California - Northern

[Popsy]

Good morning! I too, am in Nor-Cal. I have a free roo. I can't figure out how to share my album with you. I need placement for him asap. Please visit my profile and see my newest album. Thank you!!!

Where are you and what kind of rooster? I was unable to open your album
Thanks!

 

[SpringPeeper]

It's pretty bad when you remove 6 cockerels from your coop, then go out the next morning and it doesn't even look like you made a dent in the cockerels out there.

At least 5 more Welsummer boys are still in there and an uncountable amount of Barnevelder males.

I thought this was supposed to be the year of the pullet!

I feel your pain. I have several bachelor pens set up full of cockerels (mostly Marans and Orpingtons) waiting for family members I was growing out for to come select any survivors. The rest are dinner. I confess I'm sort of hoping someone takes a liking to the over-melanized BC Marans boy. He's SO gorgeous, even if really not genetically desirable. I'm still waffling on which Orpington cockerel I want to keep.

Marans take time to lay.

She is lovely! The feathers on the feet look correct from the picture. I like the shape and comb too.

Does she have sprigs on the comb?

Yep, my April Marans have yet to produce their first egg.

 

[Audio51]

Quote:

Well I got rid of 1. 5 more to go. One of my Pita Pintas is starting to Crow now too and he is outside at least he has a rather short quite crow, at the moment, my singing hens are louder than him.

At least they don't generally sing at the crack of dawn....at least mine don't

Good morning! I too, am in Nor-Cal. I have a free roo. I can't figure out how to share my album with you. I need placement for him asap. Please visit my profile and see my newest album. Thank you!!!

Welcome to the group! Hope you find a good home for him...

Quote:

and hi to @Audio51 , I can't catch up at home, why should it be any different on this thread?!

Sometimes it's just best not even to try.....

Quote: Now you know why I kept thinking she was broody, then

She's been in the nest box since Tuesday or Wednesday, so I think she might stay this time--except she laid an egg yesterday, so

(kind of not looking forward to telling my younger that we might not be getting Frieda eggs for a while, since those are the only eggs she'll eat hard-boiled, and she doesn't really like eggs anyway. Then again, if we end up with little fuzzy chicks, that may make up for it

) That golf ball's nice and warm, though! Given that she's laid one (and oly one) egg since she started sitting, how long should I wait to be sure? @OR4-hmom , I'm going to be just outside Cave Junction for a retreat the 11th, 12th, and 13th--know anyone up there with eggs that'll hatch out to blue/dark brown/white layers, that aren't ridiculously expensive for testing a first-time broody with?

As far as the pecking, she's not pecking very hard--it feels more like she's eating out of my hand than attacking it. The first time I thought she was broody, she pecked a lot harder--those ones stung
If you can't find any other eggs, you can always swing by TJs or another grocery store with fertile eggs. I just sold a trio from my Rock Island ones...

So it would seem I have a cockerel. I heard what sounded like a weird sounding cat screeching, and my step dad said he heard the same thing this morning. It came from the chicken coop area. It is one of the BLRW, how do I tell which one it is though? All 3boyish ones look the same

You coulds put different color Zip ties on all 3 and then when you hear the crowing you can see what color it is wearing.

Marans take time to lay.

She is lovely! The feathers on the feet look correct from the picture. I like the shape and comb too.

Does she have sprigs on the comb?

Yep, my April Marans have yet to produce their first egg.
My March 1st hatched Marans started laying about 3-4 weeks ago. Hopefully yours will soon!

 

[BCollie]

Jeff (Papa's Poultry) is so awesome. He knows I have pretty much nooo money(poor college student!) so he gave me a deal on hatching eggs and a baby chick that allows me to get them without having to wait a month or two. A while back(5 months?) he promised me that I would get a female BLRW and yesterday he actually brought it up, asking if I had gotten one because he had promised I would.
I made up my mind on what I want. I'm getting around 8 Salmon Faverolle hatching eggs and 8 Lavender Orpington hatching eggs. Letting them hatch and grow out until they're old enough to be sexable, then keeping a girl from each breed and selling the rest. MAYBE butchering the boys if they grow big enough before they start crowing. I also am ordering a Chocolate Orpington pullet, hoping to get her around the same time that my eggs hatch out. I am very excited for my flock to be completed

Never heard back from Deb about her Lakenvelders, I'm still hoping I will hear from her and can eventually add one to my flock.

