What do you have in your flock?

[Sylvester017]

Free ranging is an awesome place for hamburgs. Mine hate being stuck in the run all the time.
Sadly last year we lost miss Bee. So now we only have Pea and Jay.
The getting away from predators is what these active non setting birds would do well at. Mine are very good at finding the best parts of the yard to forage in and return to the coop without fail. I have large trees and they have never gone into them. They lay a small to medium egg and are very good at it. The other hens I have that are older and some younger no longer lay much if at all but these are troopers at it.
Miss Jay will let me know about it loudly if I am a minute later in the morning than she thinks I should be.

I got such a warm fuzzy reading about everyone's Hamburg experience. I will seriously consider this breed in future to add to my gentles flock but probably a golden laced or golden penciled Hamy so the silver laced doesn't stand out so bright in the yard - I discontinued white birds after they turned dingy from all the free-range dirt baths. I think the goldens are just as pretty as the silvers too.
Doesn't it seem like there's always one noisy bird squawking to notify you if you're not on time!

Not sure. We did have to jump through hoops to build our coop and get a city OK for three chickens.

Our friends had a snotty neighbor that was always complaining about the chickens (of course she never bothered to keep her own plants from growing wild over our friends' fence or trees from littering over into other people's yards)! The snotty neighbor had called the city to complain so much that she got listed by the city as a nuisance caller! However the city still has to respond to calls and when they arrived at my friend's property they took measurements and said there was no room to keep a coop that complied with city ordnance measurements. Apparently there has to be a certain distance from any dwellings in all directions and our friends had to disband their chickeneering. Some cities portray themselves as good guys to allow chickens but make the coop housing so restrictive that ultimately you can't REALLY have chickens!

Got a pic of mine this afternoon. I have an awesome helper too!

What a lovely open space for those happy chickens and toddler! I'm jealous! I wish I could have that many hens in our flock but we're only zoned for 5!

In all that open space scatter about some lawn furniture and/or tables or benches for the birds to hide under when a hawk flies by. A popup canopy set up for shade or hawk protection is useful too. We learned this all accidentally when we saw 3 hens huddle under a stickery rose bush when a Cooper's Hawk landed in the yard.

Today we have a cedar Adirondack rocker, 4 large recycled doghouses spaced around our yard, a popup canopy, and a couple plywood boards propped on cinderblocks. The hens use them all to snooze/hide and we haven't lost a hen to a hawk in 4 years (even our 2 Silkies know how to hide). Having all the lawn furniture spaced around the yard reduces open areas for hawks to swoop down on running hens trying to hurry back to the coop across an open field. Scattered shelters reduces the risk of a long run back to the coop. Hawks can see hiding hens but amazingly don't go after them. They prefer to swoop down on running hens in an open unobstructed area rather than struggle to attack a hiding hen.

 

[cajun chicken]

Currently...
Mutts
RIR
Dominique,
Ancona
Black Jersey Giant
White Leghorn
Blue Laced Red Wyandotte
Barred Rock
Aracauna / Americauna

Have Also Had...
Red Star
Silver Laced Wyandotte


***** CHICKEN MATH *****

Would Like To Add...
Gold Laced Wyandotte
Black Star
Welsummer
Buff Orpington

I just got three Silver laced Wyandotte chicks. How is their disposition in general? Are they fairly calm? I ask because the chicks are really skittish...... Thanks

 

[cajun chicken]

What a lovely open space for those happy chickens and toddler! I'm jealous! I wish I could have that many hens in our flock but we're only zoned for 5!

In all that open space scatter about some lawn furniture and/or tables or benches for the birds to hide under when a hawk flies by. A popup canopy set up for shade or hawk protection is useful too. We learned this all accidentally when we saw 3 hens huddle under a stickery rose bush when a Cooper's Hawk landed in the yard.

