California - Northern

[chrissyr]

It will take me time to hatch and grow the pullets. I wouldn't expect to have any for sale until after Christmas.
You know those are all excellent points. I absolutely hate slow bloomers. What I have are Ameraucana's (black cockerel) with barred rocks to make sex-link EE's. I KNOW those will lay green eggs. If the sex link thing works then I have no worries. The other pen I put a bunch of blue egg layers in was the Swedish flower pen. They are early developers and lay a very light cream egg so the offspring should be blue or green eggs. I'm concerned about late developers though. I'll have to think about it.

The main pen I have some EE girls in and some Speckled Sussex. The 2 cockerels are EE from known sources (AM x with Orp). I was planning to only gather the blue eggs and the SS eggs because they are almost white. Again, the slow developing thing is a problem. Of course, if I'm not planning to start selling until January I could only gather and hatch the eggs from September. Then all my oldest pullets would be the EE's and at 12+ weeks they are usually IDable. I look for the development of fancy feathers. That usually shows up first. So you are right, this solution is not the best and If I use it, I can only gather the EE eggs for Sept and find another egg source for the OCT hatch.

If I could figure out how to do another batch of sex-link EE's then I'd be in great shape! I have 4 barred girls in the AM pen including this lovely gal. She lays a beautiful pistachio green egg - I bred her myself to a BR cock and EE gal. The other 3 girls are BR hens but my AM cockerel has lovely muffs and beard so hopefully the offspring are all nice.





I use a carbon copy hand-write style receipt book. It is easy to find people and I specify things such as age and what they are buying on the tag. IE: 12 wk EE pullet guarantee (means if I'm wrong I replace the bird with one of equal value to what they purchased OR take the original price off of an older pullet which I charge more for) or 10 chicks 1 wk old ST Run. That way I can go back and a) remind them to find their receipt which I told them to keep and b) remind them of what they paid for. It's very helpful. I see so many people that I have actually forgotten entire customer incidents.

I really like your barred EE's. those are some pretty girls!

 

[DoubleMM]

I really like your barred EE's. those are some pretty girls!

While I agree they are pretty, if cacklejoy is sex linking with a black Ameraucana roo and Barred Rock hens, I believe the barred EEs would be male.

 

[chrissyr]

While I agree they are pretty, if cacklejoy is sex linking with a black Ameraucana roo and Barred Rock hens, I believe the barred EEs would be male.

oh i believe you are right. I think this pullet was a barred rock over an EE hen. not sure what the ee hen color was. maybe that's why it's a barred color. sure is pretty though

 

[chrissyr]

I do have a file that has rooster training information in it. Apparently picking him up is not the best thing to do.

that's really good info!

 

[ronott1]

I am just back from picking up UofA pullets. I was supposed to pick up the original hens I sent out there but they were not there. The Rooster was killed a couple of days ago too.

I have one though. They will need some time to get going but it will be nice to have them back here again.

 

[One Chick Two]

In all my reading on chickens one of the things that seems to crop up with roosters is that at about age 2 they go through a change in temperament. This seems to always follow that they will become more aggressive. Not necessarily bat crazy aggressive but even the most sweet roo will occasionally threaten and challenge others. To some extent if the temperament is good to begin with this can be dealt with but often times not. I think this is probably part of that Maturing process you are speaking of. I think in some ways roosters invented the terrible twos. Roosters that eat laying feed can also suffer organ failure around this time too. I think considering both processes are happening around the same time that they may mask each other on occasion.

Aggressive roosters are a real problem that should not be ignored. But, not all older males are doomed to get this problem, and just wanted to touch upon that.

We really like most roosters- but keep only those who are "balanced." Some can be pretty amazing! Right now, we have over 20, with none that have ever been aggressive (one went through a teen phase of biting the hand that feeds him). He stopped as he aged. One other mellow adult rooster "ambassador" tugs on my pantleg and asks to be picked up at the same time each day, goes with me on walks, and even visits in most of the other birds areas. He seems to act like supervising the others is his job. lol There has never been a problem with him with any of the others- they all seem to know what to expect. We are always consistent, calm, mellow and assertive with all of the chickens, not matter what happens- this goes a long way in handling them.

