INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Leahs Mom]

We Indiana people are very quiet lately.

(You'd think we have other things to do besides hanging out on the forum.)

Happy Fall Everyone!


*******

Burned a huge pile of brush,

got the garden ready for the chickens go go in and clean up.

Hubby raked out the goat pen and put that all in the garden and the chickens are having a hay-day in there (quite literally). Lots of wonderful, huge grubs that were pretty intimidating down under the stuff in the goat pen. Chickens got a feast!

 

[Faraday40]

Had a lot of excitement Thurs night. The kids & I went to help DH with a client's office move & brought the guys some pizza. It was a fun time & the kids were put to work crawling under furniture, disconnecting cables, & wrapping up cords. (We're going back tonight to help unpack at the new office...)

Anyway as we turned onto our block I could smell skunk, and it kept getting stronger the closer we got to our house. When we went out back, we discovered that our dog had chased a skunk under the coop where it got trapped. (Dog got sprayed multiple times of course.) I kept hearing "Thump Thump Thump" coming from under the coop as the skunk was trying to spray everything. It was frightened & every time a chicken moved, auto motion light went on, or a dog barked, we heard thumping = spraying. Just not a good place for a skunk to be. DH was working 'til 10pm, so I called our handyman. We put the hose on full & sprayed the skunk until it ran out....... Of course it ran toward the front of the garage where our smelly dog pounced on it again, got sprayed again, & the skunk ran back under the coop -again. The garage door was open, so it smells very bad in there. Probably from the dog walking through as well as the spray incident. After more hose work the cold, wet skunk finally ran off toward the back of the property & away from the dog. This dog getting sprayed by a skunk is nothing new. We store several quart bottles of H2O2, boxes of baking soda, & Dawn. I got a lot of the skunk smell off the dog, but the garage & dog have a ways to go.. The kids got to stay up late & help contain the dogs until the skunk left.

We're skunk free right now, but it may take a good 2 weeks for the neighborhood to air out! And here's my question of the day:
How do you get skunk oils out of a dog's mouth?

(His face isn't too bad & last fall we had to do saline spray in his eyes for a week until the smell & redness went away)

I swear I smell strong skunk odor every time he's flapping his tongue around. He licked & cleaned his fur which seems to make him smell worse as time goes by. He actually smelled better the morning after than he does right now. Does anyone here have experience with this issue?

 

[Lengerich Farms]

Question for the more experienced: o bought three chicks about two, three weeks ago. I turned what was going to be a rabbit hutch into their brooder.

I want to know how long I can SAFELY keep them in here. There are three, a Buff Braham, Blue Australorp, and a Wellsummer

The Buff (Blondie) already had the other two (Iris and Summer) by at least two weeks. She's the biggest, and rules the brooder. I just want to make sure I'm doing what's best for them. TIA

 

[Faraday40]

Question for the more experienced: o bought three chicks about two, three weeks ago. I turned what was going to be a rabbit hutch into their brooder.

I want to know how long I can SAFELY keep them in here. There are three, a Buff Braham, Blue Australorp, and a Wellsummer

The Buff (Blondie) already had the other two (Iris and Summer) by at least two weeks. She's the biggest, and rules the brooder. I just want to make sure I'm doing what's best for them. TIA

You'll be able to know by your chicks reactions. If they're under the light & huddled, they're cold. When they seem to stay away from the light, it's too hot & you should raise the lamp to make the brooder cooler. Try to find a good balance. By 4 weeks they have much of their feathers, so keep moving the heat source farther away or just use it at night when it's cool. Sometime between 4-8 weeks, they will no longer need the heat lamp. It really depends on the temperature. If a pulet is fluffed up & looks cold, turn the lamp back on. My 4 wk old broody-rasied chicks were running all over outside today. I didn't see them under mama all day. (Of course she's always with them, so I don't have to worry about their temperature.) You get to play broody hen for your little chicks.

I tried something new with my brooder chicks this year:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/956958/mama-heating-pad-in-the-brooder-picture-heavy-update

This method worked very well for me & I think I'll be doing it again next spring. In March, I was able to keep chicks in the garage & out of the house. So wonderful not to have chick dust all over the living room!

 

[Indyshent]

Hello again! Hope the fall season is treating everyone well. After a bit of recovery I'm able to get out and about to check on the ducks more and I've noticed something that seems odd. I know that in the wild males may assist in nesting but is it normal for the male to help entirely in the egg monitoring duties? You would think he has gone broody too. Every morning when I go to let them out he's on the nest too.

Keep that boy. I had a Pekin drake that did that, and it was adorable. Both he and his lady hated us though, so I eventually rehomed them, but I couldn't split them up as a pair.

You'll be able to know by your chicks reactions. If they're under the light & huddled, they're cold. When they seem to stay away from the light, it's too hot & you should raise the lamp to make the brooder cooler. Try to find a good balance. By 4 weeks they have much of their feathers, so keep moving the heat source farther away or just use it at night when it's cool. Sometime between 4-8 weeks, they will no longer need the heat lamp. It really depends on the temperature. If a pulet is fluffed up & looks cold, turn the lamp back on. My 4 wk old broody-rasied chicks were running all over outside today. I didn't see them under mama all day. (Of course she's always with them, so I don't have to worry about their temperature.) You get to play broody hen for your little chicks.

I tried something new with my brooder chicks this year:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/956958/mama-heating-pad-in-the-brooder-picture-heavy-update

This method worked very well for me & I think I'll be doing it again next spring. In March, I was able to keep chicks in the garage & out of the house. So wonderful not to have chick dust all over the living room!

I second this. Watch for their reactions and react accordingly.

 

[Veatch81]

Anybody in Indiana have any started blue laced red wyandottes, barred rocks, or Rhode Island reds?

 

[MikeTodd]

As we approach colder temps, does anyons have any tips for keepig water from freezing? Our coop doesn't have power but we could run extension cords out if ry needed.

 

[tmarsh83]

As we approach colder temps, does anyons have any tips for keepig water from freezing? Our coop doesn't have power but we could run extension cords out if ry needed.

Lots of people use the black rubber tubs for water. Doesn't really keep it from freezing, but its easy to bust ice out of. A few ping pong balls can help, they float and wind moves them around and keeps skim off for a while.

I used extension cords for a heated dog dish last year and it worked famously. Loved it. May do the same again, but first i'm going to try to use a tank heater and heat tape to keep my cup waterer going. We'll see if that works...

 

[Finnie]

I use a kitty litter bucket with horizontal nipples and a small fish tank heater mounted inside. I plug it into a thermocube so the heater only turns on when it's needed.


I also have a blue heated dog water dish that perfectly fits a chicken water fount.



Blue dish is from TSC, green waterer is from Amazon or Petco, depending on which has the better price. It also comes in a taller size which has the same diameter green part, but holds more water.

I love both of them.

 

[racinchickins]

I use a kitty litter bucket with horizontal nipples and a small fish tank heater mounted inside. I plug it into a thermocube so the heater only turns on when it's needed.


I also have a blue heated dog water dish that perfectly fits a chicken water fount.



Blue dish is from TSC, green waterer is from Amazon or Petco, depending on which has the better price. It also comes in a taller size which has the same diameter green part, but holds more water.

I love both of them.

Did you have any issues with the water freezing inside the jar where it sticks above the bowl?