California - Northern

[Nikon]

Oooh I hope we get snow!! Fully grown chickens ( 8 in a 4'x4' coop) don't need ANY kind of heat supplement right? I've read that they don't and it will only hurt in the long run? It's gonna get down in to the 20's next week at night.

 

[ronott1]

What lovely looking eggs! I am never used to the beauty of coop laid eggs.

I need, yes need more Blue and Dark Brown eggs...Oh and more white ones....I sometimes just stare that those eggs.

Oooh I hope we get snow!! Fully grown chickens ( 8 in a 4'x4' coop) don't need ANY kind of heat supplement right? I've read that they don't and it will only hurt in the long run? It's gonna get down in to the 20's next week at night.

They will be fine. Even if it snows, they are very well insulated. You really only have to worry about frost bite on combs. That has to be below zero though.

 

[ronott1]

question: how long do you keep chicks in the brooder vs. moving them outside?

my seven are 4 weeks, their bodies are pretty well feathered out but their heads aren't -- but they're getting a bit large/crowded for their brooder, it's almost impossible to keep them from knocking their food over etc. would love to move them outside, but don't want them to be too cold, and have no electricity down by the coop, so can't keep their EcoGlow with them down there...

I see from a later post that they are outside. Since they have been using an ecoglow and they are nicely feathered they will be fine. They also should be used to being in the dark. Chicks the huddle like Chiqita warned about are usually not used to the dark and kind of freak out the first time.

I have said before that I really like Eco Glows?

 

[Lucie Blume]

[IMG]http://www.smiliegenerator.de/s38/smilies-3435.png[/IMG]

I need, yes need more Blue and Dark Brown eggs...Oh and more white ones....I sometimes just stare that those eggs.



They will be fine. Even if it snows, they are very well insulated. You really only have to worry about frost bite on combs. That has to be below zero though.

Hi! Thanks for the welcome

I've had Aracua and Americuna. Both lay beautiful blue eggs. The Aracuna do not, in my experience lay as much. Americunas are fine. However, for some reason that I have never discovered, I found the hens a bit aggressive. (We had blue and grey Americunas from some famous breeder. His name escapes me. They were shipped as chicks. We ended up giving the lion's share of hens away because of their temperament.)

But then, tah-dah! Cream legbars became available in my area. They are proficient layers and their eggs are lovely blue. (IMO Aracunas had the prettiest eggs. Beautiful rich sky blue with a smooth pearly sheen. But man, are they had to find! I mean they're around but it takes so much work to keep up a decent laying flock.)

For brown, if black Marans elude you, I've like cuck-cuck Marans. Oh, there's all sorts of brown egg layers. I'm just going on and on, telling you stuff you already know :/

Easter eggers. Throw one or two into your flock. They're great.

And silkies can lay exquisite eggs. Some are white. We have one that lays light peach toned ones. All have a pearly luster. They are small, but delicious. The yolk to white ratio is greater than most chicken eggs.

I better stop now and let you get on with tending your flock.

Thanks for the howdy!

 

[lawatt]

I see from a later post that they are outside. Since they have been using an ecoglow and they are nicely feathered they will be fine. They also should be used to being in the dark. Chicks the huddle like Chiqita warned about are usually not used to the dark and kind of freak out the first time.

I have said before that I really like Eco Glows?

thanks Ron! i listened as it got dark -- they chirped a lot at dusk, but they've been doing that in the house anyway -- and then quieted down as usual once it got truly dark. i figure, tonight and tomorrow should be milder than the upcoming week, so i'll check on them first thing in the morning to hopefully get a sense of how they're doing, before the real cold comes...

and I'm a huge fan of EcoGlows now!

 

[tommysgirl]

I need, yes need more Blue and Dark Brown eggs...Oh and more white ones....I sometimes just stare that those eggs.

Color is important Ron I know what you mean by "need"

of my 5 colored egg layers, One lays a beautiful dark blue green egg, one a pale green blue, Willa lays a mottled olive egg, one is a hold out and the other lays a grey egg...it's pretty ugly but unique.

I wanted a couple white egg layers and ended up with 6

but only three are currently laying. funny how you can tell by the shape who laid what The Icelandic lays the pointiest, the CA Grey lays a nice oval and the polish/dorking lays one that is almost perfectly round.


