Asha's Avian Addictions

[Asha_Gail]

Mocha on the left and Ginger on the right!

 

[Asha_Gail]

The ducks hanging out down at the pond with the Canada geese at dusk

 

[Asha_Gail]

When someone comes to you and says, "Hey, I found this guy on Facebook. He's selling some ducks and chickens, you interested?" The correct response is not what I responded with, which is, "Pics?"

The gentleman has a mix of ducks, all Mallard breeds. Recently, as much as I love them (with all my heart), I'm trying to stick with just muscovys. So, with the self control of someone normal, I ignore the ducks.

I'm definitely a waterfowl kinda person, however I can be the bigger person and admit it. The chickens have grown on me. Mine don't really have any distinguishable personalities. Still, they're starting to follow me around and its cute. Hence, I'm a little attached. That said, the gentleman has a variety of birds. Adults, juveniles, and chicks. I was ready to turn it down, I'm not ready to pay for more hens when I can hatch them. Then I saw the phoenix pair. Personally I find the long tailed breeds beautiful. However they're not very practical for me. Yet... my dear significant other loves them. So suddenly I was interested.

The pair were not in my budget unfortunately, so I decided to turn them down. That was the end of it.

Until I got the text, "Okay so I have a deal, and don't say no just yet."

So I let them say their peace. The gentleman had been told about my interest in the phoenix pair, as well as my interest in his hatching eggs. The Speckled Sussex in particular as thats a wishlist breed for me. Anyways, the gentleman was kind enough to offer to sell me some hatching eggs from the pair. It was a steal in my mind. Plus some speckled sussex? I was ready to commit.

However there were orpingtons to consider, another wishlist breed of mine.

Now its important to note that the individual who was my broker was actually my mother, who is always on the lookout for birds that could find their next home with me. (Peafowl have been at risk.)

My mother informed me of my Easter Gift (news to me, especially given I am grown) being eggs and demanded that I pick out some more. Alas, I hath suffered the cruel fate of being gifted hatching eggs. Whatever shall I do.

Incubate them. That's what I'll be doing.

Breeds:
- Silver Phoenix
- Speckled Sussex
- Chocolate Orpingtons
- Lavender Orpingtons

(If you're familiar with these breeds let me know about them! I've only ever had bym!)

Plus I'll mix in some of my own eggs to make it a full incubator. Which means I'll be incubating 56 eggs that'll hatch around the same time as my ducklings and when I get my goslings. All while juggling lambing season. What could go wrong! (Look at me, tempting fate like its my favorite pastime.)

I'm admittedly excited, it's been so long since I had hatching eggs from a breeder and this'll be my first chicken eggs from a breeder. Plus it'll be interesting to see how they integrate genetically into my flock.

I wouldn't say I have a particular breeding program for my flock other than I breed barnyard mixes and survival of the fittest is my biggest teacher. Which may mean I have a slight landrace program? I'm not familiar with breeding/genetics though I love reading about them!

My loose goal is to breed some mixed birds with pretty patterns, colors, and eggs. So far I have some really nice birds, one has little hearts but thats a story for another day!

 

[gullinkambe]

56 eggs at once, in the middle of all the other animals? That'll be an experience!
Gorgeous breeds too! I've had buff orpingtons and light sussex and they were both calm and nice. I'm guessing the Phoenixes are kinda skittish and flighty, but they sure are striking birds!

 

[Asha_Gail]

56 eggs at once, in the middle of all the other animals? That'll be an experience!
Gorgeous breeds too! I've had buff orpingtons and light sussex and they were both calm and nice. I'm guessing the Phoenixes are kinda skittish and flighty, but they sure are striking birds!

My hope is that things will be a little calmer but then again, with so many babies on the way I doubt it will be!

I've never had anything "purebred" before, always got hand-me down birds from those who couldn't keep theirs. So I'm excited to see what each breed is like, supposedly the phoenix are flighty but not super skittish which I don't mind since mine free range and while I haven't had a predator problem yet I hope that their cautious nature helps them thrive!

Orpingtons and Sussex have been a want of mine for a while and I've heard the fabled stories of their calm nature. Thoroughly hyped for it! Currently only one of my EEs tolerates my existence as The Bringer Of Snacks so I hope for some friendlies to maybe coerce the rest of my flock into being a little more laid back with me!

 

[Asha_Gail]

Duckies being silly. Lots of tail wags and head bobbing.

Duke, brown
Baron, grey
Iggy, black

Honestly it looked like they were mocking my pekin duck

 

[Asha_Gail]

Thought I'd share my roosters of my flock.

