Bay area, Fort bragg, Willits, Ukiah, Sacramento, Tracy, CA or Reno

[NapsWithChickens]

When I hatch chicks of my own, I do not vaccinate them or medicate them. When I order chicks from a hatchery, I do. I don't feel militant about it, but think it is a good idea.

If it is $15 to vaccinate the whole bunch, I'm glad to pitch in.

BTW, what color eggs are these birds laying? Are we talking blues or greens or pinks? That matters to me....

 

[SunnyDawn]

Quote:
Pure bred ameraucana's eggs are blue only. They lay an egg that is light or pastel blue. The reason I want to order from Chick Hatchery is because he knows the difference between pure bred ameraucanas (he's president of the ameraucanas breeders club) and Easter Eggers (which is a mongrel or mix of Breeds) and every other hatchery I've checked out calls easter eggers the same as ameraucanas or araucanas. They are not. Although the green and pink eggs can be fun too I am looking for the true blue eggs this time around.
Oh, and I spoke to my vet and she agrees it is a good idea to vaccinate when purchasing from a hatchery, since the disease is spread so easily and the vaccine is so successful. Yes it is only $15 to do all of them (up to 50 and we are just under that), so it only comes to 33.3 cents per chick. Hope that helps.

 

[AmCanyonStables]

OK - Seems the best thing to do is to vaccinate. How much per chick do you want for a deposit, and where should I send it?

You can actually see where they raise the fighting cocks from Highway 80 - open lots with small plywood A frames for each rooster. Or - perhaps I should call them
"show chickens" - that is what they call them if asked - I guess it is just a coincedence that they are all boys.

Re the question - BTW what do you mix the blacks with to get a splash or blue variety?

If you breed a splash with a black, you always get blue, if what I learned here from genetics folks is correct. If you know horse color breeding, it is similar to using a cremello, who is a double delute creme, to get a buckskin out of a bay. The cremello has two creme genes, the buckskin one, the bay zero. So a buckskin is a bay deluted by creme.

A splash is a double delute for blue. It delutes the black color to a blue. So, the offspring will always be blue. If you then breed two blues, you will get, if I have the numbers correct, 50% blue, (one blue gene), 25% black (no blue genes), and 25% splash (two blue genes). I think if you breed blue to black you get 25% blue, but I'm not totally sure.

Anyone who knows this better feel free to correct me, but I think this is it.

 

[Backyarder]

Quote:
Thanks! Since these aren't coming until Spring, I'll add to my order and take the 2 silvers (for myself!). I'm willing to contribute for the Marek's vaccine as I'm in Castro Valley where people still have chickens around in the canyon lands and the whole area is ex-chicken farms.

Let us know how you want to deal with things deposit wise.
Nina

 

[SunnyDawn]

Quote:
That is so interesting, since I live in town and can't have roosters, I don't know much about breeding. I would like to try my hand at this in the future though (I hope sooner than later). Anyway, yes we will have them vaccinated, it's not a big deal since it's only $15 more (that's for up to 50). It's the safest way to go.
I am not collecting any money from folks right now. I want to order them next week so I will calculate what each individual owes and charge a deposit based on that as soon as I hear from one more person. Actually, even if I don't hear from them I will probably order on Monday.
This weekend, or sooner, I will send you my personal contact info via your personal email and then you can call me to get all the info. Boy, I am so excited about these new babies, how am I gonna stand waiting till spring? My hubby calls me "earth mother" because I get so excited everytime I get new critters.

Talk to you in a day or two,
Sunny

 

[SunnyDawn]

Quote:
Thanks! Since these aren't coming until Spring, I'll add to my order and take the 2 silvers (for myself!). I'm willing to contribute for the Marek's vaccine as I'm in Castro Valley where people still have chickens around in the canyon lands and the whole area is ex-chicken farms.

Let us know how you want to deal with things deposit wise.
Nina

Hi Nina.
That's great! The only chicks left now are 3 blacks. All the others are taken and I still haven't heard how many chicks the one person I'm waiting to hear from wants. I guess they will have to settle for 3 (unless they've changed their minds). But I'm not worried about three, I had 1 other person in my local area that said they would take a couple if there were any left. Yes we will get the vaccine, I called my vet and she said it was a very good idea since mareks is so easily spread by wind alone. You don't even have to be in contact with another flock it spreads that easily.
I will send you an email by this weekend, at the latest with my contact info. I will give you all the details then.
Thanks, Sunny

 

[SunnyDawn]

Ok, looks like we are ready to go as soon as I get a phone call from everyone. All 45 of the chicks are taken now but we could add 5 more if anyone else is interested (sorry, blacks, wheatens or silvers only since we run into the minimum order problem again with other varieties) without raising our shipping fees. Also 50 is the most I'm willing to be responsible for, and to have to deliver, so we've capped it at 50 for those reasons.
If I didn't send you a PM with my contact info please let me know ASAP. I'll get back to you as soon as I get back online. Thank you to you all for making this possible!!! I can't wait till spring!
Sunny

 

[SunnyDawn]

Just an update, I am still waiting on some of the deposit checks before I can order but I've spoken to almost everyone in person and I am sure they will be here in a day or two. Since I haven't placed the order yet, there is still time to add a few more chicks to the order (5 more only, and they can only be blacks, wheatens or silvers. Sorry but I've had to cap the total at 50). If I don't get any new confirmed orders by the end of today though, I am closing the order down, this evening @ 9pm, 10/27/09.
It has been such a pleasure speaking with all of you and getting to know you. I can't wait 'til spring when our babies get here! I will email you all the information I have as soon as I can and I will also send a copy of the order confirmation.
Thanks, Sunny

 

[SunnyDawn]

Good news everybody! I just got an email from John Blehm and he said our chicks are scheduled to ship on April 19th (due here in Reno on the 20th)! He says that they may ship earlier or later but that is the target date (it will be a Monday for sure, he only ships on Mondays). I'll forward his email to all of those on my list so you can have the info too.
I'm so excited!!! We had to order 5 more to round up to 50. Apparently he ships them 25 to a box, enough for them to be able to stay warm but not enough for them to trample each other. Makes sense.

So if you know of anyone that wants a couple (or 5) let me know, Thanks!

Sunny

 

[ChanceRider]

Woohoo! That's great news Sunny!

Do the "extras" that need to be ordered have to be any particular color? Not sure where we ended up with the color quotas.

I'm excited... April seems so far away right now but I'm sure it'll be here before we know it!

~Eve