California - Northern

[lareynadenada]

Oh my!! I think I need me some of those!

 

[lareynadenada]

Oh my!! I think I need me some of those!

sheesh barnvelders,,,,,,,,,,,,,,beautiful

 

[ronott1]

Oh my!! I think I need me some of those!

Quote: They are Beautiful!

It's nice to have Trish close enough to get some from!

 

[zooweemama]

eep! Ok I am ordering 6 females and 2 males from her! Baby Appleyards! *squeal* Merry Christmas ducklings!

 

[CALI CHICK]

Oh yes. This is still very much an eggsperiment. haha! We have chosen to do both chickens and ducks to help our odds of getting eating eggs yearly. I will sell off/re-home spent layers or some of the breeds I just want to cut out. I am pretty sure I want to re-home my Buff duck trio. Nothing wrong with them at all. Pretty ducks- just not the breed I want to reproduce. I look forward to seeing how long these guys (ducks in general) take off to molt and how they lay when they come back from the molt. I am curious how it stacks up to the chickens.

Our Buff Orp chickens might be really useful in the Winters since they tend to lay ok then. It's fun learning all this!

Hi zooweemama,
My Buff Orpington started laying last January before the Rhode Island Red or Barred Rock. But, Buffy hasn't given me an egg in months. She is raising (brooding) 2 chicks AND molting at the same time right now. Yesterday Buffy lost her last tail feather and looks "rumpless". Her feathers are also thinning out around her neck...poor thing isn't too pretty these days. I'm not sure if Buff Orps are good winter layers since pullet eggs don't really count when she started laying last winter. Ron mentioned that Barred Rocks are winter layers. My BR is the ONLY large fowl laying eggs these days. We have 6 big girls and get maybe 6 eggs a WEEK -all from Rocky! Rocky's nickname is "la gallina gorda" (the fat chicken) because she eats so much...but she is earning her keep with the big, beautiful, brown eggs she gives us almost every day. On the other end of the spectrum, by little silkie, Mysty Blue, lays a tiny, ivory egg about 4X a week. She must weigh less than 2 pounds (but thinks she's the boss in the silkie pen).

Our egg basket looks very unique. It took a week to get these:

 

[MonsterClucker]

They are so gorgeous! 

I hear you on the storm. Our coop hasn't even dried out from the last storm and here we go again. The rain is supposed to come in a few hours and I am up early, unable to sleep. I will be obsessively checking on the chickens. 

The ducks are so easy compared to the chickens. They are laying like crazy- 7 to 9 or so eggs a day from them and I have 11 ducks. Pretty good odds. Plus when it rains they think it is awesome and have a blast outside. My poor chickens - lol. The last rain they looked so wet and bedraggled. 

Thanks Amy. I am loving them more everyday

The rain started up here about 8am so, HERE WE GO!

 

[zooweemama]

Hi zooweemama,
My Buff Orpington started laying last January before the Rhode Island Red or Barred Rock. But, Buffy hasn't given me an egg in months. She is raising (brooding) 2 chicks AND molting at the same time right now. Yesterday Buffy lost her last tail feather and looks "rumpless". Her feathers are also thinning out around her neck...poor thing isn't too pretty these days. I'm not sure if Buff Orps are good winter layers since pullet eggs don't really count when she started laying last winter. Ron mentioned that Barred Rocks are winter layers. My BR is the ONLY large fowl laying eggs these days. We have 6 big girls and get maybe 6 eggs a WEEK -all from Rocky! Rocky's nickname is "la gallina gorda" (the fat chicken) because she eats so much...but she is earning her keep with the big, beautiful, brown eggs she gives us almost every day. On the other end of the spectrum, by little silkie, Mysty Blue, lays a tiny, ivory egg about 4X a week. She must weigh less than 2 pounds (but thinks she's the boss in the silkie pen).

Our egg basket looks very unique. It took a week to get these:

When I looked up winter layers- Orps were always at the top of the list. *fingers crossed* I hope so! I am not looking for a crazy amount of eggs- just enough to feed us or at least add to what the ducks give us. They can be broody the rest of the year. I have other breeds for eggs for the other seasons. My first year doing all this so I am learning as I go.

 

[zooweemama]

Hi zooweemama,
My Buff Orpington started laying last January before the Rhode Island Red or Barred Rock. But, Buffy hasn't given me an egg in months. She is raising (brooding) 2 chicks AND molting at the same time right now. Yesterday Buffy lost her last tail feather and looks "rumpless". Her feathers are also thinning out around her neck...poor thing isn't too pretty these days. I'm not sure if Buff Orps are good winter layers since pullet eggs don't really count when she started laying last winter. Ron mentioned that Barred Rocks are winter layers. My BR is the ONLY large fowl laying eggs these days. We have 6 big girls and get maybe 6 eggs a WEEK -all from Rocky! Rocky's nickname is "la gallina gorda" (the fat chicken) because she eats so much...but she is earning her keep with the big, beautiful, brown eggs she gives us almost every day. On the other end of the spectrum, by little silkie, Mysty Blue, lays a tiny, ivory egg about 4X a week. She must weigh less than 2 pounds (but thinks she's the boss in the silkie pen).

Our egg basket looks very unique. It took a week to get these:

When I looked up winter layers- Orps were always at the top of the list. *fingers crossed* I hope so! I am not looking for a crazy amount of eggs- just enough to feed us or at least add to what the ducks give us. They can be broody the rest of the year. I have other breeds for eggs for the other seasons. My first year doing all this so I am learning as I go.

Those brown eggs look nice and big!

 

[Happy Chooks]

Did you lose them at night or during the day? I'm so sorry!

During the daytime. My coop is super secure - nothing is getting in there. It even has concrete siding.

Kelly, are you the one up by Somerset? My friend up there had a predator go right through the netting on top of their coop and took a couple chickens. They had to hot wire the top to keep whatever it was out. So sorry for your losses.

No, I'm east of Auburn. We've had a bobcat in the past - I saw it once. It scaled my 6 foot fence last year and took some hens.

I am so sorry about the predator attacks on your chickens! I was going to say that you should get some hot cord for protection and then saw that Kim beat me to it! It is one of the best ways to stop them. There is a person selling the good Live Stock Guardian dogs as pups for $250.00 per pup. They may be gone now, but that is the other good way to protect your flock.

I might try that if the netting doesn't work. We ONLY have losses when my dog is NOT on the property. She was with us while we were out of town for the weekend. When she is here, she runs everything off. Last year when the bobcat attacked, I had her at the vet for her shots. I spoke with a friend that was a trapper and he says bobcats are super smart like that.

My chickens were sending out the alarm call yesterday and I went up to check it out - didn't see anything at first. Then when I walked closer to the run, I saw a juvenile Coopers hawk fly off from one of our pine trees. The pullets I lost were young - one was about 13 weeks, the other about 8 weeks. So he could have been the culprit.

 

[zooweemama]

Thanks Amy. I am loving them more everyday
The rain started up here about 8am so, HERE WE GO!

If I didn't love Orps so much I might go with the Barnevelders for a broody breed. They sure are lookers!

I know we are on the front end of this storm. Ewww!