INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[bradselig]

Ok,

After "weathering the storm" earlier this week and trying to beat today's first snow I was able to shoot the cover I use to deter the hawks in my area.
Hope it helps you and thank you for your patience.

Interesting. Since I free range on 2 acres, I don't think this would be feasible, but would love to hear updates on how it works out for you.

cute chicks! How many hatches have you done this year? I swear you have new chicks every week lol!

I honestly don't know how many hatches I've had this year. I do know my incubator hasn't shut off since middle of February though. I have 3 more hatches left, heritage barred rock and showgirls going into lockdown tomorrow, and then 1 hatch a week for the next 2 weeks. I'm trying to hold off from getting anymore eggs so I can shut off the incubator during winter. It seems like my power goes off the most during winter and don't want to risk losing any eggs. I could use a break as well!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Okay, I've fallen behind again, so I'm just going to reply to what catches my attention as I read along.

Chicken Personalities: I have noticed that much of a chicken's personality has to do with its genetics. A rooster whose father was aggressive is likely to also be aggressive--which is why they always say to send mean roosters to the stew pot and not let their genes get passed on. Yes, the way they're raised does have some effect on how human friendly they are, but for the most part, it seems like it's all in the genes.

The best evidence I have for this is my five Barred Rock girls. Each and every one of them was raised the same way. They were held a lot as chicks and I was nearly constantly there as they grew. Still, only one has been particularly friendly. Two others tolerate my attention and come to me. One is flighty unless I let her come to me. The last wants nothing to do with me. The varying personalities probably comes from the fact that they are hatchery birds, and judging by their type and comb size, they have had a Leghorn outcross in their line. Though they have been bred as Rocks, the Leghorn in them shows through in some of them and not others.


Chicken Feed Storage: For the record, I have used galvanized garbage cans for storing chicken feed and scratch grains for at least 5 years now. I have never seen condensation in them, nor have I found any kind of unusual moisture or mold in them. For some time, they were out under a tarp, though now they're stored in my feed and storage shed. I think mine are 30 gallons? I'm not totally sure, but they will just hold three 50 lb bags of feed.


Feathered Legs: As long as the environment is clean, there should be no more issues from feather legged birds than there are from clean legged birds. The feathers will probably wear out, though, unless you keep the birds on soft bedding and don't let them go out to scratch.


Ordering Chicks: Oh, goodness, don't get me started! I have my order ready for next year--just waiting for Meyer to open up 2014 orders!

If I were you, I would focus on personality type more than on heat and cold tolerance. Breeds like Orpingtons, Australorps, and Plymouth Rocks are easier to raise than breeds like Leghorns because they are generally calmer and more easily tamed. But if it came down to it, chickens fare much worse in the heat than they do in the cold--focus on their ability to tolerate heat more than anything if you're going to pick by that.


Chick Hatchlings!!: Such cute babies!! Oh, I love Seramas so much! The temptation! I won't have the time for chicks until May, though. How will I ever last?

 

[Mother2Hens]

I’ve been away from the thread for 24 hours, and there are seven long pages of posts!

As I’ve said before, I respect and am awe of people who raise animals to ensure healthful food. It’s much better for people and for the animals that enjoy a much better life. As a pet owner, I care for my chickens/cats and take them to the vet when needed.

I also think that it’s a testament to our Indiana thread that food raisers and pet raisers can co-exist and respect each other. There have been times this past year when I’ve wondered if I should find a Chickens as Pets group, but besides the fact that I’d miss everyone, I have expanded my mind both in thinking "outside my comfort zone" and by increasing my knowledge and understanding. Gosh, it’s hard to believe I’ve had these revelations from a Chicken group!

