Colorado

[uzisuzuki]

He's a sebright.

Looks like the Internet lied! Thank you so much, again! You're so helpful and kind!

 

[Percheron chick]

he's a mature bantam rooster. that's as big as he'll get.

 

[Ashdoes]

He's very pretty, and could be with just a couple hens and not cause much damage. I'd say getting him some bantam females is your best choice.

 

[Mtn Margie]

I think he is a lucky find! What a nice looking boy he is.

 

[suncatcher]

Agreed, up the protein and after a week you should see some eggs!

He is a beautiful Sebright! His crow should be not be very loud either, since he is a bantam.....

Windy here today, not much accomplished outside because of it.

 

[megshenhut]

Uzisuzuki -

He is definitely a silver laced sebright and full grown. If you decide to get him a couple girls, they will definitely need to be bantams and preferably sebright hens if you ever have any intention of hatching chicks. If not looking to hatch, any of the smaller bantam breeds would work. I think any large fowl hens will pick on him.

 

[COChix]

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.

I like the natural approach with no added lighting. Hoping for similar results, I expect some to lay through winter.

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:

Welcome to the board and what a cute boy you have.

Agreed, up the protein and after a week you should see some eggs!

He is a beautiful Sebright!  His crow should be not be very loud either, since he is a bantam.....

Windy here today, not much accomplished outside because of it.

something I have not missed the winter winters. We have already had a few of those days and all I can say is brrrrrr.....

 

[trsturself]

I went out to feed the chickens this morning and looked in the nest boxes... our ceramic egg was still there but the one in my friend's box was missing! Obviously something is getting in there (i'm thinking snake). On the back side of the coop it looks like fresh dig marks but we dug down and the previous owners had buried chicken wire there so whatever was digging looks like it hit that and stopped. We can see light from inside the coop in a corner that goes into the run. We have some patching to do and I'm going to look up a snake proof nest box. We'll see if any designs exist.

 

[suncatcher]

I went out to feed the chickens this morning and looked in the nest boxes... our ceramic egg was still there but the one in my friend's box was missing! Obviously something is getting in there (i'm thinking snake). On the back side of the coop it looks like fresh dig marks but we dug down and the previous owners had buried chicken wire there so whatever was digging looks like it hit that and stopped. We can see light from inside the coop in a corner that goes into the run. We have some patching to do and I'm going to look up a snake proof nest box. We'll see if any designs exist.

Do snakes hibernate in winter? Could be something small like Weasel, or Ferret too. We had something in our barn one year, that would take eggs. Never found out what it was, but had to be small enough to get through the opening on the underside of the door. We have had Muskrats (sp) in our pond too........ not sure if you have any water nearby.

 

[trsturself]

Do snakes hibernate in winter? Could be something small like Weasel, or Ferret too. We had something in our barn one year, that would take eggs. Never found out what it was, but had to be small enough to get through the opening on the underside of the door. We have had Muskrats (sp) in our pond too........ not sure if you have any water nearby.

Our neighbors have a pond but it's a seasonal one. We have voles, 13 striped ground squirrels, skunks, foxes, and raccoons. Whatever it is has to be able to climb and fit in a 2x4 hole. We were looking all over for holes and realized one whole side of the coop is a large wired window. Covering the whole thing with hardware cloth would be cost prohibitive.

We'll keep working on it. Might get a wireless camera that records so maybe we can see what it is.