Utah!

sundancenbare · Jul 9, 2015

I am cutting down my laying flock I have a cream legbar she is 2 years and lays a pretty blue egg. I have her daughter who is one that lays a pretty olive egg. I have a jubilee orphington that's 1 year. She lays huge tan eggs. I have a blue silkie a white silkie a couple of frizzled americanas. I'll be going to logan on Sat. Please PM if your interested

Neuport · Jul 9, 2015

I purchased all the pullets at the same time about 18 weeks ago as day old chicks about 18 weeks ago. In the last week some are suddenly sprouting dark red combs and wattles. In your experience, how far away from their first egg would they be? I just bought a new bag of grower feed about a week ago that I haven't opened. Probably should have gotten layer. I did put out some oyster shell today. Do you think they would be fine on the grower for a few more weeks with the oyster shell supplement or should I go ahead and switch them all over to layer now?

Here are some pictures of birds of the same breed purchased at the same time, one as they have looked for the past few months and the other with the newly sprouted color. Golden sex links and Black Australorps.

newmarch2014 · Jul 9, 2015

I have hope at last! My Reds finally stopped trying to kill my Brahma cockerel now that he is almost 4 1/2 mos old during the day but at night it has been a bedtime fiasco most of the time. I have had a couple peaceful nights but usually the Reds won't even let the littles on the roost 6 feet from them. They go over and viciously run them off the roost with mouthfuls of feathers lost and trauma and screaming and I finally have to break it up and put a barrier (garbage can) on the roost between them to keep them separate and calm them down. tonight the barriers were up but everyone was in bed on their respective sides except the more tolerant Buffs so I thought I should be ok to go inside for a few minutes. I went out to find they must have had quite the scuffle, the garbage can and 5 gallon bucket used to separate them were knocked down and they were all on one side except one lone red was set apart. The nice part is they did settle in without any barrier between them and in fact the EE's settled in right next to the Buffs with only a little pecking and the Reds are just a foot from them all and decided to let them stay. I feel like it is not a lost cause afterall. I may never add another chicken to this flock till my Reds die it has been such a pain.

Cynthia12 · Jul 9, 2015

Nice Neuport! They should be laying any minute now! Serious. Watch for soft eggs, normal eggs, tinsy eggs. You never know what they will do first. My RSL that just started did a real soft egg, laid it from the roost. Probably didn't even know she laid an egg. On the floor it was, with..another soft one. Had two girls start at the same time.

I wouldn't give them Oyster shell quite yet. Wait for those first eggs. And go ahead and feed them what they have been on, until you start getting those eggs. My opinion.

I have some RSL eggs on the way, I just love them. Can sex them at hatch. Boys are white, girls are red. Can't get any easier than that!

Also, some Lavender Orpingtons. Hope they hatch well. I need some blue or lavender out there. My boy is blue. Not sure I can keep him.

I do have a blue silkie, and a couple of splash, not sure what they are yet. And, a lot of white silkies. Will be placing some of those soon, plus, I think my Paint is a girl. We'll see.

Cynthia12 · Jul 9, 2015

newmarch2014 said:
I have hope at last! My Reds finally stopped trying to kill my Brahma cockerel now that he is almost 4 1/2 mos old during the day but at night it has been a bedtime fiasco most of the time. I have had a couple peaceful nights but usually the Reds won't even let the littles on the roost 6 feet from them. They go over and viciously run them off the roost with mouthfuls of feathers lost and trauma and screaming and I finally have to break it up and put a barrier (garbage can) on the roost between them to keep them separate and calm them down. tonight the barriers were up but everyone was in bed on their respective sides except the more tolerant Buffs so I thought I should be ok to go inside for a few minutes. I went out to find they must have had quite the scuffle, the garbage can and 5 gallon bucket used to separate them were knocked down and they were all on one side except one lone red was set apart. The nice part is they did settle in without any barrier between them and in fact the EE's settled in right next to the Buffs with only a little pecking and the Reds are just a foot from them all and decided to let them stay. I feel like it is not a lost cause afterall. I may never add another chicken to this flock till my Reds die it has been such a pain.

Are you going out when it's dark? I have been having to help with the roosting thing too. I just wait until it's dark enough that they can't see each other. Works pretty good. The girls are all roosting together now. The boy, wants to roost over a nest box, I let him, if his bum is facing away from the nest. I use a flashlight to go out to do this, so they can't see real well..flash it sideways, then away once I see where they are.

Cynthia12 · Jul 9, 2015

newmarch, reread your post..I take it they are fighting right from the get go, when they go in. The ones that get picked on should be waiting until boss ladies are up. At least that's what mine do. It's almost dark when they go..for the nest boxes. That's when I need to help them with roosting..I take them out, place them on the roost in the dark. They finally get used to waking up next to each other I guess. Works for me every time.

newmarch2014 · Jul 10, 2015

Cynthia12 said:
newmarch, reread your post..I take it they are fighting right from the get go, when they go in. The ones that get picked on should be waiting until boss ladies are up. At least that's what mine do. It's almost dark when they go..for the nest boxes. That's when I need to help them with roosting..I take them out, place them on the roost in the dark. They finally get used to waking up next to each other I guess. Works for me every time.

