Dixie Chicks

[Ravynscroft]

welp I have decided to rehome two hens.... the brown leghorn is a lazy layer and sadly the bamadude oliver layer is going as well for poor laying.....both are very wiley flighty birds anyways along with not laying very well..good foragers though..I'm working on narrowing down my breeds to specifics...wyandotte and brahma's ..and any other chickens will be colored egg for identifying purposes...(Like lavender Americana's )

I rehomed an awesome muscovy drake this week to keep the peace. It's great, now no more nightly coop riots and I made $20 lol

Sweet!!

This morning at 4am, I went outside to check on chickens as normal. It stormed last night, so I was doubtful anything bothered them. I shined the light in the coop because the light inside the coop was out....? I seen there were no chickens on one of the roost poles. Confusing....I flung the door open, shined the flashlight & low and behold, there was a raccoon INSIDE MY COOP!!!!

That raccoon has been dispatched. But not before it killied one of my good laying hens. Red sex link. Not sure if it got anymore. I'll do a headcount tonight. Ugh! I hate predators!

Dang, that sucks! But glad you got 'em!!

 

[Outpost JWB]

Me too!

 

[Alaskan]

This morning at 4am, I went outside to check on chickens as normal. It stormed last night, so I was doubtful anything bothered them. I shined the light in the coop because the light inside the coop was out....? I seen there were no chickens on one of the roost poles. Confusing....I flung the door open, shined the flashlight & low and behold, there was a raccoon INSIDE MY COOP!!!!

That raccoon has been dispatched. But not before it killied one of my good laying hens. Red sex link. Not sure if it got anymore. I'll do a headcount tonight. Ugh! I hate predators!

Totally bites, but I am so glad it only got one (hopefully)

with all the downsizing why dont you have room? 

Silly... I hatched over a hundred chicks this year, "downsizing" as hard as I am planning on means that I will go into this winter with way more chickens than I had last winter Yes, even after loosing 26 grow-outs.

I am frantacly trying to get the numbers to close to what they were last year.... Not sure if I can force myself to go that low.....

I am clearly way increasing the numbers in my bantam pen (was fully stocked) ....
Adding:
- 2 bantam rhode island reds, still look like 2 girls
- The single comb white bantam leghorn trio (oops, yes, another boy )
- one female bantam blue wyandotte currently in solitary because she got her tail chewed up
- two or three d'anver girls that hatched in such nice colors

And then... There is the coop for the full sized chickens.. -hack, hack- -wheeze-

But if you read my "getting rid of" list, you will remember that I am getting rid of a few of the old gals.....

 

[Ravynscroft]

I found someone to come and take all of my extras for free. (Old hens, bunches of cockerels, and my genetic defects)....

But now I am all ooooooh, maybe I should downsize and chunk everything into the "to go box"

So.... I decided/ or am thinking

1. Don't keep the about 8 bantam male wheaten ameraucana that I was going to grow out and figure out which would be a good replacement for my current rooster.... Sure the current roo is HETEROzygous for pea comb, but he has great conformation, great color, and perfect personality.......

2. Get rid of all older hens that don't look good. I have three that just can't get their act together. One has feathers that are too soft so she always looks ratty, one is on the very bottom of the pecking order, and even with lots of space is always pecked on, and one I just can't figure out... Also, there is that one with the bent back that I never got rid of....

3. Could I get rid of the old d'uccle hens? They are horrid broodies, and since they love to "try" to brood, they are poor layers..... Kids might get upset .... Might have to keep those.... I have four....but they are named, kids will know if we go from 4 to 2 ..... Hum...... Maybe keep those, kids have to stay happy since they do all of the work -sigh- (kids that care are right now at camp...can't ask)

4. Get rid of Spitz roo I used this spring, he is bad color, no crest, and fathered a bunch of genetic "oops" (odd noses and toes without toe nails) eventhough he has a perfect personality....still, chunk him, yep. I have two possible replacements, I need to decide if I want to keep both (they are different colors).

5. Since the majority of my grow-outs mysteriously disapeared... I think I only have 2 male standard sized black ams.... They are layed back....maybe I could just keep them without too much trouble... Because I think my Black Am cock is also heterozygous for pea comb.

6. Should I keep the blue am cockerel I was given? He has a great body/conformation and zero leakage and a nice small comb so might actually be homozygous for pea comb, what a thought! I have always wanted blue hens and some splash hens too.... But his personality has been developing into SUCKY. But I want his color. -sigh- Unless someone wants to send me free blue and splash pure bred Ameraucana hens? (Yeah @RavynFallen I have been staring at him so closely the last two days... He bullies the grow-outs he is with and when I turned my back yesterday he attacked me!!!)

