.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

@jchny2000 , you have some great Rooster Wisdom that really helped this newbie!
Plus, your posts are funny. Thank You!

Thanks! There has been several great posts so far. My priority one is demeanor, and thats going to change some as they mature. I start weeding out after the following spring, unless they are general hatches I have done for other folks. Year olds are great for pot pie etc if thats your end result for the less desirable fellas. I keep a rooster pen now, and its kept them safe from predators. They get their turn free ranging too, but without hens. I still have a few breeder only coops. Those fellas have earned the right to be breeders, and I have no hesitation picking any up.
Once I determine demeanor is good, thats when I start looking at the fella. Do I like his comb, tail, body conformation? And how is his color... Lots of other things. Then his final hurdle, is he a gentleman to the hens? I keep back ups, but my breeding roosters have those three things they must meet. Any falling short are rehomed, or if they are mean go to freezer camp.

Trying to catch up but not going to be able to. Had to have my bicep reattached so not been on with limited use to arm and hand. All I've been able to do is watch my babies grow. So wife has learned how much work that I do outside. I may have loss my zero turn to her she enjoys using it. I just picked up three eastern turkeys to fatten up for the holidays. Hope everyone is doing good try and keep cool

Oh my, that sounds terrible! Hope you mend soon. Congrats on your turkeys! And at least you have a little less on your plate for a while.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Plans for the monster dying tree coming together this weekend. Looks like we will have some help. Hoping our neighbor that does trees will bring his huge chainsaw. I am mostly concerned for our pasture fence.. hoping there will be no damage. Will be moving all the coops away throughout the week.

Winding down on hatches for the season. My geese have all but stopped laying.. Muscovy have 2 nests, hopefully will have a few ducklings soon. Chickens are laying great, but am really not interested in adding any more this year. Turkeys are still laying but eggs are mostly infertile. Hanging on to the single poult that hatched, and hoping for a tom. Mallards have stopped laying also so the season is likely over.

Moose, our little bull calf is doing great. Daisy our mini donkey mothers him a lot! Loves to wash his face. Fanny, our adult cow will be home sometime this week. Nervously awaiting our next set of kids, Sugar is due any day, flat HUGE!

 

[Leahs Mom]

Pretty much all roosters have a multifaceted personalities including varying degrees of rapaciousness, chivalry, sacrifice, paternity, Napoleon complexes, goofball, and death-before-dishonor.

Not looking forward to having to decide between 3 sfh and whatever number of Buckeyes!

Thanks to
@racinchickins
@jchny2000
@Indyshent

And anyone else that gave input on the cockerels. Now I just have to figure out how I want to handle them.

 

[Greenthumb83]

I'd stick with nicer roosters; they can be just as protective without all the hassle and risk. A black rooster will have all black offspring (unless you have blue, splash, lavender, barred and/or possibly a couple other oddball genes in your ladies). Breedbook.org has a super cool genetics calculator you can toy with. 

I second the observation that lower rung roosters are almost universally rapists-in-waiting. Wun Wun (the giant Dark Brahma roo here) was rather that way when he was toward the bottom of a nine-roo ladder, but now that he's alpha, he's far more chivalrous with his ladies. Still waiting for the Sumatra/EE to age out of his rapey phase. Provided a rooster is far enough down the pecking order, you may not ever see him crow or attempt mating. we have a lame roo who never crows and only once attempted mating (a turkey poult, of all things). A formerly chivalrous, silent, ninja Breda rooster here abruptly decided to get into the rapey scene when I took away many of the younger, fitter guys between him and Wun Wun, so flock dynamics (particularly when it comes to roosters) is definitely a fluid measure. Pretty much all roosters have a multifaceted personalities including varying degrees of rapaciousness, chivalry, sacrifice, paternity, Napoleon complexes, goofball, and death-before-dishonor. 

Thank you for the advice. I will definitely be checking out that website! We are out of town on vacation, so it's driving me crazy being away from my birds. So much is changing in the coup right now and I wanna see it. Plus...I miss them lol. I have barred ladies as well as an EE that's mostly blue. May have to add some more color next year.