And hogster, don’t beat yourself up about the hawk attack! You, your DH, and your dogs made a great team!
Peaceful Walls posted to jchny: Your doe is acting normally. Does are very territorial. Whenever you do a mating you always need to take the doe to the buck’s cage. If you take the buck to her cage, there is a good chance she will attack and kill him. That’s one of the first things we teach our beginning rabbit 4-Her’s when we talk about breeding. Rabbits are typically housed alone, because they can fight/are territorial. However, we have left sisters or a mom with a daughter together for quite some time when they have started out that way from birth. But I would never put a new rabbit in as a cage mate with one that has been housed alone -- it may seem like she’s a Hitler rabbit, but it actually is a normal/expected response. You’ll need a second cage for a second rabbit. (I’m sure, of course, that here are examples of exceptions to this.) Some people do colony raise rabbits, but that’s a whole different thing and not a confined cage set up. When it comes to having kits, I would not worry about her attacking them, as it’s not the same situation as introducing a new, grown rabbit in her space. If a doe would attack her kits, there’s usually a specific/unique reason for it. Is the rabbit friendly to you? We have a rule in our barn that the rabbits that lunge or attack/bite us get to take a one way trip to freezer camp!
Peaceful Walls ~ Even though I no longer have a rabbit, (we’ve had nice male rabbits-- one at a time over the years) it was interesting to read your post about rabbit behavior and learn that does are not crazy, they are Strong Women!

icukeisha ~ When my "pullets" were cockerels, I was lucky to find people through craigslist who would trade a cockerel for a pullet, so I ended up with several different breeds.
pginsber posted: M2H: Peanut, our bantam black orpington, has not been docile a day in her life. She was a packing peanut for our cream legbar chicks and looked like a tiny fuzzy penguin when she arrived. She used to stand in the middle of the brooder corral and ‘scream’ for seemingly no reason. Now, even though she’s the smallest, she lets everybody know that she’s not going to be at the bottom of the pecking order.

pginsber ~ That sounds just like Bonbon! The other day a woman walking a Standard Poodle stopped at the road to ask about the chickens. Bonbon slowly started toward the dog as though she was planning to run him off! I had to herd her away. She holds her own with my Five Means Hens, but she is friendly and sweet to people. Is yours? Adeline, my Jubilee Orp is sweet to us, but is wary of the hens.
CCCHICKENS posted: Does it not snow much in the south? I have never been down south.

CCCHICKENS ~ Last winter we had a total of around 15” of snow. We’ve had plenty of snow, ice storms, even a few blizzards. Just depends which direction the storms pass through. I’ve noticed over the years that around Vincennes (an hour north), the snowfall typically increases substantially. Western Kentucky often seems to have much worse snows than ours.

 

[Mother2Hens]

We worked really hard on the coop and yard this weekend. My husband finally finished the cupola on the top. When he first put it up, I told him there were gaps in the roofline that had to be fixed. He said they are fine, I mean what's getting up there? Well, bats, mice, wild birds, etc...we do live in the woods. So he fixed that up and now my birds have great ventilation without direct wind. The windows for the front are ordered and should be here soon. They just have the galvanized wire in them at the moment.

My little AS girl is doing better. I've been keeping her in a crate inside of the coop so that she's not lonely, but yesterday when I took her out, she was standing gingerly on her one leg, but was able to walk around a bit. I put her in the tractor so that she could get some ground time and it worked out great. Nobody bothered her, but they did visit. At night, she went back into the crate. It might be a good system until she is fully recovered.

I reworked all of the roosts this weekend. Since my birds kept flying up to my shelf, I decided to let them have it. It is now a poop board for their roost. I also noticed that the others are being nicer to my bantam Ameraucana, Bella, now. They let her squish into the corner instead of chasing her off. I also put a poop board above the nesting boxes and a roost on that. Now the floor will stay cleaner and the AS boys will stay out of the nesting boxes. They kept trying to poop in them at night when the big birds ran them off the other roosts. The only problem with all this reworking is that its too cold for me to paint. Now the inside of the coop is offending my senses with its lack of paint and too many poo splatters. Seriously, how do they get poo on the roof??? Its eight feet high!

Here are some pics:
My favorite chick. She looks like a rainbow exploded on her.

Our pretty Fiona.

Visiting hours.

Poop boards are just gross, but the mudding spatula does make them easy to clean. The sand should stay a lot cleaner now. I can't wait to paint again!

Now the nesting boxes are hidden. We will put some curtains up to liven up the place, lol.

