Hey Gang! Whatcha think of my plans and Rooster issue?

[chichichickapea]

my easter egger looks just like your last picture, her name is Stinky, she had pasty butt for about 2 weeks thus the name

 

[griffinkid02]

Such pretty birds

 

[jeapa]

This is a great thread . I got started reading it and had to keep going. Your flock is beautiful.

 

[TonySorrento]

Thank you all so.much!! Some of my girls are getting close to laying ... their face s are getting real red...can't wait!!

 

[TonySorrento]

I thought I would post this on my thread as well so my peeps could see the good news!! AND help me with my question ...

So my oldest girls are getting ready to lay as they are 14 1/2 weeks old and their combs and wattles are turning real red!

So excited! The other great news is that my 7 and 9 week old birds are integrated with the main flock ...yeay!!

I feel like I am on vacation!

Now the question ... when my older girls start laying, I am hoping there is a feed that I can give them along with a oyster or egg shell additive that will work for both the young one and old ones.... Please Help

 

[azygous]

There is the perfect feed for a mixed-age flock - grower feed. It's a high protein feed usually fed to meat birds, with low calcium so it won't hurt the development of the youngsters. All you need to do is supply oyster shell on the side for the layers. Don't worry, the youngsters won't be all that interested in the oyster shell until their calcium needs cause them to crave it.

 

[TonySorrento]

Thanks, AZ!

 

[nicolets]

There is the perfect feed for a mixed-age flock - grower feed. It's a high protein feed usually fed to meat birds, with low calcium so it won't hurt the development of the youngsters. All you need to do is supply oyster shell on the side for the layers. Don't worry, the youngsters won't be all that interested in the oyster shell until their calcium needs cause them to crave it.

x2!

 

[MOChickenShoes]

Tony, i've really enjoyed this thread! i envy the amount of resources you have access to, as i live in the suburbs with only a small yard to work with. we have 5 chickens at the moment (2 BR, 2 RIR, 1 BO, aged 8-11 weeks), one of our RIR's being a rooster and the other 4 being hens. our city codes limit us to only having 3 hens legally and roosters are not allowed at all, though really it's similar to your case from what i gather, in that so long as no neighbors complain it's not really a problem. but a neighbor that has since moved had a few chickens and at least one rooster. to my knowledge he never really asked before he got them, but went around after the fact saying if anyone was bothered by the crowing to just let him know. once it started crowing no one officially complained, but i know there were rumblings amongst the neighbors, complaining to each other about the noise etc (houses in my neighborhood are pretty close to each other). Luke, our rooster, hasn't started crowing yet, which is bittersweet. my wife and i have been telling ourselves since the day we were sure that he was a rooster that we'll hold on to him til he starts crowing, at which point we'll give him to my in-laws to process and eat. but as days/weeks go on, we're getting more and more attached to luke, and as his feathers continue to fill out, he's really turning into one beautiful bird. he's also a :tremendous: rooster (not that we have anything to compare it to i guess lol), in that he's very good about resolving any arguments between the pullets, and is very good about being handled/held. so now we're dreading the day he starts to crow lol. i've been trying to come up with some way to make keeping luke work out, but i just don't think there's going to be a way. =(

my wife has always been the one that longed to move out of the suburbs and on to some acreage on the outskirts of town, and truth be told, was the one that initially had the idea to get these chickens (i resisted the idea at first lol). but now that we have them, i have enjoyed them so much that i've started envisioning my dream house out in the country too, mostly just so that i can have all the chickens i want (i ink: i'd be very content with a total number in the 20's somewhere for our layer flock, though i'm sure chicken math might rear it's head as it usually seems to lol..). i'd love to have the room for a couple different flocks, breed what we have to try to increase the traits that i find desirable, have a flock of guineas free ranging for bug control, maybe raise 20ish meat birds every spring to fill up ours and our family's freezers, raise a few ducks and keep them on a stocked pond, 3 or 4 alpacas grazing around (my wife's always wanted alpacas lol), a couple LGD's patrolling the whole area keeping it all safe...i could go on and on... maybe one day we'll get there, and i truly hope we do.

so please, keep the updates coming, and let me live vicariously through you!!

regards~ shoe

 

[TonySorrento]

Tony, i've really enjoyed this thread! i envy the amount of resources you have access to, as i live in the suburbs with only a small yard to work with. we have 5 chickens at the moment (2 BR, 2 RIR, 1 BO, aged 8-11 weeks), one of our RIR's being a rooster and the other 4 being hens. our city codes limit us to only having 3 hens legally and roosters are not allowed at all, though really it's similar to your case from what i gather, in that so long as no neighbors complain it's not really a problem. but a neighbor that has since moved had a few chickens and at least one rooster. to my knowledge he never really asked before he got them, but went around after the fact saying if anyone was bothered by the crowing to just let him know. once it started crowing no one officially complained, but i know there were rumblings amongst the neighbors, complaining to each other about the noise etc (houses in my neighborhood are pretty close to each other). Luke, our rooster, hasn't started crowing yet, which is bittersweet. my wife and i have been telling ourselves since the day we were sure that he was a rooster that we'll hold on to him til he starts crowing, at which point we'll give him to my in-laws to process and eat. but as days/weeks go on, we're getting more and more attached to luke, and as his feathers continue to fill out, he's really turning into one beautiful bird. he's also a :tremendous: rooster (not that we have anything to compare it to i guess lol), in that he's very good about resolving any arguments between the pullets, and is very good about being handled/held. so now we're dreading the day he starts to crow lol. i've been trying to come up with some way to make keeping luke work out, but i just don't think there's going to be a way. =(

my wife has always been the one that longed to move out of the suburbs and on to some acreage on the outskirts of town, and truth be told, was the one that initially had the idea to get these chickens (i resisted the idea at first lol). but now that we have them, i have enjoyed them so much that i've started envisioning my dream house out in the country too, mostly just so that i can have all the chickens i want (i ink: i'd be very content with a total number in the 20's somewhere for our layer flock, though i'm sure chicken math might rear it's head as it usually seems to lol..). i'd love to have the room for a couple different flocks, breed what we have to try to increase the traits that i find desirable, have a flock of guineas free ranging for bug control, maybe raise 20ish meat birds every spring to fill up ours and our family's freezers, raise a few ducks and keep them on a stocked pond, 3 or 4 alpacas grazing around (my wife's always wanted alpacas lol), a couple LGD's patrolling the whole area keeping it all safe...i could go on and on... maybe one day we'll get there, and i truly hope we do.

so please, keep the updates coming, and let me live vicariously through you!!

regards~ shoe

Shoe, that post was awesome! If you both want it, sacrifice now for a few years and go get it!

My wife and I bought a double in South Buffalo in a decent neighborhood 4 years ago ... it paid most of the mortgage and taxes while we lived there, allowing us to dump a ton opf debt and 3 years later we moved to where we are now .... we have lived here for 1 year and have leased 9 acres for free by the farmer who is my neighbor ... we are now a farm

where we sell Perennials, baked good, and soon to be farm fresh eggs

I also envision the other poultry and animals you have mentioned ... but baby steps (at least thats what my wife keeps telling me

)

Shoe ... keep the dream, baby! and keep us posted!!!!