Colorado

[suncatcher]

Sounds fine. I will post on this thread and on our facebook page when we have chicks available, and we can make arrangements from there.

 

[wsmith]

It was nice to meet Pozees in person today.

 

[EHook518]

Hi all, I want to thank you all again for your kind words and support through my first chicken loss. The other girls have adjusted to Hattie's absence (I was worried about her girlfriend but she is making new friends).
Since I am now down to 4 I will be looking to replace Hattie and add another (watch out chicken math). I am really interested in getting another EE, but one with a fluffy face (my current one is clean faced). I am having a hard time deciding on the other breed, all this talk has me really thinking. Possibly a Dominique (and some eggs to hatch in my classroom) or a RIR or another Wyandotte (blue lace red). DH thinks it would be better to get an older pullet but I will be building a brooder for the classroom. I just got a Brinsea Mini Advance incubator, looking forward to using it. We won't be hatching eggs in the class till May however.

 

[wsmith]

So I was thinking after my visit with Pozees.....If i added a set of nest boxes to the little house in pen 4, I could run two breeding pens, rotating Abraham between the two one week at a time. I could then run 4-5 hens in each pen, collecting up to 40 eggs per week...... don't you love chicken math! That would fill my incubator each batch. .......

 

[Pozees]

That works. I would much rather wait on any pullets you hatch from the CO RIR eggs, since they will be SOP chicks! Let me know if you need a deposit. I am still interested in three McMurry SS pullets, if and when you get them.

Let me know if you (or anyone) would be intersested in Black Australopes (sp) hatching eggs, my daughter has 10 to 12 BA hens, they are in with a really HUGE black rooster, he is either a BA, or a Black Jersey, she is not sure. She is getting around 8 eggs a day, and they should be fertile. I don't think she would be asking much for hatching eggs, maybe $3 or $4 a dozen???

I agree, will be nice when we can sell chicks and hatching eggs here in CO! Should help with the hatch rates too.

I marked you down for 2-3 sexed started RIR pullets from the CO breeder, and 3 SS from the second McMurray order. I may take you up on some of your daughter's hatching eggs, will think it over for sure Depends on when Greathorse will have the RIR eggs, I told him I'd like some in February, but that largely depends on whether his hens are laying well enough and whether he has orders ahead of mine. I'll PM you when I know more, which hopefully won't be long from now

 

[Pozees]

It was nice to meet Pozees in person today.

And nice to meet Wendell and his lovely wife and children in person today! Okay, your sons probably prefer not being referred to as lovely, so let's say charming

 

[wsmith]

And nice to meet Wendell and his lovely wife and children in person today! Okay, your sons probably prefer not being referred to as lovely, so let's say charming

LOL

 

[Pozees]

So I was thinking after my visit with Pozees.....If i added a set of nest boxes to the little house in pen 4, I could run two breeding pens, rotating Abraham between the two one week at a time. I could then run 4-5 hens in each pen, collecting up to 40 eggs per week...... don't you love chicken math! That would fill my incubator each batch. .......

I think that is a good idea, and if you select the hens for each pen based on certain characteristics it would help you see what he and they produce together. If you could, for example, group them according to size, or markings, or when they reached POL if you know (that's tough but you seemed to know pretty well who was laying and who wasn't) or even what their lay rate is if you know that.

Also, I was wondering if that small egg you collected while I was there wasn't from the hen you thought wasn't laying yet?

Wendell's setup is every bit as nice as we all think it is Nice big coop with great ventilation and NO odor.

 

[Pozees]

Hi all, I want to thank you all again for your kind words and support through my first chicken loss. The other girls have adjusted to Hattie's absence (I was worried about her girlfriend but she is making new friends).
Since I am now down to 4 I will be looking to replace Hattie and add another (watch out chicken math). I am really interested in getting another EE, but one with a fluffy face (my current one is clean faced). I am having a hard time deciding on the other breed, all this talk has me really thinking. Possibly a Dominique (and some eggs to hatch in my classroom) or a RIR or another Wyandotte (blue lace red). DH thinks it would be better to get an older pullet but I will be building a brooder for the classroom. I just got a Brinsea Mini Advance incubator, looking forward to using it. We won't be hatching eggs in the class till May however.

You have a couple of things to think about with your additions. No matter how peaceful your hens seem, it is possible/likely they will test the new girls, as they establish their new pecking order. That would be one reason to think about a started pullet or even a hen, although it could still go wrong in a number of ways. I found exposure through wire eased the joining some, but even after that, when there are no barriers there are always tests to determine pecking order. It evolves, too, my red hen was Boss until my Speckled Sussex got bigger than her, then things changed again. I think she might still be top girl, but most of the SS are no longer afraid of her and won't run when she tries to make them. The Cochin, though, is able to make some of them run with the right glare and stomp, and yet she is the slowest when it comes to retrieving treats, because she's a Cochin and just isn't a darter.

Sorry, back to your flock Whatever you decide to add, you will have an easier time with integration by introducing them on opposite sides of wire, combined with free ranging them together if you are able, then when you are ready to merge them, if the new girls have not already tried to go into the main coop, put them in at night on a Friday night when you will be there when they awaken in the morning and see what happens. There will be some pecking and feather pulling, but more than a few feathers or for sure any blood drawn will tell you they aren't ready yet. Feeding treats when they are together the first few times helps, they are more focused on getting treats than on the fact there are "others" present. I found scattering scratch or tossing an apple cut into chunks made for total focus on eating - to this day!

 

[wsmith]

I think that is a good idea, and if you select the hens for each pen based on certain characteristics it would help you see what he and they produce together. If you could, for example, group them according to size, or markings, or when they reached POL if you know (that's tough but you seemed to know pretty well who was laying and who wasn't) or even what their lay rate is if you know that.

Also, I was wondering if that small egg you collected while I was there wasn't from the hen you thought wasn't laying yet?

Wendell's setup is every bit as nice as we all think it is Nice big coop with great ventilation and NO odor.

We've had that small egg before. The dom, patty mcFatty who isn't laying does not have a developed comb or wattles. she hasn't exhibited any of the signs th others showed before they started. I am'hoping she will start soon.