California - Northern

[sewandgrow]

What a day, my son's baseball game, processed rabbits, picked up some kids(baby goats) and made some delicious homemade rabbit and dumplings soup,now to relax and check the bator for late hatchers =)

Sounds like a great day to me. Processing rabbits is a breeze compared to plucking chickens & a great memory from doing it with my grandmother when I was young & rabbit & dumplings sound great....

 

[chrissyr]

What a day, my son's baseball game, processed rabbits, picked up some kids(baby goats) and made some delicious homemade rabbit and dumplings soup,now to relax and check the bator for late hatchers =)

No invite ???

I've had chicken n dumplings but not rabbit. Sounds delish!!

 

[sewandgrow]

I have a request from a Turlock Garden Club lady. She need a female Bronze Turkey. She is getting a grown male or 2 & need a mate. Does anyone coming to the party know of one that is available for sale?? Thanks.

 

[PetRock]

Sounds like a great day to me. Processing rabbits is a breeze compared to plucking chickens & a great memory from doing it with my grandmother when I was young & rabbit & dumplings sound great....

Plucking chickens is not too bad if you have a plucker! We processed 29 today. We started at around 10 and were finished before 1.

 

[lualshannon]

It is unfair to be this cute and adorable I wanted to share some photos of my chicks who were bred, and hatched by "chickee". It is always a deep pleasure to purchase chicks from chickee/Candy, who is a very lovely Lady. As before, I am simply in awe of how beautiful and healthy these babies are. Well, needless to say, I took off 2 days from my work to be able to just sit there and watch them in awe. They are W width: 350px; height: 312px"> [/URL]

W&BW Amers are wonderful temperaments but I wouldn't give you 2 cents for the Marans if that is what your feather-footed bird is. We rehomed our mean Marans and kept the Amer who are very sweet nurturing birds that are kind to flockmates - they would rather flee than fight and willingly accept orphaned chicks or injured birds into the flock unlike other territorial breeds. Amers even as chicks have a sweet gentle look about their expressions. Marans are gorgeous but rather aloof and can be downright sneaky/pecky against flockmates - our Marans viciously attacked a Silkie. We had active assertive Leghorns that were milder tempered than that one mean Marans although we re-homed all our assertive breeds to keep only the good temperament ones. Amers have got to be one of the best breeds out there which is why I don't stress my Amers mixing them with assertive breeds. Amers get around 5-5.5 lbs while Marans can tip the scale as much as 7 lbs for a hen so the Amers are only mixed w/gentle temperament breeds. BTW your new chicks are absolutely gorgeous and adorable - ESPECIALLY those sweet-faced Amers ! My avatar is a BW Amer (when she was 5-m/o).

Thank you for your comment about my AM chicks. Both the AM & Marans chicks are delightful as chicks as well as adults. I am not new to poultry husbandry, and do recognize and am aware of temperament differences between the breeds. In the past, I did purchase Ameraucanas from Chickee, and they have integrated into my flock without any stress, and still living quite happily, which I am sure, and of course hoping that the same will happen with these brand new adorable chicks. I would not paint any breed with a wide brush as to their temperament; for, I believe would not be fair to the breeders who devote their lives to better the confirmation as well as temperament problems of their breeds. Marans can be assertive, so can many other breeds. The housing, living conditions, and size of their coop or yard can play a big role in the behavior of birds. Well of course that does not mean that I would keep Gamebirds with Chickens. Also, there are some breeds which would not be good idea at all to house with certain other breeds. My Orps., NHs., AMs. and couple of Marans always lived in harmony. Do they ever have readjustment or challenge of hierarchy? yes, of course they do, but, they last a short while, and get back to normal, peaceful life. These lovely Marans chicks are not the very first ones I have had in my life. My experience with this breed, Marans, has been very positive, and they were all purchased from reputable breeders. Last year my very old Marans passed away; still miss them very much, and wanted to have some more to help their void in my heart. Also, I have never been in a habit of purchasing an animal at a drop of a hat. I always communicate with the breeders at length to make sure of their animals' personalities just as I did with Chickee. Yes, your Ameraucana on your avatar is very lovely. Lual

 

[caychris]

Chick spamming


My new buff orps from the feed store, Everyone needs lap chickens.