That's a good idea about putting colored zip ties on each one that I suspect is a boy. I can set up my computer to record them, it'll record for hours! Then when I hear a crow, go outside, check the computer and see which one it was...I want to be ABSOLUTELY sure that we're going to be butchering the right one, so when I think I've found the bird that's crowing I will put it in a dog crate in my house for a day to make sure it is in fact the one that I think it is.
I have a question...Is there anything wrong with snapping the neck of a bird before cutting it's neck? Seems like a MUCH more humane way to do it since all it would be is someone holding the bird and the other person taking about one second to quickly snap the neck...instead of slitting the throat and letting it bleed until it dies, could we snap it's neck and THEN hang it and slit it's throat to let it bleed out? That way there is absolutely zero suffering...I'm a vegan so this is going to be very hard for me, but I know there's not enough homes for all the roosters in the world so he will serve a purpose feeding my parents and siblings.

 

[ronott1]

Great. Just a busy summer with the kids. How you doing?

It was a good summer until my DW crashed on a motor cycle ride. She had surgery to add a plate to a broken wrist and is waiting for an MRI on her left knee and right foot. There is suspected ligament damage in the knee and may need another surgery.

It is a lot of work taking care of a crash victim!

The chickens are molting so egg production is down. My middle DD and I finished tube syringing valbazen to the flock last night. It was a bit of work but I am happy to get it done during molting.

 

[Papa Brooder]

Quote:

sorry, I am bit slow. I have been trying to follow this thread again, but if I don't get on here for 3-4 days then phew it blows up!!

Yes, I had 4 pens of chocolate producers. Finally sold my original quad so I'm down to 3 pens. The one "TheKeeper" hatched from is a black split to chocolate male over chocolate hens. These are all large fowl and quite good sized. The technically produce 25% chocolate females, 25% chocolate males, 25% black split to chocolate males, and 25% black females.... although I have been hatching way more chocolates than blacks from that pen.

The second pen is the one you are talking about BCollie. I have a black split to chocolate rooster over black hens. It produces: 25% chocolate females, 25% black males, 25% black split to chocolate males, and 25% black females. But, anything that hatches chocolate is a guaranteed pullet which is why I keep that pen.

I have a third pen which is pure chocolate but they are my favorite birds from early in my chocolate endeavors so they are mid sized birds... a bit bigger than an american orpington but not as big as an english orpington. They are broody and not laying currently but hatch 100% chocolate.

Hope that helps!!

Jeff

 

[BCollie]

Quote:

sorry, I am bit slow. I have been trying to follow this thread again, but if I don't get on here for 3-4 days then phew it blows up!!

Yes, I had 4 pens of chocolate producers. Finally sold my original quad so I'm down to 3 pens. The one "TheKeeper" hatched from is a black split to chocolate male over chocolate hens. These are all large fowl and quite good sized. The technically produce 25% chocolate females, 25% chocolate males, 25% black split to chocolate males, and 25% black females.... although I have been hatching way more chocolates than blacks from that pen.

The second pen is the one you are talking about BCollie. I have a black split to chocolate rooster over black hens. It produces: 25% chocolate females, 25% black males, 25% black split to chocolate males, and 25% black females. But, anything that hatches chocolate is a guaranteed pullet which is why I keep that pen.

I have a third pen which is pure chocolate but they are my favorite birds from early in my chocolate endeavors so they are mid sized birds... a bit bigger than an american orpington but not as big as an english orpington. They are broody and not laying currently but hatch 100% chocolate.

Hope that helps!!

Jeff

Thanks for explaining!!
I know what you mean about the thread blowing up if you're gone for a few days. I was gone for a few weeks and didn't even bother trying to catch up. This thread is crazy busy but I love it.

 

[Papa Brooder]

Quick plug if anyone is interested. I am running a 25% special of all hatching egg and chick orders that ends monday at midnight...likely a bit longer as I'm not likely to stay up to midnight to actually change all the prices. Link is in my signature if you are interested. As I have my NPIP testing coming up I am trying to sell almost everything that I've hatched as I won't be able to add them to my NPIP flock until next year if they are under 4 months when I get tested. Trying to get a gap between emptying the barn of grow outs and the next round of chicks so I can do a deep clean and start fall fresh!!! So, if you are looking for chicks, make me an offer!! I also have about 8-10 quantity of 6-8 week old sexed pullets available: orp project colors (I think a red, a mottled with some leakage, a black, and I can't recall the other colors), i have an EE pullet, a rhodebar or olive egg laying rhodebar pullet (escaped early in the grow out so since I don't know what it is for sure saying both), and a few more I can't recall right now. Asking $12 for those sexed pullets. it's a steal compared to what I sell them for normally but I have to reduce my numbers.