Some breeds can just be high strung, nervous or, very family oriented (broody rooster). There can be docile breeds, and even still, you can still get an aggressive strain, or something that sets off even the most easygoing fellow. You just never know what you're going to get and always need to watch and deal with quick changes in behavior and mood.

But, knowing how much I like these fellows, I would never have them around, unsupervised with small children or anyone or anything that could potentially get hurt if they don't know rooster signs- some, such as fake tidbitting (offering treats as they would to a hen), or dancing around a human (fake wing dance). Both are behavior signs of roosters who need careful monitoring. A balanced rooster just walks away from you when being placed down from being held.

We have many BCM right now, of a few different lines. Our main BCM of our own line, DR, is the sweetest and most mellow male you can ever imagine. He's an 8 lb, smiling, flop over your shoulder type of roo, who got beat up by the 1 3/4 lb bantam when he escaped his pen. lol



The bantam is also nice, but, a protective old cock bird who was doing his job. DR whimpered until he was put back in his area. lol

Here's when they first met.


So, even though DR is sweet, if a little child didn't know when it was time to put him back down after holding him, he might get scratched or flogged by wings...as the rooster might become anxious, nervous and could get upset, so that can never be allowed. Not that the rooster was intentionally being mean, but you have to be able to pay careful attention to their body language, mood, and how balanced they are at every moment, and young children are not usually aware of this, or can monitor when a rooster has his fill, and deal accordingly.

 

[chrissyr]

I am just back from picking up UofA pullets. I was supposed to pick up the original hens I sent out there but they were not there. The Rooster was killed a couple of days ago too.

I have one though. They will need some time to get going but it will be nice to have them back here again.

i really like the uOFa's. sorry you had some losses, but thankfully you have some girls there!

 

[fowlman01]

The Leerburg site is awesome. He pulls no punches and gives straight out facts. He is the only professional trainer I have ever heard publicly point out that the most effective response to a dog attack on a child is to shoot the dog. He is also the first trainer I have heard publicly suggest that if parents don't stop their children from behaving around your animals that it is your RESPONSIBILITY to do so.

Interestingly enough, at the State Fair I watched a mother indulgently watch as her elementary school age kid proceeded to rock a double poultry display cage that held an Egyptian goose on one side and a duck on the other. After watching this, I told her son to stop it since Mama was busy just watching.

Mama proceeded to yell at me for interfering with her son, She informed me that I should have talked to her, not her son,  and there wasn't any problem anyway. She then proceeded to announce that "with your ugly face, I can't imagine anyone wanting to be with you." I suggested that having a tramp stamp the size of Idaho probably made her very popular. I really felt like telling her that ugly trumps stupid any day. In any event, she wished to discuss any and everything other than her child's behavior.

Rather than deal with the fact that shaking a poultry cage back and forth as violently as possible is animal abuse, she arose to defend her little darling rather than correct him. I'm old enough and curmudgeonly enough that I am willing to be "rude" and "offensive" and try to intervene in animal abuse.

I'll bet she'll be defending junior after all of his likely future felony arrests, too.

Thanks for stepping in. The Egyptian goose was mine. Had the goose good out it would not have been good for the child. The latches were not very good.

Walt

 

[The Yakima Kid]

Thanks for stepping in. The Egyptian goose was mine. Had the goose good out it would not have been good for the child. The latches were not very good.

Walt

Anytime.

What shocked me is that this woman just stood there while her kid was busy trying to rock the cage back and forth. She didn't intervene at all.

 

[fowlman01]

That Goose is a bird that I am very careful with myself. Had he came out of the cage the kid and the mom would have been at risk and the cage was not all that secure. I reported after I put him in it that a paper clip was not going to keep him In I guess they fixed the latch after I left. People just don't know what they are dealing with.

Walt