Hello! Waiting impatiently in VA

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I have never seen my birds go after bees. They might if they were hungry enough, but I doubt you have anything to worry about with the bees. :)
 
That's good to know. It's bad enough my dog thinks bees are delicious. I'm hoping the chickens will snack on some of the hive pests and spare the honey bees.
 
Chickens eat just about every bug, but maybe they know not to go after bees...not sure. But plenty of bees buzz around here and never have they chased any of them. Maybe it is just my spoiled rotten overly fed birds.
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LOL

I hope yours stay away from your bees.
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If you are interested and in a position to keep a few hives, I highly recommend it. The only downside is having to bribe my husband to do the heavy lifting at harvest time!
 
Michael OShay said:
I've had all of those breeds at one time or another except the Cream Legbars (although my Wyandottes were Silver Laced), and you've good a lot of good layers there. None of the your standard breeds will match your Red Sex Links' lay rate, but your Black Australorps may come pretty close. They are the best layers of the standard, brown egg laying breeds. When you get Black Sex Links as replacements, they will match your RSLs' lay rate. You will love the temperament of your Black Australorps; very calm and gentle birds. Good luck with your flock.
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Actually, reading through more threads/breed reviews, I'm second guessing my hatchery order. The Wyandotte and Easter Egger in particular. My thought is cancel them and get a second Barred Rock. That would at least bring me down to 8 chicks (plus whatever hatches, if any). My preference is to try out different breeds, but I'd need to stick with friendly birds that are either good producers or colorful egg layers.

Any advice? Should I post in another subforum?. I feel more lost now than when I started!
 
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VA Raptor said:
If you are interested and in a position to keep a few hives, I highly recommend it. The only downside is having to bribe my husband to do the heavy lifting at harvest time!
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Yes, in a few more years we'll be ready for a hive! Right now my girls are still to young and curious for us to have a bee hive on our 1/2 acre property. When they're a little older, I think it will be a great family project! Here in Raleigh there is an annual coop tour (http://www.tourdcoop.com), and last year they started including folks that also have bee hives. So for now I'll just have to live vicariously through others!
 
VA Raptor said:
Actually, reading through more threads/breed reviews, I'm second guessing my hatchery order. The Wyandotte and Easter Egger in particular. My thought is cancel them and get a second Barred Rock. That would at least bring me down to 8 chicks (plus whatever hatches, if any). My preference is to try out different breeds, but I'd need to stick with friendly birds that are either good producers or colorful egg layers.

Any advice? Should I post in another subforum?. I feel more lost now than when I started!
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I have Wyandottes over the years and they are generally pretty docile birds (about the same as BRs), although once in a while I've had an aggressive one. The Easter Eggers are not an agressive breed but they don't make lap pets like Australorps, Orpingtons, Cochins, Brahmas, Sussex, and Faverolles. All six of these are very calm and gentle birds. Australorps are the best layers of this group, and Cochins are the poorest layers. Orpingtons, Brahmas, Sussex, and Faverolles are all pretty close, but Brahma eggs tend to be slightly smaller than the others. I'd probably give a slight laying nod to the Orpingtons. You can always post these questions in General Breeds Discussions and FAQs at https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/14/general-breed-discussions-faq for other's opinions.
 
Welcome to BYC!
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We're glad to have you.

I would not cancel the Wyandottes and Easter Eggers. The Wyandottes that I have are docile, personable birds that have great personalities. Mine have been wonderful layers, with one of them, a Columbian Wyandotte, laying 300 eggs in her first year. My Wyandottes are now three years old, and are still laying 5-6 eggs a week each. Wyandottes are my favorite breed of chicken, and I would recommend them to anyone starting a new flock. I have heard that some Wyandottes can be a little standoffish, but in my experience, they aren't.

I only have one Easter Egger, but I would recommend that breed as well. She is gentle and enjoys people. She is as tame as my Wyandottes, though doesn't have quite the personality. But, she's been a great layer, laying about 270 eggs her first year.
 
Wyandottes7 said:
Welcome to BYC!
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We're glad to have you.

Mine have been wonderful layers, with one of them, a Columbian Wyandotte, laying 300 eggs in her first year. My Wyandottes are now three years old, and are still laying 5-6 eggs a week each.
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That's really exceptional laying for a Wyandotte. Mine usually layed 3 eggs (occasionally 4) per week and about 200 in a year.
 

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