Chicken Buyers Remorse

[Vicker]

No more Brahma or Ideal 236 for me. I love them but have reasons for not getting more. My beautiful, docile White Brahma rooster (sold to me as a female) suffered miserably in the Texas summer heat--and the feathered feet aren't so cute when caked with mud or poo. He was also way too big for my hens. The opposite goes for the Ideal 236. Their bodies weren't designed for cold weather. Their combs are huge and floppy, feathers aren't fluffy, and body mass is slight. They had the hardest time this week during our record-setting cold and snow. I also feel bad for how they are bred to be massive egg producers. Small bird laying giant eggs every single day is the reason they have a lower life-expectancy.

 

[Vicker]

I feel exactly the same way about my Orpingtons.

I love my BO. Although they do go broody more than any other breed. I put up with that. They're like the Golden Retrievers of the chicken world.

 

[Silkies and succulents]

Um, sounds like everyone is making these statements based on very small numbers of birds of those types? Like saying you don't like a specific make/model of car because one had muffler issues... I live in a cold climate, and the Leghorn and Minorca I have are the first ones out in the snow every day (and still lay eggs daily), even though they are not supposed to be cold tolerant. I'm glad I've got exceptions to the "rules".

This may not actually be the case, these folk may all be citing specific examples with lots of data to back up their statements.

I think people are just saying birds that thye wouldn’t keep again based off of their previous experienc with those birds.

 

[Rysktal]

Not buyer's remorse, I think its normal and a part of chicken keeping to try out multiple breeds and figure out what works best for you.

I know what fits best for my flock now and that is breeds with pea combs and gentle personalities. I avoided feathered legged birds for a long time but now have a preference for Brahmas and hope to source some more this year.

I'm also going to give Ameraucanas one more chance...maybe if I hand raise them from chicks they'll be kinder? Worth a try.

 

[Winter Creek Coop]

My only buyers remorse has really been straight run feed store bantams. At least once a season I break down and come home with some that invariably are 80% cocks. I love banties but I don’t need a bunch of half banty chicks running around. The little cocks are very active breeders.

Great thread idea by the way.

 

[Silky45]

I don’t have remorse, but my silkies can get on my nerves. They are SO broody and don’t break. Their crest and foot feathers are a pain in the winter. And predator bait, I can’t leave them out with out watchful eye because even if the rooster sounds the alarm they just stand there they do everything at their pace. They do come to you if you have treats but really don’t particularly like attention, they are easy to catch and sit with you when you hold them but don’t seek it out. Impossible to sex till maturity.
I wanted to try a different breed I wanted 1) friendly, 2) easy to sex young 3) small comb and clean legged 4 ) bantam. So last spring I hatched bantam wheaten Ameraucana from a breeder. I’m surprised so many say they are flighty in this post. Mine have been just the opposite maybe different lines. But mine seek us out when I come home from work they come to the back garage door, if we walk in the back yard they come running from the bushes to see and hang out with us. Wheaten / Wheaten I could sex at about 6 weeks. They are young but my pullets are giving me an egg a day. They hang out in the brush and tree line I’ve seen them fly about 50 feet so pretty sure they could get up in the trees away from predator if they had too. I was worried they had so much free range time that they wouldn’t handle winter confinement well but they took it in stride, no bullying or feather picking-But they do have 40FT x 8FT covered space between coop and run. So far they have checked all the boxes I wanted in a breed.

They are gorgeous

 

[icy_flames]

Not buyer's remorse, I think its normal and a part of chicken keeping to try out multiple breeds and figure out what works best for you.

I know what fits best for my flock now and that is breeds with pea combs and gentle personalities. I avoided feathered legged birds for a long time but now have a preference for Brahmas and hope to source some more this year.

I'm also going to give Ameraucanas one more chance...maybe if I hand raise them from chicks they'll be kinder? Worth a try.

Try mypetchicken.com for the Ameraucana. I also got my Dominique, New Hampshire Red, and White Easter Egger from them. They are a great company and my birds arrived safe and healthy as chicks. My 5 month old Ameraucana named Penny just started laying green eggs a couple days ago. She's definitely high up on the pecking order but a sweet bird. Lots of personality and very smart.

I will jump on the buff orpington wagon too. Mine is a little crabby with my other girls but one of my tamest so I'm not sure if I won't get another. All my chickens are so different in temperment.

 

[Karen K]

I do like my BAs; I bought them as pullets and they all are. (Whew.) I want to get some Blue Aussies this spring because I am ga-ga in love with the color, after having seen them here on BYC. I wish I had spent more time holding them, as none of them are lap chickens. I hope their eggs are a little bigger when they graduate to hen-hood. Right now they are small to medium. It remains to be seen if they'll go broody.

I love my blue Australorps, they are the sweetest, most gentle chickens. I have worked a lot with them though since they were just 2 days old so they are very used to being handled. At 3 weeks I would take them with my when I was weeding my garden. They are 9 months old now and will come when I call them to go out into my front yard to do gardening. One is a very reliable layer of medium to medium large eggs, the other is more sporadic in laying. They free-range during the day in our back yard and when they think I'm not paying enough attention will come to the back door and peck at it till I come see them. They are also very quiet most of the time.
We have a coop house that they are locked up at night. In the morning I don't open the door to their run, but open the back door that allows me to clean. I lift them out each morning and check their crops, so they have gotten used to being held every day. Then I go back and open the rest of the doors, but during the day, they get the whole back yard.

 

[Parront]

My only buyers remorse has really been straight run feed store bantams. At least once a season I break down and come home with some that invariably are 80% cocks. I love banties but I don’t need a bunch of half banty chicks running around. The little cocks are very active breeders.

Great thread idea by the way.

I would second that! The free chick from Murray McMurray was a small cute cockerel (Sultan) -- never again! The 1/2 Sultan, 1/2 Orpingtons were so cute the kids could not bear to eat them, too small to eat any way. Let the broody Orp in the yard with cute Sultan, resulting in 10 chicks, 7 of which were those cute but useless little roosters! Not keeping the free chick if I order from them again . . . kids are grown now.

 

[SulkyBantam]

My Dream Bird is Dylan, the African Grey in my avatar. Lays very small eggs and is always very busy talking to me.

DYLAN lays eggs?!