California-Southern

[froggiesheins]

Hi. I'm new to the whole chicken thing. I got my chicks last month and they are now 5 weeks old. I just got them out of my bathroom (Thank goodness) and into their newly build coop. I still have to finish fencing the run, but they will be fine in the coop for a few more weeks. The coop I built is 6'X6' and I have 9 girls (all girls I hope!). I just need to finish painting the outside of it. My current flock consists of: 2 buff orpingtons, 2 lavender orpingtons, 2 australorps, 2 easter eggers, and a silver laced wyandotte. Things seem to be going fine so far.

Here are some pictures:

The coop (which I hope to get painted this weekend!):
[COLOR=005CB1] [/COLOR]

The chicks on Monday 6/16 - their first day in the coop:
[COLOR=005CB1] [/COLOR]

The chicks last night 6/19 - teaching them to roost:
[COLOR=005CB1] [/COLOR]

I'm hoping to attend some of the more local meetups in the future. I'm sorry to hear of the recent losses to disease, it is something I am super paranoid about myself.

Tina

WELCOME to BYC and more welcomes to the WONDERFUL world of chickens! Adorable coop and cutie-pie babies.....you are now on my master list for future meet-ups..the first one will be in early Oct!! WOOT!

 

[sol2go]

Hi. I'm new to the whole chicken thing. I got my chicks last month and they are now 5 weeks old. I just got them out of my bathroom (Thank goodness) and into their newly build coop. I still have to finish fencing the run, but they will be fine in the coop for a few more weeks. The coop I built is 6'X6' and I have 9 girls (all girls I hope!). I just need to finish painting the outside of it. My current flock consists of: 2 buff orpingtons, 2 lavender orpingtons, 2 australorps, 2 easter eggers, and a silver laced wyandotte. Things seem to be going fine so far.

Here are some pictures:

The coop (which I hope to get painted this weekend!):


The chicks on Monday 6/16 - their first day in the coop:


The chicks last night 6/19 - teaching them to roost:


I'm hoping to attend some of the more local meetups in the future. I'm sorry to hear of the recent losses to disease, it is something I am super paranoid about myself.

Tina

I think your coop is darling. The second and third ones always go together faster =)

 

[ozexpat]

Hey Rick.

Sorry to hear about the Mareks.

You can try vaccinating the rest of your birds. Some reports show that it will help mitigate symptoms in birds even if exposed. This is not 100% effective though.

You also need to do an assessment of the places you got your birds and people you have sold or swapped with and let them know.

I had hatched 13 banty Cochin and was totally chuffed after carrying the eggs all the way to the PPhilippines only to lose 12 of them as well as 5 others in that hatch to coryza.

Now I vaccinate for Marek's NCD coryza and fowl pox.

Its tough to lose birds

 

[froggiesheins]

Hey Rick.

Sorry to hear about the Mareks.

You can try vaccinating the rest of your birds. Some reports show that it will help mitigate symptoms in birds even if exposed. This is not 100% effective though.

You also need to do an assessment of the places you got your birds and people you have sold or swapped with and let them know.

I had hatched 13 banty Cochin and was totally chuffed after carrying the eggs all the way to the PPhilippines only to lose 12 of them as well as 5 others in that hatch to coryza.

Now I vaccinate for Marek's NCD coryza and fowl pox.

Its tough to lose birds

OZ, so sorry to hear you lost SO many at once. I see that these diseases have no boundries....

 

[Marthab1953]

My Bantam Chocolate Laced Polish Project I have been working on for over 2 years.

 

[Sylvester017]

Ok I have decided to sell my Bantam Chocolate Laced Polish Project I have been working on for 2 1/2 years. The reason way is I am going to concentrate on my Bantam Buff Laced Polish and My Bantam Cuckoo Polish.

The hens are luscious but those roos are gorgeous! Hope you find a willing breeder. We city folk are quantity-limited and zoned no roos! I was offered a breeding pair of Coronation Sussex and just cry because we can't have roos.

 

[Marthab1953]

The hens are luscious but those roos are gorgeous! Hope you find a willing breeder. We city folk are quantity-limited and zoned no roos! I was offered a breeding pair of Coronation Sussex and just cry because we can't have roos.

