Canadians check in here....

[new2pheasants]

Hi new2pheasants,

Welcome!

We are in Port Moody area, with a mixed flock of chickens - Barred Rocks, Welsummers, New Hampshire Red, Light Sussex, Dutch Leghorn, Buff Orpington, Buff Brahma, Black Langshans, Production Red. Who else am I forgetting? Ah! Australops, Black Ameraucanas, and 2 Easter Eggers. LOL

I am curious to know why you chose Barnevelders for eggs?

I want to raise Muscovy ducks, so looking for 1 day old ducklings.

Hi, love Muscovy ducks, they are just wonderful birds, are you going to get white, blue or black ones, would you be keeping them for eggs or other?

I might be dumb for getting barnevelders but I fell in love when I saw them a few years ago, doing research on pheasants and read up on chicken breeds. From what I read they are not super layers but their said to be good layers with about 200 a year and people say their calm and gentle birds. I'm only going to get the 1 rooster and 3 hens to see how they are, then 4 Plymouth rocks to upp the egg count and give me some meat birds.
I also do some crafting and just love feathers and the Barnevelder have beautiful feathers that I think I can do some really cool projects with once they molt.

But the Barnevelders might just be pretty birds in my garden with the Plymouth rocks being my solid producers, well see how things go.

 

[new2pheasants]

Trying to decided about the Plymouth Rocks if I want to do stright run day old chicks at 6$ a pop or buy a dozen eggs for 30$ and have fun hatching. I kinda wanted to hatch some eggs for the kids as its just cool and schools don't do that anymore, issues with hatching chicks with no place to go.
It was one of my favorite memories from school and my 7 year old nephews school is less then two blocks away. I was considering asking if they would like me to set it up and do all the work but let the kids enjoy watching, then bring them home when the time comes.

I feel like a dork sometimes, I had such an awful experience in school but I can't wait till my kids go to school and see if I can help them to have a great experience and learn something.

 

[new2pheasants]

Im from (roughly) Peace River, Alberta. I say roughly because it's the closest town to me and it's still 45km away. Yep - I'm in the boonies.

I'd love to connect with anyone who is far north and has the long cold winters. I grew up in Central Alberta and thought I knew what winter was. Ha! I was so wrong! I'm now 6 hours north of Edmonton. I'm closer to the NWT than Edmonton.

I've arranged to pick up and hatch 36 Partridge Chantecler eggs the first week of May. Up here...it's still cold out then - we get frost until the first week of June and then we get frost again mid August. Ask me how sad I was when all my tomatoes were frost killed last year in August!! *sigh*

Anyway, looking for any tips for extreme and continuous cold. I have two friends up here with laying hens with very different ideas of how to do it. I'm looking for as healthy, natural and sustainable as possible (when I say natural....ignore that I'm talking about overwintering a tropical bird in the near arctic).

Nice meeting everyone!!

Hi, can't really help at all with weather proofing but I wish you luck! I have friends in fort McMurray and family in fort Simpson NWT and Whitehorse YK and you and your winters have my respect.

I'm sure someone on here will give you some great ideas, I know my uncle in the YK runs a coop but he gets his stock early and then butchers them all before winter. Its the neighbors unfortunately that he's had more problems with then anything though, he's trying to sell his 70 acres and get out as the neighborhood isn't what it used to be.

Insulation and a dependable power source? I know I had one friend keep sheep with their chickens and the extra body heat kept everyone happy and safe.

 

[Tatiana110]

Trying to decided about the Plymouth Rocks if I want to do stright run day old chicks at 6$ a pop or buy a dozen eggs for 30$ and have fun hatching. I kinda wanted to hatch some eggs for the kids as its just cool and schools don't do that anymore, issues with hatching chicks with no place to go.
It was one of my favorite memories from school and my 7 year old nephews school is less then two blocks away. I was considering asking if they would like me to set it up and do all the work but let the kids enjoy watching, then bring them home when the time comes.

I feel like a dork sometimes, I had such an awful experience in school but I can't wait till my kids go to school and see if I can help them to have a great experience and learn something.

I would highly recommend to get 1 day old Barred Rocks from True North Heritage. These are great birds, very healthy and grow into beautiful birds. I love their chicks, can't say enough praise

We had the same dilemma - hatching our own vs getting 1 day old, and $-wise 1 day old chicks are almost a better choice, given egg fertility may not be 100%.

 

[Tatiana110]

Hi, love Muscovy ducks, they are just wonderful birds, are you going to get white, blue or black ones, would you be keeping them for eggs or other?

