Colorado

[wsmith]

Ill look into that breed, and no its not a Widefield rule. There are no restrictions in El Paso County If you are zoned RR5 and above. However I am zoned RS-5000 and the 2 hen rule applies to me. I have done some digging and it appears most people ignore this rule. Though if a neighbor complains they can make you get rid of them and fine you. I am not too worried as alot of people in this neighborhood seem to have chickens.

Ah. The reason I asked is because someone was telling folks a while back that no matter where you were in El Paso county, you could only have 2.

Its supposed to get a little cool tonight.....

 

[Chick_In_The_Burbs]

Hey thanks for the fast replies.  Technically I'm in El Paso County and I am only allowed to have two hens and no roosters.  Since i hear roosters all over my neighborhood, and my neighbor a few blocks down is selling eggs and has over 20... I don't think too many people are following the rules.  This is good for me  I plan on raising 2-8.. I know a vague number.  I am unsure if I should go all out and get 8 or see how I can handle 2 at first.  I want them for eggs.  Being friendly and fun would be a nice bonus.  My coop is big enough I think, it is 4'x7' with external egg boxes, 3 of them.  I have been reading on species and think I have narrowed it down a bit.  My requirements for my hens are as follows:  They lay a medium-large egg, they lay frequently, the color of their egg MUST be any color other then white, they are cold hardy as I don't want to supply power to the coop, lastly I would like it if they were relatively friendly with each other(i hear RIR can be mean to other species).  My list of the birds I am thinking about are as follows:  Cream Legbar(I know... expensive.. but their egg color is the COOLEST!)  Black Australorp, Easter Eggers(or the real deal with Ameraucanas.. not sure if it matters..) or Black Copper Maran(really like their egg color as well).  Ideally I think a mix of all of thee above would have a really awesome egg basket  Any one here have experience with these birds? Am I missing an obvious choice? Does any one know where I could locate these species here in Colorado? Thanks again!

I have had EEs and an Australorp. My Australorp has been a proficient layer, she was the last in my flock to stop laying the last two winters. She is also sweet and very mellow. My EEs are happy, inquisitive gals. Among my layers my EEs are my favorites personality wise. They do tend to stop laying in favor of molting and since they tend to mini molt usually around July and a major molt around October I do get fewer total eggs from them.

All of my laying birds are hatchery stock but if you don't have an issue processing roosters I would recommend buying from a local breeder. Breeder birds just seem healthier. I lost one of my EEs to a giant tumor when she was just over a year old (1 of 3). None of my birds from professional breeders have had any problems.

 

[Adam7]

I have had EEs and an Australorp. My Australorp has been a proficient layer, she was the last in my flock to stop laying the last two winters. She is also sweet and very mellow. My EEs are happy, inquisitive gals. Among my layers my EEs are my favorites personality wise. They do tend to stop laying in favor of molting and since they tend to mini molt usually around July and a major molt around October I do get fewer total eggs from them.
All of my laying birds are hatchery stock but if you don't have an issue processing roosters I would recommend buying from a local breeder. Breeder birds just seem healthier. I lost one of my EEs to a giant tumor when she was just over a year old (1 of 3). None of my birds from professional breeders have had any problems.

Thank you for the advice. Would you be able to tell me the easiest way to get into contact with local breeders? I don't even know where to start or where to look. What color eggs have you gotten from your EE? For the rest of your birds? I am really interested in a variety of egg colors

 

[Adam7]

Is the 2 hens rule a Widefield rule? I know that I am in rural El Paso county, RR5, and there are no restrictions. 4X7 i think is a little small for 8 hens. Of course, MY obvious choice would be Dominiques, but I am partial to Dominiques...

I built my coop thinking that it was more then enough for 8 chickens. https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/...s-in-your-city-the-basics-of-raising-chickens

It states 2-3 sq ft is enough.. I thought I was giving them a resort at 3.5 sq ft per bird for 8... I wish I would have known this wasn't enough as I could have easily built it bigger... If it helps I have a 60'x10' run they are confined to when they are not in their coop.

