2018 Newbie Chat!

[CannedMonster]

I'd really love at least one Light Sussex, I have messaged the seller and have left a voice mail asking if he still has any available to buy but I haven't heard from him yet, I'm hoping he will get back to me very soon, as I'm going to ask if he will reserve them for me (if he still has any), my daughter wants a coloured hybrid so we figured if available we'll have one of each - I have spoke to a couple of sellers today but none can guarantee the sex - There are a few sexed chickens available but are a 4hr drive away from where I am - When I get the new hens, I'll get my daughter to take a short video and post on here - I'm really excited about getting some new girls but I have been trying for three weeks now and am still no further forward

Can you get older pullets? 3 or 4 months old? So you’re assured of the sex?
With mine, I can usually tell by 2 weeks old which are cockerels as long as they’re breeds with straight combs or rose combs.
Pea combs and Silkies are much harder to tell.
Do the sellers allow you to look at the birds and choose yourself?

 

[CannedMonster]

Ohh I'm so glad Angus is doing so well, sounds strange but I have a soft spot for him, hes a beauty and I too am so proud of him - proud of you too, you keep your flock so well, you too are a good teacher and a good chicken mumma

Thank you Anna. I do try to give them a good life.
I had hoped Angus would turn out to be the one we kept.
He’s still engaging in some harmless silliness but it livens things up around here and gives us a laugh.
He loves to show the girls places where they can nest.
I had heard that roosters will do this but he’s the only one so far that has done this particular behavior.
The funny part is the places he picks are completely unsuitable!
He will crouch down in the spot and make a sound similar but different from the tidbit sound. He’s trying to get the girls to come over and check it out.
Sometimes they do.
One spot is on our deck between the bakers rack I use for plants and our barbecue grill.
Obviously a terrible spot for egg laying

He also loves to do this in our shed on the blade guard for the lawn tractor
Another terrible spot.

The only appropriate place, the nest boxes in the coop, is the one he never shows them lol.
Thankfully the girls know better than him and lay in the nest boxes.
I just hope Agatha & Emily won’t listen to his shenanigans and will lay in the nest boxes too.

Angus does like to chase dear Silkie if he dares to crow but will usually allow it as long as Silkie does it far enough away from where Angus is.
Silkie has become good at keeping an eye on Angus and making a quick get away if he comes roaring after him.

 

[Anna Ranieri]

Can you get older pullets? 3 or 4 months old? So you’re assured of the sex?
With mine, I can usually tell by 2 weeks old which are cockerels as long as they’re breeds with straight combs or rose combs.
Pea combs and Silkies are much harder to tell.
Do the sellers allow you to look at the birds and choose yourself?

Should be able to get pullets, I don't see why not - my current hens are about 4 months so I'd like the new additions to be a little younger, maybe 13/15 weeks, should still be able to tell, I think, don't you?
I'm not sure how it is everywhere else but the sellers I go to allow us to look and to choose which we want, which helps a lot, they let us look at the parents too (or the flock they come from if they've been incubated), I like to see the parents or the flock so's to get some idea of the temperament. My current girls are Pedro who is a RIR Hybrid and Jellybean who is a RIR crossed with Pekin, the flock they come from consists mostly of RIR Hybrid and only a few RIR crossed Pekin, there are approx 40/50 hens and two Roosters - they are so placid, it is a really calm and peaceful flock and our girls are very placid too, so I will be looking for the same with the new girls. I'd love a Silkie but the nearest I've found who sell Silkies is about 100 plus miles away and I can't drive any way - A reason why I wish we had mail order/delivery service here.

 

[CannedMonster]

Should be able to get pullets, I don't see why not - my current hens are about 4 months so I'd like the new additions to be a little younger, maybe 13/15 weeks, should still be able to tell, I think, don't you?
I'm not sure how it is everywhere else but the sellers I go to allow us to look and to choose which we want, which helps a lot, they let us look at the parents too (or the flock they come from if they've been incubated), I like to see the parents or the flock so's to get some idea of the temperament. My current girls are Pedro who is a RIR Hybrid and Jellybean who is a RIR crossed with Pekin, the flock they come from consists mostly of RIR Hybrid and only a few RIR crossed Pekin, there are approx 40/50 hens and two Roosters - they are so placid, it is a really calm and peaceful flock and our girls are very placid too, so I will be looking for the same with the new girls. I'd love a Silkie but the nearest I've found who sell Silkies is about 100 plus miles away and I can't drive any way - A reason why I wish we had mail order/delivery service here.

