Colorado

[GoDogGo]

@GoDogGo
I am not a memeber of any poultry clubs and new to chickens this year, we finally have a house with a yard instead of a condo, so I'm super excited about the possibilities. Showing poultry sounds like fun and I can see getting into that down the line. When I was on Facebook I found the Colorado Chickens group to be a great resource. I think next time I'm looking for birds I will definitely start there. Next I'm on to ducks! It actually sounds like they do better than chickens in the cold, so maybe I should have started there. I know what you meAn about rarer colors. When I started I had a white Orpington and a Lavender Orpington and they were beautiful, however they were the aforementioned ones that didn't make it through the illness. How is the grass for grazing animals in your part of the state? The big dream is cattle/yaks/goats, once we can save up more for land.

There are a lot of cattle ranchers our here in the plains but you can't have very many per acre. Goats are becoming very popular apparently as I see them on a lot of properties now. The bad things is those properties are now pretty barren due to the over grazing. People need to be more sustainable out here and learn how to manage pasture. I only have two goats that we use to keep the weeds down in our dog runs. With gravel dog runs it is virtually impossible to mow but the goats do a good job.
I am also seeing a lot more Alpaca around in the area.
I have my mini donkeys to help keep the coyotes away from my poultry and they have done a good job too and my 40 acres supports them fine without over grazing. I have also raised two steer on my property without any damage to the pasture but I think that is our limit before having to rotate pastures.
You can show ducks too, so maybe when you are ready to get ducks you should look for a specific breed and find a mentor. It really is fun and a good hobby.

 

[PirateGirl]

There are a lot of cattle ranchers our here in the plains but you can't have very many per acre. Goats are becoming very popular apparently as I see them on a lot of properties now. The bad things is those properties are now pretty barren due to the over grazing. People need to be more sustainable out here and learn how to manage pasture. I only have two goats that we use to keep the weeds down in our dog runs. With gravel dog runs it is virtually impossible to mow but the goats do a good job.
I am also seeing a lot more Alpaca around in the area.
I have my mini donkeys to help keep the coyotes away from my poultry and they have done a good job too and my 40 acres supports them fine without over grazing. I have also raised two steer on my property without any damage to the pasture but I think that is our limit before having to rotate pastures.
You can show ducks too, so maybe when you are ready to get ducks you should look for a specific breed and find a mentor. It really is fun and a good hobby.

Colorado is so dry I think you need many acres to effectively graze anything and the zoning/animals per acre allowed certainly reflects this. Are you aware that people race with their burros in Colorado? I advise you look into burro racing. If you aren't much of a runner yourself, I know of people loaning out their burros to distance runners to compete in races with them. I think there are 6 races in Colorado annually, so I'm guessing like 2 a month in summer. I'm convinced that one day I will adopt a mini burro and my husband will race with it! Haha, hopefully he is on board with this plan. My sister in law said a lot of people are raising goats now because it currently gets a really good price per lb for meat at market, however with the zoning in Colorado it looks to be more profitable to graze other types of animals on the same acreage. Goat milk seems to be growing in popularity as well.

 

[uzisuzuki]

Hi Colorado folks! I am a returning BYC member and wanted to say hi to others from CO! I live in Yoder and have LF Colombian Wyandotts, Basque Hen Chickens and a couple of Ayam Cemani along with a mixed layer flock. I also have turkeys and Lady Amherst Pheasants and a small farm of other critters. I hope to start getting involved with showing next year!
I am also wondering if there are any other CO members who have Wyandottes, Ayam Cemani or Basque hens?
Anyhow, Hi From me to you!

Hello! I've got 3 Cemani - 2 hens (Epiphany and Mazikeen) and 1 rooster (Lucien). I'm not involved in any shows, though I do like watching them wander with the rest of my flock!

 

[Elyrian1]

I started with seven Silver Laced Wyandottes, lost three to predator attacks earlier this year. The four I have are nice enough birds, cold hardy for sure, but they're reluctant to give me eggs with the shortening days. Slackers... Need to pay their rent, lol.

 

[21hens-incharge]

When were they hatched?
These shortening days have many frustrated due to eggs not happening.

Don't worry to much. My layers tend to take some time off but get back to work right after winter solstice.

 

[Elyrian1]

They're over a year old, they're just on strike. I know a couple of them molted (not all not enough feathers for that), they looked awful, but they feathered back out over a month ago.

P.S. I was so worried about the sudden drop in production at that time that we installed a security cam on the coop/side yard and put a padlock on the run.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Ah, then patience is all you can do.

 

[PirateGirl]

I started with seven Silver Laced Wyandottes, lost three to predator attacks earlier this year. The four I have are nice enough birds, cold hardy for sure, but they're reluctant to give me eggs with the shortening days. Slackers... Need to pay their rent, lol.

Ironically my SLW is the ONLY one laying.

 

[21hens-incharge]

There is a TSC opening very soon very near me...... I may get my chance yet to go in during chick season and say "surprise me.".

I am lucky enough that my pullets are laying well right now. My Brahmas are molting and needing a protein boost. I got mackerel for them so they should be good soon.

 

[PirateGirl]

i have a new friend in the neighborhood who is going to give me/hatch me ducks in the spring!