Today we have a cedar Adirondack rocker, 4 large recycled doghouses spaced around our yard, a popup canopy, and a couple plywood boards propped on cinderblocks. The hens use them all to snooze/hide and we haven't lost a hen to a hawk in 4 years (even our 2 Silkies know how to hide). Having all the lawn furniture spaced around the yard reduces open areas for hawks to swoop down on running hens trying to hurry back to the coop across an open field. Scattered shelters reduces the risk of a long run back to the coop. Hawks can see hiding hens but amazingly don't go after them. They prefer to swoop down on running hens in an open unobstructed area rather than struggle to attack a hiding hen.

Thank you for the kind words! We are lucky to live a rural area where there are no ordinances on chickens that I know of. Yeah, baby girl keeps my wife and I busy most of the time. She loves being outside playing in the mud and chasing the chickens out of the flowerbeds. They have plenty of cover around the yard, I just caught them late in the evening when they were making their way back to the coop. They usually forage in the open early in the morning and late in the evening but you won't hardly see them in the middle of the day. They seem to have a sixth sense when it comes to hawks because they disappear under my shed when a hawk is anywhere near the area. Now the neighbor's dog on the other hand, not so much. He got one of my barred rocks and almost killed my wellsummer a couple of weeks ago. I'm hoping he doesn't get out again

 

[21hens-incharge]

I got such a warm fuzzy reading about everyone's Hamburg experience. I will seriously consider this breed in future to add to my gentles flock but probably a golden laced or golden penciled Hamy so the silver laced doesn't stand out so bright in the yard - I discontinued white birds after they turned dingy from all the free-range dirt baths. I think the goldens are just as pretty as the silvers too.
Doesn't it seem like there's always one noisy bird squawking to notify you if you're not on time!

Yes there is always one that lets me know for sure that I am running late. I can hear Jay clear in the house she gets so obnoxious about it. She hears the back door and ups the noise even more to encourage me to hustle up. The Golden ones are very pretty as well. My black and whites are shiny, The leghorns and Delaware are all dingy from the dust bathing as well as the corn in the scratch making them have a yellow hint to the white feathers. I prefer the darker birds myself as well.

Quote:

This pic is just to cute. I think it is calender worthy.

 

[aurinia]

This thread has been so much fun to read!

So far I have:

5 RIR's
4 white rocks
2 black sex links
2 barred rocks
2 buff orps
2 partridge rocks
1 buff brahma
1 salmon faverolles
1 phoenix-mix bantam
1 turken
7 easter eggers/barnyard mixes

Roosters:

1 black doubled laced Barnevelder
1 blue double laced Barnevelder
1 Barnevelder/Silver Penciled Rock cross...he's my absolute favorite and incredibly sweet!

I should mention that I originally started out wanting 6...and that in a few weeks I'll be adding 2 golden comets and hopefully 2 or 3 purebred Ameraucanas. Chicken math got me, too. Lol

 

[JFreeman]

Thank you for your Hamburg review. This is very similar feedback from other Hamburg owners. I would absolutely love them for their smallness and somewhat sweet temperament but I free-range and can't have escape artists! Some birds are easy to train but the flightier ones just can't help themselves to use their wings. Many bantams are hard to keep in an open yard too because most are excellent fliers. I refuse to cut wings for safety reasons - to allow a good get-away from potential ground predators.

Your roost story is cute. Chickens are very smart!

Have you ever considered Phoenix? I have two, and they are the best. They can fly, but mine aren't really flighty. My kids can catch them easily (and I have a 2 year old).

 

[I Love Layers]

Anyone have any suggestions for some Ornamental chickens for showing, I'm already get Silkies, any other suggestions

 

[JFreeman]

Anyone have any suggestions for some Ornamental chickens for showing, I'm already get Silkies, any other suggestions

Polish, without a doubt. There are several varieties, frizzles, buff laced, Tolbunt (a favorite), golden laced... you can't go wrong.