The 4 week olds




















THe 4 week olds

 

[Sylvester017]

Thank you for your comment about my AM chicks. Both the AM & Marans chicks are delightful as chicks as well as adults. I am not new to poultry husbandry, and do recognize and am aware of temperament differences between the breeds. In the past, I did purchase Ameraucanas from Chickee, and they have integrated into my flock without any stress, and still living quite happily, which I am sure, and of course hoping that the same will happen with these brand new adorable chicks.

I would not paint any breed with a wide brush as to their temperament; for, I believe would not be fair to the breeders who devote their lives to better the confirmation as well as temperament problems of their breeds. Marans can be assertive, so can many other breeds. The housing, living conditions, and size of their coop or yard can play a big role in the behavior of birds. Well of course that does not mean that I would keep Gamebirds with Chickens. Also, there are some breeds which would not be good idea at all to house with certain other breeds. My Orps., NHs., AMs. and couple of Marans always lived in harmony. Do they ever have readjustment or challenge of hierarchy? yes, of course they do, but, they last a short while, and get back to normal, peaceful life.

These lovely Marans chicks are not the very first ones I have had in my life. My experience with this breed, Marans, has been very positive, and they were all purchased from reputable breeders. Last year my very old Marans passed away; still miss them very much, and wanted to have some more to help their void in my heart. Also, I have never been in a habit of purchasing an animal at a drop of a hat. I always communicate with the breeders at length to make sure of their animals' personalities just as I did with Chickee.

Yes, your Ameraucana on your avatar is very lovely.

Lual

I agree I don't like to paintbrush one temperament quality on a breed. And we did know our breeder and saw her operation. Her homeschooled kids raised and socialized and were very knowledgeable about their breeds and were picky about where they got their hatching eggs/breeding stock. They had about 5 breeds they raised exclusively in carefully planned breeding pens along w/ a certain breed of goats. They had Ameraucanas, BCMs, as well as Cuckoos to breed OEs and altho their Marans were calm they were aloof birds -- not really people friendly in spite of frequent handling. The breeder kids have since gone on to college and the Mom has downsized to exclusively raising gentle Coronation Sussex project birds and supplies her homeschool assn group w/ hatching eggs for class instructions.

We were disappointed in the sneaky/pecky way Marans try to dominate. I guess Wyans are that way too. Leghorns of any variety are downright assertive too. There are normal pecking order squabbles but then there are breeds that seem to over-dominate pecking order status like RIRs, Marans, Legs, BRs - pretty much any of the non-broody types. This is why we are so endeared to the Ameraucanas who don't seem to care about flock politics and are downright kind to flockmates. Our BW Amer allows the Silkies to chest-bump her without ever retaliating - just really a sweet temperament I never saw in any other breed I've had. There has not been one incident where she pushed or asserted herself over any other flockmate. Because of this gentleness and the smaller Silkies in the group we downsized the flock to 5-lbs & under with known breed gentleness -- it's not to say there aren't little squabbles since they are chickens but we no longer fear injurious behaviors from more dominant breeds. A large property would be nice to section off breeds or where breeds can break up into cliques but unfortunately I don't have that luxury and have to be picky about my 5 allowed zoned hens. It's such a temptation to want more chickens but we have been very selective to stay within our required limit and keep the girls more like pets than utility. Dogs are expensive pets too w/ licenses, vet bills, vaccinations, medicines, feed, housing, toys, maintenance products, etc, but we found w/ pet chickens you get eggs in return, bug control, and useable fertilizer for the garden

.

 

[Chrysolinsbirds]

we got some kids lol this one is Riff Raff =)

 

[caychris]

I agree I don't like to paintbrush one temperament quality on a breed. And we did know our breeder and saw her operation. Her homeschooled kids raised and socialized and were very knowledgeable about their breeds and were picky about where they got their hatching eggs/breeding stock. They had about 5 breeds they raised exclusively in carefully planned breeding pens along w/ a certain breed of goats. They had Ameraucanas, BCMs, as well as Cuckoos to breed OEs and altho their Marans were calm they were aloof birds -- not really people friendly in spite of frequent handling. The breeder kids have since gone on to college and the Mom has downsized to exclusively raising gentle Coronation Sussex project birds and supplies her homeschool assn group w/ hatching eggs for class instructions.

