Consolidated Kansas

[JosieChick]

I will get you some pics today. I have two bantam cochin hens and at least one or two serama pullets. Do you have somewhere to house them that they will be safe? A LF rooster or even an aggressive hen could easily kill a serama. These guys are tiny. In the spring I will have cochin chicks once our breeding pens are set up in BBS and mille fleur/calico. I am hoping to add a frizzled mille fleur roo to my pen sometime this year too.

I LOVE my cochins, they are the sweetest little birds ever. If I had to get rid of all my birds my banty cochins would be the dead last to go. I have had good luck so far and my little cochins lay pretty darn well in my humble opinion. They will go broody too and are good mums.

Ok since seramas are a hit and miss right now. What about cochins? LF or bantam in blue, splash, mottled or any designer pretty colors. Either standard or frizzle. I like blues and splashes. I really like bantams because they are tiny and beg to be picked up, or at least mine do, but the LF are just majestic. What ya got guys? I have bday money begging to be spent lol Everyone told me it is not to go towards bills so,,, I will try and find my birds I want.

They are hard birds to sell. My biggest issue is I have a LOT of money invested in my foundation stock. They come from one of the top breeders in the country and are not culls. They are breeding quality birds from his program and I can't afford to sell chicks and started birds for rock bottom prices. It also frustrates me when people just willy nilly breed them and they wind up being the sorriest looking things. I am planning on shipping hatching eggs this spring after I get my two pens set up. I can't hatch chicks unless someone has already paid for them because I have too hard a time selling chicks. Plus with seramas it takes a bit for them to really blossom. I almost sold a pullet a few weeks ago because I thought she wasn't going to amount to much and I looked at her the other day after we got back from being gone to Maine and was shocked at the change. She has grown in a fabulous tail set and is getting very chesty so I think I shall hang onto her!

Sending you a PM!

Maidenwolf, I forgot I had also sold Ivy several Seramas. And KarenS has two hens from me and a roo from Josie. My biggest problem with them was location. Every one wanted me to ship them. Also I got into them way too early in the game. So many people didn't even know what they were. They were the hardest chicks ever to raise. They require ground feed and protected water dishes I used quail waterers for them when they were newly hatched.)and I also found that extra warmth helps too. They have a gene which causes many to die just before hatching or shortly after, particularly in white birds. Overall they are egg cranking fools though. I guess quantity helps make up for quality.
I had about 60 extra cockerels I sold for $1 each to be eaten as small birds like quail or something at one time. They went to a food market.
Everyone wants an A sized bird but most of the A's are infertile. C's are nothing special. B's are probably the best. I ended up choosing some of the larger birds from my stock that consistently produced more of the tiniest chicks. Those chicks sold well but I didn't keep any of them as breeders. I had one tiny silkied hen that weighed less than 6 ounces. I kept hoping she would give me some offspring. She laid regularly but never laid a fertile egg in her life. She also only lived a couple years but she was definitely my favorite.
I am just more of a large fowl bird lover. I surprised myself being so fascinated and spending so much on Olandsk. But I really love these little guys.
And the d'uccles are always being asked for and they are so stinking cute so I tried to get some show lines to raise. I do have those two hens that are hatchery quality that lay but the young ones are much better quality. I don't know how long I will raise them. It depends on how well babies sell and if any of the offspring 4H kids buy, place well. I did really well with the Q-tips as checoukan calls them. They are another breed that is a bit temperamental to raise in the bantam size.
Yep I put out a lot more food but I'd rather have a chicken as big as a dog than one as small as a rat.
Trish I don't know if I'll ever try showing any legbars but I am thinking of joining that group. I think my little legbars are pretty nice. I particularly like the crested ones. They have some growing to do but they seem to be developing well. I haven't read over the English standards but it would be nice to have a say in American standards.
I'd love to see the SFHs accepted someday too. They are just awesome birds. Mine are just total sweethearts.
Josie if you are lurking send me a message or text me on the 785 number. I have a question for you. I just don't want to wake you or bother you if you are running again.

They don't eat hardly anything! It always amazes me how infrequently I have to fill their feeder! I was going to sell out my flock but the guy up in Topeka was so sad I was getting out of them I felt guilty. SO I am just going to cull hard and sell anything that isn't looking like a rock star out there. I have a frizzled boy who I think is going to be a knockout. He is growing in a stunning sword tail, I love him and he has sass!

