Colorado

[peach]

Thanks, any opinions on the best cold weather layers? I have 2 delawares, 2 RIR, 1 welsummer and 2 barnvelders. I can't really tell who's laying right now.
I get 3 per day from them. I like the barnvelders because they are pretty and are the calmest chicken out there. My barred rock passed away a few days ago. She was 4-5 yrs old. She was the boss hen, so we will see who takes over. Was thinking about getting a couple of ducks, heard the eggs are big and rich. any colorado opinions on them? Cold weather wise? Thanks for all the help and info, really appreciate it. Ideal is out of barnvelders until 2011... don't really want to wait that long.

 

[mylilchix]

I've had great luck with RIR, cochins, ameraucanas, marans, sexlinks, and australorp (I have the chicken UN over here). I'd really like some icelandics. I've heard good things about them!

Sonja

 

[farmerlor]

We hatched out a whole bunch of EE babies last spring and bought some RIR and BO babies about the same time. They all started laying JUST before winter and then the cold weather set in. The RIRs dried up, the BOs went on strike and I'm STILL not getting consistent eggs out of those pens. The EE pen? I'm getting 17 blue and green and pink eggs every day. We also have a three year old Barred Rock and a three year old Black Aussie. By golly, I can count on those girls to contribute at least three or four times a week too. So that's about all I can about cold hardy chickens.

 

[peach]

hi, Thanks for all the info. What's an EE?

 

[mylilchix]

Easter egger, they lay the blue or green eggs. Unless you get a dud like ours who lays light brown eggs. I switched to ameraucanas, and get pretty blue and green eggs all the time.

 

[alpinefarm]

I've been really impressed over the years with how well my Ameraucanas lay in winter (and we have pretty serious weather in Meeker). I also have Norwegian Jaerhons--this is their first winter--and they have continued to lay all through so far.

 

[alpinefarm]

I've seen messages in the media about human grade oyster shell sometimes being contaminated with lead.
I'm wondering how to make sure the oyster shell I buy for my flock is lead free?
And how to test an already purchased bag?

 

[ZooNana]

They sell lead testing kits you can buy. Can probably get one at someplace like Home Depot.

 

[farmerlor]

Does anyone here have a couple of Bourbon hens they would be willing to sell? Rosie and Jefferson (yes, Rosie is the Tom okay? LOL) have started mating but no eggs and I really think he needs a couple more girlfriends so I can get an incubator going.

 

[TaylorC]

Wow, 106 pages of CO'ers! I'm up in Fort Collins; you can see pics of my tiny flock here.
We picked up our first chicks Saturday, started the eggtimer on building the coup. So far I've gotten 20' welded wire, a bunch of vinyl flooring, OSB and studs for free, trying to get it done on the cheap. (Who isn't these days?) The kids love the little fuzzy buggers, looking forward to getting some fresh eggs before toooo long. My youngest is allergic to eggs and corn (excema reaction), so we're going to feed them a corn-free diet to see if she can eat their eggs – which would change our life considerably! We go through almost two dozen a week, and trying to keep them from her is a pain (not to mention making "pancakes" for her first then adding eggs and cooking the rest, etc. You can imagine. Even if she can't eat them after all, cheap(er) free-range organic eggs will be a big plus, not to mention the education for the kids and fun for us gr'ups.
I homebrew, and like most of us have a devil of a time dealing with the pounds of spent grain, drying it out before adding it to the compost, etc. That's all going to get much easier, eh?
I only went through the first and last six pages in the thread, but it sounded like there were a number of people from the Fort here. Nice to see.
Cheers!