 

[Chick_In_The_Burbs]

Thank you for the advice.  Would you be able to tell me the easiest way to get into contact with local breeders?  I don't even know where to start or where to look.  What color eggs have you gotten from your EE?  For the rest of your birds?  I am really interested in a variety of egg colors

Finding breeders would be the hard part. I have actually contacted a local EE breeder via their website to try and get some hatching eggs but no response so far. Best bet is to go to fairs like the stock show next month. You can also use Craigslist as the chick season kicks off in a few months but that is very hit or miss. If I can find the link to the breeder I emailed I will list it for you.

My EEs have all laid mint green eggs. The Australorp lays a medium brown egg, I love the shade.

 

[Chick_In_The_Burbs]

Hmmmmm...

Tell you what...... Think about this....

My plan is to hatch out one week's worth before selling hatching eggs, because I want to know what kind of hatch rate we are getting...... How about I collect the first week and put them in the incubator, and you get the second week's eggs. Say... $10 for the week's yield? That "should" give you anywhere between 24-36 eggs. You would need to keep good records of humidity and temperature, and let me know which eggs hatched and the total hatch rate. Each egg will be marked so I know which hen it came from. If ou got an 80% hatch out of 24 eggs, that would be 19 chicks, and about 1/2 of them would be pullets. 9-10. The cockerels you could either sell or raise for meat.... If you were NPIP I would just take them back.....

Thoughts?

Wow, don't know how I missed this post but that would be AWESOME! Perfect, really, and I have no issues taking notes for you.

I can't remember, when did you say you were looking at starting your hatching?

 

[wsmith]

Wow, don't know how I missed this post but that would be AWESOME! Perfect, really, and I have no issues taking notes for you.

I can't remember, when did you say you were looking at starting your hatching?

I plan on setting up the breeding pen on the weekend closest to the first of March. After a week I will start collecting eggs for my first batch for a week. So by the end of the second week in March, I should have some eggs available for you. We will do various batches as we can after that, We already have orders for several dozen hatching eggs, and I want to hatch out about 100 for my own use. That should give me about 50 cockerels to choose 1 to be another breeder cockerel. I plan on keeping up to 15 out of the 50 or so pullets we hatch out. We will be culling hard. If we get enough good pullets, some of our current hens may have to go, we'll see.

 

[Pozees]

Welcome to our newcomers! This is a great time of year for reading and learning.

Lees, I'm really happy to read that your girl seems to be okay and recovered from her experience, whew!

There are so many opinions about the right number of square feet per chicken it's hard to know how much is enough until you get too many for your space. As a general rule I try to stay with 4 sf per bird in the coop, but every flock is different - for some that will be more than enough, for others, not half enough. It partly depends on the size of your hens and their general demeanor/personalities. This is where it helps to gather input from people here who have had breeds you are interested in, because winter is cold and summer is hot, and that can impact how well the size of your coop fits your number of hens.

In a 4 x 7 coop I'd probably start with 5 or 6 and see how they do. While adding new hens to a flock can be problematic, realistically, 6 hens will usually give you 3-5 eggs per day, or 2 to 2.5 dozen a week. Unless you have a large family that has eggs for breakfast every morning, that should be plenty.

Every breed has its common characteristics, and individuals who are nothing like the norm for the breed. I have never had Black Australorps, but hear they are really reliable and generally easy keepers. If you are more concerned with egg production and economic use of food, Leghorns are probably tops but they lay white eggs and can be a bit on the skittish side - great for free ranging but maybe less great for those who like chickens they can pick up and hold, so for brown eggs and a calmer bird I'd probably listen to Wendell (wsmith) and consider Dominiques. They're pretty, good layers, use their food efficiently, and it so happens Wendell will probably have some this spring Others that may fit that definition would be Rocks, Orpingtons, Sussex, and well bred Rhode Island Reds - the bad name they get for being testy is largely attributable to hatchery stock, I am told. There are many others of course, and the nicest backyard laying flock is probably a mixed one so you have a variety to look at and eggs that are all a bit different. Here, we enjoy the heck out of watching our Blue Cochin run for treats

Other things to consider are predators, and in neighborhoods you still have hawks, raccoons, fox, and the occasional coyote as do those of us in "the sticks" but you additionally have neighborhood dogs, which are probably the biggest threat to your flock. I recommend a roof of some sort on your runs, preferably one that will withstand the weight of a fat raccoon, and a locking latch on everything. Bolt snaps work here, but there are a multitude of options that are reasonably priced and not difficult to install.

