Hi, very excited to join, I have a free range flock of about 120 chickens, Black Australorps, Brahmas, Buff Orpingtons, easter eggers and several mixed bantams laying purely for the table. I was lucky enough to find instructions for an incubator using an old fridge as the body, seals fantastically, shelves work well for positioning eggs. we turn by hand and everyone in the family enjoys this chore. So far running for 4 months no problem - about a 92% success rate. I was persuaded by my daughter to buy a Turken about 4 weeks ago and include him in my brooder boxes. Amazing colour black and white patches she has called him bumble. He appears to be a large breed. Think we have some Venda mix in there. I have not seen any others this colour and would love to introduce the colour into my flock. I will post pics of my run so I can maybe get some feed back. The whole flock only sleeps and lays in the run the rest of the time they are free range on two acres with a six foot wall together with four peackocks, two emus, two geese and one female duck. My dream is to keep the size of the Brahmas but introduce the Australorp egg laying ability and size and feather texture of the Buff Orpingtons and the colour of the easter eggers eggs. I guess this will take a long time. Lovely to sit outside and relax with the chickens near sundown. Will post pcs soon. I have desperately been looking for some Black Jersy Giants but no luck here in South Africa. I really envy you guys in America it seems like you just need to order by mail order and get any breed. Lovely to chat speak to you all soon. Kim
Kim, you are correct. It is fairly simple and easy to order many breeds and have them shipped to your home in just a few days time in America. But as with most people, there are always breeds from other areas in the world we desire but cannot get. Your flock is quite larger than the average American back yard flock but a nice size for two acres. I really like the Australorps and Buff Brahmas we have. We had Buff Orpingtons at one time but were not impressed with their egg laying and finally lost all of them to health issues before they were 18 months old. Quote:
