Canadians check in here....

[JAR26]

Moncton New Brunswick!

 

[The Farmers' Daughter]

@The Farmers' Daughter & @Kris5902
Hi! I’m just starting my chicken journey. My coop is at this stage:
View attachment 1708016 View attachment 1708017

I can only get 5 chickens where I am at, so I’ve been trying to decide what to get myself (I seriously never imagined how hard it would be to decide on chickens when you want 20 and can have 5 ). I’ve been looking at splash/blue Australorps, speckled Sussex, Orpingtons, Ameraucanas and Salmon Faverolles.

I had tried to get a Svart Hona but it looks like the breeder had a problem and her eggs didn’t hatch, which meant that I had to push back getting chicks. So that shortened my list a little.

A friend of mine is ordering a large bunch of different breed chicks from Performance Poultry for April, including faverolles, a nice lady from up island has put a batch of Austrlorp eggs in the incubator, and there is a couple who are getting chickens for April in Metchosin that I am seriously looking at. The hardest part for me is that I think I should only get three chickens this year then maybe two more in 2 years?

So I think this time around I’m going to get an australorp, ameraucana and a faverolles. That’s my plan anyways!

But I read some bad reviews on performance poultry, so I was wondering if the faverolles I was thinking of getting would be healthy, and I put out the call on the real farmers of Vancouver island (fb group) to see if anyone was breeding them here.

@Kris5902 we have been having great weather! I hope you get to take advantage of it! I’m going to do some painting on the coop today to keep the forward momentum going on it. Our steel roof should be here any day so I want to get all the wood structure well weather sealed before putting it up.

What have you two got for chickens? Anything you can tell me, as I’m a chicken newb, about tips for having chickens in the pacific north west type weather?

Cheers!!

Personally, I'd recommend getting the 5 now. There's always a possibility that a chick or two won't thrive, so I'd err on the side of caution.

I've got chanteclers (my favourite) and buckeyes. Both are winter hardy heritage breeds. As Pacific Northwest weather doesn't get too hot I think both breeds would do well there.

 

[Paintingsummerpurple]

I am in South Eastern Ontario. Hello.

 

[Paintingsummerpurple]

Belleville Ontario here.

 

[The Farmers' Daughter]

Hi @Paintingsummerpurple
Welcome
What kind of birds do you have? What breed and how many?
Has spring sprung there yet?

 

[Paintingsummerpurple]

Hi @Paintingsummerpurple
Welcome
What kind of birds do you have? What breed and how many?
Has spring sprung there yet?

 

[Paintingsummerpurple]

Good evening. I have 5 leghorns, onerhode island red, one black unknown breed, 2 female muscovy and one muscovy drake. This is my first year with them. Spring is certainly promising some warmer weather here. Although the weather reports are calling for possible light snow Friday night. What about you?

 

[The Farmers' Daughter]

Good evening. I have 5 leghorns, onerhode island red, one black unknown breed, 2 female muscovy and one muscovy drake. This is my first year with them. Spring is certainly promising some warmer weather here. Although the weather reports are calling for possible light snow Friday night. What about you?

I'm in Alberta, an hour west of Edmonton. We've been above 0 during the day for a few weeks now, but still below 0 at night. Next week the forecast is -4 with snow.
I've got a few bantams, about 25 to 30 buckeyes and 5 chanteclers. I've also got 16 partridge chanteclers in the incubator right now.

 

[Paintingsummerpurple]

I have 5 partridge chanteclers on order for May. I have always wanted them and after my leghorns got frostbite this winter I was able to find a source for them.

 

[Castlemaid]

A thread just for us Canucks! That's great!
I'm about 50km south of Prince George, near Hixon. I bought a home on acreage back in November, and it came with chickens and muscovies. Having a lot of fun learning all about home poultry, and enjoying the magnificent eggs.
Typical Canadian story: Household water is on a cistern, with water being trucked in. There is an old well with a hand-pump on the property, and previous owner told me in all his years of living on the farm, the hand pump has never frozen up, no matter how cold it got, and that is what he has been using to get water to the chickens daily, as it is near the coop. The water is a dark yellow, so I won't use it, but that is what was being used for the livestock they had.

Well, we've had brutally cold extended weather, in the -20's to -30's for over a month solid, and yes, the hand pump froze up. I had run out of household water and couldn't get any delivered because of too much snow - the water truck didn't want to risk coming all the way out to the boonies and get stuck. So . . . I took my wood splitting axe and hacked a hole through a foot of ice in the duck pond, and got the chicken water from the pond! Of course, had to re-open the hole on a daily basis, but the birds got water, and despite the cold, they were happy and laying pretty regularly.

Now that the snow is melting they seem to prefer drinking out of snow-melt puddles - I think they got a taste of "wild" water, LOL.