I'm also considering finding buyers for a quad of MF leghorns, possibly a quad of salmon faverolles, and possibly a rooster and 4-5 speckled sussex hens. If you are interested in any of those shoot me a PM. I don't want to let them go but I just need more pen space.

I'm also considering abandoning my lavender marans project. I have a pure lavender pen currently. Egg color needs quite a bit of work but you can always breed a good looking lavender to a nice black copper to get the deep rich egg color.

Just thinking out loud and wanting to reduce numbers so I don't have to test so many birds in October.

 

[AmyPaperlady]

Quote:
Now you know why I kept thinking she was broody, then

She's been in the nest box since Tuesday or Wednesday, so I think she might stay this time--except she laid an egg yesterday, so

(kind of not looking forward to telling my younger that we might not be getting Frieda eggs for a while, since those are the only eggs she'll eat hard-boiled, and she doesn't really like eggs anyway. Then again, if we end up with little fuzzy chicks, that may make up for it

) That golf ball's nice and warm, though! Given that she's laid one (and oly one) egg since she started sitting, how long should I wait to be sure? @OR4-hmom , I'm going to be just outside Cave Junction for a retreat the 11th, 12th, and 13th--know anyone up there with eggs that'll hatch out to blue/dark brown/white layers, that aren't ridiculously expensive for testing a first-time broody with?

As far as the pecking, she's not pecking very hard--it feels more like she's eating out of my hand than attacking it. The first time I thought she was broody, she pecked a lot harder--those ones stung
If you can't find any other eggs, you can always swing by TJs or another grocery store with fertile eggs. I just sold a trio from my Rock Island ones...
I'll have to check the health food grocery here--the closest TJs is in Medford, which is 2 hours away, and I believe that OR4H-mom has already reported that that one doesn't have fertile eggs... If I weren't so dead-set against more light brown layers right now, I could just go to the farmer's market--the Alexandre Dairy Kids sell their eggs here (logically enough, since the dairy is just over that-a-way). They run Australorps, New Hampshire Reds, and Rhode Island Reds in with the cattle.

I suppose I could actually ask around here about eggs--I'm pretty sure one of the other moms involved with my elder's soccer team is involved with 4H, because she had to miss a game because she had to help slaughter unsold birds after the fair.

 

[AmyPaperlady]

Quick plug if anyone is interested. I am running a 25% special of all hatching egg and chick orders that ends monday at midnight...likely a bit longer as I'm not likely to stay up to midnight to actually change all the prices. Link is in my signature if you are interested. As I have my NPIP testing coming up I am trying to sell almost everything that I've hatched as I won't be able to add them to my NPIP flock until next year if they are under 4 months when I get tested. Trying to get a gap between emptying the barn of grow outs and the next round of chicks so I can do a deep clean and start fall fresh!!! So, if you are looking for chicks, make me an offer!! I also have about 8-10 quantity of 6-8 week old sexed pullets available: orp project colors (I think a red, a mottled with some leakage, a black, and I can't recall the other colors), i have an EE pullet, a rhodebar or olive egg laying rhodebar pullet (escaped early in the grow out so since I don't know what it is for sure saying both), and a few more I can't recall right now. Asking $12 for those sexed pullets. it's a steal compared to what I sell them for normally but I have to reduce my numbers.

I'm also considering finding buyers for a quad of MF leghorns, possibly a quad of salmon faverolles, and possibly a rooster and 4-5 speckled sussex hens. If you are interested in any of those shoot me a PM. I don't want to let them go but I just need more pen space.

I'm also considering abandoning my lavender marans project. I have a pure lavender pen currently. Egg color needs quite a bit of work but you can always breed a good looking lavender to a nice black copper to get the deep rich egg color.

Just thinking out loud and wanting to reduce numbers so I don't have to test so many birds in October.

See what happens when you have to leave the computer in the middle of writing a post? All sorts of good info!

Those are great prices, I know. Don't think my husband would agree, though, mainly because of shipping. But Jeff does have gorgeous birds.