Colorado

[FrogEggs]

NEVER MIND - he said I can have them!!

I sent the guy an email for more info..... we'll see!

 

[suncatcher]

NEVER MIND - he said I can have them!!

I sent the guy an email for more info..... we'll see!

Hope you get them!!!

 

[Pozees]

Very nice answer! And VtotheAL , don't be sorry. Asking questions is how you learn Chicken Math and then we have more local breeds and chickens to choose from! It's all just a greedy twisted plot for our devious plan of getting more and better chickens.

So right! LOL!

Today I gave FF (grower and scratch) to all the 5-6 week olds plus the Catdance Silkies for the first time - the Egyptian Fayoumis dove into it as if they had been waiting their whole lives for it, and the others in the same pen followed suit. The other group of pullets and the C-Silkies are pretending it isn't there LOL.

The EFs are amazing. I'm thinking it won't be long before they need their own area, so I'm probably going to repair an older coop and run I bought last year and set some of them up in it. I have 10, and it looks like at least 4 are males. I have a couple of breeding partners, all of us watching to see how they fare in our climate and how they might impact development of a landrace well suited to Colorado, and I will be watching to see if I can select for egg size. The breed is known for early maturity, good foraging, tolerance of hot weather, and egg laying, but their eggs tend to be small - this is all information I have read since these are my first of this breed, and I can personally attest to fast maturity, the males showed themselves by 4 weeks. They can at least tolerate temps down to 11, since that was last Tuesday night's low and they were all out in the new coop. No one has crowed yet, but I expect them to begin any time. Until the hens start laying, which apparently usually happens at 4 to 4 1/2 months of age, I won't know whether there are differences in egg size, and I'm not sure yet how I will select males - not sure which characteristics I want to select for, there is no standard since the breed isn't recognized by the APA. The other thing we could try is creating a new color, right now they only come in one color, but I hate to mess around too much with a breed that has been essentially the same for goodness knows how long. Anyway, if anyone else is interested I would be wiling to share another pair or two. They are not for sale, this is a learning adventure, although any offspring or eggs anyone gets can certainly be offered for sale. If they are the layers they are reported to be, there should be plenty to share down the road.

Other things I got done - the Cuckoo Marans graduated out from under the heat lamp yesterday, into another 4x4 area, and next week they should move into the new coop if I still have any left. The Albritton SS, and the Cochin, RIR and SLW chicks I hatched all moved into the 4x4 pen the CMs had been using, they range in age from a week and a half to two and a half weeks of age so still need the heat lamp. Brooding chicks under the house while we finished the shed/new coop has been challenging, I will be glad when they are all up in the new coop.

Now Bob wants another shed to store and use tools, and store feed and shavings - he saw the pics of your new feed shed, Wendell, and that got the wheels turning LOL.

 

[wsmith]

Nice photo

 

[wsmith]

Now Bob wants another shed to store and use tools, and store feed and shavings - he saw the pics of your new feed shed, Wendell, and that got the wheels turning LOL.

LOL. Every man needs pne more shed....always.....

 

[Minchi]

LOL. Every man needs pne more shed....always.....

you should have seen the houses I saw today....


Now that was a man cave/plane cave.

 

[samsr]

you should have seen the houses I saw today....


Now that was a man cave/plane cave.

This would be acceptable. Just barely though. LOL

 

[BethRose]

I had an egg hatch 2 night ago. Healthy and very loud. I took it out of the incubator this morning and it was so lonely so my husband picked up a couple of friends for it. He got a gold laced polish and a BO. The chick is much happier now, it learned how to eat and drink from the newbies. I am waiting for another egg to hatch, I'm not sure if it's going to.

 

[FrogEggs]

OK, I spoke with the guy with the marans. He'll work with me on timing (since my coop isn't finished).

NOW.... best way to introduce 2 adults to 14 chicks??? Not right away, obviously.....

 

[ScottLovelandCO]