South Dakota?

[Magpie31]

Are you there?

 

[Mrs. K]

hey! I am here! southwest SD, where are you? mk

 

[sovia]

The beautiful Black Hills!

 

[Mrs. K]

hurray! a close by Chicken lady!

I am going to subscribe to this post so that i get notified when you post here. Cause otherwise I did not see it for many days.

What kind of chickens do you have?

 

[sovia]

I have had lots of breeds - dominique, wyandottes, easter eggers, delaware, speckled sussex, black australorps, buff orpingtons - and meat chickens. I am replacing my entire flock this spring. I have speckled sussex, red sex links, one turken and seven assorted bantams (silkies, easter eggers, cochins - my daughter wants to show them!) in the brooder right now. The speckled sussex are my all-time favorite and the sex links that I've had have been sweet birds and great egg-layers.

What do you have?

 

[Mrs. K]

Oh how I wish I had responded to this earlier. Speckled Sussex is my hearts desire, thought I had located some eggs in Kyle, but that fell through. So I went ahead and put only my own eggs under my broody, yesterday.

I only have 7 hens and a easter egger Roo. I have a Buff Orpington, she raised a clutch last year for me, and is currently setting. 3 red stars, and 2 easter eggers, and 1 plymouth mix.

I put those eggs under my hen yesterday. I am thinking I will go to the feed store and get some extra chicks about the time these hatch. I love having a broody hen! I am trying to work on a 3 year rotation, where as each year I add new pullets, and in the late fall, cull the hens going into their 3rd year. I have a limited coop/ run. In the summer, I can free range more, and with that more space, I can have a bigger flock. But as winter comes in, the predators get much tougher, and my flock needs to be in the run most days, so I have to get it back down to about 8-10 birds. I think they are happier with 8.

Showing chickens is about the only animal that my kids did not show. We did rabbits, cattle and horses. The county fair has great memories for my whole family.

Glad to find a local Chicken Lady.

Mrs.K

 

[sovia]

Mrs. K,

I didn't hatch my speckled sussex, but instead bought them from Janice at D&M Ag in Rapid City. They truly are my favorites both for looks and disposition.

My ideal number is 12 which is exactly what is in the brooder right now. My daughter had other ideas and was absolutely insistent on getting some bantams. I couldn't say no. I have had a tough time with the silkies - 2 out of 4 have died. I am praying that the sole remaining black one lives because she desperately wanted him. I guess these lessons are good for kids.

I think your 3-year plan is a good one and I would like to do the same. We have six hens right now since we lost half our hens to a fox on my 40th birthday. That was a bummer. Anyhow, I need to cull them all because they are two- and three-years old and egg-laying has gone way down. Plus, I agree that fewer chickens make for happier chickens - especially in the winter here in western SD. There is one hen named Penelope that my daughter is loathe to get rid of so I'm not sure what to do about that.

 

[sovia]

And I forgot to add that we've had to cull both roosters we've had because we just can't seem to get a nice one. Maybe one of the bantams will be a roo (and nice?)

 

[Mrs. K]

oh, good, I have bought chickens from D&M ag before. So I am going to call her, and see if I can get some speckled sussex to come in around June 6th.

This is the first year with a roo for me. Last year, when my hen went broody in July, I had a devil of a time, finding some eggs to put under her, and by that time, the baby chicks were gone. But I did find a lady in Rapid City that gave me a dozen, some barred rock mix, and some easter eggers. I kept one roo, a red and green easter egger. So far, we have gotten along. I do have a grand son that lives a couple of hours away, and a new grand daughter, if they were a little bit bigger, or closer to here, I would get rid of the roo. I just do not believe that small children and roo's mix.

However, even though he is only 10 months old, he must be getting the job done, as I wanted those speckled sussex, I waited to put eggs under her, and then I wanted to put a dozen under her at once, and I found two eggs under her, so I took those eggs out. Then felt kind of bad, when I opened them and saw something was growing in there. Darn it. But hopefully that will mean that all of the eggs I did put under her are fertile.

I would also like some more BO, because they make such nice broody hens. And I rather like a hen and chicks, verses a brooder. All the fun, and none of the work.

my sympathies to you on the darn fox, once two years ago, I had what I think was a mink get in. Killed and left 18 barred rock pullets. My sons, God Bless them, built me Fort Knox for mother's day that year.

Mrs.K

 

[SouthDakotan]

Are you there?

I'm in east/central South Dakota. Where are you?