Colorado

[COChix]

Have you tried raising their protein? That always helps my girls. Most of mine are molting right now, so I'm trying to force them to eat the feather fixer pellets. It worked last year, and I got eggs all winter.

did you add lighting to your coop last year?

 

[Ashdoes]

did you add lighting to your coop last year?

No, we keep it pretty natural for them. The Cream Legbars stopped laying till I upped the protein, and the Cochins and sex links were always good layers. I've got ten right now that should be laying, but only get one to two eggs a day. They're molting pretty heavy right now. If I was only interested in eggs, I'd have a flock of sex links, they were super friendly and were little egg machines. But, they died young and had issues starting at about a year old.
I hope to breed for egg production, and feathering with this new Cochin flock.

 

[suncatcher]

One of our bantam cochins is laying again. We've gotten a small light brown egg for 3 days now. I also got 2 eggs out of my friend's boxes yesterday. We put out some ceramic eggs today. It will be interesting to see if they either disappear or we break some egg eaters of their habits and we get more eggs.

Mine were laying an egg every other day a week and half ago, so happy with the increase here!! Yep, I started feeding extra protein, and add bone meal to their water daily since my bantams don;t eat Oyster shell well..... One hen kept on laying even during her molt, I will be keeping her for sure, and adding more chicks this coming spring!!! Love those Barred Rocks from the hatchery.

 

[uzisuzuki]

• uzisuzuki
  
• Where do you live? Maybe post a sign at the local feed store that you found a rooster?

Thank you! I live in the Brighton area and I am still looking around for his owner. He's a young rooster and in very good condition, so I'm wondering if someone isn't missing him as a pet.

 

[uzisuzuki]

Welcome! Rooster care? Just ask your questions - a lot of us have roosters and I bet we could help out Colorado style!

Thank you so much! Right now, I'm still trying to see if anyone around the area he was found is missing him just because he's in such good condition. But it's been a week and I'm starting to think I have a rooster to take care of now.

I am confused about the hen/rooster ratio. During my search, I found a thread here that suggested a 3-4 hen to 1 rooster would be fine; however, in my introduction post I had people telling me I'm going to need 10 hens. I can't do more than 4 or 5 hens plus him, so I'm not sure if I should get hens or not at this point. Before that, I do need to finish retrofitting a former dog run into a coop/tractor so that he can get out of the barn during the day.

 

[Ashdoes]

You don't need ten hens, I'm surprised people keep saying that. The only time I've had trouble with rooster hen ratio, was when I had three Cochin Roos. They're huge, and very easily tore up my girls cushion feathers. Can you post a pic of your guy, or do you know what breed he is? Most times you'll be fine with just a few girls. Some breeders keep one roo and one hen in a cage with no problems.

 

[trsturself]

I agree a 1:4 ratio will be fine.

Ashdoes, I have increased their protein by adding BOSS to their feed. I'm going to up it some more and see if I can get some more out of them. I understand the 3-4 that are molting but the 6-8 month olds should still be going. The fake eggs are still in the boxes. If they are still there by the end of the day I will assume we do not have something stealing them.

 

[COChix]

You don't need ten hens, I'm surprised people keep saying that. The only time I've had trouble with rooster hen ratio, was when I had three Cochin Roos. They're huge, and very easily tore up my girls cushion feathers. Can you post a pic of your guy, or do you know what breed he is? Most times you'll be fine with just a few girls. Some breeders keep one roo and one hen in a cage with no problems.

Agreed, the gang did it giveme more eggs after feeding increased protein of farmers cheese. I am still bumping protein due to their coats looking less full and less sheen than normal. After the boost they all go back to being some beautiful birds, not so haggard looking. Hard to explain.....

 

[uzisuzuki]

You don't need ten hens, I'm surprised people keep saying that. The only time I've had trouble with rooster hen ratio, was when I had three Cochin Roos. They're huge, and very easily tore up my girls cushion feathers. Can you post a pic of your guy, or do you know what breed he is? Most times you'll be fine with just a few girls. Some breeders keep one roo and one hen in a cage with no problems.

Sure! I have to admit that I've been a little obsessed with taking snap shots of him with my phone, so I have a LOT of pictures to share (my Instgram followers are probably sick of looking at him now). I hope I post the image right - it's been awhile since I've been on a message board.

I know he's not a fully matured rooster and if the Internet didn't lie, I think he's a Silver Laced Wyandotte. He's not aggressive towards people but I do realize we are not hens and he may behave differently towards them. I haven't been very successful in getting any Craig's List ads to reply to my inquiries about buying their hens, but I'm still looking. I was in a pretty bad car accident at the end of July, so I don't think I can manage raising chicks, or more to the point, ordering chicks by mail to raise. I don't think I could handle dead chicks in the post if that happened (thank you, concussion). Anyway, end of the babbling, here's what Odysseus (what I decided to name him) looks like:




I am greatly appreciative of all the advice I can get. I've raised horses, pigs, dogs, cats and even a chinchilla once, but poultry is a first for me.

 

[Percheron chick]

He's a sebright.