Alaska Chicken Lover's Soup for the Cold!!

[heritagefarm]

Folks,

When is a good time to bring in chicks? A friend is wanting to order some Dellies. Know it can get nasty this time of year, but he would like to get a good start on them. Any advice/suggestions appreciated.

 

[Mrs MIA]

Personally, I order them for delivery late March at the earliest.

 

[EHaus]

When feeding eggshells back to hens, do you guys bake them first? ...and if so, why?

Thanks!

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

Quote:
Timing I don't know about, but if I were getting hatchery Dels again I would go with Privett via Welp. The general consensus is that they have some of the better hatchery stock, and Welp seems to do a pretty good job processing the orders and getting them here.

That being said, I will not have Dels again because of problems I encountered keeping them in a mixed flock, and because of frostbite on the combs. Great birds, but definitely kind of need to be the only bird on the block, which I believe many here will attest to.

 

[Mrs MIA]

Quote:
Timing I don't know about, but if I were getting hatchery Dels again I would go with Privett via Welp. The general consensus is that they have some of the better hatchery stock, and Welp seems to do a pretty good job processing the orders and getting them here.

That being said, I will not have Dels again because of problems I encountered keeping them in a mixed flock, and because of frostbite on the combs. Great birds, but definitely kind of need to be the only bird on the block, which I believe many here will attest to.

I will second that. I had a large number of them in the general population, and they were picking on my Orpingtons.

Killed a good number of them by pecking/gutting. They were fine when in their own pen, but put them with others and they were definitely gang material.

Had a customer tell me the same thing just the other day with her Dels.

 

[heritagefarm]

I only have two hens with my flock of 25. While they have not 'hurt' anyone, they certainly do not take any guff from any either. Before the cockerals were butchered, they were most definitely aggressive, but my black giant kept them in balance. He, BJ, is not aggressive, but was the first rooster and knows he is boss! :O)

 

[incubatingisfun]

Quote:
I never have fed eggshells but i have read when you do you bke them so the hens dont get a taste of egg and become egg eaters.

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

Quote:
I don't know how many your friend is wanting but I know of at least one local flock that has mostly good breeder bloodlines. (My old flock is still in tact, but I don't know how many hens survived a bout of owl attacks.) If you're interested, I could get hatching eggs for you for a reasonable fee when it gets a bit warmer. They're very nice birds and I highly recommend them for a flock of a single breed, the hens are rockstars in the nest box and the boys get big and meaty. I had 4 or 5 roos and none of them ever showed any aggression to people, they were just bullies to my other breeds.

 

[EHaus]

Quote:
I never have fed eggshells but i have read when you do you bke them so the hens dont get a taste of egg and become egg eaters.

Okay, thanks. I had just heard that it was the thing to do!

 

[sunflowerenvy]

Quote:
I never have fed eggshells but i have read when you do you bke them so the hens dont get a taste of egg and become egg eaters.

Okay, thanks. I had just heard that it was the thing to do!

i feed my eggshells back to my chicken for calcuim i microwave or bake them [ what i do is when i am done cooking in oven i throw them on a cookie sheet ] and put them in the oven over night while the oven is cool down then i crush them up and feed it back to them but that is me lol