California - Northern

[chickee]

To those in the foothill. Anyone have any blue copper Maran eggs or pullets? Or know anyone that might? I have a broody silkie right now and lost my Maran to a predator. :0(
Thanks in advance.

You might try PMing Harris5. She has blue copper, black copper and cuckoo Marans

She is near Colfax.

 

[debs_flock]

How do you like your Isbars? I am getting hatching eggs shipped to me that I won in a Swap and no nothing about them. They do sound interesting. How are their temperaments?

I like the birds well enough, the hens are a little stand-offish and I've never seen any sign of aggression from the boys.

Mine have not been consistent layers. They are currently taking a break while molting, but they have not been daily layers. Their eggs are small compared to the size of the bird in my opinion. They aren't a huge bird, but I think comparatively my lakenvelder & campine lay a larger egg and are about the same size. The lak & cam of course are also daily layers. Personally, I like the color of the isbar egg (mossy green/brown speckles), but I've seen some people refer to it as muddy looking.

There have also been people having problems with vitality, probably because of the small gene pool. I did lose a couple of chicks when they were young, but haven't had a problem since.

Overall I enjoy them because I like the look of the bird.

 

[lawatt]

How do you like your Isbars? I am getting hatching eggs shipped to me that I won in a Swap and no nothing about them. They do sound interesting. How are their temperaments?

for what it's worth, i only have a few (and their numbers are dwindling fast due to the bobcat lately!), but i absolutely love them -- they have lovely quiet temperaments, they are *gorgeous* birds (i've discovered i particularly love chicken breeds that have dark eyes), and their eggs are so pretty. i just got a dozen eggs yesterday to attempt to hatch in my new incubator, and they're incredibly beautiful shades of green and green/blue -- i'll have to photograph when i get home.

 

[lawatt]

Try grass hay and top that with shavings. The hay makes it harder to kick the shavings out. When they scratch the shavings go under the hay. I have one coop of girls that have OCD and are determined to kick all bedding out of nest. They hay lasts longer.

i'm convinced eggs stay cleaner with shavings than with straw -- my neighbors have straw in their nesting boxes and their eggs are always a bit grungier than mine. but maybe they just have messy chickens.

 

[lawatt]

What I wonder about, is if wildlife adapts or changes or knows how the people in their environment feel about living with wildlife. I know in your area and Morgan Hill, most people in rural areas feel like you do. They want to live in harmony with wild animals and won't harm them. In contrast, my area is also very rural with wildlands and lots of predators ie bears, mountain lions etc. The difference is that the people here will shoot to kill with no hesitation. I know people in Morgan Hill have mountain lions coming right into their rural yards during the day and you hear about bear troubles elsewhere. But here, no such thing. The animals are here but they stay out of sight and usually people do not have problems. I wonder if the animals know whether or not people will shoot, in different regions?

unquestionably, wildlife becomes habituated to local conditions -- so if people = loud guns & danger, they'll respond differently than if people = cameras and/or snacks.

my place also backs up onto a nature preserve (owned by my school) and a large state park, where hunting isn't allowed -- so our local wildlife doesn't get a lot of negative feedback from humans (except for dodging cars on Petaluma Hill Rd!) -- whereas a lot of the non-farmland in your area, Kim, is probably BLM land where hunting IS allowed. critters learn stuff pretty fast.

and i'm not so sure many people in my immediate area share my perspective on trying to control local wildlife or not -- but i also happen to be a professor of environmental studies (particularly an environmental historian), so i know a bit more about both local ecology & history than most do, and while i absolutely don't expect everyone to share my views, i do try to articulate WHY i've decided to behave as i do, out of habit if nothing else.

 

[Nikon]

Grrr. Got up this morning to find Brawny the Orp "fenced" off with a piece of scrap fence inbetween the run and the garden with no water and no feed. Apparently the grandmother decided that he wasn't letting any of the other chickens out of the coop and was being a bully and it was animal cruelty to leave a mean rooster in the pen with the pullets. Not happy.

The three roosters that we have are decidedly NOT mean. They're just roosters.

 

[Grandmas Basket]

Hi all.

Keeping up with this thread is educational and fun. Some days it is a challenge to even read fast enough. My hubby and son are off to Burning Man Sunday so I'll have more 'me" time and that these days means catching up on posts. I'm sorry to read about losses. The photos are always amazing. I'm particularly drawn to the photos of eggs - any one would make a great framed print!

After weeks of my girls looking pretty much unchanged, Inga and Tilly are finally getting larger combs. Ting remains pretty much unchanged to date. I got all 3 from Miss Molly and they are within days of each other in age. They are around the 19 week mark. No eggs yet. I put a little straw in their nest not long ago and they totally scattered it around the coop and run. I'm going to remove it as I don't want any future mold issues. They'll have to do with sand (also in their run and working out very well). I am going to spend a bit of time in September taking care of my other joy, my almost two year old granddaughter, Mira. I can confess here to being a bit torn going off on grandma duty. The downside is I really I don't want to miss the first egg experience

. The best of all possible worlds would be if Mira could come to stay with me, but that isn't an option. Jack has promised to check for eggs daily and photograph any action. I'll only be away 4 days at a time for a couple of weeks. Each day I tell the girls they need to get busy! I put a wooden egg in the nest box for inspiration, too!!!

Below is a photo taken a couple of days back. Very hard to get them to pose together these days. They love to come into the coop and belly up to the bar when I open the rear door to clean up. They've trained me to offer treats at this location - works for me as no bending over involved

.

 

[Nikon]

Nice pictures Nikon!

And good luck with the place Linda!

Thanks! Love "shooting" chickens.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Quote:
For the chickens. The lady I get my goat's milk from sprouts them for her chickens. they sprout in about 18 hours. She's out too and wants more, so I'm looking on a bulk load that we can share. She got a bunch of grains from someone that stored them for Y2K and has been feeding the grains to her flocks.

 

[Ali707]

Grrr. Got up this morning to find Brawny the Orp "fenced" off with a piece of scrap fence inbetween the run and the garden with no water and no feed. Apparently the grandmother decided that he wasn't letting any of the other chickens out of the coop and was being a bully and it was animal cruelty to leave a mean rooster in the pen with the pullets. Not happy.

The three roosters that we have are decidedly NOT mean. They're just roosters.

Lol! Better your granny than mine. Mine would be getting an earful right now. Respectfully of course. I respect my elders. But still. Not cool!

How long had he been there with no water? Just over night? Mine don't get any water overnight either.