Poultry

[crazychicken]

Who is raising their own poultry?

Chickens, turkeys, guinea hens, geese, ducks.

CC

[sscrapper]

All of the above but geese .

[StackerKen]

We have chickens....too many..

We had coyote problems last year so we hatched more eggs...lol
The coyotes haven't been around so much latley ( I guess shot em all?)
Last weekend we sold 12 roosters for 5 bucks each.
We may sell a few hens too.

We hatched these pullets last year
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h55/baytraderken/spitzchicks-1.jpg
they are Appenzeller Spitzhauben

One of them is sitting on eggs right now
We are gonna see how she does on her own.


My wife wants to raise Black copper marans in our aviary this year.
they lay Chocolate brown eggs

http://static.mypetchicken.com/images/product_images/Popup/MaransCollectionL2.jpg

[crazychicken]

Good looking birds.

We have never had that particular type.

Are they very skittish?

CC

[Spectrism]

Its hard to judge size. Are those eggs normal size or small?

I have about 10 hens right now. I have been mixing: rhode island red/barred rock/wyandotte.... and I want to mix a heavier bird. What I have now is a good mix for egg layers. A middle ground for meat would be mice.

[StackerKen]

Good looking birds.

We have never had that particular type.

Are they very skittish?

CC


The Spitzhauben that we have are not skittish at all . quite friendly in fact.
and the Rooster is kinda cocky.

[StackerKen]

Its hard to judge size. Are those eggs normal size or small?

I have about 10 hens right now. I have been mixing: rhode island red/barred rock/wyandotte.... and I want to mix a heavier bird. What I have now is a good mix for egg layers. A middle ground for meat would be mice.



Im not sure how big the copper marans eggs are.(we don't have those yet)
I would have to look it up...But my wife did tell me that folks like the eggs alot.

edit; My wife just told me that the eggs are large and fertile eggs go for big bucks.

I guess they are somewhat rare.

[StackerKen]

ken. What kind of incubator do you have? I have been wanting to get one.



Imma we just have a couple cheap syrofoam incubators with turners.
they work fine. We have hatched a few dozen of Chicks in them...and quail a few times too.

Edit to add.
Imma my wife just told me that with our Styrofoam ones that you have to keep a close eye on them. temp and humility and all.

[Spectrism]

ken. What kind of incubator do you have? I have been wanting to get one.

Spec, have you tried buff orphingtons? The are a heavy good egg laying bird. We also have sex links. They are a good layer but not a heavy bird, and the tend to fly the coop, or squeeze thru the cracks.



I have not but the Orp's seem to be a good choice for the mix. The sex links, if I got my facts straight, are rhode island reds & barred rocks.


I still have an incubator I made in high school days.... 30+ years old. Its a box I patterned after a pheasant breeder's that I worked for back then. I made it out of plywood, heat coil, bi-metal thermostat and fan. Works well enough. I wish I could get a hen to brood. Need more protective nest.

[sscrapper]

Rhoad Island whites:

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e212/sscrapper/Picture881.jpg

Jersey Giants :

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e212/sscrapper/Picture882.jpg

Turkeys :

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e212/sscrapper/Picture763.jpg

Ceramas :

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e212/sscrapper/Picture903.jpg


Just to name a few....lol Ive got alot more than this but you get the point.

[crazychicken]

Rhoad Island whites:

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e212/sscrapper/Picture881.jpg

Jersey Giants :

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e212/sscrapper/Picture882.jpg

Turkeys :

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e212/sscrapper/Picture763.jpg

Ceramas :

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e212/sscrapper/Picture903.jpg


Just to name a few....lol Ive got alot more than this but you get the point.


Very nice!

CC

[Olmstein]

I love reading about the backyard chickens, but I don't think chickens would survive the 115 degree summers here, plus, I live in an apartment.

I have seen some ads on craigslist for local fresh eggs, maybe the chickens are kept in air conditioned pens.

[Celtic Rogue]

I got to move but cant!!! I want to raise some chickens too... :boohoo

[tater]

We bought some Dominicker chicks this last spring. Lost 2 to my "guard dogs" now we 4 left :'( . No roosters, now. We gottem for eggs only. We were expecting them to start layin towards the end of August. One of the girls layed about 2 weeks ago and nothing from her since, very small egg as we expected until they are fully mature. Another one of our girls layed a few days later and has now layed 6 eggs counting the one this morn, her eggs are small but each one gets a little larger. So far she lays 2 days in a row and takes a day off. I didn't start giving them laying pellets until we got the first couple of eggs. The other 2 have been freeloaders ;) but I was thinking that the one that is laying so regular now is kinda ahead of the curve anyway. Thanks for this thread BTW :)

[crazychicken]

PO just called!

Newest poultry order is in. Daughter is on the way to get them.

25 Jungle Fowl
25 mixed Crested-full size-not Bantams
10 Blue Andalusians
10 mixed ducks
6 mixed Turkeys

Adding to last years Americanas

Welp Hatchery in Iowa. We found them very easy to deal with.

Great descriptive website

CC

[CrufflerJJ]

We just started taking care of chickens here at home a couple weeks ago. A neighbor had a very nice home-built chicken coop that he let us have for $50. My wife's sister (who works at a local feed store) found somebody who could sell us laying hens for ~$5 each. We ended up with 2 Golden Comet, 2 Buff Orpington, 1 Aracauna, and 1 Cuckoo Maran. The Aracauna lays nice big eggs, with a light blue/green shell. The Cuckoo lays medium sized brown eggs. The other birds are just starting to lay brown eggs. So far, so good. My kids like watching the chickens, and I've got to admit...so do I!

It's neat to see the personality differences between the chickens. The Aracauna is definitely the smartest/most inquisitive of the birds, and is the first to investigate anything new.

[tater]

We've had several days of getting 2 eggs in one day the last few weeks. Today we had our first 3 egg day ;D . As I mentioned earlier we only have 4 young hens. The most prolific layer we have named Princess Laya. Another one my son has named Meanie, she has no qualms about pecking you. Then there's Goober, she has a messed up wing (survivor of a close encounter with the "guard dogs") Goober is the number 2 layer. The last hen hasn't been named yet. We got 1 double yolk so far 8)

We are very pleased that we got these chickens. Not as pleased with the hounds but they were here first and nothing has gone missing since we gottem, except a couple of chickens of course :(