I figured out the cost of the average Serama once and I think it was under a dollar for a whole month of feed. Of course grain prices have gone up since then. Yes there is a market for chicks. You are close enough to Wichita you could probably sell some. I still get calls all the time from old adds I had posted, especially from coastal areas wanting Seramas. There are some places that collect old adds and repost them under key words so people are calling from adds I removed over 2 years ago. I guess I could have been patient and waited for the market to catch up but I had tons of birds and few local buyers.
In my experience they are totally hardy unlike what you read. I think that was another reason why people shied away from them locally but with time it is proven that really doesn't apply.
If you mix the unknown hen with Seramas you have nothing... just a bantam. I personally wouldn't do it.... unless you just want little bantams.
My most broody birds are my silver duck winged Pheonix. I have a buyer coming after all of them in a couple weeks. I love the cock's long tails and feathers but I have to make cuts some where and he is paying good money for them.

Alright. I need to get outside and start working on stuff. It is so nice to sit after running hard all weekend. I have to schedule my gestational diabetes test too and go do that this week. Yuck. Have to drink this nasty looking orange drink and then go have my blood drawn in an hour. No breakfast that day either, I sure hope it doesn't make me sick. The thought of no breakfast makes my tummy unhappy.

I am so excited for warmer weather this week! I wish it would just stay 50 degrees for the rest of the winter....

 

[JosieChick]

I realized after I posted that how it sounded

My reasons for putting them together are not to breed but a) they are the same size so I figured the little unknown hen is less likely to be injured being mated by a Serama than a LF rooster and b) I would rather have a trio together than a pair, so the cockerel doesn't end up over-mating the one hen. However I would only incubate the Serama hen's eggs, and eat the other hen's. Two of hers equal one regular egg LOL. Do Seramas lay white eggs or brown? (I'd want to be able to easily tell the difference between the eggs). I agree about the hardiness - mine are out there with the rest of the flock and don't even look cold on these frigid morning.
Serama eggs are cream colored. I think a trio is a good idea. That way the one hen doesn't get over loved. Serama roos can be a bit cave man in that department!
Maidenwolf, I know getting new birds is an exciting way to spend your money - and I mean no offence here at all so please don't take it that way - but it was only yesterday you posted about a severe mite problem in your flock. It might be better to consider spending the money to get your flock health up to par before adding new birds. I personally would hesitate to pass birds into a situation where they would immediately be subjected to known issues like mites. Any time I sell or give away birds it is at the risk they won't be cared for as I would prefer - and I accept that - but if it were my flock, I would want to make sure I eliminated the known issues prior to adding new birds.
This is sound advice. A bottle of ivermectin is about $15 at the feed store. I think it would be wise to spend some of your birthday money on getting your mites taken care of too. One treatment of the whole flock will probably get them under control and you will have to keep an eye on them for future outbreaks. Someone else may be able to give you more info about treating the coops etc to keep them under control as well. I would rather give you a couple birds for next to nothing and have you get the mites treated. I will make sure my birds have been freshly treated if you decide to take them so they aren't immediately at risk. Moving is stressful enough for a bird never mind getting mites upon arrival. It would be tragic to lose them right after you get them.

 

[HEChicken]

Grrr on the quotes not working. Okay, now you've made me feel guilty for considering breeding this Serama pair as I certainly don't want to be one of those willy-nilly people LOL. I'll take some pics of them and await critical feedback on them before I make any decisions.

 

[pikeman94]

Hey everyone! I have not posted (obviously) or lurked in a while. Now that the holidays are past life has picked back up at it's neck break speed. How is everyone doing?

 

[maidenwolfx80]

I realized after I posted that how it sounded

My reasons for putting them together are not to breed but a) they are the same size so I figured the little unknown hen is less likely to be injured being mated by a Serama than a LF rooster and b) I would rather have a trio together than a pair, so the cockerel doesn't end up over-mating the one hen. However I would only incubate the Serama hen's eggs, and eat the other hen's. Two of hers equal one regular egg LOL. Do Seramas lay white eggs or brown? (I'd want to be able to easily tell the difference between the eggs). I agree about the hardiness - mine are out there with the rest of the flock and don't even look cold on these frigid morning.

Maidenwolf, I know getting new birds is an exciting way to spend your money - and I mean no offence here at all so please don't take it that way - but it was only yesterday you posted about a severe mite problem in your flock. It might be better to consider spending the money to get your flock health up to par before adding new birds. I personally would hesitate to pass birds into a situation where they would immediately be subjected to known issues like mites. Any time I sell or give away birds it is at the risk they won't be cared for as I would prefer - and I accept that - but if it were my flock, I would want to make sure I eliminated the known issues prior to adding new birds.

