Consolidated Kansas

[Trish44]

sharol, yeah but it's pretty bad when you have about 35 hens & only get about 5 or 6 eggs a day. Today I got a few more than that, but not many. I'll go out in a bit & see if any have laid since my DH collected eggs while feeding. Sometimes they lay later on in some pens & the main coop too. I just got the Cochins because people kept asking me if I had any bantams when they were buying chicks & I didn't have any. I figured if I was going to have some they might as well be a color I like. The little Mottled ones are going to be pretty too. They're not good for anything much other than being cute & sitting on eggs for other birds, the eggs are too small unless you have a bunch of them to make a meal. The good thing is they don't eat that much I guess.

 

[chicken danz]

It seems I'm always getting inquiries about bantams of one kind or another. But I always end up getting rid of my bantam breeds because I tire of them really fast. I can't sell their eggs as eating eggs or sell the boys as meat so they just don't seem to be practical to me.
It was sure cold out there today. I'm not looking forward to the rest of this week at all. I haven't even bothered gathering eggs much recently. It seems like a waste of time when I have empty nests every where. In about 2 weeks I expect the laying to resume again bit by bit. My BBS Orps are laying again this week after not laying for a couple months. I actually put a few in the incubator today to see if they are fertile yet. Not that I need to hatch just yet but what the heck.

 

[TaraBellaBirds]

It seems I'm always getting inquiries about bantams of one kind or another. But I always end up getting rid of my bantam breeds because I tire of them really fast. I can't sell their eggs as eating eggs or sell the boys as meat so they just don't seem to be practical to me.
It was sure cold out there today. I'm not looking forward to the rest of this week at all. I haven't even bothered gathering eggs much recently. It seems like a waste of time when I have empty nests every where. In about 2 weeks I expect the laying to resume again bit by bit. My BBS Orps are laying again this week after not laying for a couple months. I actually put a few in the incubator today to see if they are fertile yet. Not that I need to hatch just yet but what the heck.

So glad I'm not the only chicken person who is NOT crazy about bantams. I mean they are cute and all, but they just don't make sense unless you want a pet that 5 or 6 of them can maybe make you breakfast!
I would eventually like to have some standard cochins though.

I am focusing on adding no more than 3 (it was 2 before Chicken Danz told me about her Black Brahmas!!!) breeds this year......trying real hard to control myself! @Trish44 your trio won't count since I already have Ameraucana/EE's................see how I did that?.

Next year maybe......or Showgirls.......I really do like Favorolles........or maybe..........

 

[Frizzled Pink]

LOL Sharol, if i took the frying pan out i would get knocked over--did you bring us oatmeal or scrambled eggs.

Trish--I like! I am jealous if you actually can see foot feathers-we are just mud here for foot feathers.

Our cochins are primarily for surrogate incubators-it gets pretty funny when the 4 week olds start outsizing mom and dad,especially when the babies are orps or sussex. I think a lot of 4H kids like them for county fair too.I dont know if he is still around but Danz had a LF Cochin named King that was just one of those WOW birds.

self control with chickens---Hmmmm dont know what that is

 

[hardscaper87]

Is anyone breeding bobwhite quail this winter with any luck.my three quads are on wire due to disease problems so they are all natural and patiently waiting for spring. my coturnix have supplement light and are surprising me with production, I just need some more bobwhite hens for a breeding project if anyone has excess for sale pm please. In Topeka but not scared of road trip

 

[Trish44]

So glad I'm not the only chicken person who is NOT crazy about bantams. I mean they are cute and all, but they just don't make sense unless you want a pet that 5 or 6 of them can maybe make you breakfast!
I would eventually like to have some standard cochins though.

I am focusing on adding no more than 3 (it was 2 before Chicken Danz told me about her Black Brahmas!!!) breeds this year......trying real hard to control myself! @Trish44 your trio won't count since I already have Ameraucana/EE's................see how I did that?.

Next year maybe......or Showgirls.......I really do like Favorolles........or maybe..........