A few of us will have eggs, chicks, and started pullets this spring, some purebreds, some hatchery stock, some crosses, all raised to the best of our abilities, and I doubt you can go wrong with any of us. Wendell will have Doms, I will be selling started pullets purchased as day olds from McMurray, Chick-In-The-Burbs will be hatching some eggs, and Coloradogal is almost year round hatching eggs in her quest to develop the ideal Colorado Landrace chicken - she has gotten some beauties And Shyscreations has gorgeous Silkies and some other Bantams. There are doubtless others here and elsewhere on BYC. A few of us have put together orders from a couple of breeders for the spring, and I am waiting to hear from an in-state breeder who has some nice Rhode Island Reds, I'm told, as there are a couple of people here who want them, and I'll probably get a few and grow them out to see if I like them. My main focus as far as breeding will be Speckled Sussex and Light Brown Leghorns, but I am probably going to use some of the less-Speckled Sussex to work toward a Red Sussex, which is a very rare bird indeed, so I expect for a few years to have sparsely-Speckled Sussex in the Reach for a Red

If you are set up to raise day olds or hatch eggs, you can pretty much have your pick; if you prefer to purchase started birds or pullets at point of lay, and want to do so locally, it will limit you to some extent, but across the state there is a surprising number of breeds available if you look hard enough. Every stage of growth has a new price point - eggs are usually the least expensive, day olds next, then started, then point of lay. Each primarily relates to the amount of input required from the breeder/seller as well as the current value to the new owner - do you want to feed pullets for 5-7 months, 3-5 months, 1-3 months until you get eggs? Or do you want to incubate eggs for 3 weeks and then feed for 5-7 months, weed out the roosters, etc.? Roos of most breeds can be good dinner in a few months, but if they start to crow early you might not want to deal with it.

We are in the process of setting up a new website for Colorado chicken folks - those who have chickens, and those who are interested - just started the project so it may be a week or a few before we have anything of substance to show you, but the domain is reserved and the home page is started.

 

[Chick_In_The_Burbs]

I plan on setting up the breeding pen on the weekend closest to the first of March. After a week I will start collecting eggs for my first batch for a week. So by the end of the second week in March, I should have some eggs available for you. We will do various batches as we can after that, We already have orders for several dozen hatching eggs, and I want to hatch out about 100 for my own use. That should give me about 50 cockerels to choose 1 to be another breeder cockerel. I plan on keeping up to 15 out of the 50 or so pullets we hatch out. We will be culling hard. If we get enough good pullets, some of our current hens may have to go, we'll see.

That will work great! And it will give me time to run a batch of 'farm fresh' eggs to work the kinks out of the bator.

 

[gardendufus]

There are no restrictions in El Paso County If you are zoned RR5 and above. However I am zoned RS-5000 and the 2 hen rule applies to me. I have done some digging and it appears most people ignore this rule. Though if a neighbor complains they can make you get rid of them and fine you. I am not too worried as alot of people in this neighborhood seem to have chickens.

Adam, I live in Stratmoor Valley, so I'm aware of the 2 chickens/no rooster rule as well. And you are right most people ignore it, altho to date I am at least honoring the no rooster rule as I have a guy 2 doors down that has expressed his willingness to shoot any rooster that wakes him up. Altho I hear roosters going off every morning from a place 1 or 2 lots on the other side of him, I'm not willing to draw anyone's attention to my place.

Seems like a stupid rule since you can have 10 chickens within the city limits.

I have Dominiques (thanks to Wendell), Welsummers, a Barred Rock, a Black Australorp (these are all various shades of med-large brown eggs) and 1 EE who just started laying a green egg. All these birds are non aggressive, altho only the dominiques are really friendly. They all come flocking around for special food, but only the Dom's really don't mind being picked up. That may be because I try to run my place pretty hands off, don't really want to be picking them up except for wellness checks, etc.

There is a person in Fountain that should start advertising on Craigslist soon that is a breeder of Black Australorps. She/he and I didn't get along, so I don't have her birds, but maybe you will have a better experience.

My coop is theoretically large enough for 20 birds (using the 4 sq ft per bird rule, I have almost 80 sqf), but I only have 7 in it til next spring. After observing the goings on in there tho, I would not be comfortable with more than 15 in it, and maybe not that many. It's ok until you have to confine them (which hasn't happened yet), but would be terribly crowded during a real confinement.