California - Northern

[Hangtown Farms]

Yay! Sending good hatching vibes your way!

Did you trade eggs with Jerry? Hope the eggs you sent make it safely too!

yes. if not I will send him more.

 

[ronott1]

These aren't great pics but any chick pic is a cute pic, right?!

The first two pics are of my first 2 Am Bresse chicks to hatch from my breeding trio along with the 4 RIR chicks that I got from Ron to keep the Bresse company. I'm thinking that the RIR's are 2 boys and 2 girls. What do you think, Ron?





These are my newest babies. They are 5 days old today. There are 9 Bresse chicks, 2 blue Langshans, 2 black Langshans, and 1 white Langshan that I can't tell apart from the Bresse at this age. I had just moved them into a bigger brooder and they are not sure it is safe!



Edited to add that the white Langshan does not have leg feathering which is why I can't tell it apart from the Bresse. Both get darker legs but the Langshan's should be a little darker and the Langshan should also keep dark eyes. I thought that I was safe hatching a few Langshans in the same container as the Bresse because of the feathered legs. I think that I won't do that again!

You may be right about two Cockerels. It is very hard to tell at three weeks but one is definitely a Boy.

The chicks are so cute!

Very pretty!!! I love the different colors! It makes for such a fun egg basket!

I gave a dozen to the neighbor and she asked me how I had so many colors! It is really a pretty egg basket for sure.

 

[mendocinosunris]

Ahhhh.... Now I need to install a radio inside the coop.

http://www.classicfm.com/music-news/latest-news/classical-music-makes-hens-lay-larger-eggs/

"But when he began playing the works of Mozart, Bach and Strauss in the hen houses, he noticed a remarkable change in the size of eggs they were laying."

When I was a kid, dad used to always play the radio in the barn when we were milking cows. They (the cows) became real music snobs. They hated country, thought classical was "meh", and loved rock. Go figure.

Quote:
spotted skunk?? you mean there's yet another predator to watch out for? sheesh. And I was just getting used to the foxcoyotebobcatlionbearraccoonskunksnakepossumweasel blend we have here.

 

[mendocinosunris]

Yup. Add spotted skunk to the list. Pshaw.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_spotted_skunk

 

[tommysgirl]

woo hoo! I can't wait til my girls start laying! Is there a way to help "grow up" a group of 13 week olds? Maybe have them watch 'old yeller'? It sure aged me a bit at the end. ....

or read them Judy Bloom books. That very first egg is exciting! My first to lay was my Red Star Vivian. She lays a large to JUMBO egg nearly every day serioulsy she maybe has skipped 3 or 4 sdays since she started.

 

[MossyoakLane]

spotted skunk?? you mean there's yet another predator to watch out for? sheesh. And I was just getting used to the foxcoyotebobcatlionbearraccoonskunksnakepossumweasel blend we have here.

There are also badgers, Wolverines (in some areas), Ring tail cats (we always called them civet cats), Mink, and Fishers.
Oh My.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Never heard of the spotted skunk. It looks strange.

Ron - my wellie/ameraucana hens lay a green egg like those on the right. They are both fantastic layers.

lizanne - congrats on the new egg!


Some drama and excitement last night. First, the excitement: My Icelandic broody hatched out 2 olive eggers (a blue and a splash), a welsummer and a barnevelder. 2 eggs still left under her, but I'm not sure if they are going to do anything - need to candle them later. Now the drama: my dog and I treed a bunch of raccoons last night. I went out to do my usual chicken nightly routine of closing windows, counting heads, etc and heard strange noises and something scampering through the oak leaves. My dog went nuts, she was running from tree to tree and tracking their scent. I shined a flashlight in the trees and saw their beady little eyes looking back at me. Hopefully they got the message that they are not welcome here.

 

[PetRock]

Some drama and excitement last night. First, the excitement: My Icelandic broody hatched out 2 olive eggers (a blue and a splash), a welsummer and a barnevelder. 2 eggs still left under her, but I'm not sure if they are going to do anything - need to candle them later. Now the drama: my dog and I treed a bunch of raccoons last night. I went out to do my usual chicken nightly routine of closing windows, counting heads, etc and heard strange noises and something scampering through the oak leaves. My dog went nuts, she was running from tree to tree and tracking their scent. I shined a flashlight in the trees and saw their beady little eyes looking back at me. Hopefully they got the message that they are not welcome here.

Hopefully, the presence of your dog will discourage them from taking up residence! Before we got our dog, we had raccoons in our suburban yard almost nightly. Monet would get freaked out at their eyes shining in the dark. One night we went out to do our nightly check and saw 5 sets of eyes up in our cedar trees! My guess is that they were raccoon teenagers out partying!

 

[OR4-hmom]

Our neighbor's dog hates racoons. He will bark all night under the tree he ran it up. I think they have learned that our dogs are inside at night and hang out here at night instead. So far no losses, but nightly head counts are a must.

Other than the smell, I don't mind the skunks. They have been digging up the yellowjacket nests. Hope my luck continues and I don't have a skunk/dog party.

 

[tommysgirl]

I know that those of you with big/ginormous flocks probably don't name everyone in them but Chiquita's poultry names crack me up and I am looking for a bit of inspiration for my names for both my OE's and My Dorking. My OE is from Deann and is CPxCL. This is a pic of an adult taken from the Just Struttin website and it shows what she will look like when she is grown. Any thoughts?


and here is a pick of an SGD pullet I took from the Star Rose Ranch website


I have several flower/herb names in this group of chicks...Petunia, Rosie, Angelica and Rue but also Blanche, Theresa, Harriet etc.