- Feb 24, 2014
- 2
- 0
- 7
Hello,
I finally decided to create an account, I've been using this forum as a great resource for my hobby for a few years now.
While I didn't start out with chickens in mind I have recently added some to my flock.
I started in 2010 with 6 muscovy ducks and 1 drake (Named Quackmire). Since these were for meat production I've had quite a lot of ducklings over the last 4 years and the flock is now up to 14 ducks and sadly a new Drake as Quackmire was found dead just two weeks ago from unknown causes (No signs of illness or injury, just fine in the AM and dead 6 hrs later). His son KD (Keeper Drake) will take his roll as top drake as he is maturing this month which means I have to choose another backup this year.
RIP Quackmire
I've also added Khaki Campbell ducks for egg production and after unluckily getting 3 males and 2 duck I had to cull a few males to stop the tag team from getting my muscovy's. The did successful get one in and created my mule duck Muskhaki
The most recent addition to the flock is my incubated group of Chantecler chickens. I've done a few batches of meat kings but they always seemed a bit slow and well dumb. I know they have been bred that way so I wanted to experience a true "chicken". This led me to search out the Chantecler as I like rare breeds and being from Canada this was a perfect choice to continue the only true canadian chicken line. I found a breeder a few hours drive and made the trip up. My first batch hatched 20 days later (Apparently my incubator was a bit hot) with 18 chicks. Sadly the mix was 13 roo's and 5 hen's... I was hoping for a more 50/50 split.
I also was only planning to do the partridge chantecler because well I really like the look of them. But ended up with some white as well. I choose my partridge and white rooster's after carefully selecting the best comb, wattle and body type to match the chantecler look. It was actually easy to pick as there was a clearly larger Rooster and only a few with good cushion combs. One made the mistake of mounting a duck in front of me which took him out of the running instantly as he caused her to bleed from her head.
I feel I made the best choice of rooster, he's very nice to the hens and is very protective of the entire flock, however he respects humans and has not shown any aggression to us unlike a few of his siblings. Here he is showing the white hen where to nest... She's under the hay for some reason.
He also feeds the hen's... when he find food he picks it up and calls them over. He'll either drop the food or allow them to take it right from his beak. Not until all the hen's are eating will he start to eat.
Finally we have our pet parrot Foxy... she's a sun conure about the size of a starling and loud as anything I've ever heard. She likes to hide in long hair and destroy bags (And one of the 4 cats, she doesn't mind the other 3)
This is her and her arch enemy Rocky (We refer to it as the sylvester and tweety syndrome).
That's about covers our farm.. we have about 8 acres of grassed fields the birds roam and forage on so they get a good mix of food in the summer!
I finally decided to create an account, I've been using this forum as a great resource for my hobby for a few years now.
While I didn't start out with chickens in mind I have recently added some to my flock.
I started in 2010 with 6 muscovy ducks and 1 drake (Named Quackmire). Since these were for meat production I've had quite a lot of ducklings over the last 4 years and the flock is now up to 14 ducks and sadly a new Drake as Quackmire was found dead just two weeks ago from unknown causes (No signs of illness or injury, just fine in the AM and dead 6 hrs later). His son KD (Keeper Drake) will take his roll as top drake as he is maturing this month which means I have to choose another backup this year.
RIP Quackmire
I've also added Khaki Campbell ducks for egg production and after unluckily getting 3 males and 2 duck I had to cull a few males to stop the tag team from getting my muscovy's. The did successful get one in and created my mule duck Muskhaki
The most recent addition to the flock is my incubated group of Chantecler chickens. I've done a few batches of meat kings but they always seemed a bit slow and well dumb. I know they have been bred that way so I wanted to experience a true "chicken". This led me to search out the Chantecler as I like rare breeds and being from Canada this was a perfect choice to continue the only true canadian chicken line. I found a breeder a few hours drive and made the trip up. My first batch hatched 20 days later (Apparently my incubator was a bit hot) with 18 chicks. Sadly the mix was 13 roo's and 5 hen's... I was hoping for a more 50/50 split.
I also was only planning to do the partridge chantecler because well I really like the look of them. But ended up with some white as well. I choose my partridge and white rooster's after carefully selecting the best comb, wattle and body type to match the chantecler look. It was actually easy to pick as there was a clearly larger Rooster and only a few with good cushion combs. One made the mistake of mounting a duck in front of me which took him out of the running instantly as he caused her to bleed from her head.
I feel I made the best choice of rooster, he's very nice to the hens and is very protective of the entire flock, however he respects humans and has not shown any aggression to us unlike a few of his siblings. Here he is showing the white hen where to nest... She's under the hay for some reason.
He also feeds the hen's... when he find food he picks it up and calls them over. He'll either drop the food or allow them to take it right from his beak. Not until all the hen's are eating will he start to eat.
Finally we have our pet parrot Foxy... she's a sun conure about the size of a starling and loud as anything I've ever heard. She likes to hide in long hair and destroy bags (And one of the 4 cats, she doesn't mind the other 3)
This is her and her arch enemy Rocky (We refer to it as the sylvester and tweety syndrome).
That's about covers our farm.. we have about 8 acres of grassed fields the birds roam and forage on so they get a good mix of food in the summer!
and Welcome To BYC! Beautiful birds, sorry about Quackmire, good luck with the breeding projects. Foxy is beautifully colored.
