California - Northern

[ronott1]

Funny! We have a buff Brahma hen who is so laid back. She mostly meanders around doing her own thing. The only time she moves fast is when you come out with treats. Then she charges across the yard and reminds me of a ship of war cutting through the water! She is sweet and mellow but ranks close to bottom for egg production. One of our crabbiest and least friendly is our Silver Laced Wyandotte. We bought 2 hatchery ones at the beginning of our chicken keeping because they are such a beautiful breed. Maybe their bad attitude is because they were hatchery birds but we quickly decided that we would not get any more of them.

@PetRock

Are these any good?

http://gracefulchickens.com/croad-langshan/

 

[PetRock]

@PetRock

Are these any good?

http://gracefulchickens.com/croad-langshan/

I just ordered eggs from her for the Easter Hatch Along! This is Chickengirl1304 on this thread! I ordered 12 Langshan eggs, 12 crested Cream Legbar eggs, and 12 French Black Copper Marans eggs (for egg basket color). I already have some Beauford line Langshans from Mikaela in OK and I'm looking to add a little more genetic diversity to my flock. It is hard to tell bird quality with just a few pics but I feel like it is worth the chance. Her cock has nice lines and hopefully good size. It will be interesting to compare egg color once I get them!

I'm thrilled to get eggs from his line that only need to travel 3 hours via post to get to me. I thought about taking a road trip up to Dunsmuir to meet her to get the eggs but it would cost me way more than the $20 in postage just for the gas.

Are you looking for Langshans, Ron?

 

[PetRock]

Sadly, I influence myself....

 

[tommysgirl]

I am in the foothills just outside of Chico. I think it's about 3-4 hours to Lake County from here. I had a friend who owned a pet store in Clear Lake and it seems like that is how long it took when I went to see her. She passed away last year though. I don't know where PetRock lives. I keep having to look at the info under everyones screenname. I do remember where Ron is and Chickee, (only because I drove down to get chickens from her).

Well I don't know exactly where she lives either but I do know that she is way So of you. There is a gal in Chico from whom I was planning to buy hatching eggs. If the planets align and someone is broody when you are ready to part with a couple of your babies I will combine trips...if not that's OK too

Hi everyone! I'm new to the forum and new to chickens, but thought I would say hello since this thread is 'my' local thread and you all are so fun and chatty.

Hi there!

No, no chickens yet unfortunately. I realize that I'm jumping the gun a little by posting here,

No gun jumped...wish I had found BYC before I bought my girls

Thought I should say "hi" & re-introduce myself. I joined sometime ago & been mainly lurking.
My name is Lisa & I'm a chicken-a-holic.
Got my first pullet 16 years ago (a banty silver duckwing OEGB) & was complete hooked. Now I have 30+ in my motley flock.
I found that I most prefer to hatch eggs (so I can talk to them in the shell) then to grow out the peepers, picking out my favorite personality, then passing the rest on to create new addicts.
You all are such a wonderful source of information & support. I don't feel so "off in left field" when I get chance to visit the website.
Thanks!

Yep...when the rest of the world thinks you are the crazy chicken lady, this is the place to come to find the crazier chicken person!

Right now I kind of have my eyes set on BBS orpingtons, creme legbars, and maybe some plain old EE's. I'd like something that isn't too flighty and is friendly, since I have small children. Any recommendations?

Thanks so much!!!

My sweetest birds are my Speckled Sussex, My Barred Rock, My California Grey and one of my EEs. But my Delawares and my Australorps are also calm, friendly, and curious. I will have Pita Pintas one day based on Pet Rock's and Ron's descriptions they may be pretty close to perfect.

That's another problem that I have, I'm worried about what to do with the boys since I absolutely cannot keep them. I thought maybe I'd have a better chance at giving them to 4h kids or something if I got some nice bloodlines... do you all think that's true? I get so attached to things... which is why we have a horribly mean rabbit that is 7 years old. I can't bear the thought of something happening to her, so here she still sits.

It is great that you are considering straight run birds. I wish I had known what I was supporting when I got my first pullets from My Pet Chicken. Now I know that anything I wanted I could have found round here at a higher quality but live and learn right?

