Chickens for 10-20 years or more? Pull up a rockin' chair and lay some wisdom on us!

[Fred's Hens]

It is easy to see what you and Fred love about these WRs, they are great-looking birds! Is there a huge difference, or not much at all, between White Rocks and Barred Rocks? Can't have white birds here.

The Rocks are all bred to the same standard as each are intended to be varieties of the one same breed. Whether Barred, White, Partridge, Buff, etc.

But the fact is that while the breed is determined not by pedigree but by rules of color, shape, etc, the making of these different varieties produced some differences in personality, I believe. I've never owned some of the varieties. Cannot speak to their personality.

The White Rocks, at the good ones I've had, simply have the best personality, for a chicken, that I've ever had. None of our hatchery based Barred Rocks ever exhibited quite the same all around "goodness". The heritage line I have now absolutely does! So? I dunno. All I can tell you is that the WR is just different, in my experience.

 

[galanie]

It is easy to see what you and Fred love about these WRs, they are great-looking birds!  Is there a huge difference, or not much at all, between White Rocks and Barred Rocks?  Can't have white birds here.

The Rocks are all bred to the same standard as each are intended to be varieties of the one same breed.  Whether Barred, White, Partridge, Buff, etc.

But the fact is that while the breed is determined not by pedigree but by rules of color, shape, etc, the making of these different varieties produced some differences in personality, I believe.  I've never owned some of the varieties.  Cannot speak to their personality.

The White Rocks, at the good ones I've had, simply have the best personality, for a chicken, that I've ever had.  None of our hatchery based Barred Rocks ever exhibited quite the same all around "goodness".  The heritage line I have now absolutely does!   So?  I dunno.  All I can tell you is that the WR is just different, in my experience.

Thank you for confirming that, Fred! I suspected that this was why the whites are as they seem to be. The only breed I know anything of the history about is Orpingtons but with them, I know that the buffs originally shared absolutely no blood with the blacks. They were both created from completely different breeds. Could be similar on the rocks.

(We are so fortunate we had some old breeders like Mr. Cook, the creator of the Orpington, that freely published just how he made that breed. If only all the others had done the same)

 

[Ridgerunner]

 Just one of the many reasons I love reading your posts Ridgerunner. 

It's good to see you back.

Kind words are really appreciated. And from certain people, they are appreciated even more.

 

[just me]

I stumbled on some beautiful beagle mixes, 12 weeks old. The little girl is already quite interest in the rabbit hide, the little boy not so much. Been putting acv in their water (never done it before, but figure it can't hurt).

Anyway, DH and son want to "house" them with the chickens so they will bond.(i.e. the pups won't chase the chickens as grown dogs)....I'm not so sure!! I'm figuring that either they will terrorize the chickens, or the chickens with terrorize them. (The chickens are only 5 months old).

 

[Miss Lydia]

I stumbled on some beautiful beagle mixes, 12 weeks old. The little girl is already quite interest in the rabbit hide, the little boy not so much. Been putting acv in their water (never done it before, but figure it can't hurt).

Anyway, DH and son want to "house" them with the chickens so they will bond.(i.e. the pups won't chase the chickens as grown dogs)....I'm not so sure!! I'm figuring that either they will terrorize the chickens, or the chickens with terrorize them. (The chickens are only 5 months old).

I'm thinking that is asking for trouble, pups will probably look at 5 month old chicks as chew toys.

 

[just me]

I'm thinking that is asking for trouble, pups will probably look at 5 month old chicks as chew toys.

Yeah, I'm thinking DH and son are pulling my leg!! Wouldn't be the first time. Sometimes, they just like to see how "dumb" a woman can be!!

 

[delisha]

Hmmm..might want to do some research on Beagles and chickens. You can train any dog to *leave*. However it is not going to be easy. Beagles have a huge hunt instinct and not so much on protection. I am sure you can train them! Good luck!

 

[smyers32]

I stumbled on some beautiful beagle mixes, 12 weeks old. The little girl is already quite interest in the rabbit hide, the little boy not so much. Been putting acv in their water (never done it before, but figure it can't hurt).

Anyway, DH and son want to "house" them with the chickens so they will bond.(i.e. the pups won't chase the chickens as grown dogs)....I'm not so sure!! I'm figuring that either they will terrorize the chickens, or the chickens with terrorize them. (The chickens are only 5 months old).

I personally wouldn't pick dogs to protect my chickens that are bred specifically to hunt and kill small animals, just me though. I guess anything's possible. Beagle pups are the cutest though, aren't they? And they are really sweet dogs, who knows, might work out.

 

[just me]

I personally wouldn't pick dogs to protect my chickens that are bred specifically to hunt and kill small animals, just me though. I guess anything's possible. Beagle pups are the cutest though, aren't they? And they are really sweet dogs, who knows, might work out.

The pups are for rabbit hunting (if they've got any kind of a nose)....They are the cutest!! NOT as dumb as some may think. When the boys were little they couldn't seem to make it home from the bus stop with their shoes. DH had a pair of good beagles. I found a shoe in the yard one day, picked it up and said, "Now I wonder where that other shoe is". People don't believe me, and if I hadn't seen it with my own two eyes, I wouldn't believe me either but those two beagles went lickity split up the drive way and retrieved the other shoe out of the side ditch!! I was speechless. (Never happened again, but the one time was enough to convince me of just how smart those dogs can be)

 

[smyers32]

Ok, sorry for the delay. I did open up the dead chicken, but I apparently didn't do a very good job because it was just a mess of guts, not all nice and neat and tidy like Bee's pix always are. I just couldn't get all the stuff to come apart! I don't know if the fact that she had been dead for at least 16 hours had anything to do with it...but let's just say it did for my ego's sake, ok?
I did not find an egg stuck in there, at least not one with a shell. At first cut, some yellow yolk-looking goo came oozing out. Is it possible for a shell-less egg to get stuck? I would imagine not and just decided the goo was just body fluids. I had trouble identifying things very clearly, but did locate the ovary. It seemed like it was really high in her cavity, but I've never seen inside a chicken before, so who knows. She had several little yolk "sacs" but only one that looked like it was even close to being developed. I don't have the experience to say really, but my gut tells me she wasn't laying. So much for death-by-egg. Found her crop with the liver attached. Her crop was very full, impacted crop death perhaps? It looked to be full of mostly grass and was very hard. It was maybe 3/4 the size of a baseball. Her liver wrapped more than halfway around her crop, it looked huge to me, but she was a big bird, easily 8lbs and it looked healthy in color/texture. I opened up one section of gut and didn't see any worms, but honestly I didn't investigate that as thoroughly as I now wish I had. It was hard to hang on to, hard to cut and I had had about enough of the foul smell by that point. It was certainly educational, though I still have no idea why she died. And I was surprised, actually, by how little breast meat she had for such a big girl. I can post pics, but they really are crude and messy. Let me know what y'all think.