INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[iamfivewire]

Maybe could find some breeder info in this group :

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/290040/new-hampshire-breed-thread

 

[Indyshent]

Martinsville RK has BO, barred Rock, EEs, production RIR, red cross and Australorps in the mixed pullets bin. Possibly getting ring neck pheasants later.

 

[Fireater34]

Long time listener,first time caller! lol Bloomfield Indiana here. Complete newbies ready to dive in.. sucking up all the info possible over the past couple weeks. Ready to pull the trigger!

 

[twoacrefarm]

Long time listener,first time caller! lol Bloomfield Indiana here. Complete newbies ready to dive in.. sucking up all the info possible over the past couple weeks. Ready to pull the trigger!

Welcome from Evansville area!

 

[ellymayRans]

I'd actually be interested in the large fowl eggs prob. Depending on the mixes they are. I know it's hard to get to them before the cold. I think next week is gonna be a little warmer that will be nice.

I have several LF breeds and I'm not sure who is laying exactly. I suspect the Speckled Sussex pullets and Blue laced red Wyandottes or Delawares.
On occasion I have had a Blue Copper Marans hen lay recently.
Roosters are Black AM, Black and Blue Copper Marans, Silkie and the recently removed MF Cochin.
I haven't noticed anyone mating so I'm not sure who is the "dominant" roo at the moment as 3 of them are actually cockerels but are of mating age now.
I lost all of my LF Roos this summer so all I have were hatched last year with the exception of the MF bantam Cochin.

I can start gathering today if there's any interest there.

 

[JanetMarie]

@JanetMarie
I also butchered because this girl was aggressively attacking 2 of my other birds. Not pecking-order squabbles but flying though the air, landing on the back, and pulling out feathers. And if the cockerel would mate one of them she'd attack them while he had them pinned down.

Her 2 sisters are as sweet as can be. And now that she's gone, they are an enjoyable flock again.

I've come to the conclusion that there are too many nice birds out there in the world to put up with that kind of behavior. It took me 5 years to come to that, but I've tried to "rehab" several birds with attitude and never had a very good outcome. Should have removed them from the flock much sooner than I did.

Interesting that the intestines were very clean, the organs looked good and healthy. Just so much fat. She had ova developing but looked as though she wouldn't start laying for a few weeks yet by the looks of them (very small "marbles").

Her behavior seems to have been like a cockerel. I agree, I don't put up with bad behavior when I know it's not going to get better, since it disrupts the entire flock. The exception is an immature cockerel that I've wanted to keep. Most of the time he will show good traits before one year old.

My fat hen we butchered had an unhealthy liver, with lots of yellow.

 

[Faraday40]

At what age does a roo mature into his adult behaviors?


I have a 7-8 month old male lav orp. He's beautiful & has never been people aggressive. He also gets along well with the other roos. However, he's still chasing the hens like a hormonal teenager. He even goes into the coop to try to mate with them while they're in the nesting boxes. He's beginning to do a courtship dance sometimes, but often he simply tries to grab any opportunity he can. Likewise with treats, he recently started doing the treat call for the hens - and at the same time just gobbles down the crust of bread for himself.

 

[racinchickins]

I toyed with getting a Cochin to keep eggs warm since only a few of my Orps ever go broody, and only seasonally, but DH thinks they will just discourage the rest from laying. Can anyone with a few broodies among their nonbroody breeds let me know if that's true?

I've noticed that broodies seem to get other broody breeds going, but (for the most part, there are always a few exceptions) the non-broody breeds are not affected. My Legbars, Leghorns, sumatras, etc have never showed any broodiness even when I'm overrun with broody phoenix, marans, buckeyes, chanteclers, etc...... Surprisingly, never had a broody brahma yet, but I hatched out several more last year, so who knows.

Anyone selling ducklings are have a wait list?

I will be selling ducklings/hatching eggs this spring, but my muscovies aren't laying yet, probably late feb/march before I'll see anything there. I'll also have quite a few females that hatched last summer for sale. Lots of different color combos.

Had an interesting processing experience this morning and curious if anyone has had this before.

