Reviews by cra-zchicknlady

I have one hen from last year's hatching. She is the sweetest bird. We can pick her up, ruffle her feathers, she'll take treats from your hand if she knows you. She gives us about two eggs every three days, little and pink. The only complaint I can think of is she's a follower. If the other birds are picking on someone else, she'll join in. If the coop queen decides to move into another area, the barred rock is right behind her. Other than that, she's healthy, she overwintered fantastically, and she likes being picked up.

These were my first ever chickens. I got six from a feed store, one turned out to be a rooster. He was beautiful, long tail, green shimmer, the perfect rooster. He did turn out to be a loud-mouth. When he first started crowing, we bought him a crow collar. It worked for about six months, then he started to overpower it. We had to rehome him because we live in town. The five hens were great. No problems health-wise except for some frost-nipped combs in the winter. Vaseline solved that problem. Since they were my first, I handled them daily since I got them. They all were friendly except one, she was flock leader and just a crab to everyone. One especially I consider a pet. She is extremely curious, and will always run to see what I'm doing, even enjoys being petted. They have regular large eggs, one egg every one or two days, depending on the bird and season. They are reactive to threats, but not skittish. I would definitely recommend these birds to any beginner, and intend to always have some in my flock.

We got five white Wyandottes from an auction. The original owner had kept them in wire cages, so their poor feet were bent and crooked. Not a problem, they could still walk fine, and mostly straightened after a few months in the yard. One I believe had had a broken toe, nearly twisted at a right angle. Excellent layers, nearly every day, although a few regularly had weak-shelled eggs. One of the five dropped an egg yolk inside her body cavity, weakened no matter what I tried, and I eventually had to put her out of her misery. They were extremely calm, but that may have been a result of their IQ. I watched these birds sit out in the yard while the rooster gave a warning call against a hawk. They didn't even move towards shelter. The rest of the flock at the time was Australorps, and they scattered. The Wyandottes would sit in their food dish, took forever (nearly 3 months) learning to go in the coop at night. Two of the five eventually learned to use the roost at night, but the rest either wouldn't or couldn't learn. On top of that, they were dirty. All five of them regularly had dirty bums. It seemed to cake in the feathers no matter how often I cleared it off. I hope they were simply poorly bred or a bad batch, as I would hate to think the whole breed is like that.