Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[RedRaptor13]

This has been an insane chicken week.

We just finished erecting our winter coop, made up mostly of dumpster dive flotsam, but it came out gorgeous. I will try and get some pictures soon, if anyone is interested.

The new Rhode Island White roo is settling in. He's very wild, but he appears to be getting along well with the RIR hens. He's had no structure in his life, so he's taken to imitating their behavior, it seems. He eats then they eat, roosts when they roost. The only downside is he's had no real human contact, so he's shy. I guess that's good in a way.

The egg turner came out of our incubator yesterday, and the 24 australorp eggs are presently resting. Hatch day, if we've counted right, is this Friday. We're pretty excited to see how many we've got.

More soon, including pics.

 

[RedRaptor13]

Also, wanted to share:



Mr. Darcy, our white rock. He and his girl, Miss Elizabeth, passed on recently.

 

[LadyBehir]

I think the blue copper is also a roo. Pretty sure. Think the New Hampshire is a pullet. Pretty bird.

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

Also, wanted to share: Mr. Darcy, our white rock. He and his girl, Miss Elizabeth, passed on recently.

So sorry! Do you know why they died? . And hello! We are vacationing in the Poconos right now! Yay vacation time is here!! e

 

[dheltzel]

I think the blue copper is also a roo. Pretty sure. Think the New Hampshire is a pullet. Pretty bird.

If you breed that blue copper to the black pullet, about half their babies will be blue and half black.

 

[emorems0]

That chicken tractor is awesome! Any instructions or tips on how to build one?

Thank you! I built that this spring for our meaties. Worked well even though I never got around to doing all the proper finishing, lol. I can take a couple pictures of it tomorrow, and I probably have my materials list on the computer somewhere.

 

[RedRaptor13]

So sorry! Do you know why they died?

. And hello! We are vacationing in the Poconos right now!



Yay vacation time is here!!

We purchased 6 white rocks from Tractor Supply around April. About a month later, one juvenile seemed to have respiratory issues and died. The other five remaining turned out to be all roos except for one hen, Miss Liz. We culled 3 of the roos (we are not allowed to have roosters here) and kept Mr. Darcy and Liz. Mr. Darcy got a no-crow collar or we would have had issues from neighbors. Then both seemed to have respiratory issues and just died at about four and a half months, first one, then the other. Liz had just started laying, so it was pretty disappointing. We think it was some genetic issue rather than a contagious disease because we have Rhodies and they are absolutely healthy. We are definitely not buying chicks from TS again!

 

[RedRaptor13]

Also, I'm not sure about vacationing in the Pocono Mts. right now. We've had a string of 90+ days for the past two weeks!

 

[fisherlady]

We purchased 6 white rocks from Tractor Supply around April. About a month later, one juvenile seemed to have respiratory issues and died. The other five remaining turned out to be all roos except for one hen, Miss Liz. We culled 3 of the roos (we are not allowed to have roosters here) and kept Mr. Darcy and Liz. Mr. Darcy got a no-crow collar or we would have had issues from neighbors. Then both seemed to have respiratory issues and just died at about four and a half months, first one, then the other. Liz had just started laying, so it was pretty disappointing. We think it was some genetic issue rather than a contagious disease because we have Rhodies and they are absolutely healthy. We are definitely not buying chicks from TS again!

Did you get white Rocks or Cornish rocks from TSC? I'm sorry you lost them but if they were Cornish rocks they rarely live to adulthood because of respiratory failure or congestive heart failure. They would require special management to survive.

 

[RedRaptor13]

Did you get white Rocks or Cornish rocks from TSC? I'm sorry you lost them but if they were Cornish rocks they rarely live to adulthood because of respiratory failure or congestive heart failure. They would require special management to survive.

They were sold as white rocks, but the sales lady admitted they were white rock hybrids with some Cornish in them. Is it possible that was the cause? I have never heard of anything like that. She insisted they were excellent layers. Naturally, I assumed that meant you could keep the as layers as well as meaties.