Getting My First Chickens Ever on the 23rd

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When hatcheries ship chicks as "Blue" it is actually usually three different colored chicks combined .. Blue, Black and Splash ... they are genetically three different colors, Blue is not a true breeding color and you wind up with all three colors when you use Blue parents (Bl/bl+ is blue, Bl/Bl is splash, bl+/bl+ is black) Feathersite has pictures of the different colors as chicks if that helps.
chicks http://feathersite.com/Poultry/CGA/Cochins/BRKCochChix.html
adults http://feathersite.com/Poultry/CGA/Cochins/BRKCochinBty.html
 
Thank you so much - that does help some. I need Wednesday morning to get here so I stop spending all my time on chicken sites and can spend it taking care of chicks.
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So, here are my 3 cochin chicks I got this morning - a buff, a splash, and a silver laced. I decided not to get a blue. I am planning to get 2 easter eggers in the shipment on Friday.

 
So, I didn't end up picking out girls so well. The silver laced and buff cochins I selected turned out to be boys. The silver laced was obvious from fairly early on, but the buff was a late bloomer - he did not stand like a rooster, let the other rooster be the boss, filled out his comb slower that the other (but before the girls), but he started crowing first. They made a nice Sunday dinner, and now I have ordered 4 female chicks from My Pet Chicken to be shipped August 18th. 2 welsummers, a buff brahma, and a silver laced wyandotte. I know the chicks sometimes don't do well with shipping and they sometimes get missexed, so that is why the 2 extra. If they do all survive, as my first 6 did, then I can rehome 2 hens together. I had tried to rehome the roosters, but no one wanted them. I think the hens will be easier. I just have to decide if I want to keep one of each breed (meaning an easter egger and welsummer would be rehomed), or if I want to optimize my egg basket, which would mean keeping the 2 easter eggers, the 2 welsummers, and probably the barred rock and brahma. The cochin and wyandotte are supposedly very broody, and with no rooster allowed, that is just a hassle for me.
 
Welcome to BYC! Glad that you decided to join our flock. You have received some good advice and a good link from the other members. I used to have some Buff Cochins and they were very sweet and gentle giants. The only reason that I don't have them anymore is that over the years I've become very utilitarian in the breeds that I keep, and currently have only really good layers. I do have some Easter Eggers. They are not my best layers, but they are better layers than Cochins and they are my granddaughter's favorite hens because of the colored eggs they lay. They are however, somewhat flightier than my other breeds (Black Australorps, Black Sex Links, and Buff Orpingtons), but not nearly as flighty as Mediterranean class breeds like Leghorns. Did you learn about Easter Eggers from the Chicken Chick (you mentioned her in your post)? She has some really good articles on the internet, and sometimes I post links to some of them here on my BYC posts, including one on the differences between Araucanas, Ameraucanas, and Easter Eggers (http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2011/09/ameraucana-easter-egger-or-araucana.html). Good luck with your flock.
 
Michael OShay said:
Did you learn about Easter Eggers from the Chicken Chick (you mentioned her in your post)? Good luck with your flock.
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Thank you for the welcome and the well wishes! I don't remember where I learned about easter eggers... it all started when I was at Farm & Fleet and saw the chicks AND they also had one of those prefab tiny coops for $200. I thought, hey, that is easy enough, and started doing a bunch of research on breeds, legality in my area, etc. It was either the Chicken Chick or this site where I learned about them. I love the idea of blue eggs. My easter egger chicks were labeled as araucanas at Farm & Fleet, but they have tails, so I know they are not. I just want blue or green eggs, I don't care how pure they are.
I did NOT end up keeping the cheapy prefab coop thing either... I lost track, but I think we have spent at least $1,400 on the coop and run now. My husband is so thrilled. He says each egg will have to be worth $10 at this rate. But at least my hobby has some payback - his hobby is tricking out his car, which has no payback. LOL
 
thinks2much2 said:
Thank you for the welcome and the well wishes!  I don't remember where I learned about easter eggers...  it all started when I was at Farm & Fleet and saw the chicks AND they also had one of those prefab tiny coops for $200.  I thought, hey, that is easy enough, and started doing a bunch of research on breeds, legality in my area, etc.  It was either the Chicken Chick or this site where I learned about them.  I love the idea of blue eggs.  My easter egger chicks were labeled as araucanas at Farm & Fleet, but they have tails, so I know they are not.  I just want blue or green eggs, I don't care how pure they are.
I did NOT end up keeping the cheapy prefab coop thing either... I lost track, but I think we have spent at least $1,400 on the coop and run now.  My husband is so thrilled.  He says each egg will have to be worth $10 at this rate.  But at least my hobby has some payback - his hobby is tricking out his car, which has no payback.  LOL
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How did you re home your cheapie coop? I made that mistake at first too.
The new carpenter built coop and run is what I should have done to begin with.
Live and learn! :th
 
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Nofowlplay said:
How did you re home your cheapie coop? I made that mistake at first too.
:cdDitto on the price of the new coop and run. What a difference though!
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I posted it on eBay and only got half the cost of it back (we actually never took it out of the box, which helped), but better than nothing! It also took us longer to build the permanent run than we thought it would, so I grabbed a "Free" chicken coop/run from Craiglist that ended up costing me $80 to rent a truck to go pick up. Now that one will be the grow out pen. We bought a Formex Snap Lock coop and built a run from a shed kit. My husband is not comfortable with carpentry - he is much better with machinery. We bought plans to built a garden coop and some other coop, but as we were shopping for materials, he called it the divorce project. So I ordered the Snap Lock to save his sanity. We have lots of raccoons, coyote, and foxes in my area, and we can have some rough winters, so I needed something more robust than those cheap kits. I have been very happy with the outcome.
 
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Well I used mine for several months so it's not nib anymore! I might just keep it for a spare.
Amazingly all the hens made it through the worst winter in years in that cheapie coop. I just stuffed it full of straw and they huddled close ....real close! :gig
There was barely any room to wiggle!
 

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