California - Northern

[HighStreetCoop]

Run expansion installed!

 

[KernH]

Run expansion installed!

Wow! A professional looking job. Lucky chickens. Kern

 

[fowlman01]

Do you have lots of trees? Or great insulation?
our house heats up pretty fast here. going to try for an attic fan and some other ways to help stay cool

the last few days the family room is about 85. We do have a lot of trees.

 

[Sylvester017]

I don't either, and for the first time in my life I'm starting to regret it. I tried a window AC last month. It was too loud. I couldn't sleep, thus defeating the purpose of having it in the first place. I'm thinking about installing a Breeze mini-split. It's expensive (though not as expensive as central air, which my 1916 bungalow isn't built for), but if this is the new normal, I'm going to have to adapt.

I'm in an old farmhouse so let me know how that works if you go that route.

Walt

Everyone has to decide for themselves what to do but here's what happened to us. We had a window A/C in our old 55-yr-old cheap tract house and kept our English Budgerigars in that room because the cheap house was built with a roof but NO attic so the house would get as hot inside as it was outside. Well, the circuitry couldn't handle the 100-degree weather running a fridge/freezer plus room A/C and the wiring started to burn and smoldering smoke stained the drywall. We smelled smoke when we came home and found the den wall smoldering (it wasn't even the room with the A/C in it!!) - it was good we had the door closed so oxygen was cut off and couldn't fuel an all-out fire - TG! That's when we decided it was time to upgrade all the brittle electrical wiring throughout the house, install and update the meter, and re-plumbed all the pipes and added an insulated attic with a new roof. Now we can run two room A/Cs and two fridge/freezers at once without fearing another fire hazard. My safety suggestion is that a dedicated upgraded re-wiring to your A/C alone will be a good safety solution if you can't afford an entire house re-wire. A/Cs and Heaters pull a lot of juice and it is dangerous flowing through old wiring - who knows what rodents have chewed thru wires over the decades in an old house or how much natural deterioration has happened on insulation exposing open hot wires.

 

[Sylvester017]

Well, I raise barnevelders exclusively, so I haven't tried all the breeds out there. I got the three ( one is not pictured) easter eggers for my daughter who " wanted something different". I enjoy the personalities of my Barnevelders.
But, of the five total EEs I've had the personalities were widely different in each bird. Of my current EEs One is super quiet, one is flighty, one is super friendly.

I live up by Redding. It gets hot here. My Barnevelders have adapted over the years mostly through selection of the better heat tolerant indivduals. Who knows what the EEs will do as hatchery birds vary so greatly by strain if you can even call them a strain as varied as they are.

Trisha

i have found that with my BCM...i have had two and they are not my favorites. One of them i named Margaret Thatcher....she had to be rehomed where she does quite well in a very large group. My present one is not mean to everyone she just does NOT like to be handled. I have a welsummer who is shy and also just fine with everyone.

OH, and my flock is very mixed with bantams and standard....

Thanks all for your input/experiences!
I've never had an EE - only an Ameraucana. But my friend had Amer and EEs. And yes, the personalities of the hens are wide and varied from shy to outgoing but one thing my friend and I agreed about these birds is how non-combative and kind they are toward flockmates - they prefer to avoid conflict at all costs. Amer's are nurturing and accept orphaned chicks or injured birds into the flock where other breeds are not so willing. Even my gentle Silkies get combative toward newcomers while the Amer has a live-and-let-live temperament toward newcomers.

I was interested in the very dark egg breeds like Barnies, Wellies, Penes/Empies, and Marans - but most of these breeds are either very heavy dual purpose or else aloof wilder temperament breeds. I was told the Marans were calm so we got a pullet to try and she was the meanest chicken I've ever owned. She was 7-lbs of pure sneaky meanness and upset the entire peace of the flock so she was re-homed with another Marans flock where she continued to be unpleasant but was put in her place. The Barnies are a calm breed also but I fear like the Marans there will be the temptation of a 7 to 8-lb hen to bully smaller gentler littles in our flock. After all - they're chickens and if they can get away with it they WILL lord it over the gentles and aggressively if they choose to. The Wellies are somewhat aloof and Penes/Emps are in the Mediterranean group class so would have the tendency to be less human friendly and possibly even aggressive toward little non-combative gentles.