Thank you! No takers close.
Offers across country and out of the country, but I need to mail and I will not mail them. If I do not get some offers with in a week or so I will sell them individually. I just wanted to give someone the chance to continue this color as I am the only one I know of that is breeding this color of Bantam polish.

 

[ChickenChaser26]

Hey. I live in Huntington Beach and am getting set up to get my first couple of hens. I am interested in the barred rock hens. How long have you had yours? How is it doing? Any advice for someone starting out?

 

[Anna6]

I just hatched 10 Heritage Bar Rock from eggs that I bought. I have been waiting to get these Bar Rock from the time I got back into chickens again. Mine are just feathering in. I will try and post pictures soon. There are some boards on here especially dedicated to Bar Rocks.

 

[Sylvester017]

Thank you! No takers close.
Offers across country and out of the country, but I need to mail and I will not mail them. If I do not get some offers with in a week or so I will sell them individually. I just wanted to give someone the chance to continue this color as I am the only one I know of that is breeding this color of Bantam polish.

I don't know if this experience helps or not, I can't have eggs or chicks - no space for incubators or brooders and no rehoming outlet for unwanted hatched cockerels. Since we are limited in our zone I had to find a breeder willing to ship juveniles that were easily sexed by age 10 to 12 weeks old. Well it happened I found a breeder on the East Coast (VT) who had experience shipping all ages from eggs, chicks, juveniles, to adults - although we both are hesitant about shipping chicks she has done it before. I'm on the West Coast (CA) - that's two opposite ends of the USA and both my shipments came overnight and between the breeder and myself made sure to track the birds cross-country overnight. I always ordered two pullets at a time so they would have warmth and company in the shipping box. It was a pleasant and successful experience except for the exhorbitant shipping costs which I was more than willing to absorb to get my precious orders. Including the cost of the birds and the shipping costs my order totals were between $110 to $150 but well worth it to get my rare breeds. The USPS is the only carrier to ship live birds and they do not offer guarantee insurance but my experience was so easy and the birds so lively to get out of the well-ventilated box and let us hold them that I would do it again in a heartbeat. It's funny that FedEx doesn't take customer orders for shipping live birds yet FedEx Air is what the paperwork noted when USPS shipped from East Coast to West Coast. Go figure?!

I believe the drawback for most breeders to ship USPS is that many have not established a working repoire with their local post office who always refer such shipping to the postal Sectional Center Facilities located miles away. I have had dialog with a new breeder who has shipped hatching eggs but never live birds through her local post office before and is working to get them to take the orders from her hometown post office rather than the SCF miles away. If my newly found breeder still has to make the longer drive to ship I will reimburse her for travel if she is willing. It's just finding that right combination of balance between breeder, customer, time, distance, and shipping carrier. It's all about the customer being willing and understanding to absorb the cost and make good-will total payment in advance.

It takes a little care and communication between breeder and customer to track birds on their travel with tracking numbers. My first shipment after receiving arrival notification, I had to scold and insist the mail carrier deliver our birds immediately to the house and not ride around in the mail truck all day - clearly the USPS policy is to call the customer for pickup and not ride around with live birds all day. The next shipment I notified every mail carrier and substitute carrier for 3 days in advance that I was getting a live shipment and to immediately call - it worked great on the 2nd shipment ! With the post office being billions of dollars in debt you'd think they'd at least follow their own policies regarding living shipments ! Just gotta keep them on their toes and be diligent in shipping and receiving tracking numbers - anyone who truly cares to sell or buy rare breeds would naturally take this initiative with tracking.

Another thing is that the seller should not be responsible and so state in writing that there is no guarantee on live birds once they are in the USPS hands. I received my first shipment from the breeder with lice and later found out one died from worms 3 weeks after receipt but even though it was not in writing I knew it was like most hatchery policies as well that once the birds are enroute it is the buyer's responsibility. I never faulted the breeder as her second shipment was immaculately executed. Things happen with chickens and if a customer is not willing to pay the risk they don't deserve the birds in the first place.