My Genesis is almost a year old now. I had borrowed incubators the year before so this will be my 3rd year of hatching. Last year, I obsessed over the humidity with every hatch. I fiddled around with which section/sections to fill on the tray. I bought different hygrometers/thermometers to check my incubator for accuracy. I panicked if the humidity went above 50 or below 35 during the first 18 days. My hatches ended being okay but not terrific. This year when I brought out my incubator for hatching, I decided to not be so OCD about it all. I've been filling the number 1 outside section on the tray with the beginning humidity of 50-54% then adding more water when the humidity drops below 40% to keep it around 45%. Then on day 18 when I set the eggs for hatch, I fill up section 1 and fill section 2 and the humidity stays at around 60% until hatching starts. I have a length of clear aquarium tubing that I insert through the top vent hole and through the screen into section 1 on days 1-18 and into section 2 on days 18-22. I use a basting syringe to add water through the tube. My hatches this year have been so much better than last year! My last one, I set 23 eggs. I ended up with 20 chicks that hatched, 2 that fully formed but did not hatch, and 1 that shouldn't have made it into lock down because it was just yolk or an early quitter. I am very pleased with the results and I'm glad to have a more relaxed experience. I'm sure if I was setting expensive, shipped eggs, I might be a little more uptight about it. And maybe the breeds that I am hatching like the higher humidity or are just stronger breeds? Almost all the eggs that I have been hatching are from my Langshan roos or my Pita Pinta roo.

Oh my ! you sound just like me with my first hatch. I was a wreck and it went terribly...I did get some sweet birds out of the hatch but I messed with it too much for it to have been successful. I still want a couple of your splash or blue mixes. When the weather clears we should be able to finish the new coop in a few hours but who knows when that will be. Now with the Genesis my mom is getting for me I hope to be more relaxed too.

Here is the thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/538337/silly-swimming-chickens-i-mean-ducks-i-mean-chickens

Precious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay so I have a question (the first of many, I'm sure). The section of yard that we are planning on using for the enclosed chicken garden backs up to a neighbor with huge oleanders. We try to keep them cut back from our fence, but inevitably some of the debris from the bushes comes into our yard. I've been searching for info about this regarding chickens. Obviously I know that they are very poisonous, but does anyone have any personal experience with them? A lot of the posts that I read said that their chickens leave the plants alone, so I'm hoping this will be the case for us. Unfortunately it's the only area that we can close off in the yard for the chickens, and it really is the best place (the most sheltered from the sun, etc), but those darn bushes are HUGE! I was thinking of hacking the tops off of them and seeing if she noticed, haha... anyway what are your thoughts? Should I do something to try and protect them from the dropping leaves and flowers? I'm not sure what I could do really but maybe I could figure something out.

We have huge oleanders and they are a favorite hangout for peas and chickens. They provide cover and shade. Like you I was worried but I watched them and the never ate the leaves..green or dry. It has been almost two years now and I have only lost two birds once they were out of the brooder. One to a dog and my little rooster Curly to his birth defect.

@tommysgirl Thanks! I'm so stoked to collect my own eggs! Do you still live in the area?

Nope. Just my brother and wife and their youngest still live there. I am in Lake County.

re: oleander, i have several large bushes of it (planted by a previous owner of the house), & the chickens often forage nearby but have never had any trouble -- there are actually quite a few plants that they completely ignore (lavender, sage, rosemary, the daffodils that are up right now, etc).

edit: sorry, should have quoted @manychitlens directly, but couldn't find the original posting! this thread moves too fast!

This has been my experience as well.

 

[AmyPaperlady]

Thank you so much!


I'm in Sacramento. I'm not 1100% sure yet. I'm pretty sure that chicken math is going to affect my life in a huge way, though. We seem to start with one of something and then it multiplies... like dogs, cats, kids...

Right now I kind of have my eyes set on BBS orpingtons, creme legbars, and maybe some plain old EE's. I'd like something that isn't too flighty and is friendly, since I have small children. Any recommendations?