7. I have a very cute trio of single comb bantam white leghorns growing up. They are looking stellar show quality! What idiot would keep that little cockerel? What am I gonna do? I will need two more coops!!!

8. The male dark brown rose comb standard sized leghorn...I gotta keep him, so I can hatch some lovely pure chicks... That no one will pay me for... Unless I sell them for $2 each or some other insanity.... But maybe I could hatch out 100 dark brown chicks next year, those things are super wild/flighty. I can try free ranging them and see if any make it...but why? I already have enough eggs to eat...I could sell more eggs, but that takes work.... But he looks promissing.... Could be a stunner... Feet aren't very yellow, but the rest of him should be stellar...hard to get the good yellow feet on a dark brown.....

Maybe keep the blue cockerel for now, but be prepared to dispatch him if needed... I'd throw his butt into solitary for a while (may take quite a while) until his attitude adjusts or you adjust it for him-along with his neck, lol... don't put up with an aggressive male, no matter how pretty...

@RavynFallen here I am, just blowing up your feed next I will be a stalker

Achem... Anyway, from the Am facebook page about toenails...
Huh, but then this was posted as a link:

http://ameraucanaalliance.org/forum/index.php?topic=519.0

Now I am confused

Ok, I saw the reference in the book... it's for general across the board breeds... may or may not pertain to Am's, some breeds have different allowances than others... as Mike Gilbert said it is a non issue, I wouldn't worry too much about it... also, most of the major breeders do not show and there is a slight difference in breeding for SOP and breeding for a specific show bird... not a huge difference, but some things, like it seems toe nail color, are negligible to breeders...

Easy check, can ask Susan Mouw (samouw) on the Am thread, she shows her blacks frequently... I'll also check with a friend that got BBS Am's directly from Paul Smith what their toe nail color is...

All of my blacks (and Lavs) have clear nails, even my Blehm and Shaffer ones... the only black I have with dark nails is the pullet I hatched from Jerry Seglers eggs and she also had pure black chick down... correlation, maybe??

 

[Alaskan]

Fascinating info....


Yeah, I think I will ignore toenails for now...much more important things to cull for.... Interesting though... None of my pips and peeps have all solid black toenails.

As to the blue roo...I was wonderng if solitary would be good or bad.... Never tried it before... I usually just cull nasty personality... I cull HARD for attitude... That for me is way more important than most anything else on my list... I have a couple of times kept a nasty roo when I had no other replacement choices.... But just -thupt- to the nasty ones.

 

[Alaskan]

Oh, @RavynFallen one more thought....

What is up with all of my roos being hetero for their comb?

My Am girls must all be homo, because I didn't hatch any purebred Ams with single combs.....

My Doms though, one of my hens must be hetero..only one though...but still (and those were actually mostly hatchery stock, so not surprising)

But SHEESH!!!!!

all three roos, bantam wheaten Am, standard black Am, and standard Dominique, all hetero!!!

The dark brown rose comb leghorn roo I used to have was also hetero...

 

[Ravynscroft]

Never heard the toe nail color come up before, lol... I know I'm not gonna worry about it, but I'll still ask Susan just cuz it's annoying me now...

Usually I am same about roo behavior, but I did try solitary on one once... I couldn't get a replacement for a long time... it took a while, and he seemed worse at first, but then he calmed down and is fine... *sometimes* its just that hormonal rush and it takes a bit to ride out the wave so to speak...

 

[Ravynscroft]

Oh, @RavynFallen one more thought....

What is up with all of my roos being hetero for their comb?

My Am girls must all be homo, because I didn't hatch any purebred Ams with single combs.....

My Doms though, one of my hens must be hetero..only one though...but still (and those were actually mostly hatchery stock, so not surprising)

But SHEESH!!!!!

all three roos, bantam wheaten Am, standard black Am, and standard Dominique, all hetero!!!

The dark brown rose comb leghorn roo I used to have was also hetero...

It's been a year for oddities, that's all I can say... I've not only got recessive white coming from an Am pair, but another off color as well... I think your radiation has seeped south...

 

[Alaskan]

Silly! The radiation is from Japan.... Or maybe it is toxic fumes from the gulf for you! e it gives us WINGS

 

[Ravynscroft]

Silly! The radiation is from Japan.... Or maybe it is toxic fumes from the gulf for you! e it gives us WINGS

If it came from Japan, it still hit you first!

Either way, we're still screwed...