Marsh Daisy

[rancher hicks]

well said. I still close the door on the chickens at night, and I deeply hope that I am not tempting fate... and I do need to beef up my coop into the 20th century at the least.

I recall two situations where a C. Rock hen couldn't find her way into the coop and I looked for her. I found her sitting on top of the coop, with a flash light. I walked up and picked her off with no trouble.

Then my MD. roosters also did not make it into the coop, They had both jumped the fence, I looked for him and found him sitting on the hood of our van. He too, was picked off with no trouble.

I suppose in FL and HI, that they might not have the predator population one would have in the more rural areas.

There was a member on BYC some time ago that had birds that were fliers some of whom would go high into the trees. Darned if I can remember his breed. It's small breed I think. Stoney has a blog and isn't on here much if at all these days. He's what I call a "topper". Always with the answers, always one up, correcting rather than needing help type. I prefer the give and take relationships.

I keep large breeds and they'd likely have a hard time getting high into trees. 'Cept the MD's I think. I hope to build the MD's a run that they can't get out of. How will they do closed up like that? They seem to like foraging and I wonder if they'd be happier just being out. I fear a dog or fox would get them. Which is why I "mark" around the woods and all. I reckon I can fence off parts of the woods some howto at least keep them in and the predators at bay. right?

 

[sumi]

Marsh Daisy owners and breeders, please come share your bird pics/stories/experiences/thoughts on our breed focus:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1075008/chicken-breed-focus-marsh-daisy/0_30

 

[JennieRD]

Finally my new Marsh Daisy chicks are here!!!!!!

 

[rancher hicks]

Finally my new Marsh Daisy chicks are here!!!!!!

Are Daisies auto sexed. I hatched one chick this last hatch. So now I have four. I'm going to set more eggs tomorrow. Not just Daisies but some Daisies.

 

[GaryDean26]

No....they are NOT auto sexing. The recognized varieties are Brown, Wheaten, White, Black, Buff. There is no auto-sexing in the chicken world with any of those color patterns.

 

[rancher hicks]

I just wondered since the ones in the pic look different. The lone chick I hatched is the darker variety. Got more eggs in the incu. Some of the ones from last time weren't fertile. Wonder if the roo has taking a liking to only one of the girls.

 

[JennieRD]

I spoke with one of the ladies at Greenfire Farms, she told me they were all of the brown variety. My research has led me to the belief that due the desperate measures taken to save the breed, many of the varieties were crossed together out of a last resort to save the breed. Now the breed is so crossed in color the chicks never look the same. The odd barring on the head comes from the Sicilian Buttercup in the bloodline. If you look up some picks of the buttercup you'll see the barring on their heads are identical.

So far I really cant tell their sex yet, I lost two, somehow one had splayed legs I could not correct it. The other, I believe was too stressed from the trip. 5 are doing great and are feathering out nicely. It looks like the yellow chicks may be cockerels, they are slow to feather. The darker ones are feathering out fast, its a guess, but I think I have two cockerels and three pullets

.

 

[JennieRD]

Rancher, how is your hatchling doing? I would love to see a pic or two!

 

[rancher hicks]

I will post pics when DW gets home. She's in TX and has the camera.

I just had another hatch and it looks like only one hatched this time too. I've been trying to sell mine but no takers for the price I want. I paid $30 for the original three and that's what I've asked for them but no takers. I stuck eggs in the incubator just because.

I'm not sure about the roosters as he's come at me, but only when I'm at the coop door. It's not a big coop so he's most likely protecting his girls.

 

[JennieRD]

Selling the chicks for $ 30 will be hard, Greenfire is able to because of reputation, I think it will take a lot of work before others will respect the breed. I said before in another post I found them hard to hatch that may be their downfall. My goal right now is to hatch as many as I can and start line breeding.

One of the yellow chicks has started developing reddish orange feathering around his shoulders, I suspect its a cockerel. The chick in the pic to the farthest left corner of the box with only a slight black line on his head. Otherwise his head was solid yellow. The other four are feathering out with solid penciling.

Eventually Ill sort them as they hatch into hatching colors just to see if their hatch color and patterns might might help determine the colors they will be as adults.