Reviews by SHERRING7712

I have to start by saying my two SFH's are my prize chickens LOL They were the only two babies that I actually got to pick instead of my husband! Mine are only 2 months old right now so they aren't laying but they have great personalities and have been wonderful to raise. As young chicks they were the bravest and liked to be held. My cockerel Thor is a sweetheart, though he is already trying to get frisky with some of the pullets. I have a cream legbar cockerel that is half his size and so far they are buddies but the legbar is the leader of the two. Freja is my little pullet and I should have named her miss piggy as she is a hog with the treats! They are both good foragers and get along great with all the other chickens! Luckily I have been blessed so far and all my chickens get along pretty well.

Thor


Freja


Thor when he was 3-4 wks I think


Thor at 1wk




Freja at 1 wk (I think)

I have 2 Heritage RIR's that my husband wanted when we bought chicks. I have to say I didn't. All the RIR's that I had ever been around were bossy, noisy, broody, pecking little brats and I really didn't want any but the husband won out! Our breeder had both PR's and HR's and so we went with the HR's. I am so glad we did. They are both sweet birds who are not bossy at all...except with my one cockerel that keeps trying to mount them. They let him have it! They are only 3 months old so they haven't started laying yet but I can't wait for some lovely brown eggs from them. I read a review on here that was very helpful in describing the real differences between the HR and PR. By the sounds of it there can be several differences including temperament which may be why I didn't like RIR's when I was younger and mine are so much nicer. I will update my review when they start laying or if I see any changes!

Thelma and Louise when we first got them.



Thelma and Louise at about 7 wks

I love the deep Mahogany color of these girls!

I have one full Ameraucana (we named her Liberty) and she so far (two weeks) been a great bird. She was laying when we got her and despite the long hot caged car ride home (3 hours) she kept right on laying. Since we got her she lays about 3 days and then takes a day off. She lays very late in the day though. When we got her she had been the favorite among the Roo's and was missing most of the feathers on her back and back of her head. We doctored her up when we first got her as the skin was red and raw and she did fine. She doesn't like being caught...but once she is she settles down. She too (like my two EE's) isn't very concerned about treats and would rather forage. (Although everybody loves Mama's strawberry, banana, & mealworm popsicles.) She isn't aggressive to the rest of the flock, even my adolescents (she's about a year and a half old). She has established herself as the queen bee without being aggressive. She won't poop in the coop and holds it though the night until she is let out in the morning (You would think a large dog was in the run by the size of her poos). She does get pretty noisy when alarmed (which is good). She also gets loud before and after she lays! I guess she is announcing that she's gonna and then that she's done! So far I really enjoy her and being as she is the only hen that I have that is currently paying rent I'd have to rate her at the top of my flock!

So I have to start by saying we've only had our EE's for a couple weeks and they are only 3 months old so I can't comment as to their laying. I read someone say they are stupid and I just have to disagree. Our two, Athena and Minerva seem to be very smart. They were the first of the new flock to figure out the door system between the pens and runs. They are wonderful foragers and when I take treats out they hardly even notice. They would rather forage than be fed...though they will eat mealworms out of my hand once they are caught. The only issue I have so far is that they are hard to catch, extremely quick, and when one did get out she ran into the tall grass/weeds and layed down to hide. She was only a few feet from us but we couldn't see her at all and she stayed perfectly still. Took a while to find her and then had to use the net to catch her. Hopefully as we have them longer and are able to work with them more maybe they will settle down but who knows. They seem to have a very independent personality and don't seem to be to reliant on us at all. They pretty much stick together in the flock and ignore the other girls but aren't mean or aggressive at all. If someone does start to pick on one of them though they stand up and the other always comes to aid her sister. As long as their laying turns out to be good I would recommend them for any flock!

We recently got two Brahma's and they are the two most docile chickens I have ever seen. They let you walk right up and pick them up, look them over. They won't eat out of my hand...but that's ok.
When we got them one of them had large marble size balls of poop and dirt stuck to her toes. We literally put her in the bathtub with only a few inches of water, shut the door and tended the others. We wanted to let the poop soften up so we could get them off. We came back 15 min or so later and she was still just standing there. She then let my husband break the balls up by squeezing with pliers without a fuss! When she was done we realized some of her toes where nubbies...looks like maybe frostbite. She kept picking her feet up and studying them intently. I think she had those balls on there for a while. I can't comment on whether or not they are good layers or not as mine aren't laying...not really sure how old they are either. So far we just love them.
**UPDATE***
After spending some time with them we are still loving them but we have had to add a second feeder as Lavern runs everyone off of one. She isn't completely mean to them and as long as she's not eating they can all snuggle up together, but when fat girl wants to eat...LOOK OUT!
We also found out that they are 2 yrs old so I'm not sure why they aren't laying. They aren't molting and seem healthy enough other than their feet. They have way too long of nails that we have been slowly trimming back. They are catching them on things all the time and start bleeding and I have to pack it in flour or corn starch so they stop bleeding. They are still very docile toward humans and she doesn't mind us trimming her nails too much. I just really hope they start laying again. I realize with their age it won't be constant but some jumbo brown eggs would be great!!

**UPDATE**Lavern has started laying***YAY*** so far we have gotten two small, light brown eggs. She started working on it saturday...we added a dish of oyster shell to their coop on Friday...not sure if that had anything to do with it or not. For the size of her we were expecting some bigger eggs so we will have to wait and see if the size increases. An egg is an egg though and all in all we are very happy with our girls!