Yeah this has been suuuuch a long process. The youngers are now 18 weeks old+ and so they were in the brooder till they got to be about 8 weeks and then I sectioned off a part of the coop and they lived there and I put them in the big run whenever possible in a dog crate to be exposed to the big ones. Then they just got too big for the little portion of the coop and the dog crate so I tried to add them in at 12 weeks but the Reds would have none of it, they hated the cockerel Brahma and wanted him dead so THEY got moved to the little partitioned off area and I put THEM in the dog crate during the day. (The youngers were still huddling on the floor to sleep for this period). So they were getting tons of exposure to the littles. My Buff Orps let the little ones join really early with just normal pecking order scuffles but the Reds just terrorized all but the female Brahma. Eventually at about 13 weeks I was able to put the Red that is not head hen in with them and she was outnumbered enough that as soon as she headed their way one would notice and run so they all just kept at opposite ends of the run from her. Finally a couple weeks ago the littles started to roost and the head hen stopped trying to kill them through the dog crate so after a couple days of us having no barrier with us with them for a few hours a day we finally felt like it was not dangerous for them but at bedtime no matter what the pullets and cockerel try the reds NOR the Buffs want them on the roost, they tried waiting till the big ones went to bed but as soon as they tried to get up on the far end the others would come across and attack till they drove them off the roosts I had to stand there and get them all on the roost and add a trash can to block the view and get them all settled in. So a week ago I changed the roosts to allow a bit more room between and separation and the first night that was great they all went to bed with no issue at opposite corners, and then every night after it was still a fiasco, I ended up putting the trash can back and a 5 gallon bucket to keep the big ones from seeing them. I am so sick of it all. But finally last night the cockerel went to bed first, I noticed in my first evening check, then a red and she left him alone in his spot, then the other red and no drama, and then all the rest of the pullets next to him all is well. So I thought "no problems yay the Buffs will just go to bed" NOPE I go out and the barriers are knocked off the roost and poop board and everyone is all amuck, but it was better than I would have expected, no bloodshed and all but the lower ranking red were all on the same side and calm so I had to do a little rearranging since the cockerel had positioned himself on the poop board lower than everyone and would have been pooped on all night and so I moved him and put the lone red next to her buddy and they all settled in. I hope this is the last corner to peace.
I very much want some lavender in my flock but I will probably never add to this after all this ruckus.

bitsyhorse · Jul 10, 2015

@Cynthia12 , I am still not seeing any comb development

really pretty though! I actually did end up trimming around the eyes a little bit, and she(?) was so happy, she was running around flapping, and clucking after she got done lol!!!

and @sideWing the marans mix is getting some pretty copper around her neck

she and the silkie above are best friends

lizardandchicks · Jul 10, 2015

sideWing said:
You can have a goat, but no rooster? Strange. There are 3 different zones in Herriman. I'm in one of the two that can keep roosters and up to 50 chickens total. Will be interesting if the neighbors start complaining. Capt Knuckles just started crowing a couple weeks ago, but we let the chickens out every day and he does not crow until we do.

What tragedy? I know a few people that keep them in pens, but not locked up at night and they have always been fine. I'm paranoid so I lock them up still.

Actually, I don't think we are suppose to have goats. But we haven't

But at the same time we are only suppose to have 4 hens. We have had goats for a couple of months and there hasn't been a report yet... What zone are you in?
Just the tragedies as to how we lost 6 chickens, and our 2 roosters. One of the roosters we gave away as we are not suppose to have them. The other got attacked by an unknown predator. 1 hen by the same predator. We think our dog just was trying to play with them the way dogs play together. The only problem to that theory is that the way they were attacked wouldn't have been a way a dog would do it. The 1 other tragedy was our 4 hens got attacked by the neighbors dog.

iPickYupik · Jul 10, 2015

Wow, I've gotten behind! Times has been flying by. Almost half through my husbands 2 month long work trip and all our birds and kids have been keeping me busy!

My first 2 silkies that I hatched from Lisa are 5 weeks old now as is my legbar. So cute! The Legbar is such a sweetie! I'm looking for a home for the OE that I hatched with them. It's a very rambunctious chick so I think it may be a roo. We're needing to cut back on some chicks. We had those 5 OEs hatch about 2 weeks ago. The club foot baby is as good as new now and the preemie that we helped is great! Wouldn't even know that they had issues at birth now.

Such cuties! My daughters trying to decide which 2 she'll keep from that batch.

My rooster collar is iffy. I think he's quieter and he doesn't crow daily now. Thankfully he doesn't usually crow until 9 if he's in the coop. He's really pestering the girls now! A couple of our oldest girls who are 5 months now are squatting and I can fit 2 fingers between their pelvic bones. I've heard the pelvic bone measurement is a good way to tell if they'll be laying soon? Hopefully! I really wonder where they will lay. I've been doing through searches of the yard to make sure they aren't laying yet. The two that seem ready are a BR and a BO.