2018 Newbie Chat!

[Anna Ranieri]

I ended up with two on accident. They were suppose to be girls. It changed how I was going to do everything.

I did seperate the boys, one is living in the house until I can get his own area built. Couldn't part with him and he is happy and healthy.

The one I left with the girls is a big boy, he comes up to my knees. He don't go up hugh to often so the girls can get away from him, but he has been a good boy. Very loyal to his girls. He sits with them when they are laying eggs. When the barred rock laid her first egg, both him and I cheered her on--we shared the experience. He even does the egg song with the girls.


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Awwww how wonderful! What an amazing experience to have. It is clear how much you treasure your flock and I can see from your pictures how much you care for them and how well you keep them - love the pictures you are posting - thank you for sharing

 

[Anna Ranieri]

First I want to thank you for the compliment. Never thought I would get this attached to chickens and ducks.

As for the mixture. I do put DE in tvere and I will add ash but I haven't done a fire all summer. They have kicked mulch and grass clippings into the surrounding area, oddly enough they have kept the sandbox clean of the other stuff.lol

May I ask what breed of ducks you have - just curious

 

[llombardo]

May I ask what breed of ducks you have - just curious

I have a female Peking,female khaki, and male khaki

 

[Anna Ranieri]

I ended up with two on accident. They were suppose to be girls. It changed how I was going to do everything.

I did seperate the boys, one is living in the house until I can get his own area built. Couldn't part with him and he is happy and healthy.

The one I left with the girls is a big boy, he comes up to my knees. He don't go up hugh to often so the girls can get away from him, but he has been a good boy. Very loyal to his girls. He sits with them when they are laying eggs. When the barred rock laid her first egg, both him and I cheered her on--we shared the experience. He even does the egg song with the girls.


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He is so handsome, this is a lovely picture, it is lovely to see him taking care of his hen and a refreshing pleasure to see how well they are looked after. Personally, I think you owe yourself a great big pat on the back for taking such great care of these wonderful birds.
Is there no chance the boys would get along? - just wondering because I've seen quite a few flocks which have two Cockerels together without any problems, although I've heard stories about Cockerels fighting and from what I've heard can do a lot of damage to each other.

 

[llombardo]

He is so handsome, this is a lovely picture, it is lovely to see him taking care of his hen and a refreshing pleasure to see how well they are looked after. Personally, I think you owe yourself a great big pat on the back for taking such great care of these wonderful birds.
Is there no chance the boys would get along? - just wondering because I've seen quite a few flocks which have two Cockerels together without any problems, although I've heard stories about Cockerels fighting and from what I've heard can do a lot of damage to each other.

They got along up until 4 months. They challenged each other and I really didn't want to see anyone hurt, especially myself breaking up a fight. My thoughts are eventually I will have grandkids and when they are between the ages of 3-5 I will let my chickens hatch a couple eggs. If there are boys, I will have a bachelor pad set up and I won't have to worry about finding them homes.

 

[Anna Ranieri]

I have a female Peking,female khaki, and male khaki


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Just amazes me how all your birds have pristine feathers - not a single feather out of place - a sure sign of how well you take care of them - can see how happy and healthy they are, warms my heart no end!
We recently added two female Khaki Cambell ducklings to our little flock and I've been wondering what they might look like when grown, as I've never seen Khakis before. I love their cute little faces and by the looks of yours they'l pretty much stay the same. Don't get me wrong I love our birds regardless and how they look doesn't come into it, just is that they are such cute looking birds too Yours are lovely.

 

[CannedMonster]

I think you are so brave taking on Cockerels - I absolutely love them, the colours, the crowing, could listen to them crow for hours and never tire of them, I love how they strut around and show themselves but I'd never dare have one - the place I get my bedding and feed from has chickens/ducks/goats which he has open so customers can go see them, one of the Cockerels he has is massive - larger than a small dog I'd say and his colours are magnificent and he has feathers that shine like they were silver, I always go look at him when we go get supplies, he is very friendly and so docile, hes a big hit with most the customers but I wouldn't like to get on the wrong side of him especially the size he is! - May I ask how many chickens you have in total - just curious

I currently have 26.
We decided to send one of our Naked Neck cockerels, Loki, to freezer camp.
It was getting to be too much for me and the older girls.
Loki and Angus were competing with each other and I didn’t realize that at first.
In a natural flock environment it would be extremely unusual to not have a mature rooster or even several.
The older roosters keep young cockerels in line and will not allow them to cause any problems.
But when you’re just starting out with chicks and you buy straight run you’re going to get a few boys.
Even with vent sexing, there’s a 5-15% chance of error.
I started out with 5.
Boys are lots of fun until puberty hits lol. They don’t always get aggressive towards people but they only have one thing on their mind for a while. Some say for the first couple of years.
I kind of knew Angus would be the one because he was the lowest in the pecking order of the 5 boys. Maybe he was higher than Silkie but he was pretty cautious. He looks like he’ll turn out pretty good.

