Reviews by MattJohnson

We have 2 Americana's (not sure if that's spelled right, but hey, I'm a chicken farmer... <grin> I know, its not an excuse, but it is what it is...) I really like them. Our birds are shy, but curious when I start bringing out the treats. I call them 'Wall Flowers' because they spend most of their time on the roost, in the coop.

These birds are definitely at the bottom of the pecking order. One of them was nearly killed by our 2nd brood of RIR, GLW/SLW/ and BR's. It was an interesting exercise in integrating our 2nd brood with our first brood of BO's. The BO's actually accepted the Americana's into the flock first, and allow them to roost on the same level. I think this may have actually saved the one and elevated both of their status. I had separated the aggressive birds from the 2nd brood, and integrated the remaining 'teenagers' with our older flock of Buf Orp's. The BO's did fine with the non aggressive birds from the 2nd brood and basically ignored them. Until I integrated the 3 aggressive birds from the 2nd brood. The BO's promptly put them in their place (one of the BO's is a roo), and the pecking stopped. I think this was successful because of a lot of luck, and a lot of research on BYC - so thanks y'all!

Outside of the GLW's - which are probably the most striking birds in our flock, the Am's are probably the prettiest (is that a word? or just poor spelling again? not to mention grammer... Gad's back to WR111...) they are cool looking birds. Puffy cheeks and one is a cream color, the other is Gray and brown/gold.

They have been laying a greenish blue or bluish green... egg every other day or so. Not great layers but the eggs are really pretty (now that is a word!).

They are gentle and shy, but seem to be survivors. I'm hoping they make it out of the coop into the run before the weather turns.

ZOUNDS! a spell checker to! - maybe I dont have to go back to WR111... naw, I shuld...

We have 2 BR's. They are amoung the more dominant birds, but they dont participate in pecking the others much. They are dominant as I have observed that they are amoung the first to eat, and they always take the highest roost.

Our Roks havent started laying yet, so it will be interesting to see how they do.

Either of them will peck at me a little if I stand still or sit in the run. I usually thump them back. If I put scratch down, they will always be in the middle of the chicken melee that results. But our BR's didnt participate in the pecking of one of our Ameraucana's that nearly killed it. Either of them will allow me to pet them a little, much like the BO's, but are not quite as friendly.

We have 2 RIR's. One of them is a fairly aggressive bird, the other is curious, intellegent and an escape artist. They tend to be shy with people - at least ours are.

I understand RIR's to be good layers, and so far this has been true. We are getting 1-2 light colored eggs from them per day (with a little 'tinge' of pink in the color). Since they have only been laying for the past week or so, it will be interesting to see if this continues.

The aggressive bird is only aggressive with the other breeds, but leaves the older BO's alone - so far. I had to separate 1 RIR and a GLW/SLW bird, becuase the nearly killed an Ameraucana. I integrated these 3 aggressive birds into the main flock after our 2nd brood had integrated (8 BO, 2 Am, 1 RIR, 1 ea GLW/SLW, 2 BR). This seemed to work well, becuase they are not nearly as aggressive as they were before (the older BO's put them right in thier place).

The curious bird is the one that is the escape artist. She almost immediately found a weak spot in the fencing of the run and got out, then a few days later found another. Both have been fixed since so the escaping has stopped. Plus I let them free range in the afternoon when I get home from work.

They tend to be a little smaller then the other birds, but apparently size dosent matter in the chicken world. However, if the bullying continues - she will be called drum sticks, or maybe flourintine...

We have 2ea Silver and Gold Laced Wyandots. These birds havent started laying yet, but they will soon.

In my flock, the GLW and SLW chickens are probably the most striking. Especially the GLW's, they have some almost irridescent feathers that change color in the sunlight.

These birds are shy and dont submit to handling well, and tend to be a aggressive with the other breeds, though they leave our BO's alone (the BO's are a little older and more established). One ea of the SLW and GLW pullets are the most aggressive birds in the flock. While in the brooder they nearly killed one of our Ameraucana's. I had to separate them from the flock for a month, while the other birds integrated into our older group of BO's. Then I introduced these aggressive birds, and now they are not nearly as interested in pecking the others.

I'm interested to see how the laying goes. And if the aggression continues or gets worse, then the bullies will be dinner...

Our Buf Orps were the first birds we raised. We bought 8 pullets, and there was a rooster in the bunch. These birds are pretty docile, they will sit in my lap, and they tend to be the more dominant birds, but they dont peck the other breeds we have to much. In fact, the BO's have adopted our 2 Ameroucana's into their roost, effectively elevating the status of these 2 birds (they were being pecked pretty badly by the other breeds in our 2nd brood).

I call them 'Treat Hounds' becuase every time I enter the coop or run they crowd around me expecting some kind of treat. And they are always first when I put out the scratch or apples, pears, veggies ect.

They are good layers of Med to Large eggs, and occasionally we get an extra large from them. They have been giving us 4-6 eggs a day for the past couple months.

After my experience with RIR's, GLW, SLW and Am - I think when I expand my flock it will be with BO's.

I would recommend this breed as a good bird to start with. They have been a fun mild mannered bird that accepts other birds easily. - not sure if that will bear out to be true in the future, but is very true about this bunch.