INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Leahs Mom]

First egg of the season!!!!

From the 6 yo (in March) ee.

 

[Indyshent]

Going to RK tomorrow. Hoping to get a new bunch of bedding for a coop clean out and some more corn. They aren't wanting to eat pellets anymore.

They are enjoying greens though. I've been buying cheap whole greens at Walmart in the produce section and tying them up to a roost so they can play tether ball during the day. They've enjoyed the collards quite a lot.

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

I have a smaller coop/run and found that if I put greens or other veggies in a suet holder my chickens will eat it all. Where as before, once they scratched it out of the container (that I use for extras) they wouldn't bother with it much once it touched the ground. It has worked really well for brussel sprouts and spaghetti squash so far.

 

[kanina]

@Faraday40 or anyone with hatching experience. I candled Saturday night, Day 7 began 01/13 16:00, candled 01/13 20:00.

My bantam eggs (Fibro Fly Tie) show growth, I can see veining, someone was even close enough to the shell that I could see their itty bitty body starting.

My large eggs (Lavender Orps) aren't showing growth. I can see some air sacs, but I didn't find any veining. Is day 7 kind of too early? I did find a crack in one Orp egg so that was removed.

I feel like I'm stressing myself out for nothing, I'm so excited and so ready for these chicks.

The chicks in the brooder are moving outside this upcoming weekend. I was going to move them out this weekend but then the snow came. Since my run isn't covered I wanted to wait until it warms up a wee bit. Renovations on the brooder will begin sometime this weekend as well. Need to get sides covered and either build or buy a tray for the bottom to make cleaning easier. Currently we have a pile of wasted chick food under the brooder. Since DH accidentally split water while he was trying to help, its starting to smell and I definitely need a shovel to get it all moved.

We're down to the four we're keeping. I managed to sell the other five to a nice couple. Hopefully grandma takes some chooks in the spring so we won't have to sell any more of them because they are GORGEOUS.

 

[Faraday40]

@Faraday40 or anyone with hatching experience. I candled Saturday night, Day 7 began 01/13 16:00, candled 01/13 20:00.

My bantam eggs (Fibro Fly Tie) show growth, I can see veining, someone was even close enough to the shell that I could see their itty bitty body starting.

My large eggs (Lavender Orps) aren't showing growth. I can see some air sacs, but I didn't find any veining. Is day 7 kind of too early? I did find a crack in one Orp egg so that was removed.

I feel like I'm stressing myself out for nothing, I'm so excited and so ready for these chicks.

The chicks in the brooder are moving outside this upcoming weekend. I was going to move them out this weekend but then the snow came. Since my run isn't covered I wanted to wait until it warms up a wee bit. Renovations on the brooder will begin sometime this weekend as well. Need to get sides covered and either build or buy a tray for the bottom to make cleaning easier. Currently we have a pile of wasted chick food under the brooder. Since DH accidentally split water while he was trying to help, its starting to smell and I definitely need a shovel to get it all moved.

We're down to the four we're keeping. I managed to sell the other five to a nice couple. Hopefully grandma takes some chooks in the spring so we won't have to sell any more of them because they are GORGEOUS.

Sometimes orps can have very thick shells. Depending on the light, you may not be able to see the detailed veining yet. If they're not cracked or smelly, then leave the eggs in the incubator. Re-candle on day 14. By then you'll see the diff between dark shadow & a brightly glowing, clear egg. (That's when I recommend tossing the clears.) I understand how hard it is to wait. Enjoy the excitement.

 

[Faraday40]

Going to RK tomorrow. Hoping to get a new bunch of bedding for a coop clean out and some more corn. They aren't wanting to eat pellets anymore.

They are enjoying greens though. I've been buying cheap whole greens at Walmart in the produce section and tying them up to a roost so they can play tether ball during the day. They've enjoyed the collards quite a lot.

I did the same with broccoli. They really enjoyed it.

Warning: Unfortunately my flock enjoyed the broccoli a little too much and developed a taste for it. One day in late June they hopped the garden fence and attacked all of my broccoli. Here's a pic of the carnage:

 

[Dayrel]

Warning: Unfortunately my flock enjoyed the broccoli a little too much and developed a taste for it. One day in late June they hopped the garden fence and attacked all of my broccoli. Here's a pic of the carnage:

You sure that wasn't from cabbage moths? I've given up on broccoli because of those little buggers. grrr...

 

[Faraday40]

You sure that wasn't from cabbage moths? I've given up on broccoli because of those little buggers. grrr...

Last year I added more height to my fence & the broccoli was fine. (I don't mind some holes in the leaves b/c we only eat the crowns. The kids tend to pick off caterpillars as temp pets.... or feed them to the chickens.)

For years I was able to keep my orps & wild rabbits out of the garden with a short 3' fence. Trouble (sebright) & Bubbles (Dominique) were the only 2 chickens to occasionally go into the garden. Two small hens never did much damage and helped with insect control. In 2016 when Trouble went broody she taught her chicks (baby orps) the pleasures of the garden. Soon the rest of the flock figured it out.

With the taller fence, they stayed out, but still crowded around the perimeter when I was gardening. Waiting for me to throw some weeds or a worm over the fence.

We planted extra raspberries for the chickens. They eat the berries from the bottom 2' & we get everything above that line. The chickens are great at gobbling up all those Japanese beetles, so it was worth it to expand the berries.

After all this talk of summer gardening, I now must go out & shovel snow.

 

[Leahs Mom]

For winter I also use the large suet feeders for greens so they can pull pieces off that are more in keeping with what their crop can handle.

I usually use kale and cilantro. I've tried other greens and they aren't interested.

Also won't eat the kale or cilantro in the summer when they have other choices. But they love it in the winter!

I've also been sprouting a mix of organic grains for winter on my counter top this year. It's been simple to do, and that gives them a little more nutrition when it's sprouted (as well as drastically reducing the anti-nutrients). I usually just sprout until the seed is starting to get a little rootlet, but on occasion I let them come a little longer to the very early "fodder" stage.

They always go for the sprouted before the regular feed. (My feed is made from the same seeds and grains just not sprouted.)


OH... second girl had a egg today. Not sure which one yet but I have a hunch.

 

[Nyla]

Do any of you have any homemade Cabinet Incubators? I'm dieing to make one and would love to see fellow Indiananer's . I need to incubate a ton of eggs around 300+ of quails. I want to build a 3 tier auto turner but don't know of a motor strong enough?
Also would love tips on a heating element!