Recent content by anir dendroica

  1. anir dendroica

    How many chickens did you start off with?

    Started with seven last August, now at 15 (down from 20 after new order of chicks). Will be at 13 after we cull the remaining cockerels from our new flock. Might do meat birds some time, but 12 laying hens should be more than sufficient for our four-member household. Of course, we still might...
  2. anir dendroica

    Adding chicks to flock

    If you have a rooster in the established flock, keep a close eye on how he treats the young roos. In our case, the old rooster pecked our young roo down to the exposed skull, and we were forced to butcher. I suspect most roos are less prone to unprovoked attacks, but I know we will be more...
  3. anir dendroica

    Welsummer and RIR

    I am butchering our young Cuckoo Marans roo tonight because our Ameraucana roo pecked all of the skin and feathers from the back of his head, leaving his skull exposed. Some roosters may get along. Others absolutely will not tolerate other roos. Keep a close eye on them when you put them...
  4. anir dendroica

    Which rooster to keep?

    Hey! Why did my very specific post about a rooster conflict (definitely a "management" concern, or possibly suited to the "behaviors" section) get moved to the "pictures and stories" section??
  5. anir dendroica

    Which rooster to keep?

    When I opened the coop this morning, the marans rooster had been pecked down to the bare skull, with a large patch of missing skin and feathers. He seems blissfully unaware of his plight, but I see no hope for it healing without infection. So...he is isolated for the day and I will be...
  6. anir dendroica

    Three deaths in four months - one illness or several?

    what all did you feed the youngsters when they were chicks? Starter/grower (Purina) what all do you feed now? Layer pellets (a bit early for the youngsters, but as they are now about the same size we can't get the two groups to eat from different dishes). Also grit and oyster shell offered...
  7. anir dendroica

    Three deaths in four months - one illness or several?

    We ordered 10 chicks from McMurray hatchery in February and got 13 - two extra cuckoo marans and one "free gift" silver-laced cochin. One marans chick was sneezing when we got it and died three days later. About four weeks later, I started seeing blood in the poo and oddly curled feathers, so...
  8. anir dendroica

    when will they start laying?

    It varies by breed, but 18-20 weeks seems reasonable. Our RIRs were born at the beginning of August and we got our first eggs around Christmas. Our hens all poo in the boxes, but as our boxes are a bit long they sometimes roost toward the front and nest toward the back. All six of our hens...
  9. anir dendroica

    Moving 1 yr Old Hens into New Coop with 14-2 1/2 mo Olds

    We just did something similar, but with the eleven young ones moving in with the seven 1-year-olds. Six weeks after the move, our old ones still won't let the young ones eat while they are eating. But they have a large (1/8 acre) area to roam, and when the old ones are off exploring the young...
  10. anir dendroica

    Which rooster to keep?

    We have nine four-month-old chickens (down from 13, but that's a different story) - two buff orpington hens, one black sexlink hen, and six cuckoo marans (3 hens, 3 roosters). We introduced them to our year-old birds (three rhode island red hens, three ameraucana hens, one ameraucana rooster) a...
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