This was my shelf, but the chickens never understood anyway.

I'm pretty sure they are boys, but Appenzeller Spitzhaubens sure are good looking.

Bella squished in the corner. Good thing I didn't name her Baby.

Happy Veterans Day all!

CRSelvey ~ Glad to hear that your AS is improving! That's great that she can walk around a little!

I love that rainbow chick in your photo! Is that one of those spray painted Silkies that danad heard were shown at the Ohio Nationals?

Your coop is incredible! It should be featured in a magazine.

Your poor DH should be proud of his hard work in creating an aesthetically pleasing environment for your lovely birds. My crazy RIR Nene has always insisted on perching on top of the open door to the coop box part of the coop. I used to encourage her to join the others on the perches, but later decided that it's better for her to be in another area since she's an instigator. The top of the door isn't very wide for a perch so I covered it with a section of that dense foam wrap that prevents pipes from freezing. Now she has a "memory foam" perch. I should trademark that and become a gazillionaire.
Originally Posted by goodb
Ok,
After "weathering the storm" earlier this week and trying to beat today's first snow I was able to shoot the cover I use to deter the hawks in my area.
Hope it helps you and thank you for your patience.

goodb ~Wow! You must have patience to make that huge web. Thanks for sharing! I'll suggest that idea to my DH. He'd probably hand me a ladder.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

PW - I'm right on the edge of lake effect but last I heard it's supposed to go more southwestish rather than direct west and possibly totally miss our area. Our gift to hogster

Best wishes to you guys up there, I don't miss the lake effect snows one bit.
I do miss the sledding after those big snows and no school

Quote: UGH more roos

good thing is both will produce offspring that will throw some very pretty eggs!

Quote: Thank you! I do remember "doe to bucks cage". Really wanted to hear it to be sure, lol. My last rabbits were in the early 1990s.
I found a lot of good info on mother earth news and a few other links. Now to find a buck, UGH!
My oldest DD has a black and white (broken (?) I think is the color) NZ we thought was male, I looked last night, NOPE.
I should have checked for her a long time ago, but since theirs is a true pet it didn't really matter.
I will NOT keep any aggressive animals here either, so that was my main worry.
I had Bunbun aka Hitler out about 20 minutes last night. Waited for the house to be quiet, she is very frightened.
I was able to pick her up, put her down. She does "cringe" a little but is already relaxing & no biting or kicking.
Had her in my lap on the floor, allowed her to "explore" on the indoor outdoor carpet in the porch.
She has a friendly disposition, I am really pleased. She returned to my lap on her own. Likes her ears rubbed

My DD was so upset over her lil bunny she just gave it up altogether.
I don't think she realized/researched what may have happened.
This morning we had 20 minutes again. gave her a small slice of an apple each visit.
Repeating tonight, I have baby spinach, just a few leaves as a treat. Encouraging mom time to be a good thing.
She got to meet Crook the french fry stealer! (he has wry neck, so he is a pet, not part of my flock.)
They seemed ok with each other, and crook made an alert call but seemed to not care once they got close.
He was not happy sharing mom time tho! I have a section of hardware cloth to make a circle I start chicks out free ranging in.
Next week will let her be out on grass weather permitting, but the rabbits won't be "free range" like the chickens are.
I am treating her as a "pet" so she will be easier to work with later. (and she is so adorable!)

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

On another note, does anyone use a galvanized garbage can to store their chicken feed? If so, are their any issues? I'm heading to Lebanon tomorrow to get more feed, but I'd like to store it all in one place instead of part in the coop and part in the house. Do you have any other suggestions?

