Hello from southern seacoastal Maine, I'm MacTech, and I've been out of the chicken keeping thing for over 30+ years
Last May, I decided to go full hog into free range pastured backyard flocks, so I picked up my six re-entries into chckening ...
3 Buff Orpingtons
2 Partridge Plymouth Rocks
And an Aurcana (in a tree... Sorry, couldn't resist
)
One of the PPR's was camera shy here...
They're now hearty, strong New England birds, cold tolerant and rugged, but they still haven't laid any eggs, I want my fluorescent-orange yolked tasty eggs now, darn it!
They look to be close to adult size, and are quite the entertaining bunch to watch, as they strut and waddle around the lawn and the short field grass, eating grass, bugs, worms, fallen fruits and berries, and anything they can get their beaks around....
Their main job, aside from tasty egg production? Is to eliminate the stupid ticks we have, well, had, In abundance, before I got the chickens, I would get ticks crawling on my from a short walk across the lawn to get to my car, and that was a short path over mown lawn....
Ever since the girls have been free ranging? Not a tick, none on the cats, none on my 3 year old rescue dog, Cooper (a Portugese Water Dog) the tick problem appears solved
Oh and on Sunday, we got another chicken, from my sisters flock of free Rangers, he (or she, too early to tell) is a black Silkie/ partridge Cochin cross, mostly Silkie feathering, but with just enough flight feathers at the wing tips to allow short flights, when the wings are folded, the flight feathers are nearly impossible to see, it looks like a Silkie with a Mohawk
My existing hens haven't accepted "Tribble" yet, but I'm sure they will, this one was hatched from my sisters flock, dad was the partridge Cochin, mom is the black silkie
Dad was a jerk, drew blood, and had to be put down, but his feathers live on in fishing flies, my 9 year old niece, who "Pants" attacked a few times, loves making fishing flies from that mean little thing, she gets the best evil grin when she selects from the Pants feathers
We're not sure if Tribble is a hen or a rooster, but if he's a roo, I hope he takes after Mom, personality-wise
here's the Photobucket page
Last May, I decided to go full hog into free range pastured backyard flocks, so I picked up my six re-entries into chckening ...
3 Buff Orpingtons
2 Partridge Plymouth Rocks
And an Aurcana (in a tree... Sorry, couldn't resist
)One of the PPR's was camera shy here...
They're now hearty, strong New England birds, cold tolerant and rugged, but they still haven't laid any eggs, I want my fluorescent-orange yolked tasty eggs now, darn it!
They look to be close to adult size, and are quite the entertaining bunch to watch, as they strut and waddle around the lawn and the short field grass, eating grass, bugs, worms, fallen fruits and berries, and anything they can get their beaks around....
Their main job, aside from tasty egg production? Is to eliminate the stupid ticks we have, well, had, In abundance, before I got the chickens, I would get ticks crawling on my from a short walk across the lawn to get to my car, and that was a short path over mown lawn....
Ever since the girls have been free ranging? Not a tick, none on the cats, none on my 3 year old rescue dog, Cooper (a Portugese Water Dog) the tick problem appears solved
Oh and on Sunday, we got another chicken, from my sisters flock of free Rangers, he (or she, too early to tell) is a black Silkie/ partridge Cochin cross, mostly Silkie feathering, but with just enough flight feathers at the wing tips to allow short flights, when the wings are folded, the flight feathers are nearly impossible to see, it looks like a Silkie with a Mohawk
My existing hens haven't accepted "Tribble" yet, but I'm sure they will, this one was hatched from my sisters flock, dad was the partridge Cochin, mom is the black silkie
Dad was a jerk, drew blood, and had to be put down, but his feathers live on in fishing flies, my 9 year old niece, who "Pants" attacked a few times, loves making fishing flies from that mean little thing, she gets the best evil grin when she selects from the Pants feathers
We're not sure if Tribble is a hen or a rooster, but if he's a roo, I hope he takes after Mom, personality-wise
here's the Photobucket page
and Welcome To BYC!