Many owners have LF and bantam/small breed mixed flocks with success probably because they have the space to allow the gentles to hide from the assertive breeds. In our case, we have a very small cottage yard where it is crucial for our breeds to co-exist non-combatively. After re-homing our overly-assertive Leghorns and mean Marans we have one Ameraucana, one Breda, and two Silkies left and it's been peaceful with these non-combative breeds - less birds and less LF drama! I know Sussex, Barnies, Brahma, Jersey Giant, Dorking, Autralorp, Java, and other gentle giants have basically non-combative natures but their larger size might tempt the gentlest of these giants to lord it over a 2-lb defenseless Silkie (it happened our Marans viciously attacked a 2-lb pullet Silkie and the Legs went bonkers on their flockmates) so we are heeding our past experience to avoid the beautiful Barnie and Wellie and dual purpose RIRs, NHRs, BRs, Orps, Wyans, Sexlinks, etc etc.

I can't be the only owner that's had similar experience. I love so many breeds but had to go through an elimination of temperaments and sizes to make an under-5-lb flock mix of non-combative varieties. On our 25-acre farm a flock of 50 Babcock Leghorns was easy - all one breed and lots of space - but in retirement in our little cottage backyard it is a different experience.

 

[PetRock]

Thanks all for your input/experiences!
I've never had an EE - only an Ameraucana. But my friend had Amer and EEs. And yes, the personalities of the hens are wide and varied from shy to outgoing but one thing my friend and I agreed about these birds is how non-combative and kind they are toward flockmates - they prefer to avoid conflict at all costs. Amer's are nurturing and accept orphaned chicks or injured birds into the flock where other breeds are not so willing. Even my gentle Silkies get combative toward newcomers while the Amer has a live-and-let-live temperament toward newcomers.

I was interested in the very dark egg breeds like Barnies, Wellies, Penes/Empies, and Marans - but most of these breeds are either very heavy dual purpose or else aloof wilder temperament breeds. I was told the Marans were calm so we got a pullet to try and she was the meanest chicken I've ever owned. She was 7-lbs of pure sneaky meanness and upset the entire peace of the flock so she was re-homed with another Marans flock where she continued to be unpleasant but was put in her place. The Barnies are a calm breed also but I fear like the Marans there will be the temptation of a 7 to 8-lb hen to bully smaller gentler littles in our flock. After all - they're chickens and if they can get away with it they WILL lord it over the gentles and aggressively if they choose to. The Wellies are somewhat aloof and Penes/Emps are in the Mediterranean group class so would have the tendency to be less human friendly and possibly even aggressive toward little non-combative gentles.

Many owners have LF and bantam/small breed mixed flocks with success probably because they have the space to allow the gentles to hide from the assertive breeds. In our case, we have a very small cottage yard where it is crucial for our breeds to co-exist non-combatively. After re-homing our overly-assertive Leghorns and mean Marans we have one Ameraucana, one Breda, and two Silkies left and it's been peaceful with these non-combative breeds - less birds and less LF drama! I know Sussex, Barnies, Brahma, Jersey Giant, Dorking, Autralorp, Java, and other gentle giants have basically non-combative natures but their larger size might tempt the gentlest of these giants to lord it over a 2-lb defenseless Silkie (it happened our Marans viciously attacked a 2-lb pullet Silkie and the Legs went bonkers on their flockmates) so we are heeding our past experience to avoid the beautiful Barnie and Wellie and dual purpose RIRs, NHRs, BRs, Orps, Wyans, Sexlinks, etc etc.

I can't be the only owner that's had similar experience. I love so many breeds but had to go through an elimination of temperaments and sizes to make an under-5-lb flock mix of non-combative varieties. On our 25-acre farm a flock of 50 Babcock Leghorns was easy - all one breed and lots of space - but in retirement in our little cottage backyard it is a different experience.

We have 3 Wellies that are friendly and not aggressive towards the other birds. But they are down a ways in the pecking order so maybe that makes a difference. Our friendliest birds are our Pita Pinta. They are medium sized birds and great layers.

 

[Sylvester017]

We have 3 Wellies that are friendly and not aggressive towards the other birds. But they are down a ways in the pecking order so maybe that makes a difference. Our friendliest birds are our Pita Pinta. They are medium sized birds and great layers.

Hi - I've noticed most owners have space to have several birds of the same breed within the flock which makes it nice for the same breeds to "hang out" together. I would love to have 3 or more birds of each breed but I now live in a small cottage with a small yard and zoned for 5 hens only. It makes choosing breeds that get along without a same-breed companion in the flock a bit more challenging for us. We've given up on dark egg layers because we haven't found the owner feedback on them very encouraging as far as mixing their large heavyweight bodies with gentle under-5-lb flockmates. Our 7-lb Marans aggressively and viciously took advantage of the 2-lb Silkies. Even our Leghorns eventually went bonkers on their flockmates too.

