Consolidated Kansas

[JiltdRoyalty]

Is anyone breeding/hatching leghorns?

 

[HEChicken]

HEChicken I need to get up to visit soon if I can find a day to come when it's not raining. I haven't been up in awhile & I would love to see your LGDs & barn. I looked at the extended forecast & it looks like we have a lot of rainy days coming. It seems like it rains all at once & then we'll have no rain probably.

I'd love to have you visit! We can find a suitable day I'm sure. I just got notification that we are under a thunderstorm watch until 9pm. Ugh. I'm sure happy to get the rain but don't need no thunderstorms.

We put up an electric fence a few days ago to keep the sheep and goats off the north end of our pasture from now until the hay is cut. We haven't started up the rotational grazing for the year yet but at least that will allow the hay to grow without them eating it. The rain this weekend sure will help too. We got 12/10ths inches of rain and a lot of it came down hard but I think enough was able to soak in to make a difference.

Is anyone breeding/hatching leghorns?

Are you looking specifically for white leghorns? Trish44 has Mottled/Buff Leghorns and they are really nice looking birds. I got some of her chicks a few weeks ago. The older group are about 6 weeks old and have feathered out really nicely. I also have one younger one that is about 3 weeks old and it is also looking really nice already. So far mine all look pure buff but they will possibly develop a little mottling as they get older as they still only have their juvenile feathering. Leghorns are flighty birds, but good layers and I'm really happy to add these to my flock.

 

[JiltdRoyalty]

@HEChicken, I thought they were meat birds. Oops.
My 4 are being processed tomorrow, so it's time to get more. Any suggestions?

My girls are now 3 1/2 weeks old and are going out to the coop tomorrow. Definitely ready to get them out of the brooder on the front porch. I'll post pics tomorrow or later tonight.

 

[chicken danz]

@HEChicken , I thought they were meat birds. Oops.
My 4 are being processed tomorrow, so it's time to get more. Any suggestions?

My girls are now 3 1/2 weeks old and are going out to the coop tomorrow. Definitely ready to get them out of the brooder on the front porch. I'll post pics tomorrow or later tonight.

Meat birds are cornish cross. Those are never for sale because if there is a chance of living to laying age they won't breed true. So are you looking for birds to eat? I'm a couple hours away but i have a ton of big started cockerels I'd sell you on the cheap. You'd have to finish growing them out. They'd be nothing like cornish cross though. Slower growing and more flavor but not as meaty.

 

[sharol]

Anybody need a Breda Fowl rooster? My proven breeder is getting beaten up by my EE rooster (who is a pet and staying). I really need to re-home the guy. He was brooder raised, so he can be handled fairly well and is pretty tame.

 

[chicken danz]

That's a shame Sharol. These docile breeds tend to get the short end of the stick.
As I am starting to work toward changing to pure bred stock for my layers that is my main concern. I have a couple of roosters that are really good flock roosters but too aggressive to put a high quality rooster out with.
Another busy day today. Gotta ship some more geese. These will be older ones so I have to run to town the opposite direction of the post office and get some cucumbers for the trip.

 

[Dani4Hedgies]

And we have our first hatched chick am hopeful that we caught that the humidity was too high in time. And for some reason i can't add pics today.

 

[Trish44]

And we have our first hatched chick am hopeful that we caught that the humidity was too high in time. And for some reason i can't add pics today.

Well I hope reducing the humidity saved some, that was a shame for the teacher to not research what humidity was needed for the eggs. I hope she at least gets a few chicks so the kids can watch them hatch.

@JiltdRoyalty I did the Cornish cross one year & that was the last time I ever raised those. They are so stinky & gross I just couldn't stand it & I had to even till up the pen they were in it was so bad just to be able to use it again. Back years ago when they didn't have such a thing as a Cornish Cross I raised White Rocks & they turned out really good. They take a little bit longer to mature but they made really good meat chickens. Some have also raised Freedom Rangers, but I haven't had any experience with that. You definitely don't want Leghorns, they're a small bird & you would get hardly any meat, it wouldn't even be worth it. They're good layers but not meat birds.

