INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Leahs Mom]

PS: On the heat plate...

These were made in Holland and there is a "temperature controller" that is sold with them in the UK. It is similar to a lamp dimmer cord. They don't make them for US electricity.

When I purchased my heat plate, I felt the temperature when I turned it on and it felt too hot to me. So I use mine with a regular lamp dimmer cord that you can get from Menards. Works great and allows me to have more control over the temp. I've never had to use it above about half way on the controller.


https://www.menards.com/main/search.html?search=lamp+dimmer

PS: There is a thread on BYC of folks talking about the Premier Plate:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...at-plate-brooder-for-chicks/700#post_16902164

 

[ellymayRans]

My name is River, on the Eastside of Indianapolis. Spent the last 2 months building a coop & a 12x6 protected run. Now that it's built, I need chickens! Haha! Is it necessary to put chicks in heated & protected places for weeks? I have no where but the coop to put them, and the places i've found to order from are all babies! Is there anywhere nearby to buy juveniles from? Or would the babies be ok outside, with the coop?

Welcome!

Great group of people here always with great advice!
We have a members list including their county and breeds with many of us raising heritage breeds as well as hatchery stocks. You may be able to have some rare gems if you do some reading and just PM them to see about availability.

Chicks do have to have heat as several have informed but several of us brood outside as there are many alternatives to do so. Again, several here have given great links and examples!

Always someone or many here that love to help. Have questions ask away!

@jchny2000 and a few others have the members link attached to their profile or signature.

 

[PeacefulWalls]

A few of the girls this morning

Great pictures -- Love the middle one!!

 

[river46201]

welcome to the forum River-
if you have a way to access electricity to your coop, you could use a brooder heat plate for some younger chicks.
we are a few hours away, but we have plenty of young chicks available if interested : some3 week olds & having a big hatch on monday 25th of april.
set a bunch of eggs for some customers , & now at the last minute have decided not to get them :-(
we sometimes get down to Angola/Auburn area to the feed stores & could meet anyone if interested in any chicks.
we have iowa blues, white + buff chanteclers, EEs, sapphire, & a couple biele-bar

Like I said, I'm new...I know I'd like to get all brown egg layers, but other than that, I don't know much about the breeds.
I'm wanting (and built room) for up to 6 hens. Do any of the ones you have available fit the "brown egg" criteria? If so, I would luv to get together with you! Especially on the older ones! (As long as they are hens...can't have roosters here)

 

[iamfivewire]

the Chanteclers & iowa blues all lay anywhere from a light tan to medium brown, so not as dark as the typical brown egg color.
they are great breeds (& rare breed status) & do pretty well with the tempurature extremes we exerience in our area/region. also great free-rangers

 

[iamfivewire]

here's todays eggs :

 

[river46201]

the Chanteclers & iowa blues all lay anywhere from a light tan to medium brown, so not as dark as the typical brown egg color.
they are great breeds (& rare breed status) & do pretty well with the tempurature extremes we exerience in our area/region. also great free-rangers

How many "older" ones do you have available? I'd really like to get 6 all at one time

 

[Faraday40]

Loved all 3 pics, but this one is priceless!

 

[Indyshent]

Another update:

Came home this evening to find the hawk had been busy again--killed the one confirmed Khaki hen-ling, the bitty Rouen with the beak problems (why I bought him), one of the Brahma pullets and, of course, my last turkey poult, who had weakened himself looking for his friend. I caught myself searching for him in the coop, even after burying him. I have no idea what I'm going to do. Family is all telling me to give up and kill everything, pretty much. It's just too heartbreaking and expensive when I can't sell birds (or even give them away) and can't make any money selling eggs.

Just reiterating here: all birds are free, but may or may not carry M.g. (or something else which occasionally causes similar respiratory symptoms). Purdue is sitting on their butts about sending me the t12 test carton. It's advised new owners not breed them until we know, but otherwise, the worst case scenario probably still means free usually-healthy birds which may or may not get sniffles occasionally in times of stress. Many are laying hens, and many are rarer breeds. Assume everything is pet quality because you can't show them anyway.

Brahmas: four LB hens, three gold-penciled hens, several mixed chicks (most look to be silver-penciled "DB" or DB/LB). @chickrookie has claimed the DB rooster, but a beautiful buff Colombian roo is available
Cochin: pair of black Cochin adults. One lemon pyle hen. Numerous mixes. Hens are of laying age, and the black one lays large dark eggs pretty frequently when she's not broody (which she has been occasionally, though never successfully)
Welsummer: two laying hens; one's a second-time broody and looking to be successful yet again. Both neat, chatty ladies
Australorp: one laying hen, currently broody
BO: one full-bodied laying hen
Wyandottes: 2 SLW, 1GLW, 1 splash-laced red, one RIR/BLRW (all laying hens), one BLRW roo (perpetually has lice, is pretty good with the girls, but never seems to mate right). Pair of older almost-at-POL/breeding age DB/SLW mixes, both pretty quiet and easily handled, hatched in Nov or Dec of 2015.
EEs and other assorted mixes (few blue, some likely green, most brown layers). 3 cockerels of older nature that aren't quite done growing: the DB/EE is going to be a giant, from the look of it (like Wun Wun the DB, his daddy, but getting there a lot faster); there's also a DB/SLW and what I think is a Sumatra/EE cross (blue and gold, very neat personality, growing up gorgeous).
@jchny2000 has re-claimed Mr. July, a stunning black Sumatra who has sired several mixes here

Right now, both Australorps, one Wellie, two gold-penciled Brahma hens, and the RIR/BLRW are broody.

Who's Staying: One of the two Australorps is perpetually broody and often sick (because she takes such terrible care of herself in pursuit of motherhood), so she'll stay here because my youngest loves her. One BO hen has likewise been claimed by my son and has been ill in the past. Not claimed but still with a history of illness, an EE will have to stay. A pair of mottled Breda will stay because the roo is seemingly always ill, but may also be quiet by nature, too. He has been very slow to make a full recovery even under good conditions, and I think another move will stress him beyond recovery. The other certainly-staying roo is lame for the foreseeable future, but just too sweet and scrawny to put down. Major Tom, the MW, has been perpetually ill since his buddy Saphira died, and now that his little buddies are both dead, I think he's going to really plummet. He's very stressed--constantly displaying and spoiling for a fight, yet unable to give one, and his sinuses are already looking pretty horrible again since the first of the two babies died--and I can't risk him getting other birds at another home sick, which limits me to putting him down or getting him some company (which takes money and room, both of which I'm short on).

We're going to be working on a fence as soon as possible, but we're also tied into putting a roof on a new coop and fixing up our sons' room... and finals in college... and finding a new job... and possibly having cancer... and too many other things to properly enumerate.

 

[Hholly]

@Indyshent Sounds like a rough time for you. Wish I could help. Sending you positive vibes.