California-Southern

[IamRainey]

Hi Kevin & Kim-

I'm in Woodland Hills too. Near the Target on Ventura. Where are you? What do you have in your coop now?

I got 6-week old chicks who are still not old enough to lay. They're 15-weeks old now and I'm looking forward to eggs in Jan or Feb.

You might check with the Red Barn on Oxnard at Reseda and the one at Topanga Canyon and PCH. Sometimes they have mature birds. Other than that, there's Dare to Dream Farm which will deliver pullets from the Santa Barbara area on their delivery schedule.

 

[Kevlarr]

I have young pullets - lots of breeds. They are just starting to lay. Have you narrowed down your choices?

I am in Simi - not too far. I have RIR, Tolbunt polish, Lavender Orp, Some barnyard mix.

Great to know thanks for hailing me. I want to start with 4-6 and want them to be good layers but as important I want them all to be compatible. We are going out of town for Thanksgiving but will definitely come by when we return
Regards
Kevin

 

[Kevlarr]

Hi Kevin & Kim-

I'm in Woodland Hills too. Near the Target on Ventura. Where are you? What do you have in your coop now?

I got 6-week old chicks who are still not old enough to lay. They're 15-weeks old now and I'm looking forward to eggs in Jan or Feb.

You might check with the Red Barn on Oxnard at Reseda and the one at Topanga Canyon and PCH. Sometimes they have mature birds. Other than that, there's Dare to Dream Farm which will deliver pullets from the Santa Barbara area on their delivery schedule.

Hi, we are near Fallbrook and Ventura in Walnut Acres. What kind of breeds did you decide on?

 

[IamRainey]

Ah ha! Actual neighbors! My grandson's school bus stop is in that vicinity of Ventura.

I have a Cream Legbar named Lavinia. A Double-laced Barnvelder named Eggsperanza Spalding. And a Partridge Plymouth Rock named Prudence. They're 15 weeks old now and probably will start laying in Jan or Feb.

As I said earlier, I got them as 6-week old chicks. In the Spring I'm going to get some day old chicks. Hoping for a Copper Marans, a Sicilian Buttercup and something else. I hope raising them from chicks will make them a bit more docile. My current girls are friendly enough. They'll jump up on my knees to get some mealworms but won't tolerate actual touching.

I got mine from My Pet Chicken because I was able to pick from a wide range of possibilities. Next time I may try McMurray Hatchery because it's more direct but I like that MPC will let me buy just 3 or 4 chicks at a time.

 

[JavaMan]

any one else on here in Coarsegold area?

 

[Sylvester017]

Anyone using Kahoots chicken feed? I'm using Scratch and Peck layer, but I have had insects in two bags in the last 6 months. Source of the insects probably from the feed store, but looking for other options where I can pick up the feed rather than shipping it.

I have used Scratch and Peck from San Dimas Grain for over a year and have not had insect issues. We divide a bag in half -- empty a half bag into a lidded metal pail and stir in a store package of dry Bay Leaves into the feed. The other half is refrigerated (also w/ Bay leaves in the mix) in our 2nd fridge in the garage to keep insect eggs from hatching in the feed -- to be used later after the metal pail feed is empty. Bay leaves work to keep rice, quinoa, flax, all-purpose or cake flours, pancake mixes, grains, seeds, etc, from hatching weevils too. Refrigeration keeps insect eggs from hatching but I can't store all my packaged goods in a fridge so Bay Leaves in the pantry jars is the next best thing. It's worked for me for 50+ years as housewife and chickeneer. Of course, if the feed store keeps the S&P organic bags too warm or at room temperature and you bring the bag home w/ insects take it BACK! Chickens won't mind eating the insects but the bad thing is that the insects hollow out all the nutrition out of the feed so there's no nutrients left for the chickens. Check for expiration dates on the bags too. Our San Dimas Grain turns over their feed sales quickly so we haven't had weevil problems.
NOTE: Be sure to take the Bay Leaves out of chicken or people food before serving as Bay Leaves are toxic when ingested by humans or chickens.

