Meyer Hatchery Chicken pics anyone??

[COChix]

I'm so excited about the fist dozen of eggs my Black Copper Marans have laid, I just had to share with you all. They arent Meyer girls, though. I hope my Blue Marans start laying soon, but im not expecting eggs nearly as dark. This is a natural light photo so they are a little bit darker than pictured. Ohh they are so pretty!

I am in love with those eggs, you just kicked my chocolate egg quest into high gear. Love the richness of color in your egg basket!

A couple of recent pics... Our BCM roo, Carter

. Good looking group you got and love Carter, those colors are so amazing. I love rooters for their unique coloring they get comparative to the hens.

Question for everyone - my run is getting pretty muddy with the snow/ice. How does everyone manage the mud? I'm almost to the point of putting pavers in! No eggs yet - my oldest girls (CCL - non meyer's) are almost 22 weeks. I put golf balls in the nest boxes last week. Today I saw evidence that someone has been getting the straw/nest just the way they want it & moving the golf balls around! I haven't seen any squatting yet, but I hope we are getting close!!! Also, Santa is bringing me a Brisnea advanced incubator & ovascope for the Holidays!!! Now I'm going to have to figure out what kind of chickens I want to add!!!

Love your coop and the lights! Also on the mud question, I will be curious to see what everyone answers, as this is something Ihave been wondering myself. I put the old straw from the coop in the run. Also spread 1 1/2 bales around their run before the snow, our gang was muddy yesterday as they were out free ranging. Not sure if there is a better solution. Figured after the straw gets pushed down and becomes part of the dirt in the run, we could always rototile in the spring to break it up. @Notable - I agree on the Meyer catalog cover, I love the look of that hen. What breed is she?

 

[rnchick74]

I've got the lights on a timer - they come on at 5:30 am and stay on until the sun is up (around 8 am, just to account for cloudy days) and then they come back on at 4:30 pm and stay on until 8:30 pm. That gives them a good 15 hrs of light exposure and a good 8 hrs of dark/sleep time.

As far as the coop tight goes - I don't have the tools/capability to cut the metal framing. And the price was not bad at all! It took me 10 minutes to install, so buying it was a no brainer for me. I didn't do any kind of training with them except pushing them through it. They will load up into the coop just fine. In the mornings, they are more hesitant to come out. I generally hold up a couple of flaps & they come out. I'm sure if I didn't they would make their way out anyways! Spoiled birds!

 

[trsturself]

The males are so gorgeous. I would have more if I thought they'd all get along.

I got the new 2015 catalogue in the mail today. Do I even have to tell you that I added an EES to my order just because of the cover photo?! Yikes! May better get here quick or this order will go from four chicks 14 fast!

We have 4 grown roosters and 2 young ones (they aren't staying) with 18 girls. They all get along great. It really depends on the roosters you get. Our other rooster (Dinner) fought with Carter over the girls and they would get so aggressive with the girls to get their job done before the other rooster could come over and knock them off. A lot of the girls took to hiding in the coop all day. Once we got rid of him things went back to peaceful.

I forgot you have a problem with the chicks.... the altitude you were thinking? You will get some great chicks from these lovely boys!!

I know... they are so fun to watch. My arms used to go numb cause I'd lean over the brooder so long with my arms in there to get them to be comfortable around me.

I think it was a combination of altitude and cold. I ordered in the spring and we get cold nights still in the spring. I just think it was too much for any but the toughest.

You've got quite the blue/grey-red/rust theme going on. Interesting how unique everyone's CCL look. Slightly different neck colors and often different crest colors. I like the way she related to your splash BLRW. Very pretty and handsome birds in your flock.

Yes she is gorgeous! Was hoping my son would chose another EE as we are only getting three this year and I've already decided on a Welsummer for myself (whenever I see other peoples Wellies I get a longing in my heart) and my husband would never choose an EE because of the the "ridiculous beards". But Rowan seems to have firmly decided on a White Rock for his "snow chicken". I was pretty taken aback at his choice. I had just warmed up to the idea of a Delaware or Light Brahma and a White Marans would have been pretty with Morgaine. I guess I've always thought of the White Rocks as plain, practical great-grandma's American chickens, good for meat and eggs but just boring.