Ha, TaraBella that's how we do chicken math!

Is anyone breeding bobwhite quail this winter with any luck.my three quads are on wire due to disease problems so they are all natural and patiently waiting for spring. my coturnix have supplement light and are surprising me with production, I just need some more bobwhite hens for a breeding project if anyone has excess for sale pm please. In Topeka but not scared of road trip

I'll send you a PM with some info that may help.

 

[chicken danz]

Quote: I do have lots of those black brahmas chicks right now. They are huge even as chicks that just hatch. I guess even though I deal with birds that initially cost me a lot, I can justify having them because if pinch comes to pinch if I can make food out of them. I did sell a ton of Seramas for $1 each that went to the food market. It would be more like eating a quail than a chicken though. I get tempted when new miniatures become available but talk myself out of them rather quickly now. I love the big monster sized birds. They do cost a lot more to feed but you get what you put into them.
Quote:

LOL Sharol, if i took the frying pan out i would get knocked over--did you bring us oatmeal or scrambled eggs.

Trish--I like! I am jealous if you actually can see foot feathers-we are just mud here for foot feathers.

Our cochins are primarily for surrogate incubators-it gets pretty funny when the 4 week olds start outsizing mom and dad,especially when the babies are orps or sussex. I think a lot of 4H kids like them for county fair too.I dont know if he is still around but Danz had a LF Cochin named King that was just one of those WOW birds.

self control with chickens---Hmmmm dont know what that is

I did sell King when I finally sold all of the LF cochins. There is a guy over near Lawrence named Jack Osterhouse that breeds only cochins and I believe he shows some as well. He bought several cochins from me and when I decided to sell the gold laced, including King, he was here within an hour and a half of the time I called him. I still miss King. He was just the sweetest prettiest bird ever. At least he gets to finish out his life as a breeder. He was such a gentleman to the ladies too so it was a good thing all the way around.
I now have gold laced English Orpingtons. And a couple of gold laced brahmas. They kind of look like King but will never have those huge fluffy legs and feet that he had. I just hatched my first gold laced chick day before yesterday. I only have one hen so I am going to try to hatch a few more before I sell any. It shouldn't be long though.

I have three of my black brahmas that are broody right now. I've hatched several chicks so I am just letting these girls sit right now to see if they do any good. It's awfully cold for them to be broody. One should be getting close to hatching if any of her eggs will hatch. The other two are only a week or so into sitting. I also have a white English orp who is insisting on being broody. I took the eggs she was sitting on and every last one of them is developing. In fact I've hatched 3 chicks so far from her eggs and she is back sitting again. This time I guess I'll let her finish hatching her own.
The rest of my birds are laying very little so it's strange to have some broodies already.

 

[StinkyChicken]

I like all the talk about the bantams. It echoes my thoughts about them. But my daughter is trying to talk me into getting her some bantams this year. She has seen some video of the table top showing of the Seramas. They are the funniest little guys. I’ve read a little bit about them. They are very small, so will able to go throw the free range fence. They do not like cold weather, so heated coop. The eggs are a little bigger than quail eggs. It just sounds like a lot of trouble to me.

How are the Cochins to take care of? Winter hardy? Egg size? Do you have to clean feathered feet?

 

[MsDebD]

Hello from Lawrence. I'm so new to chickens I don't even have any yet. We started out with borrowed goats last year knowing nothing about them other than they would clear out our fence line. We bought a few of our own. Lost a couple. Figured out what to feed them and how to house them for the winter. My husband has gritted his teeth through the whole thing swearing that we're going to know something about chickens before we get chickens.Although I know I'll learn more from here than we'd ever learn from a book, he isn't going to go online so I bought him Raising Chickens For Dummies as one of his Christmas gifts. We'll see where it goes from there. Looking forward to getting to know some of you folks....and eventually getting to know some chickens. Count on me having lots of questions.

 

[StinkyChicken]

Wecome MsDebD