OHio ~ Come on Buckeyes, let me know your out there!

[Sunshine0235]

I have a 12 week old light brahma pullet, pet quality, hatched Feb 17. She is $7. Located in Lebanon Ohio. If anyone is interested PM me please. I can go take pictures if you are interested, she has a lot of black penciling leakage on the body. But she will make a nice layer and pet. She is outside in the coop, so no heat lamps required.

 

[Sarafena1982]

Congrats! I have had several bator problems and it is amazing how resilient chicks can be. I have had hatches every week for about the last 2 months! Looks like a colorful bunch!

Thanks so far I have all hens but 2 and I will not even try to sec the bannies

 

[chicknmania]

Hey, fellow Buckeyes......heads up...bad news.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/11/health-birdflu-idUSL1N0Y21GU20150511

 

[autumnhearth]

Hey, fellow Buckeyes......heads up...bad news.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/11/health-birdflu-idUSL1N0Y21GU20150511

Oh no... I was waiting to hear about Indiana Thanks for sharing.

 

[chicknmania]

You're welcome. I just don't know at what point, or if, I should shut up our flock. I just hate to. But maybe we'd better? What is everyone else doing, if anything? I mean, if it's carried by the wind...well, I guess shutting them up would help. Our flock doesn't go near the wetlands which is about a mile or so away from us, and they never go near our pond which is at the rear of our property. And we very rarely have waterfowl on our pond ...it's a long way from our barn, too. But occasionally the flock does go out in the fields, and the Canada geese sometimes go there too....

And now that it's going to be cooler that just complicates the problem.

 

[autumnhearth]

We have a very small backyard flock, no acreage yet. We have bought plastic roofing for our enclosed run which currently just has bird netting on top, we were going to put it up this weekend but my husband sprained his ankle, going to have to do that this week. We do free range for a few hours a day, I may stop that in a week, I hate to though. I was thinking of keeping our 9 week old chicks inside but they love being out in their moveable pen. Only song birds land in our yard, mostly house sparrows, chickadees, robins and cardinals, though geese and gulls fly over head. But yeah if we lived on a farm with a pond I would enclose them in some way or limit their range.

 

[chicknmania]

WE have plenty of room to shut ours up in our barn, but other animals like mice could get in if they really want to, and potentially carry the virus on their feet; also it will be hot in there. We are making arrangements to screen the barn doors so they will get some extra ventilation, but still, they will want out, and if the virus is carried by wind, that won't help much. And the guy doing the screening says he isn't sure if he will be able to before the end of May.

 

[minihorse927]

I've been free ranging ours but after this news I believe it will srop. I have a creek on the property that our ducks love to play in and I don't see wild waterfowl in there but you never know. Plus they could be playing upstream and then it could come downstream. They're not going to be happy and I'll probably lose all my eggs from them. If I lock them up for more than half a day and overnight, they refuse to lay.

 

[chicknmania]

Yeah, I think ours are going to be on lockdown starting today. Especially because it's going to be soo cool. Once it gets back into the eighties, and stays there, it might be safer to let them out. I'm mostly worried about our peafowl because they wander farther than the chickens do. I'm afraid of what they might bring back. Ours are not going to be happy one bit and I'm really worried about our peacocks fighting this time of year and not being able to get away from each other. But, I'll get them some fresh dirt for their dustbath today, and some apples on strings maybe. To play with.

They won't need the screens since it's going to be cooler, and we'll just have to play it a day at a time for a while.

 

[WYNot]

This year's first brooder. One of the kids' dresser that got turned on its side and a lid added. It is maybe 2-1/2'x4. We took the drawers out. Then reinforced the bottom and laid down a piece of linoleum. They were in that maybe three weeks before it started getting a bit crowded. Couldn't keep the water clean for more than about 15 minutes before someone was throwing chips and poo into it. :/ 10 Buckeyes I got from @SRHartley.

This weekend, the kids and I built a larger one in the back corner of the garage. For some reason their was a section where they didn't pour concrete when the garage was built; it is just bare earth. Maybe 4'x10'. We laid down a tarp then framed in some sides and chicken wire around most of it; about 4'x6'. Added hangers for the food, water, and heat lamp. Put down a thick layer of wood chips. Moved chicks. At first they weren't sure what to do with so much room. They just stood in the corner looking around and looking at each other. Then they started running around like lunatics, scratching in the bedding, and testing the new feeder/waterer. They are enjoying the room. Need to add some branches for roosts/jungle gyms.

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Edit to add - The waterer shown in the first pic was cleaned. Then we went to build the other brooder. Come back to move them, maybe an hour and a half later, and that is what it looked like.