California - Northern

[SpringPeeper]

The TJ's pullets should be good layers for 80 weeks so yes, early burn out.

Congratulations on the new egg layers!

Thanks! I love Australorps, which hasn't been helped by your recent photos

.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Quote: Yes, Wynette is a fellow moderator here. Here is her personal website:
http://www.adamsonacres.com/index.htm

She is in Michigan, and she has worked really hard on the SPPR's. Yes, I hatched from shipped eggs from her. I had a great hatch rate, but ended up losing most of the birds to a raccoon. I ended up giving my 2 remaining hens to Cheryl when she started working with them. Then she sold her flock to someone else in CA.

 

[tommysgirl]

Yeah for the eggs! My two olive eggers are from Wynette and if I remember correctly, some of Cheryl's silver penciled Plymouth rocks came from her. She's very nice and always willing to answer questions! Also, her birds are beautiful! I do have one SPPR cock who presides over the barn area free ranging chickens at the farm. Dinosaur has fathered some beautiful mixed breed chickens. I also have 5 hens and I might put them all in a breeding pen later this spring. 2 of the hens came from Jules who is fortyfivefarm here on BYC. She lives in Madera but I'm not sure if she is still breeding them.

Thanks! If you end up doing that let me know. I would prefer a closer source. I like the name Dinosaur

leaves some fun naming ops for the chicks. The yellow chick that hatched from your eggs has thick ol legs and feet. The little black one has a bit of a comb and less thick legs. Able seems to be the most feminine of them all so fingers are crossed. They are just shy of 3 weeks so it is very early yet.

My Australorps are laying! I got my first pullet eggs from them today

. And in 48 hours, two TJ hens have produced 5 eggs. I think these girls are going to be early burn outs (I suspected that going in) but they're certainly earning their keep now.

The Marans still haven't laid. We've got to be getting close, though. I knew I was picking mainly 'late starting' breeds to get last year, so I can't whine too much.


One of the quail girls felt like an over-achiever and laid a giant egg today. My daughter is over at a cousins' house, I'm going to wait until she gets home to see if it is a double yolker, just because she'd think it was amazing.

Yay for the layers!! My Marans started laying about 10 days ago hatched Mid June. Don't know if that helps you figure out your girls start date or not but hope so.

 

[tommysgirl]

Yes, Wynette is a fellow moderator here. Here is her personal website:
http://www.adamsonacres.com/index.htm

She is in Michigan, and she has worked really hard on the SPPR's. Yes, I hatched from shipped eggs from her. I had a great hatch rate, but ended up losing most of the birds to a raccoon. I ended up giving my 2 remaining hens to Cheryl when she started working with them. Then she sold her flock to someone else in CA.

Thanks so much I just contacted her through her website! I remember when Cheryl was rehoming her birds I contacted her and volunteered to take her broody SPR and a couple of others. I had never seen one before the pics of hers and I have been wanting to have some since. Stars didn't allign but now they are a priority.

 

[PetRock]

Thanks! If you end up doing that let me know. I would prefer a closer source. I like the name Dinosaur

leaves some fun naming ops for the chicks. The yellow chick that hatched from your eggs has thick ol legs and feet. The little black one has a bit of a comb and less thick legs. Able seems to be the most feminine of them all so fingers are crossed. They are just shy of 3 weeks so it is very early yet.

I look forward to seeing more pics of the chicks. I bet the father of the yellow chick is my huge Rhode Island Red rooster. He has taken over top chicken spot from my two Langshan roosters. He only had 1 RIR girl last year when I had them in a breeding pen. He must have thought that he died and went to heaven when I moved him out with the layer flock!

 

[EZFarms]

ive decided to do the essay on the prop 2 thing, i may do others like rough drafts and see which ones seem better

 

[chickenstricken]

Look what I just got! I'm already in love with the little wild thing...

Gold-laced orpington pullet from Papa's Poultry

That's a really cool looking bird

 

[mandy123]

For us old chicken lovers we draw the border line from San Jose across to Yosemite But better yet their is the isolated north coast along the area of Crescent city to Fort brag and east to the 1st mountain range. the rest is called the Inland Empire. .What is with the egg seasons the last two years. Start molting in October and last to March. As a kid in 4-H that just didn't happen Its a lot of feed for the molting season. Just don't remember it being this long. But its a coming. Noticed most all the feathers have returned and starting to look real good. Still have the combs to turn bright red. Probably another month.

 

[The Yakima Kid]

The origins of the California Gray are well known. Professor James Dryden of Oregon Agricultural College (now Oregon State University) developed the first 300 egg per year hen in the early 20th Century. He also bred the first hen with a documented 1,000 egg laying career. His research involved cross breeding high performing Leghorns with the best Barred Rocks.

After his retirement, he relocated to California and continued his work. At the time, the Holy Grail of American poultry breeding was an easily handled productive white egg layer that could tolerate colder climates and produce cockerels would also be good table birds. The California Gray met all of these requirements. At that time there was a demand for table fowl that were smaller than the popular Wyandottes, RIRs, and Plymouth Rocks as refrigeration was not overly widespread in the late 1920s through 1930s, so a bird that could be consumed by the average family in one meal was highly desirable.

The California White was the result of crossing a California Gray cockerel on a white Leghorn hen. The idea was to increase the egg production and have an easier to handle, more cold tolerant bird than a white Leghorn, that would be smaller and eat less feed. Obviously, the cockerels were not as desirable as friers, broilers, or roasters..

 

[ronott1]

For us old chicken lovers we draw the border line from San Jose across to Yosemite But better yet their is the isolated north coast along the area of Crescent city to Fort brag and east to the 1st mountain range. the rest is called the Inland Empire. .What is with the egg seasons the last two years. Start molting in October and last to March. As a kid in 4-H that just didn't happen Its a lot of feed for the molting season. Just don't remember it being this long. But its a coming. Noticed most all the feathers have returned and starting to look real good. Still have the combs to turn bright red. Probably another month.

It is great hearing from an old 4-H Kid!

You are describing light sensitivity and not molting. Molting is four to six weeks. The further north you go, the lower the hours of day light. The hours of light needed to lay eggs varies by breed. Plymouth Rocks, Barred, partridge, white and silver penciled will lay eggs with less than twelve hours of light. Other breeds do not.

Get some Rocks or another breed that is a winter layer.

http://www.sagehenfarmlodi.com/chooks/chooks.html

look for breeds with a snow flake in the chart. They are winter layers. Some set up lights on a timer which will get most breeds laying with low hours of daylight.