California - Northern

[MossyoakLane]

HAHA, MArio is crushed when your kids don't give the chickens names with at least 8 syllables!
we wont tell him tell he gets home...

Funny, my daughter just asked if she could give the chickens last names. She had a list already......Fluffy bottoms, Ruffle Butt, etc..... I told her to go for it.

 

[lizanne]

Deerling's comment about her Banties being not really a part of the rest of the flock made me think. I don't have them because I wanted BIG fluffy chickens and had read that Banties sometimes need their own coops. I plan to have a retired hen pen as my girls age out of productivity and Della is a problematic layer and I would never get rid of her because of it so I totally get having chickens that don't have an obvious use just because they make you happy. So is that why people have Banties? Just because having pretty little mini chickens makes you smile? (which is an absolutely valid reason) Or is there something I am missing.

It's like quail, I didn't know why people hatched them unless it was to set them free in their yard but now I know that their eggs have added benefits and that people raise them for meat too. Educate me please

I have all sized chickens in my flock, from tiny D'uccles to my LF Cochin. I've never had any problems with them not getting along. That being said, there is something about a big fat hen that I love. At this point if I had a choice between Bantam or LF of the same breed I would get the big one. I would probably have a whole flock of Cochins, if they laid bigger eggs....

 

[lizanne]

No offense made to Deb in the least, but we clearly have a different definition of "lovable". I'd better watch it or Deb will send me "surprise" eggs.

 

[gryeyes]

Deerling's comment about her Banties being not really a part of the rest of the flock made me think. I don't have them because I wanted BIG fluffy chickens and had read that Banties sometimes need their own coops. I plan to have a retired hen pen as my girls age out of productivity and Della is a problematic layer and I would never get rid of her because of it so I totally get having chickens that don't have an obvious use just because they make you happy.  So is that why people have Banties?  Just because having pretty little mini chickens  makes you  smile? (which is an absolutely valid reason)  Or is there something I am missing. 

It's like quail, I didn't know why people hatched them unless it was to set them free in their yard but now I know that their eggs have added benefits and that people raise them for meat too.  Educate me please

I have all sized chickens in my flock, from tiny D'uccles to my LF Cochin.  I've never had any problems with them not getting along.  That being said, there is something about a big fat hen that I love.  At this point if I had a choice between Bantam or LF of the same breed I would get the big one.  I would probably have a whole flock of Cochins, if they laid bigger eggs....  

Well, I am the same: all sizes in my flock. Also with a preference for the biggest, fluffiest birds (although I dearly love Alice, my 3 year old Silver Sebright). And third, I have one Cochin and I want more just like her!

 

[Chickengirl1304]

I just picked up my gold laced orpington and jubilee orpington hatching eggs today, and oh my I didn't realiz how humongous they are! They're even more fluffy and beautiful then I thought. Pictures just don't do them justice. Well anyways I am VERY excited to set them tomorrow when my gold laced brahmas arrive

 

[Hangtown Farms]

Hmmm. Should I take the heat lamp off out babes? They're in the garage in a "chicken playpen" inside a garage. The two from Candy are the eldest at.... I think almost 5 weeks? Everyone else is a week behind them, but out Blue Mystery is still a lot smaller than everyone else and doesn't have all her feathers, neither does our English Orp. Hmmmm, maybe give them another couple weeks?

how many do you have? I have 12 together so a few snuggle and the rest roost. If you have 5 or 6 you should be fine. mine are fully feathered and our a ok

No offense made to Deb in the least, but we clearly have a different definition of "lovable". I'd better watch it or Deb will send me "surprise" eggs.

 

[Deerling]

I have all sized chickens in my flock, from tiny D'uccles to my LF Cochin. I've never had any problems with them not getting along. That being said, there is something about a big fat hen that I love. At this point if I had a choice between Bantam or LF of the same breed I would get the big one. I would probably have a whole flock of Cochins, if they laid bigger eggs....

I love the big fluffy ones, too! I can't wait to get some English Orpingtons from Deann and I love love love the Cochins and Brahmas. That's why I must

 

[Hangtown Farms]

ok just unpacked 15 silver ameraucana eggs . changed the wafer in the bator and will let the eggs set tonight. tomorrow am in they go

 

[tommysgirl]

haha I love that story! I think our chicks believe we're the gobblers, too. They're in that stage.
hahaha oh no! Well... hmm. Maybe I'll have to get more creative for them, I hate to disappoint. We did name one of the little babies we hatched Pompadour. There's three for him

. Does he have any good suggestions?



This is Pompadour

Pompadour is the perfect name You could make it 8 syllables by attaching " Sir" to the front and "of ___________" to the end

I just picked up my gold laced orpington and jubilee orpington hatching eggs today, and oh my I didn't realiz how humongous they are! They're even more fluffy and beautiful then I thought. Pictures just don't do them justice. Well anyways I am VERY excited to set them tomorrow when my gold laced brahmas arrive

Yay!!!! Best of luck with your hatch! Gold/Buff chickens are a requirement. There are hatchery BOs at the feed store...I may be able to sneak a couple into the mix undetected this weekend

Thanks for all the Bantam info. Do the little girls lay at the same rate as the bigs? When I was little we had a variety of Bantams and a single LF white girl...I am assuming she was a Leghorn. Her name was Shirley and she was my pet. Carted her around in the doll buggy on a daily basis and she went to sleep. Anyway the Bantams didn't like a 6 year old handling them...go figure... and maybe that is why I have the LF attraction. But if you can have twice as many maybe I will become a convert

 

[GallusGirl]

I keep banties, they're my favorite! I've had them (on and off) since I was a little girl. I had a RIR for a while as a kid, but she always seemed like she had less personality than my crazy little banties (it might have been the individual RIR hen, she was a hand-me-down farm hen and wasn't well socialized). Regardless, I love that I can easily carry banties around and put them on a shoulder. The small ones fit so nicely in the palm of a hand or the crook of an arm!The hen I had when I was little (Sebright & d'Uccle cross) always got treated like a teddy bear; I would literally set her in the doll house on my doll-sized wicker furniture, pour a little doll-sized teacup worth of water for her and set some berries or grass on a Barbie-doll plate, and I swear that hen would just sit there eating and drinking happily. Maybe I just keep banties for the sake of nostalgia!
I also like having smaller eggs, because I don't go through eggs all that quickly. Plus smaller chickens = less mess, less feed, and smaller holes in the garden!

Deerling's comment about her Banties being not really a part of the rest of the flock made me think. I don't have them because I wanted BIG fluffy chickens and had read that Banties sometimes need their own coops. I plan to have a retired hen pen as my girls age out of productivity and Della is a problematic layer and I would never get rid of her because of it so I totally get having chickens that don't have an obvious use just because they make you happy. So is that why people have Banties? Just because having pretty little mini chickens makes you smile? (which is an absolutely valid reason) Or is there something I am missing.

It's like quail, I didn't know why people hatched them unless it was to set them free in their yard but now I know that their eggs have added benefits and that people raise them for meat too. Educate me please