I have 2 smaller galvanized trash bins and they are ok short term. Plastic has worked better.
I use the big plastic garbage cans and lids, we always have mice. Feeds are all dry and I don't worry.
Theres a lot of cheap ones with lids, I find my killer deal and load the cans up.
I throw cracked corn in the DL in the coops and runs, so All my coops have mice in them its almost impossible to avoid it.
I rarely worry about bugs in the feed, its protein. My feed is used too fast, mold just doesn't happen.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote: They will be bold with people if they are hungry and even attack. I had a call where they attacked an elderly man with a lil dachsund and took his dog.
Leash and all. they reach the size of a female german sheperd. 75 pounds +. Coys are very overpopulated and running out of food.
Your safety is #1 priority, I would be calling DNR and a lot more govm't offices demanding they help you handle it.
Bare handed I would be very fearful too

I am enjoying myself with the Murry McMurry catalogue. Ok, so I am very new. I didn't know chickens had feathered legs! Does that mean they might carry more dirt/poo on them? Is it significant?

of course I am playing with the "chick selector"... I live in West Lafayette--What type of "cold tolerance" should I be looking for? Would it be more important to be "better" or above in cold tolerance? or is good sufficient?

What about heat? is "good" good enough?

Of course this is just wishful thinking at this point. BESIDES I only want 3-5 not the 15 minimum!

Look up cold hardy breeds on their site and call them. Can't hurt to ask purdue either what is a good choice, And post so others can join in on your order

.
Ventilation is important for any breed in your coop.

I have been watching with some interest the sputtering launch of healthcare.gov. It cost $600,000,000 before all the fixes, so it will probably end up costing about $1 billion or so.

Three 20-something web programmers took a weekend and designed and implemented their own version of it. It worked. It didn't include the subsidy calculation which is said by the government folks to be one of the more complicated and difficult aspects of the design. The 20-something guys added it overnight. It works. Response is near-instantaneous. thehealthsherpa.com Try it.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57611592/s.f-programmers-build-alternative-to-healthcare.gov/

I ran across this comment in my email inbox:

Putting things in perspective:

March 21st, 2010 to October 1, 2013 is 3 years, 6 months, 10 days.
December 7, 1941 to May 8, 1945 is 3 years, 5 months, 1 day.

What this means is that in the time we were attacked at Pearl Harbor to the day Germany surrendered is not enough time for our current federal government to build a working website.
Mobilization of millions, building tens of thousands of tanks, airplanes, jeeps, submarines, cruisers, destroyers, aircraft carriers, troop carriers, landing craft, torpedoes, millions upon millions of guns, bombs, ammo, etc. Turning the tide in North Africa, invading Italy, D-Day, Battle of the Bulge, Race to Berlin - all while we were also fighting the Japanese in the Pacific!

And in that amount of time, this administration can't build a working website.

Pitiful. It sounds to me like a lot of campaign donors were rewarded handsomely.

John

Oh my, John.. I am just sick over what has been offered to our veterans that protect our country and give their lives for us.
I did all the stuff I am required to do on the health ins webpage.. Clicked submit. MY PC CRASHED, SHUT DOWN!
So i tried again, used a different browser, PC crashed again! I was so worried My laptop fried and now what?
So I went to the live chat.. 40 minutes later i get "I am sorry, we are working 24/7 to fix it."
It has me worried sick. Saying it will cost $247 a month just for me,
HOW is that even possible to work into my hopelessly strained budget?
If we don't eat and don't drive our car with the gas prices we may be able to fit it in.
Or I guess I give up my livestock and just eat the food the grocery tells us to.
Am just horrified what this will become as it develops and pray its corrected soon.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote: Can't say where u are, I gave up and did my own finally and saved the money.
I just started searching "process chickens" and found my closest one in cambridge city, an hour away.
We have about a half inch of snow so far, was coming down hard and so pretty!
UGH not looking forward to this at all.

 

[Old Salt 1945]

danand~ i am surprised i havent heard the cyotes here! might be too windy.
does anyone know where i can send my 15 chickens to be butchered? if it were 1 or 2 i would do it myself, but i am not ready to tackle this many! i am between columbus and seymour.
our farmer finaally harvested his corn fields around us. the kids and i took the wagon out and collected the ears he left on the ground.. i'd say about 2 doz. ears atleast. i'll figure out how to ccrush it before i feed it to the chickens

I feed whole un-cracked corn to my LF chickens all the time. They love it and the tamer ones will eat it out of my hand. I have never seen corn kernels in their poop, so it must be getting digested.

John

 

[Old Salt 1945]