I Built A Bridge!

[tommysgirl]

Hey Bridge Club I need a favor

Asking for positive thoughts and prayers for my daughter, Erin, who is hoping for a face to face interview with Canine Companions for Independence. They are a non-profit that trains assistance dogs for people with disabilities. She would love nothing more than to become an apprentice trainer with them and had a phone interview yesterday. She worked as a dog walker thought college graduated in 2013, spent July-May in New Jersey working in an eventing barn as a barn manager and has come to the conclusion that being a dog trainer would be her dream job. CCC appears to be a solid company offering decent pay, benefits, advancement ops etc. I know she would be perfect in the position but unfortunately they have a policy against mommies of applicants making any hiring decisions.

Ohhh and of my three kids she is my go to chicken helper and is responsible for the fact that the 4 chicks from the 3 mama team all act like puppies instead of wild things when I go out there. She spends time daily hand feeding and talking to them

Thanks peeps!

 

[Teila]

Good morning Bridge Club

Liz yeah, I cannot believe how fast time has gone; I thought Spot and Gloria were turning 3 weeks old but they are, in fact, 4 weeks old!

While Spot is probably not full Silkie (barnyard mix), she/he is definitely looking like one. Spot’s comb is not walnut and she/he does not have the required amount of toes but her/his comb is very similar to Tina’s who is Silkie but not good quality.

So want to keep Spot!!! Probably going to have a long wait though. If there is Silkie in there, it could be months before we know whether we are dealing with a pullet or rooster.

They both have thick legs and Gloria has a little pink in what looks like a walnut comb but no idea really!

I remember with Tina and Suzi there were lots of people who thought they were roosters and Tina even has spurs but as you know, she is definitely no rooster!!

Also, when Tina and Suzi were 5 weeks old, their 3 brothers were behaving like boys and while they all had similar combs, the boys combs were red (definitely not good Silkie quality). Sadly though, I have nothing to compare Spot to.

There have been the very occasional chest bumps between the two but nothing like Blondies brothers when they were little and also nothing like Tina’s brothers.

Anyways, time will tell

I foresee many early mornings, laying in bed, waiting for that tell-tale crow!

TG aaaw, so sorry to read about Magic; 16 years is a good age but I understand how very sad it is and will be

Excellent news on Maggie and Reese!! Maggie is adorable!

Sending every available positive vibe Erin’s way!! Wow, I so hope she gets the job and if she does, once she has worked her way up the ladder, she may have to do something about that policy of theirs!

Please let us know how she goes?

 

[lizgarf]

Maggie is beautiful, TG! I don't know anything about Konzas, but they look super cool!
I'm not much of a baseball fan, or any pro-sports fan. If I was, the A's would be my team, but there's just always something I'd rather be doing than watching other people play sports (except maybe ultimate, but that's the exception, and even that is finally losing it's appeal, the longer I stay retired and removed from the scene.)

So, I officially have an egg-breaking problem. I've had two completely broken eggs in the nest in the past few weeks, and many cracked, but salvageable eggs. The cracks are often at the very tip of the eggs, which makes it seem like they might not be forming quite right. But, since I never had a broken-egg problem until now, I'm suspecting the chicks are breaking them, out of curiosity/boredom. Since I only have 2 layers at the moment, I'm just trying to be vigilant and checking the nest when I know they've been in there, but that is only partially successful. I'm also wondering if 2 months of eating chick-starter is making the egg shells weak. They have access to oyster shells too, so that should be enough, but maybe it's not. Any thoughts?

In other news, it's still 3 certain boys, 3 certain girls, and 3 keeping me guessing, though Frankie really is looking like a little roo. I might be seeing the beginnings of saddle feathers. I'm actually starting to be more optimistic that Lu might be a Lulu instead of a Louie, as she looks just like a mini-Lucy, whereas Cy (Cyrano) looks completely like a cockerel (though doesn't have the colors to look like Desi yet). Lu probably has too much comb/wattles to be a girl, but her body shape is all Lucy, so who knows.
TG, if you know anyone who wants some BCM and BCM-cross cockerels, let me know!