So, to satisfy my color "need"
I think I am going to sell a couple of groups of pullets in the spring..a colored, a white and a brown egg layer. I want to add BBS Ameraucauna for blue eggs and focus just on CA Grey and Dorkings as my white egg layers. Ever since @lawatt inspired me with her silver flock I have been plotting to find good homes for everyone (except Willa) who doesn't fit into my red, white, blue, silver, grey and splash color scheme.l

when @lawatt has Isbar and birchen Marans available...I may be persuaded to add a few of those too

 

[ronott1]

Hi! Thanks for the welcome

I've had Aracua and Americuna. Both lay beautiful blue eggs. The Aracuna do not, in my experience lay as much. Americunas are fine. However, for some reason that I have never discovered, I found the hens a bit aggressive. (We had blue and grey Americunas from some famous breeder. His name escapes me. They were shipped as chicks. We ended up giving the lion's share of hens away because of their temperament.)

But then, tah-dah! Cream legbars became available in my area. They are proficient layers and their eggs are lovely blue. (IMO Aracunas had the prettiest eggs. Beautiful rich sky blue with a smooth pearly sheen. But man, are they had to find! I mean they're around but it takes so much work to keep up a decent laying flock.)

For brown, if black Marans elude you, I've like cuck-cuck Marans. Oh, there's all sorts of brown egg layers. I'm just going on and on, telling you stuff you already know

Easter eggers. Throw one or two into your flock. They're great.

And silkies can lay exquisite eggs. Some are white. We have one that lays light peach toned ones. All have a pearly luster. They are small, but delicious. The yolk to white ratio is greater than most chicken eggs.

I better stop now and let you get on with tending your flock.

Thanks for the howdy!

That is great information! I am working with the University of Arkansas Blue egg layers. They are great so far. I am also working with Partridge Penedesencas. If I lived in Santa Cruz I would have Marans and Cream Legbars. I do have Cream Legbars crosses with Crele Penedesnecas.

I am trying to specialize in Heat Hardy Breeds. It gets hot for a lot of the summer here.

 

[ronott1]

Color is important Ron I know what you mean by "need"

of my 5 colored egg layers, One lays a beautiful dark blue green egg, one a pale green blue, Willa lays a mottled olive egg, one is a hold out and the other lays a grey egg...it's pretty ugly but unique.

I wanted a couple white egg layers and ended up with 6

but only three are currently laying. funny how you can tell by the shape who laid what The Icelandic lays the pointiest, the CA Grey lays a nice oval and the polish/dorking lays one that is almost perfectly round.


So, to satisfy my color "need"
I think I am going to sell a couple of groups of pullets in the spring..a colored, a white and a brown egg layer. I want to add BBS Ameraucauna for blue eggs and focus just on CA Grey and Dorkings as my white egg layers. Ever since @lawatt inspired me with her silver flock I have been plotting to find good homes for everyone (except Willa) who doesn't fit into my red, white, blue, silver, grey and splash color scheme.l

when @lawatt has Isbar and birchen Marans available...I may be persuaded to add a few of those too

Oh we are really going to get into trouble with all these breeds we want!

Are you going to have some Bresse eggs sent for me to hatch? The need to be set on the 11th for the NYD Hatch but if you need to wait it is fine!

 

[tommysgirl]

No, I am not. I am sorry, I thought I had communicated that already, oops. I have a life-long problem with putting the cart before the horse and after DH and I talked about it I decided that for now I would be meeting my humane and healthy chicken dinner needs with whatever boys our broodies hatch and trips to Whole Foods. Right now I am looking at what I think are three chicken dinners in the broody pen.

I sure hope one of the Wyandottes turns out to be a pullet but I am loosing hope. Today the one I am pretty sure is a cockerel was facing off with the one I hope is a pullet doing the stare down. "He" put up his little neck feathers (what are they called??) and the one I still hope is a girl did too but "hers" were WAY shorter so I am choosing to take heart.

I do have a friend who has a spot where I could could grow out boys but time is an issue as it is and I am not sure I want to commit to raising cockerels off site for now.

Thanks for offering and I am absolutely sure that at some point I will be asking you to hatch for me. I am thinking B/B Australorps at some point

 

[ronott1]

No, I am not. I am sorry, I thought I had communicated that already, oops. I have a life-long problem with putting the cart before the horse and after DH and I talked about it I decided that for now I would be meeting my humane and healthy chicken dinner needs with whatever boys our broodies hatch and trips to Whole Foods. Right now I am looking at what I think are three chicken dinners in the broody pen.

I sure hope one of the Wyandottes turns out to be a pullet but I am loosing hope. Today the one I am pretty sure is a cockerel was facing off with the one I hope is a pullet doing the stare down. "He" put up his little neck feathers (what are they called??) and the one I still hope is a girl did too but "hers" were WAY shorter so I am choosing to take heart.

I do have a friend who has a spot where I could could grow out boys but time is an issue as it is and I am not sure I want to commit to raising cockerels off site for now.

Thanks for offering and I am absolutely sure that at some point I will be asking you to hatch for me. I am thinking B/B Australorps at some point

No Problem!

I will let you know when I have the Australorps penned up.