Oh absolutely, I am not bringing ANY birds in or letting ANY bird out until this is all taken care of. Usually when you are looking for something specific it takes awhile to find just what you are looking for so seeing as how I am treating today it wont be too long before those nasty buggers are gone and I can move on with a healthy flock. I also will treat the coop and surrounding areas for them. I have the stuff to treat and clean today from a neighbor.
Before I get any bird or even when I start looking for birds I do a full health checkup, yes on EVERYBODY. I dont want any new birds coming in and getting sick or infested. I really am careful with things I know how easy it is for things to go terribly wrong. My birds are my life and I would never want anything to happen to them let alone bringing a new bird in and having that one miserable. Believe me it will be 2 weeks before I bring in a bird. That is if I find what I want in that amount of time. I appreciate your advice and trying to stop anything from spreading. I have seen first hand what happens when something is neglected. I have neighbor who is messy with her chickens and they are in terrible conditions and always sick and locked up in a small coop and she is trying to hatch more but cant even learn how to incubate and ends up killing the whole clutch. It is disturbing how things are over there and I feel so terrible for the birds. I see oe skinny they are and it is saddening.
I am trying to put in orders with people for the birds I am looking for, most people are not hatching yet. I know biosecurity well and practice it. If my chickens arent spoiled,, I would love to see what spoiled is lol.

 

[maidenwolfx80]

How much would you want for them and how many?

 

[JosieChick]

Grrr on the quotes not working. Okay, now you've made me feel guilty for considering breeding this Serama pair as I certainly don't want to be one of those willy-nilly people LOL. I'll take some pics of them and await critical feedback on them before I make any decisions.

Oh sorry!! I didn't mean to make you feel guilty! I think as long as you let people know you only have a pair (ie: they shouldn't breed brothers and sisters) and you cull anything with serious faults you will be fine. I don't think your pair is probably in bad shape. My biggest bone is with people who advertise their birds as "serama" and they are obviously a big mess. If they were serama at some point it was a long time ago. I have seen birds with no serama type remaining or with serious faults like wry tail, improper ear lobe color, leg color etc. that is just frustrating when you cull birds like that and other people just breed them with no remorse. I have butchered roosters with serious faults just to keep their seedy genes out of circulation. But it is no different than spending tons of money on breeding quality cochins and having people offer you hatchery prices for chicks. I just don't sell chicks locally because it isn't worth my time and money. I am sure Hawkeye experiences the same thing with silkies. I would love to see pics of them. I assume the white hen is from Danz's birds and the cockerel is from my crew. If your little cockerel is decent you might get some typey chicks. Beware though in Wichita you are going to get some interesting people who want to buy serama from you. Most of them don't speak a lick of english and can be a bit strange (as in, I wouldn't let them come to my house if you get my drift)

Oh, serama are murder to hatch in a bator too! If you get a broody let her have them. You will have a MUCH better hatch rate. There are some lethal genes in serama that make them develop but not pip and hatch.

 

[Chickies-duckies-etc]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_choke

Does anyone grow Jerusalem Artichokes? They are great for people and animals. I found out that geese LOVE them. I just got my replacement start to plant when the weather warms up some. The fence to protect them is waiting to be put up.

I highly recommend them for a variety of reasons. Just be sure to plant them where they can grow and spread over the years.

 

[michelleml]

I found this blog just now with instruction for the fermented feed if anyone is interested, it explained it pretty well I thought: http://naturalchickenkeeping.blogspot.ca/p/fermented-feed.html

thanks for the link I'm going to read up on thins thanks for sharing.

The young girls have been out in the coop/ run with the older flock and things are starting to settle down. But i still notice that when the free range the older stay together and the younger two go off and do their own thing will that change?

I've found two eggs outside of nesting box yesterday and both were cracked. So i bought this



modular storage container and she is in it this morning

I've tried the egg grate and i found a old pepsi wooden crate but they wouldn't lay in them so i saw this and figured i give a try.

 

[JosieChick]

Ohhhh!!! Where did you get that from? That looks like a fabulous nest box! And easy to wash...I hate my wood nest boxes, they get pooped on and eggs break and I feel I can never get them clean enough.

thanks for the link I'm going to read up on thins thanks for sharing.

The young girls have been out in the coop/ run with the older flock and things are starting to settle down. But i still notice that when the free range the older stay together and the younger two go off and do their own thing will that change?

I've found two eggs outside of nesting box yesterday and both were cracked. So i bought this



modular storage container and she is in it this morning

I've tried the egg grate and i found a old pepsi wooden crate but they wouldn't lay in them so i saw this and figured i give a try.