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  1. Ridgerunner

    Help identifying breed/sex

    Try posting individual photos when they are five weeks old. Often by then we can make a good guess. Right now they are too young. A closeup of the head showing comb and wattles can help a lot. Also, a profile shot showing legs, posture, and body conformation can help.
  2. Ridgerunner

    Are they actually eating the dirt?

    They're probably getting some food from that. Possibly some bugs but more likely plant matter. They are probably getting grit from pecking at the dirt. They are probably getting some minerals from actually eating plain old dirt. They are strengthening their immune system by exposing it...
  3. Ridgerunner

    18 1/2 week old Blue Laced Wyandotte

    No
  4. Ridgerunner

    How many on the go at once to sustain your consumption?

    My goals are to raise them for meat and to play with genetics, two goals that go well together. The eggs are a nice bonus but I get way more than I can eat. I give extras to friends and relatives or donate them to a food bank. My main flock is one rooster and 6 to 8 hens. I only have one...
  5. Ridgerunner

    Are they starting to molt?

    On one hand a 16% protein feed is not a high protein feed, especially as she also gets low protein scratch grains. On the other hand an ISA Brown is a commercial laying breed, specially bred to convert a lot of what she eats to eggs.
  6. Ridgerunner

    Are they starting to molt?

    What are you feeding her? A high protein diet? It is normal for them to stop laying when they molt but we have domesticated them and specially bred some of them to lay a lot of eggs. I've never noticed it (which may mean I was not paying attention) but some people I trust on this forun say...
  7. Ridgerunner

    Old(ish??) hens prone to illness?

    If you were planning on hatching any of the eggs, absolutely. Only hatch from the best. You are not planning on hatching eggs so it gets murkier. It has to be your call. Your goals, set-up, and conditions are very different from mine. It doesn't matter what I would do since mine are...
  8. Ridgerunner

    Practicing or egg bound?

    Some pullets seem to know that an egg is coming so they start to check out possible nests a week or so ahead of the big event. Some don't get to that stage until after they've laid a few eggs. It can be fun dealing with animals. To me that sounds normal. You should be seeing more eggs in a...
  9. Ridgerunner

    Rooster attacking broody hen and her chick

    The way I read this article, it is about bringing in new chicks, not chicks hatched with the flock and raised by a broody. It's not clear but I think they keep the chicks in a brooder away from the rooster and rest of the flock for a few weeks also. An excerpt from that article: While most...
  10. Ridgerunner

    Nesting boxes

    Are they normal eggs? Firm hard shells with no strange markings on them? Some hens will release two or (on really rare occasions) three yolks on the same day so they can lay more than one egg a day. Most that do this only do it rarely but some can do it more often, especially when they first...
  11. Ridgerunner

    Nesting boxes

    I'm confused by that. Is she laying between 1 and 3 eggs each day or one egg every three days? Or maybe something else. There is nothing wrong with those nests, either how they are made or the height. People have been using nests like that for a long long time. If you want, you can modify...
  12. Ridgerunner

    How long on ice in fridge?

    Technically a pullet becomes a hen and a cockerel becomes a rooster at 12 months of age. I look at that as a girl becomes a woman and a boy becomes a man at either 18 or 21 years old, depending in what laws you are looking at. I've known some people to act pretty mature before 18 years old and...
  13. Ridgerunner

    Layer feed?

    Hi, welcome to the forum, glad you joined! Commercial operations carefully micromanage every bite they eat and how much daylight they get. We are typically much more relaxed about that. They feed Layer because that is all they ever eat and they are able to manage how much each one eats. Each...
  14. Ridgerunner

    Rooster?

    If those are Cinnamon Queens they are pullets.
  15. Ridgerunner

    Rooster?

    Cinnamon Queen is a marketing name for a sex linked cross. Some hatcheries use Rhode Island Red roosters over Silver Laced Wyandotte hens while other hatcheries use Rhode Island Red roosters over Rhode Island White hens to make their Cinnamon Queen's. Both Wyandotte and RIW should have a rose...
  16. Ridgerunner

    I've been processing cockerels and some hens and had a question about poop

    When I butcher I always have a hose with water under pressure nearby. I rinse a lot anyway. If poop leaks I immediately rinse it well. I'm not exactly a delicate little flower with enhanced taste buds but I've never noticed a problem and have not had any complaints from others, though they...
  17. Ridgerunner

    Average Meat Bird Weight

    In addition to what @DemeterAD9 said you can get tremendous differences even with cockerels from the same flock. One time I butchered 17 Buff Rock hatchery cockerels between 16 and 23 weeks of age. All form the same flock but from different parents. They were fed and raised the same. I did...
  18. Ridgerunner

    When to switch food and provide oyster shells?

    Nutritionally there is not much difference in most of the ingredients in Chick Starter and Layer. Calcium and maybe protein being the ones. Since yours free range some, you've lost the ability to micromanage everything they eat anyway. You can look at the analysis on the label to see what...
  19. Ridgerunner

    What do you do with the remains?

    You are only doing one and it is over. Freezing this stuff and sending it to the landfill is probably your best option. I raise mine for meat and typically butcher 5 or 6 at a time. When I butcher I keep two buckets out there. One gets the guts (cut into 2" lengths), sexual organs, and bits...
  20. Ridgerunner

    How long on ice in fridge?

    It varies. Some on the individual bird, some on the temperature. Some will be ready in about a day, some may take three days or more. The way to tell is to wiggle a joint, say a leg. If it is the least stiff it is not ready. If it moved freely it is ready. Before rigor passes the meat will...
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