But once I re-read the catalog description about their egg laying ability and personality I realized he couldn't have picked a better white chicken for our little backyard flock. They have great reviews here on BYC and are described as very friendly, inquisitive, elegant, calm, quiet or chatty (but not loud) and often underfoot or hopping on your lap and "a part of the family". Love this little story about Mini: http://www.communitychickens.com/breed-spotlight-plymouth-rock/ They are also early maturing which will help with egg demand from the neighbors. Eggs are light to medium brown, sometimes pinkish and sometimes speckled, hopefully they don't blend in too much with our Buff Orp.

Husband is still deciding on his pick. Best case scenario would be Cream Legbar for egg color or Buckeye for feather color. But I get no say, if I tried to influence him he'd just rebel. Don't think a SS or Wyandotte are in the cards for this year, I would want to get them together anyway. I told him another Dorking would be nice but he doesn't really want duplicates yet. Not until he can have his big flock of Dorkings, Fayoumis and Dutch Bantams

X2!

The blue/rust coloring is just those birds. We have a little of everything actually.

A White Rock is a great choice. We loved our Barred Rock, but our Partridge Rock is a dud of a chicken. She didn't even get that great of coloring, she's very skittish, and she lays a small egg.

Yay update! Nice curtains. I'm thinking I should add thicker ones for winter. So the girls aren't bothered at all by having to walk through the plastic? I think we will make our own version, Clara still insists on laying her eggs in the corner directly across from the chicken door, while everyone else lays in the nest boxes. Pretty lights, just out of curiosity, how long do you leave them on?

Ugh hate the mud/snow/ice in the run! We put down straw initially but kept having to muck it out as it rained so much in September and October here. I raked up a bunch of leaves before the snow came and dumped them in the coop and they havd fun with with those but in the last week its gone back to muddy and icy. I haven't found or executed a perfect solution but my ideas for ideal ground cover are a combination of sand, dirt and pebbles in some areas for good drainage and dust baths, undyed/un-treated mulch in the heavy traffic areas and more leaves and pine needles (but we don't have any pine trees). I almost asked the people at our bus stop a week ago if we could come bag their leaves at the curb because they had lots of pine needles but the snow killed that idea. One of our neighbors still has leaves in brown paper lawn bags so I might ask them. Not sure where to get natural mulch/wood chips. Sand is easy though. Other solution for us would be a roof over the run and seal the walls up with plastic like a greenhouse.

I need to order those copper nipple conduits. We got a floating water de-icer but that does no good when the nipples freeze. But luckily, in this case at least, our girls didn't really take to the nipples, we waited too long so I just keep adding warm water their mason jar waterer. Sigh. New chicks will get the bottle cap nipple in the brooder and we can train the big girls in the spring if they don't catch on this winter.

I'm also not completely happy with how the new local organic layer mash is working out in the freezing temps. Because its so dusty I turn it into a mash with warm water, but that doesn't work in our feeder both because it sticks and doesn't work its way down and if I make more than they can eat in a few hours it freezes! So I've been bringing them out warm feed in a pie plate three times a day, which would probably be the same thing I would have to do if I fermented. So I guess its okay but with the managing of food and water and frequent collecting of eggs its hard to imagine having a job, I know there are solutions, the Chicken Chick had an article on raising nest box temps with a DIY layered warm system but I feel like it would make things cramped.

That's exciting they are getting interested in the nest boxes! Our only girl who was interested was our last layer. The other girls didn't want to go near them until they had do. Meanwhile our Dorking didn't lay for another two months but she was totally curious about anything new in the coop.

That Santa seems to know just what a chicken keeping mama wants!