 

[zigzag45]

Hi All,
Haven't written in awhile. I saw @chicken danz mentioned me so I thought now would be a good time to check in.

My birds are doing well. I had a black australorp that developed a bulging stomach - looked bad. I was trying to decide what to do and it started getting better. Hopefully she makes a full recovery. No idea what her deal was.

My babies are doing great. I'm going to give them another 4-6 weeks and look at integrating them with the big girls. Anytime they are out in the yard together, one or more tends to goto bed in the big girls coop - a good sign I think. Their runs are next to each other, so they've got to kinda know each other already.

Funny story - I overfilled a molasses container and made a huge mess all over a large storage tub lid. Not wanting to waste it, I decided to give it to the chickens. They wouldn't touch it! Go figure. So, I dumped scratch onto the molasses and put it out for them. Still not interested. Crazy! So, being clever, I decided to leave it in the coop overnight hoping they'd be interested in the morning. Not at all! So instead of cleaning molasses off my lid, I was able to clean up molasses, covered in scratch and coop litter - along with what the birds deposited while walking on the lid. I definitely lost that one.

I saw a recent post about Heartland Hatchery. That operation is so tempting to buy from because it's so easy. There's tons of people in the KC area selling descendants from them. My single BCM hen is partially from there. That "seller" said she was excited to get BCM's but they laid eggs that looked no different from any other light brown layer. She called the guys who run it and was told (paraphrasing), "We look for egg production and sometimes the other 'features' don't come through." So, she had bought some higher end BCM stock and was breeding from them. Mine lays reasonably dark eggs, but certainly not really dark like some do.

I can't speak to the bird quality as I don't have experience, but I would probably avoid any of the more specialized breeds.

 

[chicken danz]

Hi All,
Haven't written in awhile. I saw @chicken danz mentioned me so I thought now would be a good time to check in.

My birds are doing well. I had a black australorp that developed a bulging stomach - looked bad. I was trying to decide what to do and it started getting better. Hopefully she makes a full recovery. No idea what her deal was.

My babies are doing great. I'm going to give them another 4-6 weeks and look at integrating them with the big girls. Anytime they are out in the yard together, one or more tends to goto bed in the big girls coop - a good sign I think. Their runs are next to each other, so they've got to kinda know each other already.

Funny story - I overfilled a molasses container and made a huge mess all over a large storage tub lid. Not wanting to waste it, I decided to give it to the chickens. They wouldn't touch it! Go figure. So, I dumped scratch onto the molasses and put it out for them. Still not interested. Crazy! So, being clever, I decided to leave it in the coop overnight hoping they'd be interested in the morning. Not at all! So instead of cleaning molasses off my lid, I was able to clean up molasses, covered in scratch and coop litter - along with what the birds deposited while walking on the lid. I definitely lost that one.

I saw a recent post about Heartland Hatchery. That operation is so tempting to buy from because it's so easy. There's tons of people in the KC area selling descendants from them. My single BCM hen is partially from there. That "seller" said she was excited to get BCM's but they laid eggs that looked no different from any other light brown layer. She called the guys who run it and was told (paraphrasing), "We look for egg production and sometimes the other 'features' don't come through." So, she had bought some higher end BCM stock and was breeding from them. Mine lays reasonably dark eggs, but certainly not really dark like some do.

I can't speak to the bird quality as I don't have experience, but I would probably avoid any of the more specialized breeds.

Heartland hatchery is a one man operation more or less. They have birds that are not good quality and just bred to get the described breed. It is the worst case scenario of a regular hatchery without the guarantees. You get the birds he hands you... no choice and you pay too much cause he delivers to various areas. I got some many years ago from him that were the worst total trash. People pay for convenience but think about what you really want before you buy.