Thank you to the few of you who have offered up chicks or roos. After a lot of talking, I think we are going to change gears from more colorful eggs to trying a few birds we can put in the freezer to see if we want to raise our own meat birds. We are thinking of dual purpose types like red...
Thanks for the offer. After a lot of talking, I think we are going to change gears from more colorful eggs to trying a few birds we can put in the freezer to see if we want to raise our own meat birds. We are thinking of dual purpose types like red rangers, delaware, or dark cornish, but aren't...
Just replying so I don't lose this thread! Hubby and I are currently looking for a roo to replace our mean one, and a couple of chicks to add to our flock (in a few months). Currently we have a SLW, GLW, EE, RIR, Barred Rock and Buff Orp. Our roo is a Black Australorp and unpredictable and mean...
Hi, To answer your questions he'll attack anyone including my husband. Both of us know how to act dominant/in charge due to some dog experience. We've tried teaching him manners - my husband has carried him around, he's tried holding him to the ground until Joey will just walk away when he gets...
Good Morning! So last year many of you were kind enough to answer many of my questions as we started out with our first chickens. We have 1 hen each of a SLW, GLW, RIR, EE, Buff Orp, and a Barred Rock. They are all sweet and healthy girls. Then we have 1 rooster, Joey, who is a Black Australorp...
Thank you. Prevention is where I'm now really wondering what the best way is to replace my rooster. As I stated above, a rescue seems unwise. As for antibiotics I'm leaning towards not worrying about getting any that are being changed to Rx only and deal with it if we have an issue.
Thanks Coach. Good ideas. I hadn't given much thought to a new addition being a 'carrier' before so now I'm thinking we shouldn't get one from the rescue since they won't know the history and all of theirs interact. One ill bird could make them all carriers at the rescue :(
The rooster is a...
Thank you. My one big concern is I keep reading that once they've had certain respiratory issues they are carriers for life even if they show no symptoms. I don't want to introduce something like that into my flock if that is the only way they'd catch it. Does that make sense? I just don't know...
We hope to let our hens hatch their own eggs next year if someone goes broody. We have all large breed, winter hardy dual purpose breeds. Our plan to try is to then use some of the chicks as meat. From what I've seen/read of meat birds I don't think we want to raise them.
Also we free range...
The more I read about illness the more concerned I am about adding a new rooster. Our current rooster attacks us at times so we are getting ready to dispatch him and get a new rooster for our 6 hens. All were hatched in early April. A local farm rescue has roosters - I'm assuming if I adopt one...
I'm going to have to read the bag. It really does look more like a mash, you're right!
And thank you for the pictures of other feeder styles. I'll have to see if we need to raiser their pvc tube feeders up higher too.
Thank you! This gives me a bit more to think about. They produce the food right where we bought it, I never even looked for a date. I really think it is just ground too small - it is like a mash, just dust mainly.
Thank you! Your crumble has more texture to it than the stuff we have. I swear it is WAY more dust than food. I'm going to call the place tomorrow and talk to them to see if they have it not so finely ground up. If they don't we'll need to change to something else. Thank you for the pictures...
Our feeders are homemade pvc pipes like these in the background. The crumble food seems to get stuck in it and doesn't keep the bottom full all the time. Does anyone else have this issue? We have to 'bang' on the sides to get it down. We have the top capped, no extra treats in it, just...
What age are your chickens and what do you feed them? If you feed a commercial feed is it crumbles or pellets? Ours are 9 weeks old now and eat a crumble grower food. They make a huge mess even with PVC pipe feeders and the crumbles get stuck in it. We have to bang on it to get it to fall. Any...
Those 2 pictures I posted above are the same bird I posted to start this thread - that's all one bird. I'm pretty certain he is a cockerel. We are ok with that as we wanted a rooster, but the breed we choose from the hatchery didn't hatch out so we were just going to add one later. Looks like...