California - Northern

[Nikon]

I have a fabulous splash orphington boy who is very sweet you could replace him with! Taft is HUUUGEEEEE.

Ha ha I bet you WOULD. Brawny's our feathered beach ball... and yesterday he got bounced around lol. Don't feed my desire to collect chickens.

What I need is a couple more hens to offset the two roosters we have.

 

[PetRock]

Ron and/or Megan, I have a question for you. My Pita Pintas are 16 weeks old now. One of the 2 cockerels is crowing and starting to dominate the girls. I haven't seen any breeding but he's working up to it. Unfortunately, he has brassy copper coloring in his hackle feathers. I am assuming that this is a bad thing and that I don't want him in my breeding program, correct? Have either of you had cockerels with this problem? He is the more aggressive of the two cockerels but sadly also slightly bigger than his hatchmate.

 

[ronott1]

Ron and/or Megan, I have a question for you. My Pita Pintas are 16 weeks old now. One of the 2 cockerels is crowing and starting to dominate the girls. I haven't seen any breeding but he's working up to it. Unfortunately, he has brassy copper coloring in his hackle feathers. I am assuming that this is a bad thing and that I don't want him in my breeding program, correct? Have either of you had cockerels with this problem? He is the more aggressive of the two cockerels but sadly also slightly bigger than his hatchmate.

I have not seen brassiness but I did process all but one of them at 18 weeks.

The one I have left is Gorgeous but the low light has his comb looking odd. It is dark where he stays. He also looks very funny with his little collar....

I have one pullet squatting for me. They are very sweet.

 

[tls_ranch]

My flock is really starting to lay again I have 6 pullets now laying. One " older" hen re-started laying today and several more hens and pullets are now staking out the nest boxes acting all excited about eggs. I love my fresh eggs...the yolks are marigold/ mandarin orange and they taste SO much better than store bought.

I might just have to start hatching early this year. Maybe I can sell some extras at the March show in red bluff.
Trisha

 

[ronott1]

My flock is really starting to lay again I have 6 pullets now laying. One " older" hen re-started laying today and several more hens and pullets are now staking out the nest boxes acting all excited about eggs. I love my fresh eggs...the yolks are marigold/ mandarin orange and they taste SO much better than store bought.

I might just have to start hatching early this year. Maybe I can sell some extras at the March show in red bluff.
Trisha

It is so nice to get them laying again!

Try to time some hatches so that the pullet start laying in Late august to Early Sept. You should get them to lay through the winter that way.

 

[ronott1]

Oh, and get some Rocks!

 

[PetRock]

I have not seen brassiness but I did process all but one of them at 18 weeks.

The one I have left is Gorgeous but the low light has his comb looking odd. It is dark where he stays. He also looks very funny with his little collar....

I have one pullet squatting for me. They are very sweet.

This guy is almost 16 weeks and has lots of brassiness not just a little. How does the collar work? I really want to keep the other cockerel and his 7 girls here in town. I know that as soon as Brass (good name for him, huh?) goes to the farm, cockerel 2 will start crowing.

 

[ronott1]

This guy is almost 16 weeks and has lots of brassiness not just a little. How does the collar work? I really want to keep the other cockerel and his 7 girls here in town. I know that as soon as Brass (good name for him, huh?) goes to the farm, cockerel 2 will start crowing.

The collar lowers the volume and makes the crow not sound normal. I need to adjust the one on my Pita Pinta. It is a bit loose.

My Crele boy did his job! I have 8 out of 14 with veins and two that are dark but look like they are developing. I am very impressed. He was only in with them on the weekend and evenings after five. I am very happy with the Amelia Breeding group so far.

 

[CackleJoy]

I used to hire hatching services. Hooray for an incubator - no longer doing this! However, they sent home some chicks that had been cross-contaminated by some of their older birds that were sick. I really don't need this! Except for my rooster we have a healthy flock. The chicks are dying. Should I send them off for necropsy? I'm working very hard to keep their germs away from my flock. Worried my kids will spread it...

I'm quickly headed towards closed flock biosecurity fanatic status.

 

[ronott1]

I used to hire hatching services. Hooray for an incubator - no longer doing this! However, they sent home some chicks that had been cross-contaminated by some of their older birds that were sick. I really don't need this! Except for my rooster we have a healthy flock. The chicks are dying. Should I send them off for necropsy? I'm working very hard to keep their germs away from my flock. Worried my kids will spread it...

I'm quickly headed towards closed flock biosecurity fanatic status.

Yes! CAHFS at UCDavis.

Free for flocks under 1000. There is a limit of three per day.

I am sorry they are dieing on you!