I have a Terry Disney Blue Orpington, and she is absolutely huge and beautiful. Out of 6 eggs, 4 hatched which is pretty good for shipped eggs. The reason I kept her and got rid of her siblings is because I only wanted the blue hen (got blue and black roo, and blue and black hen). She is...
Thank you so much. I had a light bulb moment when reading this when it comes to how the blue gene works. I've always been fascinated, yet confused, and now it's a lot more clear. Thank goodness I have 3 large coops, because I'm going to have plenty of room to experiment with my Rocks and Blue...
I hatched my very first mixed chickens who are now 5 days old. Dad is a White Plymouth Rock (bought at TSC) and Mom is a Barred Plymouth Rock (bought from a local farm/hatchery). I hatched 2 babies, and when they first hatched, I noticed they had the same blueness that my Blue Orps had when I...
I would like to add that my BRs from her literally lay an egg a day. They skip a day about every two weeks -that's it. By far my best egg layers. They're the only ones who will peck feed right out of my hubby's hands.
Yay. It's always nice to hear good outcomes -one less person with a bad experience. I've come to a conclusion about Gabbard Farms. Granted I can't prove it, but everything points to dishonesty. I've ordered so many hatching eggs from various sources, and since my experience with Gabbard...
It's now been a month since our 3 coops have gone from deep litter to sand. No more water logged moldy maggot breeding bedding, my white chickens are no longer dirty, and they love to dust bathe in the sand. When the sand gets wet it dries up rather quickly, and it doesn't smell nearly as bad...
...that spilled out of the coop doors killing the grass, and clean the clumps we tracked onto our deck. What a mess pine shavings have made.
***I really wish when people scream the praises of the deep litter method, whether it's in these forums or in a book they would put a warning with it...
We purposely bought our house out in the county where chickens, cows, and corn fields are everywhere. What I realized is that even though our local gov't doesn't care, sometimes neighbors have misconceptions about chickens. We only have 3 other houses on our street, and I call one of the...
Sorry you had this issue, too. I ended up getting rid of all my buffs, because they were feathering in really funny. I'd never seen anything like it. Well, I hatched some more pretty Orps from Terry Disney off of ebay. I got 3 black and 1 blue out of the 6 eggs I orderred. Absolutely...
I'm very curious, too, as I can't seem to guess. Where did you get these chicks: hatchery, feed store, swap meet? Do you know if they're mixes or "pure" breeds? I just hatched my first batch of assorted rare breeds like polish, sultans, crevocours, fayoumis, etc., and I can't even figure out...
Ya, that looks like a single comb in the new pic. She looks like a she BR, and the first two look like he BRs if you go strictly based on comparing color, but I have found that's not always accurate. If you look at my icon pic I hatched him, two other boys and one girl from efowl.com. I wish...
If the chicks came from the same hatchery (and are brothers and sisters) then the lighter ones are males and the darker one is female. The reason I say "same hatchery" is because different breeders/hatcheries have variations in their BRs. I've found that telling gender by using the light/dark...
I agree 7 weeks you can easily tell on BRs. I can tell pretty easily when they're smaller based on light or dark coloring, but only if I have a batch of brothers and sisters to compare them to. Usually the females are darker and males are lighter. I have two BRs that I was for sure were...
I suggest everyone, whether you're old or new at raising chickens, to get all of Gail Damerow's books and read, reread, and read again. I hear so many misconceptions in these forums and too many people trying to diagnose issues without having the necessary information to diagnose correctly. An...
I use red bulbs and have both 125 and 250 Watt bulbs to interchange when needed. It depends on how large of a cardboard box or rubbermaid container you use and how high up the lamp is. I have always used the 250 Watt until they're a week old or when they're in the cold garage, but just last...
I got my first egg this week and was so excited. We were watching tv in our bedroom and heard this really loud noise. It was such a ruckus we could hear it inside the house with the windows closed. One of our BR's was in her nest box. It took about 20 minutes, but she got it out and left the...
The lady at TSC told me they were labeled as white rocks from the hatchery, and she at least knew that's not what they were. She looked through her inventory/order sheet, and said the only thing they orderred that it could be are SS's. At least she did pick a sign that did match what the...