I have a red sex link named Red.
She’s my dominant hen but not a bully.
I have 3 Silver Laced Wyandottes (SLW) that will be going to a friends flock soon as I’m not a fan of the breed. All 3 are bullies.
Those 4 are about a year old this month.
Then I have 3 Naked Necks (NN) at 5 months old.
1 cockerel, Angus
2 pullets, Agatha & Emily
The girls are checking out the nesting boxes and will probably start laying in the next few weeks.
I have 7 bantams of various breeds including my 5 month old partridge Silkie (named Silkie) cockerel who was raised with the NN.
Two of the 6 bantam pullets are adorable Cochins (Pekins) named Cricket (red) and Pippen (buff).
And lastly, I just ordered 13 chicks in the mail in July.
Sadly one of the partridge rocks died so now I have 12.
I’ve also discovered one of my 3 Australorp chicks is a cockerel

So the chicks are:
3 black Australorps
3 Speckled Sussex
2 Partridge Rocks
2 Silver Penciled Rocks
2 Easter Eggers

My goal is to have a large fowl (LF) flock of about 15 birds and a bantam flock also.
I still have some integration to do when the chicks are a bit older.
At that time the Wyandottes will be rehomed and the bantams can go back to sleeping in the prefab coop/run.
Then I’ll have 23 total.

Angus

Agatha

Emily

Silkie

Cricket & Pippin

The babies (4-5 weeks old):

 

[llombardo]

I want to add, what I've decided another female Peking. I just have to find a younger one that is close to the size of mine. I can't do that until I'm done integrating the 4 smaller girls(chickens). It has been the longest integration in the history of integrations. I've been working on this since June. Still some chasing and bickering. Enough that I won't leave them together if I'm not here. Then I have a family of raccoons that are living 25 ft from the enclosure. I put up electric fencing and cut back branches today in one area. While I was putting up the fence I found dried blood and scratch marks by the gate. Thankfully when I put the gate up I left the sharpest hardware cloth extending out, just in case they tried getting in and they did, but they got no where. Instead they got ripped up in the process. So now I test my electric fence every night. Now I need a better option for the top--I have a heavy duty net and I'm putting chimes around the run so that I can hear if they are climbing. It's not easy outsmarting a raccoon. I'm exhausted. I even put vents up on the duck house over the hardware cloth. It's been a crazy month.

Here are the smaller girls

 

[Anna Ranieri]

They got along up until 4 months. They challenged each other and I really didn't want to see anyone hurt, especially myself breaking up a fight. My thoughts are eventually I will have grandkids and when they are between the ages of 3-5 I will let my chickens hatch a couple eggs. If there are boys, I will have a bachelor pad set up and I won't have to worry about finding them homes.

Good plan! I have a grandson he is two years old, we had a bit of jealousy going on at the start, and he took to chasing them any chance he got and would try to kick at them, obviously we wouldn't ever tolerate this behaviour and at one point we seemed to be scolding constantly, but I've been taking him with me every morning to let the birds out and often ask him to help fill their pools and food dishes, which he likes doing and he's gotten a lot better with them, he no longer tries to kick at them, on the odd occasion he'll try chasing them but very rarely now. I understand it was hard for him though, he and his mother (my daughter) live here with me and being the only child has had my full attention from the get go, then all of a sudden these birds appear and he has to share the time and attention he gets - just like sibling rivalry really. Funny thing is though, even after all the chasing and scaring them, they follow him around and like when he plays in his sand pit or digging in the dirt they join in with him. To begin with we only had the two drakes and too chicken hens, we only had one kiddie pool which they all used - and still do - as the drakes got bigger I decided to get a second pool but both were so scared of it they wouldn't go near it even after a week of having it. I tried coaxing them in by putting my hands or feet in it but didn't work, I tried putting treats in it, still no joy so I decided I just leave it hoping they'd come round to it. I continued to clean it and fill it with fresh water even though they'd never used it so's to stop algae forming, and one very hot day I thought it pointless to get out my grandsons pool and fill it when we had this one here not being used so I suggested he play in this one instead and what do you know within a minute both drakes got in with him and have been using it ever since!

 

[llombardo]

So here is a weird one...

I put the small ones into the coop every night. As I'm doing so I always pet them and give them kisses(don't worry I wash my mouth..lol), but I noticed that they smell really good, it's a very clean smell. Almost like they just had a bath. I know I read people say chickens smell not good, but I'm not kidding when I say they literally smell like they were groomed...anyone else got the same thing going on?