 

[MistyMountain]

MM I asked about your plans for the predator as I also love animals and like you, sympathize with the predator who is only doing what comes naturally. Unless it is one of your raccoons I keep reading about who apparently just kill for the fun of it!

It is a tough situation, protecting your flock and more importantly, your boys, verses the life of a predator. I hope your game cam reveals it to be something that you could maybe catch and relocate or as you mention, convince it to move on or it moves on of it’s own accord.

I totally understand your mixed feelings and hope that it works out for you. If you can’t get it to move on, I do not believe you should leave it be and lose your flock to it. Sometimes we have to make those unpleasant decisions.

I love the picture of the leaves!

Teila, Yes, from what I hear Raccoons can be quite terrible in the chicken house. I have not seen one on my property, yet, but they are the reason for the double locks on all the coop doors. Do you have anything similar down under? We also have possums but ours are nowhere near as adorable and fuzzy as yours, though. I *think* they are our only marsupial as well. Weasels can also cause major damage in the hen house.

The little munchkins are 5 days old today:







I have my suspicions on these two but as they are barnyard mixes I am not calling rooster or pullet just yet .. still hoping the little grey one is a keeper! Love the colouring!

Three weeks and 6 days:







3 Weeks and 5 Days:

Look how much Gloria and Spot have grown!!!! Beautiful pictures!

Very cute bubbies, Teila!!
Can't believe how fast time is flying! Is Spot a silkie? No one looks like a cockerel yet!

Sorry to hear about the losses in your flock, IC and MM. Chickens are so vulnerable.

Thank you, Liz. I have to remind myself of that so often. Lots of things around here looking for a snack.

MM so sorry about your loss. Another Northern California BYCer ( the woman I got my Marans from) shared videos of the fox family that grew up in her yard this summer. She had to keep the chickens penned the entire time they were hanging out but like you she respected the fox's right to raise her kits and just chose to leave them be but deny them access to her birds. She is an environmental science professor at Sonoma State University and a naturalist and really enjoyed watching those little foxes...I have to admit they were darling! With you on the coyote though. And Black Beard gets a pardon so yay!!!! for him.

Right now I only have Ike and Cosmo and young cockerels. I feel like with my goal of 15-18 lf hens, not to mention my current pullet/hen total which is a little bit more than that

I will need 2 lf roosters. Cosmo is a great little guy but he is just a little guy. Now that I see how great Ike is with Cosmo I know I can keep a cockerel or maybe even two and not have to deal with the fighting like I did when I had Ozzie and the the General. What do you think the best ratioof hens to roosters is?

Marie I know Black Magic Woman too...cast a spell on me baby! How is Magic's hatch going? We have a 16 year old dog who is named Magic and I am afraid he won't last the month. Poor old guy, is blind and deaf and sore and senile but he still wags his tail when you pet him. He is my adult daughters' dog so they will make the call re. putting him down if it is necessary but obviously I hope he just passes in his sleep.

Italy Chickie I am so sorry about your loss. It is so odd and shocking to have an animal go so quickly. We all understand not wanting to talk about it. ((((((hugs))))) Thanks for sharing your lovely pics. Those orps are gorgeous. I added blue girls this year and I am so happy that I did.


In my news, it has been confirmed by a Konza lady that Magnus is Maggie and Reese is Reese Witherspoon. It only took 17 weeks but I now have an answer. In conversation with the Konza people, these things have come to light:

The original Konza creator is taking a break and is liquidating her stock
She would like to get back in at a later date
She wants people who have Konza to sort of keep the thing going in the interim
There is a woman on BYC...Eden Camp is her user name....and she is spearheading the "Save the Konza" efforts
She and another BYCer, Arielle, who are breeder types with incubators and leg bands and breeding pens etc would like me to participate.

I have told them that I will but also have limited my commitment to receiving 1 shipment of hatching eggs at some point in the future, hoping for a a cockerels/rooster and maintaing a quad.

I am a little excited about it but anxious at the same time. I have no desire to do chickens on the same level as these other gals. I like low-key chicken keeping. But if one day the Konza Prairie Range becomes a thing...it will be nice to know that I had a little part of it

Here is a recent shot of Maggie. She is an enormous ball of beauty!