That’s too bad about the Silkies but I love having calm nice birds.
No bullies for me.
RIR are often aggressive birds but there are some lines that aren’t.
My gold sex link surprised me because I thought she would be the mean one.
I was not expecting it in my Wyandottes but several people on BYC have told me theirs are mean too.
I won’t be getting more Wyandottes after I rehome these three.

Now that is something those of us who order chicks through the mail can’t do...we can’t see the parents and watch the flock.
So there are some pluses to your situation.
Still...waiting on people to call you back before you can get any birds has got to be frustrating.

 

[Anna Ranieri]

Thank you Anna. I do try to give them a good life.
I had hoped Angus would turn out to be the one we kept.
He’s still engaging in some harmless silliness but it livens things up around here and gives us a laugh.
He loves to show the girls places where they can nest.
I had heard that roosters will do this but he’s the only one so far that has done this particular behavior.
The funny part is the places he picks are completely unsuitable!
He will crouch down in the spot and make a sound similar but different from the tidbit sound. He’s trying to get the girls to come over and check it out.
Sometimes they do.
One spot is on our deck between the bakers rack I use for plants and our barbecue grill.
Obviously a terrible spot for egg laying

He also loves to do this in our shed on the blade guard for the lawn tractor
Another terrible spot.

The only appropriate place, the nest boxes in the coop, is the one he never shows them lol.
Thankfully the girls know better than him and lay in the nest boxes.
I just hope Agatha & Emily won’t listen to his shenanigans and will lay in the nest boxes too.

Angus does like to chase dear Silkie if he dares to crow but will usually allow it as long as Silkie does it far enough away from where Angus is.
Silkie has become good at keeping an eye on Angus and making a quick get away if he comes roaring after him.

I actually lol'd reading this, poor Angus tries his best but thank goodness the girls know better lol. I have heard of roosters can be territorial, maybe this is a reason Angus wants the space between himself and Silkie but can't help thinking of a bunch of school kids in the playground when I read this lol. I'm so glad you got to keep Angus, life (and your stories) wouldn't be the same without him

 

[Anna Ranieri]

That’s too bad about the Silkies but I love having calm nice birds.
No bullies for me.
RIR are often aggressive birds but there are some lines that aren’t.
My gold sex link surprised me because I thought she would be the mean one.
I was not expecting it in my Wyandottes but several people on BYC have told me theirs are mean too.
I won’t be getting more Wyandottes after I rehome these three.

Now that is something those of us who order chicks through the mail can’t do...we can’t see the parents and watch the flock.
So there are some pluses to your situation.
Still...waiting on people to call you back before you can get any birds has got to be frustrating.

I hadn't looked at it like that, you are right it is an advantage, you are right about it being frustrating too - I'm like you, I want a peaceful flock, I don't want bullies either. I got Cherry Valley duck hens for my drakes a while back, I hadn't seen the flock that time, nor chose them, I took the word of the seller about them being placid and my daughter and her partner fetched them for me - they are renowned for being placid but these two were awful, I get that they were scared but they were awful, they attacked our boys, and went for the chickens, hissed at our birds without our birds having even moved a feather, our birds were so scared they took to hiding and wouldn't come out of the bushes to forage - So we gave them back to the seller and got our money back - it took me over a week to regain our birds confidence again. I made up my mind that from now on I'd only buy from flocks I've seen and choose the birds ourselves - got Khaki Campbells now, all is calm, everyone gets on and there's no bullying - they sorted out the pecking order very quickly, and I want it to stay this way - I totally get why you had to get rid of Loki - birds can't be enjoyed if there is discord, fighting and bullying going on and the birds don't get to show their full personalities either. I've found a lot can be said of the flock the birds come from.