We processed a Buckeye pullet (won't go into reason why here...) This bird was approximately 8 months old give or take a week. Her lower abdomen was FULL OF FAT. Never seen anything like it before. HUGE AMOUNT OF FAT.

My Bucks that are this age have not started laying yet, though possibly one has this week. (Not this bird.)

This girl that we processed had SO MUCH FAT that it seems like it would have been difficult for her to lay an egg. Anyhow, just wondering if anyone has seen this with any birds you've processed? I haven't seen this on any of the birds I've processed before but I have to admit that I haven't done many and the ones I did were males.


It's making me nervous that more of my birds may had that kind of fat. But I have SFH that seem to be bony kids that are the same age as this girl.


Thoughts? Experiences with this?

@jchny2000 @Indyshent @racinchickins

I think it's normal. I haven't had to process many pullets, but they had a lot of fat too.

At what age does a roo mature into his adult behaviors?


I have a 7-8 month old male lav orp. He's beautiful & has never been people aggressive. He also gets along well with the other roos. However, he's still chasing the hens like a hormonal teenager. He even goes into the coop to try to mate with them while they're in the nesting boxes. He's beginning to do a courtship dance sometimes, but often he simply tries to grab any opportunity he can. Likewise with treats, he recently started doing the treat call for the hens - and at the same time just gobbles down the crust of bread for himself.

Up to a year old, maybe longer if he isn't the dominant roo. 7-8 months can be the height of roo hormonal teenager nastiness!

 

[Mother2Hens]

Long time listener,first time caller! lol Bloomfield Indiana here. Complete newbies ready to dive in.. sucking up all the info possible over the past couple weeks. Ready to pull the trigger!
@ellymayRans Not that I need another frizzled black bantam, but I'm curious about what breed your frizzled cochin is mixed with to produce blue eggs? I am interested in getting a few Silkies closer to spring. The Black Bantam Cochin Frizzle girls (who are practically joined at the hip!) are adored and spoiled—they are the cutest, most endearing miniature chickens I've ever seen!
Frieda Follow-up
I am very happy to report that my Bielefelder pullet, Frieda, from @kittydoc is doing well after eating some black foam pipe insulation and pooping little black dots for almost two weeks. I had taken her to the vet and housed her in the basement with the two frizzle chicks who are now her special buddies. They are a funny combination—a very large "almost a hen" and two tiny frizzled feather dusters!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Up to a year old, maybe longer if he isn't the dominant roo.  7-8 months can be the height of roo hormonal teenager nastiness!

That's been my experience, too. I've had the rare cockerel who was just angelic by ~8 months old, but most of them have been over a year before they've settled down. I'm dealing with an 8-month old GIGANTIC Brahma cockerel right now who can't be in the flock because he is in that phase of life. I don't expect I'll trust him with my girls again until he's much older after having to physically remove him from atop a screaming, struggling pullet this morning. Those are MY girls, and I'm not having any of that in my flock!







Okay, I obviously have absolutely no horse experience aside from living across the street from a horse farm, so I know that they sure are pretty. I was curious, though, and did a bit of reading on the topic, and apparently it's as heated as heating the chicken coop is! But from what I'm gathering from the few articles I read, the consensus is that, other than a hand full of exceptions such as the very young, elderly, or sickly, horses that have acclimated without one DO NOT need a blanket and would actually suffer more for having one put on once they've grown their winter coat in.

This is just the first few links that popped up when I Googled, 'Do horses need blankets in winter?'. It's some interesting reading, anyway, especially when I have boring homework I should be doing, haha!

http://www.soulfulequine.com/to-blanket-your-horse-or-not-to-blanket-that-is-the-question/
http://www.succeed-equine.com/succeed-blog/2015/12/14/monday-myth-horses-need-blankets-in-winter/
http://equusmagazine.com/article/when-horses-need-blankets
http://thesoulofahorse.com/blog/a-amazing-article-on-why-horses-should-not-be-blanketed-in-winter/
http://www.horsechannel.com/horse-e...lankets-and-shelter-for-horses-in-winter.aspx