Fill in the blank...FCBM, cream legbar, exchequerLH, Salmon Faverolles and _______

[The Moonshiner]

No bird is good around kids as birds are birds. I’d never trust any rooster around a kid.

What a sad thing to read. Wish less people felt this way.
I started with chickens as a child and have children that have grown up with chickens.
It can defiantly work even with roosters.

 

[Kris5902]

What a sad thing to read. Wish less people felt this way.
I started with chickens as a child and have children that have grown up with chickens.
It can defiantly work even with roosters.

I agree, but it depends a lot on the birds, and the children... I’ve got my first cockerel experience happening right now, and out of 16 there is one I am not really worried about around kids. Still cautious though. I have one boy I really want to keep, but I don’t trust around even myself or other adults. He’s just not buying into my I’m the bigger rooster schtick. I’m going to keep working with him to see if we can get over it... but he might end up going well with dumplings.

@Shellebelle920 , I think 9 and 7 are fine ages to be working with chickens... and even the 3 year old will benefit from the experience... especially if you’re not worrying about having a Roo in there. My primary “support” in my chicken wrangling here is a 7 year old girl, and she can be more aware than the adults that also manage the chickens!

My experience thus far: My Blue Copper Marans is very friendly and docile, but just started laying and her egg is a little on the darker side of normal... only about a 5. We have an older, very standoffish Barred Rock in the farms coop, she’s never been a bully, but isn’t very people friendly either. My CCLxLH girls are super sweet, but they are also the smallest and youngest in my mix, they and my Barnvelder girls are very agile and able to escape bullying and the cockerels fairly easily. I’ve also got super sweet Isbars that are 3 weeks older, and just a tad larger than the CCLxLH girls. I just integrated the smaller and younger girls in with the Marans and Isbars, and had no big problems with the girls.

The double laced Barnvelder is gorgeous
And should lay fairly standard brown eggs. You might want to consider them.
Looking forward to updates on your decisions and chicken adventures!

 

[Shellebelle920]

I agree, but it depends a lot on the birds, and the children... I’ve got my first cockerel experience happening right now, and out of 16 there is one I am not really worried about around kids. Still cautious though. I have one boy I really want to keep, but I don’t trust around even myself or other adults. He’s just not buying into my I’m the bigger rooster schtick. I’m going to keep working with him to see if we can get over it... but he might end up going well with dumplings.

@Shellebelle920 , I think 9 and 7 are fine ages to be working with chickens... and even the 3 year old will benefit from the experience... especially if you’re not worrying about having a Roo in there. My primary “support” in my chicken wrangling here is a 7 year old girl, and she can be more aware than the adults that also manage the chickens!

My experience thus far: My Blue Copper Marans is very friendly and docile, but just started laying and her egg is a little on the darker side of normal... only about a 5. We have an older, very standoffish Barred Rock in the farms coop, she’s never been a bully, but isn’t very people friendly either. My CCLxLH girls are super sweet, but they are also the smallest and youngest in my mix, they and my Barnvelder girls are very agile and able to escape bullying and the cockerels fairly easily. I’ve also got super sweet Isbars that are 3 weeks older, and just a tad larger than the CCLxLH girls. I just integrated the smaller and younger girls in with the Marans and Isbars, and had no big problems with the girls.

The double laced Barnvelder is gorgeous
And should lay fairly standard brown eggs. You might want to consider them.
Looking forward to updates on your decisions and chicken adventures!

Thanks Kris5902! We are hatching out FBCM from Little Peddler lines. . We are hatching out cream legbars from Curtis Hale lines And hatching out silkies. I’m debating whether to dna test them once hatched or to just wait til they are a bit bigger and try to sell our Roos and extra hens. We have ordered exchequer LH pullets to be delivered around the day of hatch and then picking up the faverolles and ? Brown egg layer one day later from a local farm. It’s a lot of fussing but I like all the breeds so far that we’ve picked out (I think). I am going to research some more about the Barnvelder! Thanks for the suggestion! I’m hoping that it all works out and my girls will be laying by October. My daughter and I are really excited to start this chicken adventure together!

 

[Kris5902]

Pretty and varied eggs are my primary mixed flock goals as well! The nice thing about both the Marans and Barnvelders is the boys are a decent size, so they could easily go into the freezer with some of your buckeyes... a lot of my difficulties right now are the CCLxLH boys being just too small for me to consider edible, but they are getting their hormones in. And I do want to keep some of the guys for breeding.

 

[Shellebelle920]

Pretty and varied eggs are my primary mixed flock goals as well! The nice thing about both the Marans and Barnvelders is the boys are a decent size, so they could easily go into the freezer with some of your buckeyes... a lot of my difficulties right now are the CCLxLH boys being just too small for me to consider edible, but they are getting their hormones in. And I do want to keep some of the guys for breeding.

I wish I had the land to keep roosters. I would be all about trying to breed a certain line. Skinny Roos are no bueno! Lol! I haven’t even crossed the culling bridge yet, but I’m sure if I keep at it, it may be a bridge i’ll Need to cross. I think I remember reading f that you have Isbar. I was just reading about a cross between Isbars and cream legbars (ice cream bars). It gave a very vibrant green egg. I’m not sure if they all turn out that way, but The cross definitely piqued my interest. Good luck figuring out those Roos!

 

[OhZark Biddies]

I haven’t even crossed the culling bridge yet...

The culling bridge... < insert spooky laughter here >

 

[The Moonshiner]

He’s just not buying into my I’m the bigger rooster schtick.

That's where I differ from most and also why we can get away with having from 50 to 100 cockerels/roosters at any given time without issues.
I dont play rooster games. I don't want to be a rooster and they don't want me to be one either.
They're roosters and do their thing and I'm just another creature that shares the same space. They don't react to me because I'm not playing games with them good or bad.
We have many other animals and the roosters don't run around attacking them either.
Same concept. If they don't see you as part of the flock they do their own thing and aren't bothered by you doing yours.

 

[Kris5902]

The culling bridge... < insert spooky laughter here >

It’s like the “rainbow bridge” but a little darker! (Sorry, I had to... the rainbow bridge makes me cry every time I read it...)

 

[Kris5902]

That's where I differ from most and also why we can get away with having from 50 to 100 cockerels/roosters at any given time without issues.
I dont play rooster games. I don't want to be a rooster and they don't want me to be one either.
They're roosters and do their thing and I'm just another creature that shares the same space. They don't react to me because I'm not playing games with them good or bad.
We have many other animals and the roosters don't run around attacking them either.
Same concept. If they don't see you as part of the flock they do their own thing and aren't bothered by you doing yours.

It is 1/16 of my cockerels that is being human aggressive. I’m open to a PM if you want to help me on his behaviors.

Depends on the boy I think, and if you have the space to free range. I think some roosters just don’t want a human around their hens, in the same barn, in the same breeding pen...

I deleted descriptions I just wrote of his problem behaviors.That’s for a different thread as the OP isn’t planning on keeping a Roo with these girls/around the kids. But, I do think chickens (even maybe some Roos) and children mix just fine... with a little and education!

 

[Shellebelle920]

It’s like the “rainbow bridge” but a little darker! (Sorry, I had to... the rainbow bridge makes me cry every time I read it...)

The culling bridge= the antithesis of the rainbow bridge. So sad!