On the winterizing nipples thread someone was saying that the horizontal nipples don't freeze as easily because there is no metal touching metal. Interesting. I may change my bucket waterer if I can't get the copper to work.

We use straw also but when it snows there isn't much you can do.

I am in love with those eggs, you just kicked my chocolate egg quest into high gear. Love the richness of color in your egg basket!
. Good looking group you got and love Carter, those colors are so amazing. I love rooters for their unique coloring they get comparative to the hens.
Love your coop and the lights! Also on the mud question, I will be curious to see what everyone answers, as this is something Ihave been wondering myself. I put the old straw from the coop in the run. Also spread 1 1/2 bales around their run before the snow, our gang was muddy yesterday as they were out free ranging. Not sure if there is a better solution. Figured after the straw gets pushed down and becomes part of the dirt in the run, we could always rototile in the spring to break it up.

@Notable - I agree on the Meyer catalog cover, I love the look of that hen. What breed is she?

That's a bantam EE on the cover.

 

[VKat]

I'm so excited about the fist dozen of eggs my Black Copper Marans have laid, I just had to share with you all. They arent Meyer girls, though. I hope my Blue Marans start laying soon, but im not expecting eggs nearly as dark.
This is a natural light photo so they are a little bit darker than pictured. Ohh they are so pretty!

So beautiful! What hatchery did you get your BCMs that laid these from?

 

[NanaLynn]

Makes me want to buy from them even more!! What a great story and I would love to buy from people I 'know'!! Thanks for the story of Unleashed Stores.
I love your Maxie. So pretty. Marrock has the double coat as well so great in the fall winter but I think he suffers a bit in the summer. He really comes alive in this cold weather.

Ha ha, great! Thanks, Maxie is a good dog. She was an abused abandoned neighborhood dog that just wander up one day. My husband said we had to keep her since she smiled at him. My son and husband rescued her by cutting a collar off her neck that had grown into her neck. Whomever had her put a collar on her when she was smaller and never changed it or loosened it. She has a sad past but is all smiles now, especially since we fenced in the backyard. We only put a collar on her now when she goes for walks. Maxie seems to suffer in the summer too but loves this cold weather. I didn't realize Marrock has a double coat too, he is all set for this weather too.

I'm so excited about the fist dozen of eggs my Black Copper Marans have laid, I just had to share with you all. They arent Meyer girls, though. I hope my Blue Marans start laying soon, but im not expecting eggs nearly as dark.
This is a natural light photo so they are a little bit darker than pictured. Ohh they are so pretty!

Those are beautiful. I saw this link on another thread. You all should check out these chickens and eggs. I wish I could order from them, but they're in Florida

http://eightacresfarm.weebly.com/

A couple of recent pics...

Our CCL roo, Elvis

They are all so pretty but I am especially fond of Elvis!

Nice looking ... I forget if they are from Meyer? Crystof is quite the looker!!

I am ABSOLUTELY in LOVE with the cover girl on the catalog!!! Is that an EE? I thought some kind of Ameraucana? I just got my catalog today and I think their prices on feeders/waterers and some other things were really reasonable. My feed stores are much more expensive and not a great selection at all.

I really want a top 'loading' waterer but they are for 4 gallons and I would only need 1 or 2 gallon. Does anyone have one of those? Just wondering how well they work. I think they would be much easier for others to use when we go away and they take care of our girls for us.

That's one reason I got the fountain since it hooks to the hose. It has made me a little lazy though. It is so nice to not have to flip the watererer over anymore and to not clean it or refill it. Plus, I don't have to worry about anyone having to give them water while we are gone. Just have them check to make sure the nipples are still putting out water.
There may be other solutions too that hook to a hose as well, more homemade. Of course, you still have to worry about something to defrost it in the Winter though or in our case now the Fall. Which I guess is the case with all waterers.

New nest box curtains!



Coop Tight

Also, Santa is bringing me a Brisnea advanced incubator & ovascope for the Holidays!!! Now I'm going to have to figure out what kind of chickens I want to add!!!