We were disappointed in the sneaky/pecky way Marans try to dominate. I guess Wyans are that way too. Leghorns of any variety are downright assertive too. There are normal pecking order squabbles but then there are breeds that seem to over-dominate pecking order status like RIRs, Marans, Legs, BRs - pretty much any of the non-broody types. This is why we are so endeared to the Ameraucanas who don't seem to care about flock politics and are downright kind to flockmates. Our BW Amer allows the Silkies to chest-bump her without ever retaliating - just really a sweet temperament I never saw in any other breed I've had. There has not been one incident where she pushed or asserted herself over any other flockmate. Because of this gentleness and the smaller Silkies in the group we downsized the flock to 5-lbs & under with known breed gentleness -- it's not to say there aren't little squabbles since they are chickens but we no longer fear injurious behaviors from more dominant breeds. A large property would be nice to section off breeds or where breeds can break up into cliques but unfortunately I don't have that luxury and have to be picky about my 5 allowed zoned hens. It's such a temptation to want more chickens but we have been very selective to stay within our required limit and keep the girls more like pets than utility. Dogs are expensive pets too w/ licenses, vet bills, vaccinations, medicines, feed, housing, toys, maintenance products, etc, but we found w/ pet chickens you get eggs in return, bug control, and useable fertilizer for the garden

.

I cannot say enough good stuff about Pita Pintas in this regard. I have 2 Buff Orps 6 Delawares 1 Pita Pinta and 1 Cream Legbar and they all get along very well. The only problems we ever had were so minor and were only as the younger (smaller birds) would draw attention to themselves by being affraid of the bigger birds. Some small order adjustments but nothing overly dramatic. I picked up 4 buff orp chicks Friday and almost picked up a Marans and a Sicilian buttercup but passed because I was worried about drama over time. I have 8 chicks at 4 weeks 5 Pitas and 3 CLB and I will say the Pita attitude rubs off on the CLB who are usually skittish but are behaving like the pitas they were raised with, Pitas are calm friendly generally quiet and just simply amazing chicken.

 

[Sylvester017]

I cannot say enough good stuff about Pita Pintas in this regard. I have 2 Buff Orps 6 Delawares 1 Pita Pinta and 1 Cream Legbar and they all get along very well. The only problems we ever had were so minor and were only as the younger (smaller birds) would draw attention to themselves by being affraid of the bigger birds. Some small order adjustments but nothing overly dramatic. I picked up 4 buff orp chicks Friday and almost picked up a Marans and a Sicilian buttercup but passed because I was worried about drama over time. I have 8 chicks at 4 weeks 5 Pitas and 3 CLB and I will say the Pita attitude rubs off on the CLB who are usually skittish but are behaving like the pitas they were raised with, Pitas are calm friendly generally quiet and just simply amazing chicken.

I always wondered about Pita Pintas. I never knew they were here in the USA. I never got serious about researching them since many of the Spanish and Mediterranean breeds (Ancona, Andalusian, Catalana, Leghorn, Minorca, White Faced Spanish, Sicilian Buttercup, and even the Penes/Empordanesas) seem so overly active or assertive. It's nice to get owner input about the Pitas. My friend had a Buff Orp who was alpha and not always the nicest bird and since CLs are a Leghorn-based breed I decided to stay away from them - never know when the assertive Leg temperament will emerge in the Leg cross-breeds.

Have you ever had a Pita Pinta older than 2 y/o yet? Usually that's when the really aggressive behaviors start showing in adults and if a bird plays nice past 2 y/o we don't re-home them. We had a White Leg that was unusually nice to her flockmates until her 3rd year when she went bonkers on her flockmates. She was re-homed to an egg-laying flock where she continued being top of the order. Another Buff Leg became an aggressive cannibalistic bully at 1 y/o and had to be re-homed to the same flock. I adore Legs for so many reasons but they are just too assertive in a gentle breed flock. One owner labeled her Legs as wild and crazy and I can see where they can get called that if they are in a flock they can easily bully.

I know you love your Pitas and I would like to hear more about their behavior as mature adults at 2 y/o or older and what breeds they get along with best where they play nice with each other. Some breeds play nice and bullies take advantage of the nice ones sometimes. Have you found any particular breeds taking advantage of the nice behavior of the Pitas?