INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[ellymayRans]

They are super social! I love how they will interact. I have had a few aggressive boys latch onto a finger too. I weed out the mean ones, just like chickens.
They do have a much higher metabolism and that's good, less possibility of salmonella. Also means more poop!
Loved all your pictures, was that a display I saw in the white peachick?!?
I am so sorry to hear on the pied. I love my BS fella, he has really stole my heart. Full of personality! He is still "don't touch me" but follows me everywhere. Really loves cat food and our nightly "bread-fest" for my geese, has now included him. I want to add a few hens in the spring, so he stays put with us. I am actually considering the swap meets to find him hens. I really enjoy the peas. So much like turkeys but wow the colors! They really bond to an individual person.

Actually all pics are of the IBBS boy. They are almost all yellow at hatch. Crazy how much they change and fill in with so much color!

 

[river46201]

Hadn't thought about it... knowing how my girls have been raised, and the food they've gotten, etcetra, I would really like to find somewhere to process them for me. As I KNOW they're meat should be awesome!! And getting someone else's birds.... well, just don't know what you're getting, right? Good ideas tho.
But..... still looking for someone in/around the Indy area......... maybe someone will see this and have an idea????

 

[Crafty chick]

How much snow has everyone gotten? We have 8, last I checked. But now it's snowing again and U.S. 30 has snow on it again. It was one lane most of the day. Glad input the girls in the barn so I wouldn't have to worry about the chicken Tractor. Haven't gotten any eggs for a month now how long a break should u give them before supplementing light?

 

[Leahs Mom]

Hadn't thought about it... knowing how my girls have been raised, and the food they've gotten, etcetra, I would really like to find somewhere to process them for me. As I KNOW they're meat should be awesome!! And getting someone else's birds.... well, just don't know what you're getting, right? Good ideas tho.
But..... still looking for someone in/around the Indy area......... maybe someone will see this and have an idea????

@river46201
I'm the same way...the more I know about how chickens are being raised - even small flocks/backyard flocks - the harder it is to purchase from anyone else.

I'm a "no-soy", organic feeder (and have been no-legume for about a year) so my birds get a more "species appropriate" diet than I can usually find anywhere else. We do now have some growers in our area that are soy-free. But their idea of pasture isn't the best....

Sigh....

I hope you can find someone in your area!

 

[Leahs Mom]

How much snow has everyone gotten? We have 8, last I checked. But now it's snowing again and U.S. 30 has snow on it again. It was one lane most of the day. Glad input the girls in the barn so I wouldn't have to worry about the chicken Tractor. Haven't gotten any eggs for a month now

how long a break should u give them before supplementing light?

@Crafty chick
I think we're close to 10 and still coming. I'm just at the far edge of the lake effect area but I think what we're getting this time around is system. The major school systems in the area are all declared closed for tomorrow already.

I love ONE GOOD HEAVY SNOW. Then I'm over it. It sure is pretty out

PS: I don't supplement light. They begin laying about the end of January again.

 

[JanetMarie]

It seems rarely anyone knows how to properly take care of their chickens, and don't care to give them a good life. Although I am glad to know a few people who have spoiled chickens.

We only get chicken products from our own flock. Even the cat's only source of chicken is our own also.

We butcher our extra roosters ourselves to save them stress of being somewhere else, and there's other benefits of doing it ourselves.

 

[Faraday40]

It's funny how diff cultures view things. A friend's son just got back from a mission trip to Ethiopia. The people there thought he was crazy for not knowing how to process a chicken or goat.
"Do you eat chicken?"
"Yes"
"Then how can you not know how to kill a chicken?"

They also thought the idea of getting daily mail delivered to your house was magical and they simply could not comprehend a grocery store. Basically if you can't grow it or make it, you don't have it. In most of the world, these are basic living skills. I have a college degree, teach science, play multiple woodwind instruments, & speak 2 languages, yet I would be the village idiot with my lack of "common sense" skills.

 

[weezerfish]

Starting to get a little nervous about the cold weather coming. High of 8 and low of -2 on Thursday is making me second guess going without supplemental heat. Anybody else starting to squirm over this? I sealed up some cracks around the roosting bar and wrapped the small run with plastic (with some ventilation). I put some extra wood shavings in the coop too. Am I missing anything? What are others doing that I'm not thinking of?

 

[Leahs Mom]

It ALWAYS makes me nervous when it gets this cold. But I've not put heat in all the years I've had birds.

I DO provide water that they can't get wattles in or step in (restricted opening).
I DO put extra hay on the floor for them (though that's for daytime only).

And...
I DO worry about them every year.

 

[Leahs Mom]

PS: If I had elderly or infirm birds that were obviously in stress I would somehow take care of them apart from the full outdoor cold temporarily.