 

[Sylvester017]

Ah ha! Actual neighbors! My grandson's school bus stop is in that vicinity of Ventura.

I have a Cream Legbar named Lavinia. A Double-laced Barnvelder named Eggsperanza Spalding. And a Partridge Plymouth Rock named Prudence. They're 15 weeks old now and probably will start laying in Jan or Feb.

As I said earlier, I got them as 6-week old chicks. In the Spring I'm going to get some day old chicks. Hoping for a Copper Marans, a Sicilian Buttercup and something else. I hope raising them from chicks will make them a bit more docile. My current girls are friendly enough. They'll jump up on my knees to get some mealworms but won't tolerate actual touching.

I got mine from My Pet Chicken because I was able to pick from a wide range of possibilities. Next time I may try McMurray Hatchery because it's more direct but I like that MPC will let me buy just 3 or 4 chicks at a time.

Sometimes tame chickens have more to do with the breed than whether they were handled a lot as baby chicks. I got an older juvenile White Leghorn that was hand-tamed by a 4H'er and though friendly we could never really touch her. We had a Cuckoo Marans that absolutely AVOIDED us unless we had food in our hand. I've had 3- to 4-month old Breda juveniles anywhere from very tame and outgoing to very timid around humans no matter how much socialization was done. Then we tried 3 baby Dominique chicks from our local feed store (via Privett Hatchery) and those little things grew to be the spunkiest and outgoing active curious people-oriented breed to date. But even with these 3 tame Dom's, two are extremely pesty while one is friendly but not quite as tolerant of human handling. Like Forrest Gump -- You just never know what you're gonna git."

THE DOM CHICKS WERE HANDLED OFTEN

RIGHT KNEE CHICK

LEFT KNEE CHICK

ALL 3 DOM CHICKS

VERY PESTY CHICKS

A SHY SILKIE WANDERS OVER FOR SOME ATTENTION TOO

3 DOM CHICKS AT MY FEET LOOKING FOR TREATS

 

[IamRainey]

Sometimes tame chickens have more to do with the breed than whether they were handled a lot as baby chicks. ... Like Forrest Gump -- You just never know what you're gonna git."

Thanks for that reply. It will be good to factor that in.

 

[Jessimom]

I have used Scratch and Peck from San Dimas Grain for over a year and have not had insect issues. We divide a bag in half -- empty a half bag into a lidded metal pail and stir in a store package of dry Bay Leaves into the feed. The other half is refrigerated (also w/ Bay leaves in the mix) in our 2nd fridge in the garage to keep insect eggs from hatching in the feed -- to be used later after the metal pail feed is empty. Bay leaves work to keep rice, quinoa, flax, all-purpose or cake flours, pancake mixes, grains, seeds, etc, from hatching weevils too. Refrigeration keeps insect eggs from hatching but I can't store all my packaged goods in a fridge so Bay Leaves in the pantry jars is the next best thing. It's worked for me for 50+ years as housewife and chickeneer. Of course, if the feed store keeps the S&P organic bags too warm or at room temperature and you bring the bag home w/ insects take it BACK! Chickens won't mind eating the insects but the bad thing is that the insects hollow out all the nutrition out of the feed so there's no nutrients left for the chickens. Check for expiration dates on the bags too. Our San Dimas Grain turns over their feed sales quickly so we haven't had weevil problems.
NOTE: Be sure to take the Bay Leaves out of chicken or people food before serving as Bay Leaves are toxic when ingested by humans or chickens.

We have a facebrook group for local chicken folks, and one of the ladies on there that gets a group of us to order, and we order directly from Scratch n Peck Feed, and split the cost of the shipping. Since she's ordering 5000 lbs at a time, the costs are super low and we get fresh feed. With the shipping costs, it works out we still pay less than at the feed stores.

 

[IamRainey]

We have a facebrook group for local chicken folks, and one of the ladies on there that gets a group of us to order, and we order directly from Scratch n Peck Feed, and split the cost of the shipping. ...

How does the distribution work? Does it happen in Simi? Are you interested in another member (even tho I'm not on Facebook)?

I'm in Woodland Hills.