Devonviolet2
Chirping
- Mar 9, 2015
- 42
- 54
- 99
Hi! I am already a member on BYH (Devonviolet). But, am new to having backyard chickens. So, decided to finally join BYC after initially reading some posts to figure out what breeds would work best in our hot East Texas Summers.
We moved to our wooded five acre piece of land this past January. The previous owners left their 2-1\2 year old turkey hen, RIR (Rhode Island Red) hen (which hadn't laid an egg since last Summer) and RIR rooster. We unexpectedly lost the roo in mid January - which was okay, because he was MEAN!!! We were planning to butcher the hen, since she hadn't laid eggs for six months, but then she suddenly started laying eggs. So, she redeemed herself from going into the freezer.
At the end of January, when we got our four wethered Nigerian Dwarf goats, the farmer sold me 2 one year old Buff Orpington laying hens and threw in the rooster - which is an absolute gentleman, compared to the RIR roo!!!. That brought us up to 3 hens, a roo and a turkey hen - which is also not laying - although she has laid some eggs in the past, and is currently calling out, to attract a mate
. So, we might be getting some eggs from her after all! Right now, we are getting 2-3 eggs a day.
Before getting the Buffs, we built an 8X8X8' coop, with a full size screen door (which we put 1/2" hardware cloth on). So, we used our new coop for isolating the new buffs. Then, two weeks ago, we bought 10 Buff Orpington chicks and six French Guinea Keets, at the local farm store. Two of the chicks died fairly soon, so I decided to give a couple Cornish Cross a try. After a little more than a week, they are twice as big as the other chickens. Then, last week one of the Guinea Keets died, so I went back and since they still had the same age Guineas left, I bought 2 more Keets. So, now we have 17 birds under the heat lamp in our spare bedroom, and are looking forward to having more eggs in 5 or so months and having the Guineas, help with bug control in our vegetable garden this Summer.
I have really enjoyed being on BYH. So, am looking forward to getting to know y'all, here on BYC.
We moved to our wooded five acre piece of land this past January. The previous owners left their 2-1\2 year old turkey hen, RIR (Rhode Island Red) hen (which hadn't laid an egg since last Summer) and RIR rooster. We unexpectedly lost the roo in mid January - which was okay, because he was MEAN!!! We were planning to butcher the hen, since she hadn't laid eggs for six months, but then she suddenly started laying eggs. So, she redeemed herself from going into the freezer.
At the end of January, when we got our four wethered Nigerian Dwarf goats, the farmer sold me 2 one year old Buff Orpington laying hens and threw in the rooster - which is an absolute gentleman, compared to the RIR roo!!!. That brought us up to 3 hens, a roo and a turkey hen - which is also not laying - although she has laid some eggs in the past, and is currently calling out, to attract a mate
. So, we might be getting some eggs from her after all! Right now, we are getting 2-3 eggs a day.Before getting the Buffs, we built an 8X8X8' coop, with a full size screen door (which we put 1/2" hardware cloth on). So, we used our new coop for isolating the new buffs. Then, two weeks ago, we bought 10 Buff Orpington chicks and six French Guinea Keets, at the local farm store. Two of the chicks died fairly soon, so I decided to give a couple Cornish Cross a try. After a little more than a week, they are twice as big as the other chickens. Then, last week one of the Guinea Keets died, so I went back and since they still had the same age Guineas left, I bought 2 more Keets. So, now we have 17 birds under the heat lamp in our spare bedroom, and are looking forward to having more eggs in 5 or so months and having the Guineas, help with bug control in our vegetable garden this Summer.
I have really enjoyed being on BYH. So, am looking forward to getting to know y'all, here on BYC.
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I got the two CC to see if I would like doing meat birds. I knew that they can grow so fast, that they can either have a heart attack or break legs, because they are eating machines. So, I did some research and found a hatchery site, that explained that it is best to take away their feed 12 hours a day. So, we have a box in the brooding area, to put the two meat birds in over night. We plan to butcher them at 7 or 8 weeks.
and Welcome To BYC!
