Hudson Valley NY *chat thread*

[cutipatooti]

Hello everyone!  Good to find a thread for local chicken lovers in the Hudson Valley area.  We are located in Glen Spey and look forward to adding more additions to the family.  Currently we have Buff Orpingtons, Rhode Island Reds and I believe Rainbow Dixies.  Look forward to chicken chatting with you. 

Your in my neck of the woods

 

[Hiyaherc]

Your in my neck of the woods

Hello neighbor!!

 

[cutipatooti]

Hello neighbor!!

Hello, it would be funny if we already know each other. Tell us about your chickens. How many? What breeds.

 

[Hiyaherc]

Hello, it would be funny if we already know each other. Tell us about your chickens. How many? What breeds.

Good Morning Cutipatooti:

I hope you are well. We have 6 Buff Orpingtons, 5 hens Daisy, Freya, Xena, Henrietta, Suzie and our rooster Benjamin (previously known as Big Bertha). Suzie rules the roost, she was the smallest of all the chicks and super sweet. 4 Rhode Island Reds, Ruby, Rosie, Heidi and Gretchen. Rosie is a big snuggler and will get made at you if you do not pick her up and hold her. 3 Rainbow Dixies. Connie, Constance and Danica. They are the shyest of all the girls even though they are a large breed. Miss Connie is a super snuggler. She will jump in your lap any chance she gets and tuck her head under your arm and likes to take a nap while being petted. What about you??

 

[cutipatooti]

Good Morning Cutipatooti:

I hope you are well.  We have 6 Buff Orpingtons, 5 hens Daisy, Freya, Xena, Henrietta, Suzie and our rooster Benjamin (previously known as Big Bertha).  Suzie rules the roost, she was the smallest of all the chicks and super sweet.  4 Rhode Island Reds, Ruby, Rosie, Heidi and Gretchen.  Rosie is a big snuggler and will get made at you if you do not pick her up and hold her.  3 Rainbow Dixies. Connie, Constance and Danica.  They are the shyest of all the girls even though they are a large breed.  Miss Connie is a super snuggler.  She will jump in your lap any chance she gets and tuck her head under your arm and likes to take a nap while being petted.  What about you??   

I have chickenitis bad. My chicken numbers are always changing. I also raise them for both meat and eggs. In my layer flock I have, 1 bielefelder, 1 light sussex, 1 splash bresse 1 blue Bresse, 2 isbar, 1 cream legbar, 2 sulmtaller, 2 maline. I also have a few silkies and a few silver double laced bantam barnevelders. I had wheaten ameraucans and am working on getting a few more of them. Only a few of our chickens get names, but we had a raccoon attack recently.

I also am growing out some more Bielefelders and blue partridge brahmas. My favorite eggs are from the bielefelders. I am looking into getting guineas because the ticks are so bad. Even though I do not name all my chickens I do know them all and they each have their own personalities. I also have a dozen or so obnoxious roos, some of which have to go.
My brooders have more cream legbar, basque, Polish, orpingtons, breda, and silkies. Darn that chicken math!

 

[cutipatooti]

Oh I forgot, porcelain d'Uccle eggs in the bator and sweedish flower hen eggs on order.

 

[Hiyaherc]

Oh I forgot, porcelain d'Uccle eggs in the bator and sweedish flower hen eggs on order.

Hi Cutipatooti!

I hope you are having a great day. Sounds like you have quite the flock. I am hoping to expand the flock next year and build a new chicken coop. Any recommendations you may have as to the breed that may be best suited to our climate....with our minus zero temps in the winters and steamy hot summers since you have so many different breeds. I note that the Reds do the best when it comes to temperature changes and they continue to lay every day even in the winter with limited lighting. They never seem to miss a day. I was hoping to get Wyandottes which I believe should be fine in our climate as well as Ameraucanas, but I was also thinking of adding Khaki Campbell ducks. The reds are great egg producers but more aggressive then the Orpingtons and Dixies. I also agree with you on the ticks. The ticks this year are everywhere.....I am a tick magnet. I note the turkey population has dwindled in our area significantly with the last 2 harsh winters which may be a factor.

 

[cutipatooti]

Hi Cutipatooti!

