INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[PeacefulWalls]

Goats would be fun sometime, but can't right now!

 

[tmarsh83]

Some good news around here, I reconfigured the nest boxes earlier this week. Not as nice of a finish job on them, but they are more than functional, and the birds seem to have taken to them pretty quickly. So here's hoping the issue is resolved and I don't have to go searching for eggs anymore.

The two new birds seem to be working their way in better. It's a slow process, but its happening. They still stay away during the beginning of feed and treat time, then fill in after the fact. They are supposed to be around 16 weeks right now, but they didn't really know. Nor did they know what breed there were supposed to be. The seem a little too pale for red sex-links, but you know how hatchery quality anything goes. I need to snap some pictures of them and see what you all think. They don't seem quite buff, but again, they were TSC chicks, so lord only knows.

 

[Indyshent]

Some good news around here, I reconfigured the nest boxes earlier this week. Not as nice of a finish job on them, but they are more than functional, and the birds seem to have taken to them pretty quickly. So here's hoping the issue is resolved and I don't have to go searching for eggs anymore.

The two new birds seem to be working their way in better. It's a slow process, but its happening. They still stay away during the beginning of feed and treat time, then fill in after the fact. They are supposed to be around 16 weeks right now, but they didn't really know. Nor did they know what breed there were supposed to be. The seem a little too pale for red sex-links, but you know how hatchery quality anything goes. I need to snap some pictures of them and see what you all think. They don't seem quite buff, but again, they were TSC chicks, so lord only knows.

Pictures?

RSL aren't going to be different in color depending on "hatchery quality" because there aren't any show quality RSL (they're mutts). They all turn out the same--reddish body with white tails and a little white in the hackles. I had one turn out orange with a white tail, but none since her, though different breeds can be used, and this *might* alter the tone of red. I've seen RSL from rusty brown to orange, but they've all had white in their tails (unlike RIR which have black tails).

 

[Faraday40]

Sci fair Update:
DD candled her chicken eggs tonight. You can see her happy expression as she sees the development.




She's "unsure" about this egg.

and another good one!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Roo 1

Roo 2

Most of the girls




So the Misters took off on me first thing, luckily they are back, and wanting back in the coop. They were able to get out, so I'm letting them figure out how to get back in. They take off like Olympic runners when I get near em. Wings will be clipped as soon as I can corner em.

Great flock, congrats!

Quote: It was more pointed to a private conversation we had recently. Many of us that kept turkeys aren't anymore, and its caused some folks to not have a pastured bird for family holidays.

Some good news around here, I reconfigured the nest boxes earlier this week. Not as nice of a finish job on them, but they are more than functional, and the birds seem to have taken to them pretty quickly. So here's hoping the issue is resolved and I don't have to go searching for eggs anymore.

The two new birds seem to be working their way in better. It's a slow process, but its happening. They still stay away during the beginning of feed and treat time, then fill in after the fact. They are supposed to be around 16 weeks right now, but they didn't really know. Nor did they know what breed there were supposed to be. The seem a little too pale for red sex-links, but you know how hatchery quality anything goes. I need to snap some pictures of them and see what you all think. They don't seem quite buff, but again, they were TSC chicks, so lord only knows.

Great to hear! Sure, share pics when you can. RSL can really vary in color.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Sci fair Update:
DD candled her chicken eggs tonight. You can see her happy expression as she sees the development.




She's "unsure" about this egg.

and another good one!

Exciting, what project did she settle on doing?

 

[Indyshent]

It was more pointed to a private conversation we had recently. Many of us that kept turkeys aren't anymore, and its caused some folks to not have a pastured bird for family holidays.

Great to hear! Sure, share pics when you can. RSL can really vary in color.

Ah. No way I could afford pastured birds. They're really expensive to raise, depending on the business model and breeds used, so they're always horribly expensive to buy. I could no more afford that than I could afford reasonable health insurance at the moment. T'is life.

RSL are interesting because pretty much any gold roo (buff, partridge-based, red) over any silver hen (which includes Delaware and Colombian hens) yields chicks which are sexable easily on hatching. Now that ISA has made a true breeding strain of red sex linked birds, it's all weird. ISAs a super dingy colored by comparison to first generation RSL. I accidentally yielded RSL by crossing a buff Brahma over light Brahma hens (boy was light, girl was buff--no bleed or anything, looked like they're parents).

 

[Lengerich Farms]

@jchny2000 thank you! I'm so excited to be getting more than 1 egg a day

@Leahs Mom what kind of goats? I've never had goats, but we were tossing around the idea of getting one in the spring.

 

[Faraday40]

Exciting, what project did she settle on doing?

She wants to see if she can hatch eggs from a store, so she is attempting to hatch store eggs, farmer's market eggs, & backyard eggs.

We spoke with managers at Trader Joes & Whole Foods in search of eggs marketed as fertile. (They used to carry them 2 years ago but the suppliers no longer offer them.) We then bought several brands of "pasture-raised" eggs in hopes that the flock may have a protective roo in the mix. No luck & we spent a lot of money on expensive eggs. In the end, the best we could do was get fertile chicken eggs from a farmer's market.

We were able to find fertile quail eggs. We bought 2 brands from 2 diff stores & both brands were fertile. The harder part was finding fresh local quail hatching eggs to use as a control group. Although the quail lady had males in with her birds, she said their fertility is very seasonal & doubted many would hatch. DD can't help it that her project is due in January, so we went ahead & purchased some eggs. 1/2 were washed with warm water & went into the fridge (to be called the farmer's market eggs). The quail eggs were set on Sat night, so it's too early to candle them.

She will compare the hatch rates of each group. DD already has a pretty good idea what the results should be, so I think she just wants to hatch quail. She simply came up with this experiment as a means to that end. LOL Then again, when I see that excitement on her face, I know that she's involved & enjoying her science project. That is the main reason why I always tell kids to pick a topic they like.

 

[tmarsh83]

It was the variance of the inputs that result in differing outcomes I was speaking to. Not that there are show quality RSL. But as I understand it there are different "tones".

These seem more orange than buff or red. To me. I could be wrong.