Odd thing happened as we were loading up to leave. Granger decided to crow. It was pitiful, yet awesome. He did it about 5 or 6 times before the mean boys decided to chase him around and try to bully him. He didn't do it again. I'm actually getting pretty anxious to get the two more aggressive cockerels out of there. It's happening as soon as we get home. The ones I am set on keeping, I'd like to see have their space to develop. Then I can see what changes. Granger is a favorite...but also the bottom boy. I don't want him to be the rapist because there were a couple of meanies beating him up all the time. Rooster dynamics are kinda crazy lol. Hopefully with just the two docile birds, they will be ok. There will be 17 hens between them. I know that may end up not being enough, but I'm hoping it is.

 

[Greenthumb83]

Thanks! There has been several great posts so far. My priority one is demeanor, and thats going to change some as they mature. I start weeding out after the following spring, unless they are general hatches I have done for other folks. Year olds are great for pot pie etc if thats your end result for the less desirable fellas. I keep a rooster pen now, and its kept them safe from predators. They get their turn free ranging too, but without hens. I still have a few breeder only coops. Those fellas have earned the right to be breeders, and I have no hesitation picking any up.
Once I determine demeanor is good, thats when I start looking at the fella. Do I like his comb, tail, body conformation? And how is his color... Lots of other things. Then his final hurdle, is he a gentleman to the hens? I keep back ups, but my breeding roosters have those three things they must meet. Any falling short  are rehomed, or if they are mean go to freezer camp.

I like that you put demeanor first. That definitely needs to be my main priority here. We ultimately want to free range and having 3 kids (one being not much bigger than a rooster), we need to focus on safety first. This is going to be a learn as you go thing for us. I hope at the end of it, we at least have a roo that we can enjoy in the yard that doesn't go after the kids. My kids love the chickens so much. I'd rather have no roo at all than have that ruined because they are afraid. We can always try again if needed.

 

[Jntnrmn]

There is a wild turkey with babies in my yard. I believe her mate was killed a couple days ago as I heard an awful commotion of screaming and crashing around in the woods.
If I were to get an adult male (not wild) would they likely take to one another and would he help her with her young. I don't know anything about turkeys but she seems quite thin and young looking to me. I would sure like to help her if I could

 

[MikeTodd]

Help!!! My chicks are pecking each other!!!
There are 22 in a kiddie pool and range from 2-3wks old. The youger ones peck at a big one and then big ones peck on other big ones!
They have constant access to food and their water is cleaned 3-5 times a day.
How can I stop this?!?

 

[Indyshent]

There is a wild turkey with babies in my yard. I believe her mate was killed a couple days ago as I heard an awful commotion of screaming and crashing around in the woods.
If I were to get an adult male (not wild) would they likely take to one another and would he help her with her young. I don't know anything about turkeys but she seems quite thin and young looking to me. I would sure like to help her if I could

Toms aren't typically around to help parent. When thinking of turkey flock dynamics, think more of deer or chickens than geese and swans. The boys can be pretty protective of the gals, but don't count on it. They are unlikely to parent. Turkeys do sometimes live in "rafters" (turkey flocks) but much of the time, the hens are isolated and expected to be excellent single mothers. If you'd like to help her, put out food, bird seed, hunting bait and scraps out for her and maybe a dry place to be until her kiddos are old enough to go roost in the trees with her. Mother turkeys can be particularly steadfast and courageous ladies when protecting the poults from hawks, raccoons, etc.

Wild turkeys will look skinny after you're used to domestic flocks; they're much leggier, smaller and thinner.

Try to keep them around because they're super cool to watch. If you're really lucky, you can watch them play tag and a few other peculiar turkey games.

Help!!! My chicks are pecking each other!!!
There are 22 in a kiddie pool and range from 2-3wks old. The youger ones peck at a big one and then big ones peck on other big ones!
They have constant access to food and their water is cleaned 3-5 times a day.
How can I stop this?!?

Put shiny stuff in with them. Tie a bunch of adult feathers up and toss 'em in. Put in a mirror. give them time outside the pool. Anything to get them distracted. Also, spray afflicted individuals with blu-kote.