 

[I Love Layers]

Polish, without a doubt. There are several varieties, frizzles, buff laced, Tolbunt (a favorite), golden laced... you can't go wrong.

Okay, I was going to get some of those too lol

 

[Sylvester017]

I just got three Silver laced Wyandotte chicks. How is their disposition in general? Are they fairly calm? I ask because the chicks are really skittish...... Thanks

I never had SLW or GLW or BLRW or Columbian or any other Wyans but I researched them a lot because they are so gorgeous and read many reviews and threads. Here's the feedback:

MyPetChicken.com - personality is generally easy-going with tendency toward domination - http://www.mypetchicken.com/chicken-breeds/Wyandotte-B6.aspx
Tilly's Nest website shared that in her confined coop and pen she had a SLW named Dot that was mean to the other chickens so that the others were getting mean too so they had to re-home her after 6 months - they hoped she'd settle down in the coop pen but confinement with no free-range is not good for the Wyans breed. After a couple years Tilly's Nest got a slightly larger coop and added 6 new chickens and one was a GLW. The GLW just like their old SLW pullet began to get snippy with the other pullets (guess Tilly's Nest didn't learn from previously having a Wyan in confinement)!

Wyans are calm birds generally but despite favorable reviews on their temperament I would exercise on the side of caution and give them a LOT of space or free-range and not mix them with gentle or timid breeds since Wyans have a tendency to be dominant birds. At least if the Wyans breed picks on other Wyans they'll be on equal terms but they might over-bully other shy or smaller breeds. I've had feedback from owners who think their Wyans are the best temperament and I've had feedback from owners who said they're mean and will never get them again. With that kind of 50/50 feedback we decided not to risk it. I know breeders say it all depends on the selective breeding and the stock for temperament but sometimes a breed is just what it is and 50/50 feedback to me wasn't encouraging enough to chance it in our little gentle backyard flock. Some say hatchery stock isn't good, some say the private breeders aren't selective enough, some say there's just a chance "bad apple" chicken, but the feedback I researched were from hatchery and private breeders and it was always 50/50 no matter where the Wyans came from. Of the many breeds I researched the Wyans was the most see-saw feedback. Again I never had any Wyans but after having to re-home other aggressive breeds that I didn't take the time to research before getting them, I took my Wyans research seriously.

We free-range so there's open space and no coop confinements. I am cautious about big breeds that seem calm. We had a Cuckoo Marans at 7-lbs and she was a shy calm bird around humans but in our mixed breeds flock she was sneaky and nasty. She ALWAYS nipped at any chicken that happened to walk by her, she challenged the alpha Leghorn but the little 4.5-lb Leghorn managed to put her in her place!, and then she began to roost next to a little Silkie that we thought was molting but instead the Marans was picking her head bald! and then she viciously attacked another little 2-lb Silkie pullet til it screamed so we re-homed the CM immediately after we realized what a sneaky nasty hen she was - all the time she appeared outwardly calm. Our friends had a BCM and she was a large calm but definitely overly-bossy nasty hen with her flockmates and was re-homed. Sometimes the assertiveness doesn't show in chicks or pullets until the chickens reach maturity around 18 months to 2 years. That's when our Marans went bonkers at around 18 months and later our Leghorn went bonkers at 3 years old on her flockmates. We have a Blue Wheaten Ameraucana (my avatar at 5 months) that has stayed non-combative and gentle for 2 years now and submits to the smaller older Silkies. They chest-bump her but she never retaliates and would rather flee than engage in conflict. Those are the kinds of breeds I like - non-aggressive/non-combative. I've had to swallow my pride and re-home my lovely larger heritage dual-purpose and egg layers because they were just too aggressive toward each other and toward the gentler breeds. We only keep gentle non-combative under-5-lb breeds now. Less eggs but more peace.

I guess the key word is plenty of SPACE requirement for Wyans and not mix them with shy or timid breeds. Who knows - you'll be the 50% that raises the good tempered SLWs! Gorgeous birds!