California-Southern

[chef glenn]

Why are you liquidating your flock

Hi Miriam and Perchiegirl ,

Many reasons, none of which are unbackeroffable!
A couple of the LEADING reasons.

- Strife with wife
- Upcoming joint replacements, difficult to get someone to come over twice a day and take care of 65 plus chickens and 8 turkeys!

Even an old Viking such as I (with amazing genetic healing prowess) may take awhile to rehab/recover, right Mark?

That being said... Still have one gorgeous Hedemora Roo, Lavendar or Lavendar/Splash Roo from Dana (so you know it's a great roo!)

Haven't taken pics of upocoming available coops tho..

Thanks all,
Retired but wired! Home roast coffee that is!!

glenn

 

[chef glenn]

I think I was around 6 years old when my Dad took us into our town of Vista to watch the draped truck slowly driving down Vista Way with the 200-inch(?) telescope on its way to Palomar Observatory! I guess that was the most excitement our little town ever had.

Hi there Sly,

I am a fairly newcomer "Flatlander" up here after 16 years but my lovely wife (GRRR!) was born and raised here, attended the little
2 room Mountain grammar school has cool stories to tell about her grandfather who brought the mail up on a mule,
often hanging on to the tail getting up through snow drifts on the Nate Harrison Grade.
This was the main road up the Mountain until the South Grade was built specifically for the 200" lens you speak of, to finally ascend and
complete the last leg of the journey which began in Corning New York.

My father in law started by building a very small snackbar, over the years he added the general store, then a real snackbar/restaurant
now known as Mother's Kitchen. Kind of ironic since the snackbaar served only hamburgers, cheeseburgers for .05 extra, hot chocolate, sodas, candy.
NOW since the Yogis bought it long ago, it is vegetarian only...go figure...anyway, enough of a history class for today.

Glenn

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
Oh you definitely need to take care of you first... I am without chickens right now... hope to get back into it eventually. Yep cleaning house out can be liberating as well. I have finally gotten the Kennel panels broken down for moving... they do fold down nicely for a compact storage solution. I would love to have yours as well... but logistically I cant do it.

I have also heard those joint replacements have an amazingly quick recovery time. Even my 95 year old grandma who fell and broke her hip was back up and walking within a day... with nurse supervision... and off to a nursing home for about two weeks till her stitches came out... But if she had been a younger woman she would have done her recovery at home...

deb

 

[ilovechickens90]

HI all I don't have chickens yet but love the idea of them! Still deciding on what breed(s?) to keep

 

[froggiesheins]

HI all I don't have chickens yet but love the idea of them! Still deciding on what breed(s?) to keep

Just get one of everything to make it easy to decide

 

[calichicken]

Just get one of everything to make it easy to decide

LOL....so true!!!!!

 

[ilovechickens90]

Just get one of everything to make it easy to decide

nice one!

 

[RangeChicks]

I believe I can post some pics later today or maybe tomorrow.

Thanks for your patience.
Past coffee customers head of the line!

I'm still interested in the coops when you can post them. We really need some expansion right now!

 

[Magana559]

Checking in from Visalia, very green to chickens, turkeys, and rabbits.

 

[Sylvester017]

HI all I don't have chickens yet but love the idea of them! Still deciding on what breed(s?) to keep

Whatever breeds you decide on my experience is not to mix aggressive assertive combative breeds with gentle non-combative breeds. Decide on whether you want chickens for a lot of eggs/meat or chickens just for pets that will give you the benefit of a few eggs.

Bantams of all breeds are generally broody often and you'll get a lower egg output because of broodiness - but most bantams like Silkies or Cochins are very sweet pets and give a decent sized egg for bantams. Smaller sized bantams will obviously give peewee eggs.

Straight-combed or dual-purpose breeds will be the heaviest of large fowl, will generally give good egg production, but we've found them too aggressive to mix with non-combative gentle breeds. If eggs are your goal then stick with the known egg-laying breeds and don't mix them with ornamental birds, gentle breeds, or bantams.

The breeds we decided to keep are the gentles who mostly have some or most of the following characteristics: crested, bearded, tassled, muffed, tufted, feather-footed, vulture-hocked, 5-toed, pea/walnut/rose-combed, or no comb (like Breda). The gentles IMO are Ameraucana, Araucana, Barthuhner, Brahma, Breda, Cochin, Crevecoeur, Dorking, Easter Egger, Faverolles, Houdan, Lincolnshire Buff, Pavovskaja, Polish, Russian Orloff, Silkie, Sultan, and possibly some Eastern European crested breeds I'm not familiar with? Dominiques, Hamburg, Jersey Giant and Sussex have been reported mellow but I hesitate to mix them with the timid breeds. Our Silkies were bullied/attacked from Leghorns and Marans which we had to re-home and now there's peace in our flock.

The straight or floppy-combed egg layers and production hybrids are great together but I hate to see these more assertive breeds mixed with the non-combative gentles above. Many people toss EEs or Ameraucanas into their egg-laying flocks but these breeds are generally non-political and avoid conflict at all cost so I don't recommend mixing them with assertive Leghorns or dual-purpose, but that's just me.

Research and read the reviews in the breeds sections of BYC and other sites to see if you like what other owners are saying about breeds that catch your attention. If I had known about BYC before mixing my Silkies with LF I would've saved myself a lot of grief from the wrong addition of breeds in my flock. Ultimately you will love whatever breeds you decide on but advanced research will help you enjoy them even more.