How cool about the baby foxes! I love to watch wildlife as well. I can see myself doing the same thing.

I think it is hard to give a good answer about the best Rooster/hen ratio. I do know that watching my flock last year and this spring, I needed more than one rooster to keep them safe and in order. At that time I had 16 hens and one rooster. Poor Willie got a workout running from one area to the next each time someone made a peep. I felt like he couldn't possibly protect them all. My plan was to have two roosters for about 22ish hens in a free range situation. I'm at about 23 females and three males right now. If everyone did not get along, I would have to change that. Cielo has not challenge Willie yet, and at 17 weeks old, Blackbeard has yet to even crow. I really feel multiple roosters are the way to go with more than 10 hens if they can fall into the Alpha Beta roles. Time will tell if that works out here. Winter will be the most trying time while they are confined to a smaller area. I need to add more outdoor roosts to keep their minds busy.

Maggie is so pretty! I love the spiky head feathers!

Maggie is beautiful, TG! I don't know anything about Konzas, but they look super cool!
I'm not much of a baseball fan, or any pro-sports fan. If I was, the A's would be my team, but there's just always something I'd rather be doing than watching other people play sports (except maybe ultimate, but that's the exception, and even that is finally losing it's appeal, the longer I stay retired and removed from the scene.)

So, I officially have an egg-breaking problem. I've had two completely broken eggs in the nest in the past few weeks, and many cracked, but salvageable eggs. The cracks are often at the very tip of the eggs, which makes it seem like they might not be forming quite right. But, since I never had a broken-egg problem until now, I'm suspecting the chicks are breaking them, out of curiosity/boredom. Since I only have 2 layers at the moment, I'm just trying to be vigilant and checking the nest when I know they've been in there, but that is only partially successful. I'm also wondering if 2 months of eating chick-starter is making the egg shells weak. They have access to oyster shells too, so that should be enough, but maybe it's not. Any thoughts?

In other news, it's still 3 certain boys, 3 certain girls, and 3 keeping me guessing, though Frankie really is looking like a little roo. I might be seeing the beginnings of saddle feathers. I'm actually starting to be more optimistic that Lu might be a Lulu instead of a Louie, as she looks just like a mini-Lucy, whereas Cy (Cyrano) looks completely like a cockerel (though doesn't have the colors to look like Desi yet). Lu probably has too much comb/wattles to be a girl, but her body shape is all Lucy, so who knows.
TG, if you know anyone who wants some BCM and BCM-cross cockerels, let me know!

You know, Liz, I had the same problem with free choice oyster shell. I had some that just would not eat it and had thin shells or no shells at all for a bit. I switched back to layer feed and fed the youngsters grower in their coop instead of everyone combined. Maybe you could save your egg shells to offer them? I have heard that chickens tend to prefer those anyhow.

Everyone talking about ages had me thinking the other day. Daphne is starting to have a super red comb and big wattles. I just realized she is 17 weeks, which means I could almost expect eggs from her any day (her mom first started between 17=19 weeks, I think!). She has shown more interest in the adult flock lately as well. Maybe I should fully integrate her?

 

[MistyMountain]

IC, I missed your post earlier. I am so sorry to hear about your araucana pullet. 

Your blues are so pretty!

TG, sending all kinds of good thoughts and prayers Erin's way. What a great opportunity! My MIL went out to CA a number of years ago for training with Guide Dogs for the Blind. She came back with a black lab and the two are inseparable. It is amazing to watch them work together. 

I also wanted to add a quick pic of these guys… look how huge they are! Ignore the pouty looks on their faces for being cooped up!

 

[ItalyChickie]

Wooo hooo for the weekend!!

Last weekend I made sure the garden had everything done that needed doing and did a super-clean inside. During the week I made sure the house stayed clean and did an extra couple of vacuums etc so no build up and so that it still looked pretty good this weekend.

The reason for all this? This weekend is all about relaxing and spending time with the gals and bubs. OK, as per any household, there are still a few daily chores that need doing but the rest of the weekend is going to be all about quality time and hopefully taking a few good pictures! Bring it on!

Getting good pictures of the beans is going to be tricky, they have bits sticking out everywhere and are all gangly! lol

IC oh dear, it certainly has not been a good week for the Club; we seem to have runs of not so good news.