I might be dumb for getting barnevelders but I fell in love when I saw them a few years ago, doing research on pheasants and read up on chicken breeds. From what I read they are not super layers but their said to be good layers with about 200 a year and people say their calm and gentle birds. I'm only going to get the 1 rooster and 3 hens to see how they are, then 4 Plymouth rocks to upp the egg count and give me some meat birds.
I also do some crafting and just love feathers and the Barnevelder have beautiful feathers that I think I can do some really cool projects with once they molt.

But the Barnevelders might just be pretty birds in my garden with the Plymouth rocks being my solid producers, well see how things go.

We'd like Muscovy ducks for meat mostly, but a few eggs would be also great.

Barnevelders are gorgeous birds, I agree. And they are decent layers.

For a pretty bird, we got Welsummers. They are so beautiful and docile, and the best thing of all, they love eating slugs They are not great layers, but they lay large very dark eggs with specks, very beautiful. Also got them from True North Heritage.

Here is one of our Welsummer pullets, on my knees. She is 10 weeks old on the picture.

 

[new2pheasants]

I would highly recommend to get 1 day old Barred Rocks from True North Heritage. These are great birds, very healthy and grow into beautiful birds. I love their chicks, can't say enough praise

We had the same dilemma - hatching our own vs getting 1 day old, and $-wise 1 day old chicks are almost a better choice, given egg fertility may not be 100%.

I know I was so happy when someone on here posted the link to True North and after reading their site I was set on getting my birds from them. Their right close to where we're moving and my husband drives pass them for one of his work site.
I think we may just get chicks as I'm probably putting too much on my plate to add making an incubator and hatching chicks. I just love watching little baby birds coming out of their shells, its so sweet.

Its not so much the money as wanting to hatch chicks but I can always do that later on with my own fertilized eggs.

 

[new2pheasants]

We'd like Muscovy ducks for meat mostly, but a few eggs would be also great. Barnevelders are gorgeous birds, I agree. And they are decent layers. For a pretty bird, we got Welsummers. They are so beautiful and docile, and the best thing of all, they love eating slugs They are not great layers, but they lay large very dark eggs with specks, very beautiful. Also got them from True North Heritage. Here is one of our Welsummer pullets, on my knees. She is 10 weeks old on the picture.

Nice bird! You'll never see a slug again with your chickens and Muscovys on the hunt, that was definitely one of the things I loved about my ducks. They could pick a plant clean with no damage, I loved them for eggs but I could never kill or eat a duck. Ducks are way too cute and although I make amazing duck I'm just not a fan of the meat myself, one of the few things on my "will not eat" list. No issue at all with other people enjoying duck meat, I just have a soft spot for Muscovys and their big warty faces. I had my big Drake when I was little, my "Precious", big lord of the rings fan. Biggest Muscovy drake I've ever seen, I could barely wrap my arms around him, I think he weighted 40lbs or more, seriously not kidding. He died because he got stuck in a 3 foot wide culvert during a heavy rain, fat duck, my dad always teased me about eating him. He ate a lot of slugs that duck and sired many adorable duckling.

 

[wyandottegirl]

Hi I'm on Vancouver Island in BC. Is there anyone else out there.

 

[hennible]

Hi there
Northern BC here.

 

[Tatiana110]

Nice bird!
You'll never see a slug again with your chickens and Muscovys on the hunt, that was definitely one of the things I loved about my ducks. They could pick a plant clean with no damage, I loved them for eggs but I could never kill or eat a duck. Ducks are way too cute and although I make amazing duck I'm just not a fan of the meat myself, one of the few things on my "will not eat" list.

No issue at all with other people enjoying duck meat, I just have a soft spot for Muscovys and their big warty faces.
I had my big Drake when I was little, my "Precious", big lord of the rings fan. Biggest Muscovy drake I've ever seen, I could barely wrap my arms around him, I think he weighted 40lbs or more, seriously not kidding. He died because he got stuck in a 3 foot wide culvert during a heavy rain, fat duck, my dad always teased me about eating him.
He ate a lot of slugs that duck and sired many adorable duckling.

Wow, that was a huge duck! So sorry to hear that he died...

As a kid I grew on my grandma ranch with lots of ducks and chickens, she grew them for meat and eggs. She also had Muscovy (that was in the 70s).

It would so much fun to raise little duckies, I miss this so much!

By the way, here is one of our Barred Rock pullets, named Lapushka, hugging me. She is at the top of the pecking order in the 'teenage flock', but such an adorable beauty! 13 weeks old here, and she is very big.