California - Northern

[tommysgirl]

I like this discussion as well. I have learned a bunch.

I have a productivity question for you all, can you tell me the top 5 breeds..inc hybrids you have found in your experience to be your best short and long term layers. Like this:

Red Star Nearly Daily eggs for first 10 months...still get 1 a day from one, the other about 4 HUGE ones..Turkey egg size

a week they are 17 mos old
Australorp 5-6 a week until bitten by the broody bug and summer heat now 3-4 a week from one...the other only laid for a couple of weeks before going broody again
California Grey an egg a day without fail since the day before she was 20 weeks old she is 6.5 mos old
OE Pene over CL 6 a week biggest egg of my 2013 chicks she is just over 6 mos old
Dels Before the summer heat Dotty was my most reliable non-red-star layer 6-7 a week but when the heat ended she only had a few weeks before she molted so she has been balding/bald/recovering for about 2 months so no eggs from her. Harriet lays 5-6 eggs a week and they are almost as big as the OE eggs
EE They both just started within the last 4 or so weeks and nearly everyday I have two lovely dark greenish blue eggs in my nest box
Choc Rock Godiva has been laying for about 2.5 months. I get 5-6 a week but they are all still pullet sized

I guess what I would like to know is how long I can expect my girls to continue to lay...Taking a break for molt/broodiness is generally a good sign that they will continue to lay for many years right? Pet Rock or High and Dry Farm didn't one of you say you had a Red Sex Link that continued to lay past the 4 year mark or something??

Also in other news from the nest. I have a pretty little BY mix named Norma who was the only chick that hatched from an egg fertilized by Ray. Her mama is Beakface the broody AL. Norma comes and goes as she pleases from the big pen and yesterday my FIL found her nest in a large flower pot. Four perfect and nearly round eggs. I grabbed them up and replaced them with a golf ball so she will keep going back. But she has given me a great idea for out of the coop "nest boxes"

And finally here are baby pics of Beakface's newest brood sans the little black one


She moved her head but I liked the one head out one tail out action with the chicks



She has a chick growing out of her shoulder

 

[tommysgirl]

Quote:
If you haven't tried hatching white eggs before you will find them to be very rewarding when it comes to candling

 

[liz9910]

Quote:
I've only hatched brown or blue eggs, never bright white ones. I bet it will be really cool to see the chick developing inside.

 

[ronott1]

I like this discussion as well. I have learned a bunch.

I have a productivity question for you all, can you tell me the top 5 breeds..inc hybrids you have found in your experience to be your best short and long term layers. Like this:

Red Star Nearly Daily eggs for first 10 months...still get 1 a day from one, the other about 4 HUGE ones..Turkey egg size

a week they are 17 mos old
Australorp 5-6 a week until bitten by the broody bug and summer heat now 3-4 a week from one...the other only laid for a couple of weeks before going broody again
California Grey an egg a day without fail since the day before she was 20 weeks old she is 6.5 mos old
OE Pene over CL 6 a week biggest egg of my 2013 chicks she is just over 6 mos old
Dels Before the summer heat Dotty was my most reliable non-red-star layer 6-7 a week but when the heat ended she only had a few weeks before she molted so she has been balding/bald/recovering for about 2 months so no eggs from her. Harriet lays 5-6 eggs a week and they are almost as big as the OE eggs
EE They both just started within the last 4 or so weeks and nearly everyday I have two lovely dark greenish blue eggs in my nest box
Choc Rock Godiva has been laying for about 2.5 months. I get 5-6 a week but they are all still pullet sized

I guess what I would like to know is how long I can expect my girls to continue to lay...Taking a break for molt/broodiness is generally a good sign that they will continue to lay for many years right? Pet Rock or High and Dry Farm didn't one of you say you had a Red Sex Link that continued to lay past the 4 year mark or something??

Also in other news from the nest. I have a pretty little BY mix named Norma who was the only chick that hatched from an egg fertilized by Ray. Her mama is Beakface the broody AL. Norma comes and goes as she pleases from the big pen and yesterday my FIL found her nest in a large flower pot. Four perfect and nearly round eggs. I grabbed them up and replaced them with a golf ball so she will keep going back. But she has given me a great idea for out of the coop "nest boxes"

And finally here are baby pics of Beakface's newest brood sans the little black one


She moved her head but I liked the one head out one tail out action with the chicks



She has a chick growing out of her shoulder

Egg laying is very individual. There are averages by breed but individuals can vary widely from the average.

Sexlinks are very good layers. The biggest problem is the number of them that develop egg laying problems in the second year. I have a 3.5 year old Golden comet that is still laying eggs and did not even molt badly this year. She was limping a bit so may be developing arthritis but she is still very healthy.

Her sister died a year ago from cancer.

Orpingtons will not lay big eggs. That is variable by individual too but they are not listed as being layers of large eggs. They will lay a steady number of eggs for a lot of years though.

Australorps lay bigger eggs then Orps but not Xlarge to jumbo. They will lay steadily too and even over the winter. Some will go Broody.