 

[CannedMonster]

I actually lol'd reading this, poor Angus tries his best but thank goodness the girls know better lol. I have heard of roosters can be territorial, maybe this is a reason Angus wants the space between himself and Silkie but can't help thinking of a bunch of school kids in the playground when I read this lol. I'm so glad you got to keep Angus, life (and your stories) wouldn't be the same without him

Since Angus and Silkie were raised together, this is why Angus tolerates him.
As long as Silkie doesn’t challenge Angus or try to breed Angus’ hens, all should be well.
I had heard that the Alpha roo won’t let any subordinates crow or breed.
My friend Kat has many chickens and several roosters.
She says that because she has so many females, they just pick a rooster they like and follow him and breed with him.

I’m hoping this is how it will go with Angus and Silkie.
Except the hens picking the roo part.
Kat told me that if I put Silkie and the 6 bantam pullets in the prefab coop, don’t let them out for at least a week, when I do let them out they should be bonded to Silkie as their rooster.

Right now Silkie likes to stay close to Agatha and Emily because he was raised with them too and they are closer to laying than the bantams are. So they’re more sexually mature and he occasionally will try to breed them but the want nothing to do with it and can easily dump him off.
Actually...he can’t even get on lol!
He doesn’t follow Aggie and Emily if Angus is around, however.

He has sometimes tried to breed the bantam pullets but they run because they’re really not ready yet.

I’ve realized all this is so much easier if you have lots of hens that are already laying.
Of course, they’re not going to just let some young cockerel breed them just because he wants to.
Usually they will teach him manners first.

 

[Anna Ranieri]

Since Angus and Silkie were raised together, this is why Angus tolerates him.
As long as Silkie doesn’t challenge Angus or try to breed Angus’ hens, all should be well.
I had heard that the Alpha roo won’t let any subordinates crow or breed.
My friend Kat has many chickens and several roosters.
She says that because she has so many females, they just pick a rooster they like and follow him and breed with him.

I’m hoping this is how it will go with Angus and Silkie.
Except the hens picking the roo part.
Kat told me that if I put Silkie and the 6 bantam pullets in the prefab coop, don’t let them out for at least a week, when I do let them out they should be bonded to Silkie as their rooster.

Right now Silkie likes to stay close to Agatha and Emily because he was raised with them too and they are closer to laying than the bantams are. So they’re more sexually mature and he occasionally will try to breed them but the want nothing to do with it and can easily dump him off.
Actually...he can’t even get on lol!
He doesn’t follow Aggie and Emily if Angus is around, however.

He has sometimes tried to breed the bantam pullets but they run because they’re really not ready yet.

I’ve realized all this is so much easier if you have lots of hens that are already laying.
Of course, they’re not going to just let some young cockerel breed them just because he wants to.
Usually they will teach him manners first.

I think I may have seen that type of set up in action, what I mean is the guy we get our pet supplies from who has chickens of his own but are accessible to the public - just to enjoy - I'd say he has at least 30/40 hens he has three roosters all in the same pen, two are massive they are the Arnold Schwarzenegger of all chickens and they stand almost as tall as my grandson who is two - the other rooster is rather puny in comparison and seems to have a small flock of hens who stay with him all the time while all the others stay with the other two roosters, the Schwarzenegger roos mingle together as do their ladies but the other roo seems to be on his own with his ladies, sort of like a sub-flock within a flock - I wonder if its like it would be with your Angus and Silkie, once you have Silkie bonded with his own ladies.

 

[PNW_Peepers]

Well, after everyone laid their eggs today. This is what I managed to gather for broody to hatch. Of course most my blue layers took a break today. Clementine my splash Ameraucana decided to be one of those free loaders.

3 Blue Ameraucana eggs & 1 Welsummer egg. Leaving me with the possibility of hatching 3 bbs Ameraucana and 1 Olive Egger.

 

[RustyBucketFarmGirl]

Omg! My white leghorn snowy angel laid her first egg!! my first egg for my first flock. I only had to wait 17 weeks ;-)

Now just waiting on the other 9!