INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Nyla]

So I just made my quail feeders. I thought maybe I should show everyone them in case they want to save money! I've been using these feeders since the day I got quails.
They are made from cardboard and duck tape! I used an actual rabbit feeder to get the dimensions and then made an outline.
The duck tape works great! It doesn't hurt the quails at all!
To stop the quails from scratching out the feed, I put wire mesh inside the feeder that only let's them to peck it. I didn't get a picture of it with the wire mesh. But it stops the feed waste by a ton!
As you can see the picture with food in it, I forgot to put the middle part in to reduce the amount of food exposed. But I corrected it in another picture!

 

[Nyla]

Completely forgot!! Today a nice couple from Elkhart drove 2 hours in poring rain/snow to bring me a lovely house kept Blue Swedish female duck. Someone had dumped her and a couple other ducks off on her lake during the -22 F drop.. Sadly several died and the couple only was able to catch one the lovely blue Swedish. She is very calm and gentle. Will try to get pictures soon! I will have to get her a play mate so she can be separated from my Muscovy's. The couple possibly might take her back in mid Spring if they get a coop and a run setup for her. The couple fell deeply in love with her. It was saddening for them to give her up. I told them they are welcome to call or text me to come see her or for pictures.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Birds are finally getting outside for a dustbath this afternoon. Though it's been misting and sometimes raining, I poured some peat moss in the corner near their door. They literally spent about half an hour in there.

This was yesterday. About 1.5 days into the thaw.

 

[hbrown322]

A couple of my hens got frostbite, but my Welsummer got the worst of it. It’s a bit swollen near the back of her comb. I’ve been putting green goo on it, and she is acting just fine. Is there anything else I should be doing?

@Leahs Mom - Where do you find peat Moss this time of year? I ordered some off amazon when I couldn’t find any at Lowe’s this week.

Despite my backyard being a giant mud pit, mine were out free ranging for the first time in weeks today. I put some peat moss in the run today for them and they went crazy! I need to remember to stock up next year before winter hits so I don’t have to order off amazon again. Definitely more expensive than buying it in an actual store!

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

View attachment 1233450 View attachment 1233452
A couple of my hens got frostbite, but my Welsummer got the worst of it. It’s a bit swollen near the back of her comb. I’ve been putting green goo on it, and she is acting just fine. Is there anything else I should be doing?

Awe poor girl. I've heard good things about the green goo.

 

[Faraday40]

Drumroll.........

.... and Here's DD's completed sci fair poster. This year she tested the shell strength of our backyard eggs Vs. store eggs. We bought 3 doz store eggs and she picked out the 10 good ones for testing, plus another 10 eggs from our flock. Then she made an egg smasher, placed each testing egg inside the holder, and gradually added weight until the shell cracked. It took several eggs to get the set up just right, so some of those extras were added to the casualty list. The smashed eggs were cooked up for some happy chickens. As expected, the backyard eggs were far stronger.

 

[Indyshent]

Finally have running water. It thawed out earlier this week, but we had one pipe and one spigot burst, so we had to turn all the water off until those parts could be replaced. House is old and falling apart, basically, and we had to literally saw through the kitchen floor in several sections just to get to the pipe in question and then go through hundreds of dollars in equipment to replace the pipe because of how janky and old everything was down there. Plus, some of our huge floor support boards are rotted through, which is why the kitchen floor has an ever-increasing valley. Yay.

Had a lot of difficulties this first week of class--mostly with scheduling and the registrar's office not cooperating. Really hoping I can still get financial aid now that I'm finally at full time hours.

Checked on the birds last night and the coop stunk of ammonia pretty bad. It had been fine all week, but last night... blech. going to have to get a bunch of wood chips and PDZ next time I make it to RK. Can only guess that the smell must have been due to birds constantly coming in and out of the coop yesterday and dragging mud through all the bedding. I've been doing my best to clean things out, but if enough water makes it onto the floor, things start smelling nasty quick. Gotta figure a good way to keep that moisture out.

 

[Leahs Mom]

@hbrown322
I got my peat moss at Menards. They keep it all year, but you might have to ask for it as they sometimes store it up high in their racks in the off season.

On the Frostbite -
How are your hens getting their combs and wattles wet? Do you have an open waterer that the wattles can get in when they drink? Is there high humidity for some reason in their housing? Have they been outside when it was raining then the temps dropped overnight?

They usually don't get frostbite unless they get wet somehow.

As far as putting something on it, my experience tells me that it's best not to put anything on it. Often (if not always) putting ointments on will exacerbate it and make it worse.

 

[Nyla]

I use a standard plastic 1 gallon waterer for my little chicken flock. They do have tiny bits of frostbite. Their run is by the edge of my roof which leaks onto them when the sun melts to snow. But I haven't put anything on them. My last flock of chickens got frostbite from me keeping their waterer inside their coop during the winter. I would put Vaseline on their combs and it seemed to only make the frostbite worse. It would spread and one point one of my girls entire comb was frostbitten. I stopped putting stuff on them and let it be. Eventually the frostbite healed and their combs and wattles were nice and red again.

@hbrown322
I got my peat moss at Menards. They keep it all year, but you might have to ask for it as they sometimes store it up high in their racks in the off season.

On the Frostbite -
How are your hens getting their combs and wattles wet? Do you have an open waterer that the wattles can get in when they drink? Is there high humidity for some reason in their housing? Have they been outside when it was raining then the temps dropped overnight?

They usually don't get frostbite unless they get wet somehow.

As far as putting something on it, my experience tells me that it's best not to put anything on it. Often (if not always) putting ointments on will exacerbate it and make it worse.

 

[JanetMarie]

I treat frostbite by just bringing the bird into an area that is heated above freezing. Have only had problems with some roosters.