I hope you are having a great day.   Sounds like you have quite the flock.  I am hoping to expand the flock next year and build a new chicken coop.  Any recommendations you may have as to the breed that may be best suited to our climate....with our minus zero temps in the winters and steamy hot summers since you have so many different breeds.    I note that the Reds do the best when it comes to temperature changes and they continue to lay every day even in the winter with limited lighting.  They never seem to miss a day.   I was hoping to get Wyandottes which I believe should be fine in our climate as well as Ameraucanas, but I was also thinking of adding Khaki Campbell ducks.  The reds are great egg producers but more aggressive then the Orpingtons and Dixies.  I also agree with you on the ticks.  The ticks this year are everywhere.....I am a tick magnet.  I note the turkey population has dwindled in our area significantly with the last 2 harsh winters which may be a factor. 

My day was good, took my boys to a birthday party. One of my favorite breeds is ameraucanas. They are so sweet and calm. They are good layers of blue medium to large eggs. The problem is other breeds like Reds will most likely harass them and peck them untill they die of stress. If you got them all at the same time they might be ok, but I wouldn't put money on it. I hear wyandottes can be assertive towards other chickens. I don't have any but was thinking of getting some lavander wyandottes. I need to decide before the end of the month. Also one day I would like to get quality blue laced red wyandottes.
There is a breed af chicken called a hedemora that is the most cold hard breed in the world. Some people are into them. I'm not.

The other breed I am tickled pink over is my bielefelders. They are great layers of jumbo sized copper looking eggs. They lay very well also. They are known as gentle Giants. They have a small comb so mine did very well over the winter. They eat a lot when they are growing and take up to 7 or8 montes to start laying. I'm also hoping to get ducks next year. I was going to go with welsh harlequin which derived from kaki Campbell's. I love their color. Also look into barnevelders. They do really well in the winter here. The brahmas do very well in the winter they just aren't the best layers.

I had really bad hatches this year but want to try hatching some more Ameraucana eggs this fall. I am getting the eggs from breeders known for their exceptionally blue eggs. They would be the wheaten Ameraucanas. I am on a new property and have not seen any turkey. I think you are on to something.

 

[Hiyaherc]

My day was good, took my boys to a birthday party. One of my favorite breeds is ameraucanas. They are so sweet and calm. They are good layers of blue medium to large eggs. The problem is other breeds like Reds will most likely harass them and peck them untill they die of stress. If you got them all at the same time they might be ok, but I wouldn't put money on it. I hear wyandottes can be assertive towards other chickens. I don't have any but was thinking of getting some lavander wyandottes. I need to decide before the end of the month. Also one day I would like to get quality blue laced red wyandottes.
There is a breed af chicken called a hedemora that is the most cold hard breed in the world. Some people are into them. I'm not.

The other breed I am tickled pink over is my bielefelders. They are great layers of jumbo sized copper looking eggs. They lay very well also. They are known as gentle Giants. They have a small comb so mine did very well over the winter. They eat a lot when they are growing and take up to 7 or8 montes to start laying. I'm also hoping to get ducks next year. I was going to go with welsh harlequin which derived from kaki Campbell's. I love their color. Also look into barnevelders. They do really well in the winter here. The brahmas do very well in the winter they just aren't the best layers.

I had really bad hatches this year but want to try hatching some more Ameraucana eggs this fall. I am getting the eggs from breeders known for their exceptionally blue eggs. They would be the wheaten Ameraucanas. I am on a new property and have not seen any turkey. I think you are on to something.

Hi Cutipatooti,

I hope you are enjoying your weekend. I have been interested in getting the Ameraucana as well. I think I am drawn to the blue egg. I checked out pics online of the Wheaten Ameraucana and what a beautiful bird. The bielefelders are also beautiful looking birds. Rather than trying to integrate new chickens next year to the coop,I think I would just like to build a new coop, larger than the one we currently have and one that can accommodate more chickens. We would keep our current flock in the existing coop. During the winter the girls do not like to come out of the coop and they definitely will not come out if there is snow on the ground. I have a new coop design in mind. Last year we placed metal roofing on top of their outside run attached to the coop which did allow them to come out when they wanted to, but with this winter being so cold, a good portion of the time they did not want to come out at all. With them being "cooped" up I did note that the Redheads were a little more peckish as well and would rather have a more gentler breed. The Dixies are large girls and super sweet. Do you buy your eggs from a local breeder for hatching?

 

[cutipatooti]

My eggs mostly come from NPIP breeders from here or other places online. It's hard to find variety in this area, especially the more exotic stuff.