This is Bo, short for Rainbow for which he was named. His dad is Old Man and I haven't the faintest clue who his mother is but he hatched all white as a chick which surprised us! When he feathered in, he got this lovely tricolor scheme hence the name Bo. His shoulders are a lovely firey orange and he's got a cream neck and saddle feathers. Paired with His grey tail and pants it makes for a handsome roo. He's been very well mannered too, takes after his dad. He tidbits for the girls and is very smooth with the ladies, boasting up to 8 hens in his escort!

This is Fire Chicken (creative I know)

Bright red he is and all his black feathers shine a nice deep green! His shoulders are a rich red while his neck and saddle have a firey orange to red. He's my youngest roo and doesn't have his own following of hens, though he likes to try and woo Bo's ladies or Old Man's. Much to their distaste. He's very silly and we love watching him. Currently working on getting more hens so that he can have some ladies to woo all to himself. We are unsure if he is from our flock or another.

This is Old Man.

Old Man is a very busy rooster. He constantly is tidbitting, scratching, or chasing the younger roos. He's at least five but may be older. He's mild tempered with me if not a little avoidant. With the hens he's a ladies man. Very attentive and a good, kind roo. He watches over my whole flock and lords over my young roos, keeping them in line. He's the primary father of all my chicks I hatch, plus, the father of over half my current flock. My prettiest hens have come from him! (In fact, all the hens in his picture are his kin.) He's an Easter Egger, though I'm not entirely sure if thats all he is. He used to have a lot more rust coloring on him, though with age he's gotten more yellow. Still, very handsome.

Behold Goldberg, the dinosaur.

We got Goldberg as an egg from a friend, along with many other eggs, and hatched him out. We aren't really sure what he is exactly but he's part Black Copper Maran. How much so we don't know. He's got fluffy feet, and is easily the largest chicken we have. He's quiet, and keeps mostly to himself. Most of the chickens hatched out from my friends eggs follow him, unsure why though. He's not a bad roo, he just... is a bit too aloof. He tidbits but no one comes. He's got a massive rose(?) comb though and even bigger waddles. He's very fancy. We believe Goldberg and Fire Chicken are half siblings.

 

[Asha_Gail]

View attachment 4317960
This is Fire Chicken (creative I know)

Bright red he is and all his black feathers shine a nice deep green! His shoulders are a rich red while his neck and saddle have a firey orange to red. He's my youngest roo and doesn't have his own following of hens, though he likes to try and woo Bo's ladies or Old Man's. Much to their distaste. He's very silly and we love watching him. Currently working on getting more hens so that he can have some ladies to woo all to himself. We are unsure if he is from our flock or another.

Caught Fire Chicken blocking the coop door to catch hens. He's been very bent on mounting hens from others sub units since he doesn't have one, I've been trying very hard to find some hens for him but I think my tolerance for his poor behavior is gonna break before I find/hatch more hens. The other roos have been good at keeping their ladies well taken care of, but seeing Fire Chicken blocking the door to catch hens mad me quite mad. I put him in Chicken Prison (antique wood crate) till it was dark so that everyone could safely coop for the night. Needless to say, I don't think we'll be keeping him.

A question for anyone who breeds chickens: what's your Roo/Hen ratio?

See now, I cracked an egg to eat and noted that it wasn't fertilized. Currently I follow the 1 roo/10 hens just to keep everything civil. Except... I admit, I'm a lover of handsome roos and after a lot of deliberation I narrowed it down to 4. It was 4/30 but I had to do some culling this winter so I'm under 30 hens currently.

My roos all grew up together, I hatched them. The lead roo, Old Man was not hatched by me. He's well mannered and the other two get along fine. Everyone stays in their lane and at most, some of them do some chasing which I think is pretty normal. (They have acres on acres and plenty of places to hide should they need to, but I've yet to see a determined roo throw in the towel XD)

Anyways, I don't particularly like my ratio at the moment. Still, I saw one of the eggs wasn't fertilized and considering I have more roos than I feel I should need... shouldn't everyone have fertilized eggs? I know they can play favorites, but 4 roos to under 30 hens? Someone should be covering all the bases, no? Is it because the girls are mostly pullets? They've been laying for weeks now, so its not like its all first eggs...

I suppose I just don't want to shoot myself in the foot by selling my 4th roo if I'm already struggling to get all my eggs fertilized. (I plan on hatching the eggs this year, which is why it matters lol)

 

[Asha_Gail]

Fire Chicken post his incarceration.

(I held him by his shanks for his photo op, no roosters were harmed in the taking of these photos, just their pride)