Wellies feedback to me is that they were a bit aloof toward humans and usually somewhere in the middle of the pecking order. I worried these 6-lb hens as the largest hen in the flock would take advantage of the gentle 2-lb Silkies just because they could get away with it. Barnies are reportedly calm birds but a 7 to 8-lb bird around smaller gentles could be tempted to lord it over them too - it seems to be a chicken thing! I won't consider Penes/Emps around Silkies because the Mediterranean types can be a bit aloof with humans and like Leghorns be assertive toward smaller breeds. I love all these breeds but have to face limitations in my backyard choices.

Yes, I have been reading some very nice things about the Pita Pintas. Do you know their breed history?

 

[attimus]

@Sylvester017
I have a mixed flock with several wyndottes and the two different colors tend to stick together. But for me it seems more about age and space, different sets of purchace or hatches spread out although all 26 or so free range share under the porch on hot days with no qualms.
Attimus

 

[Happy Chooks]

Thanks all for your input/experiences!
I've never had an EE - only an Ameraucana. But my friend had Amer and EEs. And yes, the personalities of the hens are wide and varied from shy to outgoing but one thing my friend and I agreed about these birds is how non-combative and kind they are toward flockmates - they prefer to avoid conflict at all costs. Amer's are nurturing and accept orphaned chicks or injured birds into the flock where other breeds are not so willing. Even my gentle Silkies get combative toward newcomers while the Amer has a live-and-let-live temperament toward newcomers.

I was interested in the very dark egg breeds like Barnies, Wellies, Penes/Empies, and Marans - but most of these breeds are either very heavy dual purpose or else aloof wilder temperament breeds. I was told the Marans were calm so we got a pullet to try and she was the meanest chicken I've ever owned. She was 7-lbs of pure sneaky meanness and upset the entire peace of the flock so she was re-homed with another Marans flock where she continued to be unpleasant but was put in her place. The Barnies are a calm breed also but I fear like the Marans there will be the temptation of a 7 to 8-lb hen to bully smaller gentler littles in our flock. After all - they're chickens and if they can get away with it they WILL lord it over the gentles and aggressively if they choose to. The Wellies are somewhat aloof and Penes/Emps are in the Mediterranean group class so would have the tendency to be less human friendly and possibly even aggressive toward little non-combative gentles.

Many owners have LF and bantam/small breed mixed flocks with success probably because they have the space to allow the gentles to hide from the assertive breeds. In our case, we have a very small cottage yard where it is crucial for our breeds to co-exist non-combatively. After re-homing our overly-assertive Leghorns and mean Marans we have one Ameraucana, one Breda, and two Silkies left and it's been peaceful with these non-combative breeds - less birds and less LF drama! I know Sussex, Barnies, Brahma, Jersey Giant, Dorking, Autralorp, Java, and other gentle giants have basically non-combative natures but their larger size might tempt the gentlest of these giants to lord it over a 2-lb defenseless Silkie (it happened our Marans viciously attacked a 2-lb pullet Silkie and the Legs went bonkers on their flockmates) so we are heeding our past experience to avoid the beautiful Barnie and Wellie and dual purpose RIRs, NHRs, BRs, Orps, Wyans, Sexlinks, etc etc.

I can't be the only owner that's had similar experience. I love so many breeds but had to go through an elimination of temperaments and sizes to make an under-5-lb flock mix of non-combative varieties. On our 25-acre farm a flock of 50 Babcock Leghorns was easy - all one breed and lots of space - but in retirement in our little cottage backyard it is a different experience.

I too had bad luck with Marans, they were mean as heck, and I got rid of them. Then I got some from Wynette's stock here on BYC, and they are nice birds. Very broody, but nice.

My Welsummers are friendly birds. They are not lap chickens, and would prefer to not be picked up but they run to me for treats. They are very loud with their egg song though if that is a concern.

My Barnevelders are laid back, mellow birds - they have the best temperament in my opinion. Barnevelders go broody (4 of mine went broody this summer) and Welsummers generally do not.

 

[fowlman01]

The breed of chickens does not necessarily tell you what the temperment will be. Different strains behave differently, even when they are the same breed.

Walt