I am so very sorry to hear about your little Araucana

I understand your “I don’t wanna talk about it” and we all deal with our losses in our own way.
I agree that you probably could not have done any more than you did as she did not give you any symptoms to assist with what treatment to give her and as you said, treating for the wrong thing could have made it worse.

If you remember, I lost Suzi overnight; absolutely fine when she went to bed and gone within a couple of hours of sunrise the next morning. I have no idea what happened but believe she either ate something she shouldn’t or was bitten by something on the afternoon free range.

These little ones of ours are so good at hiding how they are feeling and a lot of the time we do not know something is wrong until it is too late.

I do wish you luck with breaking Pallina. Fingers crossed, Cilla has not repeated her wannabe broody and I may have been lucky to catch her early and break her easily.

Love the pics IC; such beautiful colouring!

Thanks Teila! I agree, the past week was not a good one - glad it's over and hoping things are looking up for all of us!
Yes, I remember how you lost Suzi.. it's so hard not knowing what is wrong and unable to do anything to help, but, sadly, sometimes that is just the way it is, and all we can do is move on... which is probably why I'm reluctant to talk about these things right away, since I tend to dwell on things, and trying to busy myself with something else helps more than talking, at least during those most heartbreaking moments....

I am happy to report that operation "unbroody Pallina" has been successfully completed, and it only took 4 days, so not as bad as I thought. The fact that I locked her out of the coop during the day over the weekend probably helped a lot (I was nearby in case someone else wanted to go in to lay an egg) - on Sunday morning, she suddenly remembered that there were boys to charm, and off she was... hasn't tried going back on the nest in the past 36 hours, so I shouldn't have to deal with her for the next few weeks at least (I'm sure she will go broody again after the next 10 or so eggs).

Glad to hear you managed to break Cilla early and easily! Somehow, I never manage to do it easily, even if I do catch them early.

And I think you managed to take amazing pictures of the beans!

Love all of them, and I'm still undecided whether my favorite is Gloria or Spot... those little dinosaurs are too cute! Spot does seem to have Silkie blood in there - the dark skin and the crest definitely point to that so yeah, could be a while until you know for sure whether it's a boy or a girl, but probably not as long as with a pure Silkie. (If it was the dad that was a silkie though, the dark skin should be a good sign - but I guess we don't know the exact parentage?)

Right now I only have Ike and Cosmo and young cockerels. I feel like with my goal of 15-18 lf hens, not to mention my current pullet/hen total which is a little bit more than that

I will need 2 lf roosters. Cosmo is a great little guy but he is just a little guy. Now that I see how great Ike is with Cosmo I know I can keep a cockerel or maybe even two and not have to deal with the fighting like I did when I had Ozzie and the the General. What do you think the best ratioof hens to roosters is?

Marie I know Black Magic Woman too...cast a spell on me baby! How is Magic's hatch going? We have a 16 year old dog who is named Magic and I am afraid he won't last the month. Poor old guy, is blind and deaf and sore and senile but he still wags his tail when you pet him. He is my adult daughters' dog so they will make the call re. putting him down if it is necessary but obviously I hope he just passes in his sleep.

Italy Chickie I am so sorry about your loss. It is so odd and shocking to have an animal go so quickly. We all understand not wanting to talk about it. ((((((hugs))))) Thanks for sharing your lovely pics. Those orps are gorgeous. I added blue girls this year and I am so happy that I did.



In my news, it has been confirmed by a Konza lady that Magnus is Maggie and Reese is Reese Witherspoon. It only took 17 weeks but I now have an answer. In conversation with the Konza people, these things have come to light:

The original Konza creator is taking a break and is liquidating her stock
She would like to get back in at a later date
She wants people who have Konza to sort of keep the thing going in the interim
There is a woman on BYC...Eden Camp is her user name....and she is spearheading the "Save the Konza" efforts
She and another BYCer, Arielle, who are breeder types with incubators and leg bands and breeding pens etc would like me to participate.

I have told them that I will but also have limited my commitment to receiving 1 shipment of hatching eggs at some point in the future, hoping for a a cockerels/rooster and maintaing a quad.