Nice updates and what cute chicks! I need to do something similar for our coop and our dogs door too. Glad to see that it works!
Good luck with the eggs! Still waiting on ours to start back although, it looks like my EE, Ellie is back to laying again, but she needs to lay eggs much bigger, we got this one yesterday.



About the spiders, ewwww. I am not too scared of them though, but if we had black widows around here, I probably would be. I of course would not want one on me though or in my house.

As far as mud in the run. We seem to have come up with a solution that helps us a lot. I just put wood chips in the run. Lots and lots of them. I also added dirt below it and we dump all of our leaves in the run too. We get a lot of leaves here. I compost now in the run too. There was some guy that posted about the benefits of wood chips to help the soil and also he mentioned composting directly in with the chickens. So I no longer have a compost heap, the compost heap is the run. I put old garden plants in there too and pretty much everything that you would put in a compost heap. Except tomato plants, since they are not good for chickens.

I can get wood chips from our city composting center for $10 a truck load. We put a whole truck load in the run, more under our bushes, in the garden, etc. and the plants seem to love it, as well as the chickens. All the mud is below the chips where the dirt is, the water seeps below, so there is only mud where the chickens may have dug a hole under the wood chips. We have not gotten any snow yet, but my run only has hardware cloth on top so the snow will cover the inside when we do get some.

Last year, we had an awful, messy, muddy run, but this year even with heavy rains we have done well with the chips.

Our bird bath heater and the copper nipples in the waterer are doing really well. We have had a few days here in the teens and the nipples did not freeze up. I unplugged the hose on the nights that dropped below freezing and just brought out water to refill it when needed. When the temps rose up to above freezing, I just hooked the hose back up. I get a break from that now since we're supposed to be above freezing for the next few days.

I'm going to get that heated hose soon, I hope. Plus cover the waterer from the rain and snow. I am hoping that I will solve the problem of freezing water for this winter once and for all.

 

[RoostersCrow HensDeliver!]

So beautiful!  What hatchery did you get your BCMs that laid these from?

I bought hatching eggs and chicks from one of the top show breeders here in Michigan. My hubby and I drove almost two hours each way to pick them up, one trip for the eggs and another trip for the chicks a few months later. She has amazing birds.

Wow! They are amazing!! Do you have one of those color charts? I'd like to get one for chocolate and one for blue eggs. Not for any real reason...

I don't have a chart yet but I need to order one before I start selling hatching eggs this coming spring. Im not sure there is a chart for Ameraucanas, but it would be interesting to see one.

 

[RoostersCrow HensDeliver!]

Those are beautiful. I saw this link on another thread. You all should check out these chickens and eggs. I wish I could order from them, but they're in Florida

http://eightacresfarm.weebly.com/

Wow those are really nice birds, they must have a huge setup for keeping that many breeds. Their BLRW were stunning as well.

 

[NanaLynn]

Wow those are really nice birds, they must have a huge setup for keeping that many breeds. Their BLRW were stunning as well.

They are really nice. They do ship eggs and chicks but since they are heritage it costs a lot more, plus you have to order 20 or more.

 

[christine9]

Those are beautiful. I saw this link on another thread. You all should check out these chickens and eggs. I wish I could order from them, but they're in Florida

http://eightacresfarm.weebly.com/

Wow those are really nice birds, they must have a huge setup for keeping that many breeds. Their BLRW were stunning as well.

 

[mistyhollow]

I bought hatching eggs and chicks from one of the top show breeders here in Michigan. My hubby and I drove almost two hours each way to pick them up, one trip for the eggs and another trip for the chicks a few months later. She has amazing birds.
I don't have a chart yet but I need to order one before I start selling hatching eggs this coming spring. Im not sure there is a chart for Ameraucanas, but it would be interesting to see one.

I would be interested in some hatching eggs when you start selling them. Right now I am incubating mixed barnyard eggs and hopefully some silkie and sizzles. Located in Michigan and have driven over two hours one way for chickens and eggs before too!