2018 Newbie Chat!

[BBZZZZTT]

@PNW_Peepers Woohooo! First egg! I can't wait!

I've been letting my chickens get some free range time when I get home from work. Today they were running around and bumping chests. I think Elsa is on the bottom, she gets chased around. Belle and Moana will puff out their chest if someone else runs up to them. Nala and Kida do most of the initiating, so I think it's between those two who's on top. Lilo just continues to yell at me for treats.

Sorry I've been a little absent! Wedding is next month. Lots to do

by the way, I think I timed this perfectly. While I'm out of town for the wedding, everyone who would normally pet-sit for me will also be out of town, so the chickens will be on their own for a few days. They won't be laying yet, and they are already self sufficient enough in their coop/run to be left alone for a weekend.

 

[PNW_Peepers]

@BBZZZZTT Your wedding? Congrats!!!! How awesome that your free ranging when you can! I’m not brave enough, aside from my window breaking escapee’s no one has been on the green grass! I don’t think I could keep track of them all, my second group hatched on feb 5th are like feral cats. Hopefully all goes wonderfully when your out of town at least you can check on them with that handy video monitor you have on them.

 

[BBZZZZTT]

@BBZZZZTT Your wedding? Congrats!!!! How awesome that your free ranging when you can! I’m not brave enough, aside from my window breaking escapee’s no one has been on the green grass! I don’t think I could keep track of them all, my second group hatched on feb 5th are like feral cats. Hopefully all goes wonderfully when your out of town at least you can check on them with that handy video monitor you have on them.

Yeah that's why I've left it up! Yeah 6 is not a whole lot to keep track of. Usually I can get some of them back in the run with scratch and then there are a few stragglers. Or Moana gets stuck on the outside of the run and can't remember where the door is xD

I get home from work later in the evening, so I figure maybe less chance of hawks out, and if I can't wrangle them all into the run they'll be going back for bedtime soon anyway

 

[Cbarr00]

Omg y'all! So here in Texas we have had a couple of severe thunderstorms already. It kicked our central air out due to a surge! So we've been hitting triple digits most days and here I am 7 months pregnant. Let's just say I'm cranky! Lol. So we slept in our kids play room that has big windows (facing the coop) and two ceiling fans to keep cool! This morning at 6:30 Dwight woke us up with his crowing then Casper tried to follow suit and wasn't quite as impressive. It was more like a scream. Dwight has like a three step crow. So you know for sure that's a rooster crowing. I'm wondering how long until Casper catches up to him. Our two reds have yet to make a peep but once when Dwight crowed right next to Big Red he gave Dwight a peck on the head. Guess he had enough. Lol.

@BBZZZZTT Congrats on the upcoming nuptials!

 

[PNW_Peepers]

Well I’m not sure who’s laying in my group of girls now. I have three
Different colored eggs, first one was laid a few days ago and is blue. Second was found today around noon and is green. Last was found twenty min ago and is brown with speckles. I have 2 EE, 2 Barred Rocks, & 2 Blue Ameraucana all at 21 weeks that could be laying.

 

[Cbarr00]

Well I’m not sure who’s laying in my group of girls now. I have three
Different colored eggs, first one was laid a few days ago and is blue. Second was found today around noon and is green. Last was found twenty min ago and is brown with speckles. I have 2 EE, 2 Barred Rocks, & 2 Blue Ameraucana all at 21 weeks that could be laying. View attachment 1396193

I love the different colored eggs! I can't wait to add more breeds in a couple years. We only have brown layers right now.

 

[PNW_Peepers]

I love the different colored eggs! I can't wait to add more breeds in a couple years. We only have brown layers right now.

My next round of pullets born on Feb 5th include chocolate, & pink layers. One day I’ll breed the Welsummer to my Ameraucana and I’ll have olive Eggers too! The only thing I don’t have is white layers. I was told they do horribly in my climate, to not even bother with them in fact. I can’t wait to see my variety though as I’m sure each brown and blue layer will have their individual characteristics!

 

[CannedMonster]

My next round of pullets born on Feb 5th include chocolate, & pink layers. One day I’ll breed the Welsummer to my Ameraucana and I’ll have olive Eggers too! The only thing I don’t have is white layers. I was told they do horribly in my climate, to not even bother with them in fact. I can’t wait to see my variety though as I’m sure each brown and blue layer will have their individual characteristics!

Don’t Polish lay white eggs?
I think Polish are cute but I feel bad that their vision is compromised.
I really want to get a couple of Silver Gray Dorking.
They lay an off white egg. Kind of cream colored I guess.
They have fairly large combs but short legs.
It’s funny but I haven’t been bitten by the egg color bug yet.
I’m still all about the colors of my birds and their temperament and how well they lay.
I eat eggs daily so I want to be sure I have enough even in winter.
There’r breeds I want to try but due to limited space I’ll have to wait until some stop laying or I get rid of them.
It’s funny that I even have SLW because I didn’t want them but I had chick fever so bad and that’s the last chicks they had at TS at the end of August.
One of them is becoming quite the bully.

 

[PNW_Peepers]

I believe polish do lay white eggs. I’m obsessed with egg color. Temperament and being dual purpose was big on my list. I’m also a sucker for heritage pure breeds. The fact that hybrids give their all for a couple years then give out kinda broke my heart so I was immediately opposed to sex links. I ended up with quite the mix because of that though! I had three blue laced red wyandottes for a few weeks and I gave them to a friend due to the bullying behavior I witnessed. Hopefully yours settles down!

 

[CannedMonster]

So guys, the 3rd night’s the charm!!
All my biggies walked into the new coop on their own tonight!
It’s so much bigger than the prefab that I think they don’t know what to do with themselves lol.
And of course Red has to roost in one of the nesting boxes
I guess I could block them all off except one...they all lay in the same one anyway even though there are four.

The littles did better too but they still won’t go into the prefab from the run on their own.
When it starts getting dark they get very noisy; peeping and pacing along the runs fence.
They become terrified if I put them in the coop because it’s darker in there.
So I rigged a flashlight to shine on the upper wall so they could see better.
I turn it off after they’ve been in there for about 15-20 minutes.
I also opened both doors to the coop during the day so they could go in and check it out.
I put each chick in and several of them went ahead and stayed in there voluntarily while I got the rest.
We’re making progress!

P. S. The mean brown cockerel Conan got taken down a peg today by my sex link Red.
He ran up to her and bit her! The nerve of that chick lol!