CL X CP OE(Cream Legbar x Crele Penedesenca Olive Egger) Who Knows? They are a brand new cross. Mine have been very broody but they do not lay well in the winter without lights. The eggs are large and very pretty though. They kind of like me too. They will eat off of the spoon and no longer think I am going to kill them each time I walk by.

EEs are in two camps. There are the ones that come from Hatcheries--I just found out that they are from one of the South American Breeds that were imported about 75 years ago and were calle imporved Coloncha or something like that. The second group called EEs are from Ameraucanas(Standard Bred--Real ones) that do not match the accepted colors. The two groups are completely different. I have one Hatchery EE and she is a very regular layer but she also does not lay in the winter without light.

I do not have the other breeds you have listed but I hope the above helps.

 

[ronott1]

Quote:
This is one of the TJs pullets I hatched last year.

Zooweemama took the picture.

 

[Deerling]

I can't find any silkies, but...
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/grd/4145877293.html

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/grd/4117727921.html

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/grd/4117740421.html

Oh my goodness, you are so nice! Thank you very much. A cochin bantam would be fun I am hoping to make this a birthday gift for my daughter. I'm sure she would appreciate any chicken that was "hers". It's really cute to see her with the silkie, they've bonded so much. Anouk doesn't really like anyone else that much, but she lets Clementine hold her, swing with her, etc. They're buddies. I would have loved to have my very own pet at her age.

Sorry that you are moving but so glad you are able to take the coop and its contents along. I have wondered what you have been up too. Please stay in touch when you move as you can.

Thank you, I will! I feel really lucky we are bringing the chickens and coop. From our friend who will be keeping them for a few months for us, to my sweet DH who loves the chickens too and doesn't think I'm crazy for dragging them all up the coast There have definitely been many voices of reason advising us to sell the coop and chickens! But DH understands and is willing to shoulder the extra cost and work.

Quote: Aw, thank you Deb! I do feel like this is my home on BYC I'll still be around. Especially once we have better internet. I am thinking maybe I could bring my daughter out your way - it looks like about a 4 hour round trip. It might be fun and help break some of the stress of relocating. I have to talk more to DH about it. If you did have a spare girl I would be so thankful. She can be a breeding reject, or older, even. She'll be very well loved. A showgirl would be really cool! But either would be amazing.

 

[liz9910]

Quote:
Oh she's beautiful

 

[juststruttin]

Hi everyone! Sorry I've been MIA. It's been busy around here.

We will be leaving California next week, as my husband got laid off. We are taking all our chickens (26!) and their 12x7 coop to Seattle area with us. Actually they will have a few month stay with a friend in Oregon while we try and buy a house. The kids and I will be living with my mom, also in Oregon, while DH works and we look for a house. Anyhow, Clementine (who is turning seven on November 12th) has a silkie hen that she is very bonded to, and I think we will try and keep her in West Linn with us while we are there (ordinance allows six hens). I would feel better if she had a buddy, so I am wondering if anyone close to us has a friendly silkie hen they would be willing to part with. Healthy, obviously - we haven't had any health issues at all and I'm nervous to add any outside chickens, but I feel like I can trust you guys. We live in Pennegrove, we can drive a reasonable distance, or we could pick up the chicken on they way up to Oregon (possibly).

We could buy or trade for other chickens

Hey Jordan, I got excited when I saw your post since I have not seen you post here for awhile, and then I was really sad to see that you are leaving California. I am really sorry to hear you will be moving. I hope you will pop in to the thread to say hi every once in awhile. We will miss you.

Sorry, no silkies available.

 

[juststruttin]

I have a couple more questions, if you all don't mind; How hard is it to vaccinate for mareks? do you all do it? not sure if my hens were vaccinated for mareks when I got them. The chicks I hatch, if I vaccinate them, would it introduce a contaminant into the flock? I assume it's a dead virus in the vaccine, but I've had no issues and want to make sure it's all good before I do it.

Vaccinating is easy. I vaccinate on the leg just under the skin. The manufacturer recommends a #22 needle but I use a #25 because the #22 seems too big to me. I just bought more vaccine last week and was told that the feed stores are not longer able to sell the #25 gauge because drug addicts have been buying them. I was forced to buy the #22, but will try to source the #25 on-line and stock up. I have also used diabetic needles as they are even smaller. Unfortunately, the diabetic needles bend easily when penetrating the rubber stopper.

Although vaccinating is easy, I hate doing it. The vaccine is a live vaccine and it only last 1 hour after activated which means you need to be able to vaccinate all your birds within 1 hour. I shoot for a 1/2 hour because I figure the vaccine is less effective as time progresses, but that may be a flawed theory. I also dislike vaccinating because I always manage to spill the vaccine all over me which really grosses my out. I know people can't get mareks but it still gives me the willies

There is a huge debate whether or not to vaccinate. I was really tempted to stop vaccinating a couple of years ago but the more I read the more I realized I needed to continue. The main reason I choose to continue vaccinating is because I sell birds and most of my clients live in Sonoma and Marin County where Mareks is prevalent. If I did not sell birds, I may choose not to vaccinate.

Yes, you can keep vaccinated and un-vaccinated birds together.

 

[tommysgirl]

Thanks Ron

ETA I have decided to name my two Silver Grey Dorkings
Joan