Thanks so much!!!

Cue tommysgirl and California Greys in 3...2...

My sweetest birds are my Speckled Sussex, My Barred Rock, My California Grey and one of my EEs. But my Delawares and my Australorps are also calm, friendly, and curious. I will have Pita Pintas one day based on Pet Rock's and Ron's descriptions they may be pretty close to perfect.
It is great that you are considering straight run birds. I wish I had known what I was supporting when I got my first pullets from My Pet Chicken. Now I know that anything I wanted I could have found round here at a higher quality but live and learn right?

Ah, she beat me!

 

[PetRock]

Well I don't know exactly where she lives either but I do know that she is way So of you. There is a gal in Chico from whom I was planning to buy hatching eggs. If the planets align and someone is broody when you are ready to part with a couple of your babies I will combine trips...if not that's OK too


My sweetest birds are my Speckled Sussex, My Barred Rock, My California Grey and one of my EEs. But my Delawares and my Australorps are also calm, friendly, and curious. I will have Pita Pintas one day based on Pet Rock's and Ron's descriptions they may be pretty close to perfect.
It is great that you are considering straight run birds. I wish I had known what I was supporting when I got my first pullets from My Pet Chicken. Now I know that anything I wanted I could have found round here at a higher quality but live and learn right?

I forgot to answer this question way back many posts ago! I am in the East Bay area of SF, right off the Delta on Hwy 4, about halfway between SF and Sac.

Yep, I'm thinking that my Pita Pintas are pretty much perfect! Now, if my cockerel would slow down on crowing he would be more than perfect!

I LOVE my Langshans but they are a slower to mature breed and do not lay as many eggs as the PPs. They are good meat birds and the cockerels are good eating past the age of other breeds that I have tried. If you raise Bresse, make sure you only use the older cocks for broth or some long method of cooking! This is the voice of experience saying do not roast an older Bresse cock! The meat and skin are like rubber!

 

[tommysgirl]

speaking of processing. Recipes please with specifics for those of us who don't know braising from broasting. I am cooking up a cockerel on Sunday. He will be 19 weeks old. his lineage is Delaware X CA Grey which means that his mamas foundation breeds are Plymouth Rock and Leghorn but more BR than LH if that matters. How do I cook him?

 

[tommysgirl]

I forgot to answer this question way back many posts ago! I am in the East Bay area of SF, right off the Delta on Hwy 4, about halfway between SF and Sac.

Yep, I'm thinking that my Pita Pintas are pretty much perfect! Now, if my cockerel would slow down on crowing he would be more than perfect!

I LOVE my Langshans but they are a slower to mature breed and do not lay as many eggs as the PPs. They are good meat birds and the cockerels are good eating past the age of other breeds that I have tried. If you raise Bresse, make sure you only use the older cocks for broth or some long method of cooking! This is the voice of experience saying do not roast an older Bresse cock! The meat and skin are like rubber!

Not sure what I am waiting for here. Hmmm by Saturday night I will be down 5 birds methinks a trip to Napa for a cash for splash swap may be in order some weekend day that is mutually convenient.

 

[ronott1]

I just ordered eggs from her for the Easter Hatch Along! This is Chickengirl1304 on this thread! I ordered 12 Langshan eggs, 12 crested Cream Legbar eggs, and 12 French Black Copper Marans eggs (for egg basket color). I already have some Beauford line Langshans from Mikaela in OK and I'm looking to add a little more genetic diversity to my flock. It is hard to tell bird quality with just a few pics but I feel like it is worth the chance. Her cock has nice lines and hopefully good size. It will be interesting to compare egg color once I get them!

I'm thrilled to get eggs from his line that only need to travel 3 hours via post to get to me. I thought about taking a road trip up to Dunsmuir to meet her to get the eggs but it would cost me way more than the $20 in postage just for the gas.

Are you looking for Langshans, Ron?

Wait, she is in Dunsmuir? That would be perfect for shipping. Regional A should be very reasonable for that shipment.

Of course I have relatives in Redding....It might be time for a road trip!

 

[lawatt]

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