I am a little excited about it but anxious at the same time. I have no desire to do chickens on the same level as these other gals. I like low-key chicken keeping. But if one day the Konza Prairie Range becomes a thing...it will be nice to know that I had a little part of it

Here is a recent shot of Maggie. She is an enormous ball of beauty!

Lol, TG, technically I can't even laugh at you been just a little bit over your goal of 15-18 hens, since I'm in the exact same situation and can't seem to decide which ones to give up (or stop adding on to my current flock), but it's still pretty funny!

Thanks for the support and understanding. Yes, the fact that I didn't even have the time to try anything drove me crazy, because there is always that "what if doing this would have helped" at the back of my mind... The fact that she was the only pure Araucana female that hatched makes it even worse, and makes me want to try again, which of course is crazy (see goal above; I'd also like to be at around 20) - but we'll see. Not right away, anyhow...

So sorry about your daughter's dog! Yes, 16 is a good age, and I'm sure he had 16 wonderful years, but letting a friend go is always hard...

Oh, just for the record - if I don't know a song/show/whatever that you guys know, it's probably not because I'm from a different generation (I doubt that), but because I was raised in a different culture where the US influence was kept minimal.

(although I'm sure I heard Black Magic Woman, just can't remember.)


Maggie is absolutely gorgeous!!! I had never heard of Konzas, but I hope that it does become a thing - can never have enough big fluffy chickens! It sounds like you can participate while keeping your involvement fairly low-key, so have fun with them!

Hey Bridge Club I need a favor

Asking for positive thoughts and prayers for my daughter, Erin, who is hoping for a face to face interview with Canine Companions for Independence. They are a non-profit that trains assistance dogs for people with disabilities. She would love nothing more than to become an apprentice trainer with them and had a phone interview yesterday. She worked as a dog walker thought college graduated in 2013, spent July-May in New Jersey working in an eventing barn as a barn manager and has come to the conclusion that being a dog trainer would be her dream job. CCC appears to be a solid company offering decent pay, benefits, advancement ops etc. I know she would be perfect in the position but unfortunately they have a policy against mommies of applicants making any hiring decisions.

Ohhh and of my three kids she is my go to chicken helper and is responsible for the fact that the 4 chicks from the 3 mama team all act like puppies instead of wild things when I go out there. She spends time daily hand feeding and talking to them

Thanks peeps!

Your daughter is in my thoughts and prayers! Sounds like an amazing opportunity for someone who loves animals - and I can tell she does from your description.

Really, the only thing against that company seems to be their "mom-can't-make-hiring-decisions" policy - are you sure we can't petition them or something to make an exception?

Maggie is beautiful, TG! I don't know anything about Konzas, but they look super cool!
I'm not much of a baseball fan, or any pro-sports fan. If I was, the A's would be my team, but there's just always something I'd rather be doing than watching other people play sports (except maybe ultimate, but that's the exception, and even that is finally losing it's appeal, the longer I stay retired and removed from the scene.)

So, I officially have an egg-breaking problem. I've had two completely broken eggs in the nest in the past few weeks, and many cracked, but salvageable eggs. The cracks are often at the very tip of the eggs, which makes it seem like they might not be forming quite right. But, since I never had a broken-egg problem until now, I'm suspecting the chicks are breaking them, out of curiosity/boredom. Since I only have 2 layers at the moment, I'm just trying to be vigilant and checking the nest when I know they've been in there, but that is only partially successful. I'm also wondering if 2 months of eating chick-starter is making the egg shells weak. They have access to oyster shells too, so that should be enough, but maybe it's not. Any thoughts?

In other news, it's still 3 certain boys, 3 certain girls, and 3 keeping me guessing, though Frankie really is looking like a little roo. I might be seeing the beginnings of saddle feathers. I'm actually starting to be more optimistic that Lu might be a Lulu instead of a Louie, as she looks just like a mini-Lucy, whereas Cy (Cyrano) looks completely like a cockerel (though doesn't have the colors to look like Desi yet). Lu probably has too much comb/wattles to be a girl, but her body shape is all Lucy, so who knows.
TG, if you know anyone who wants some BCM and BCM-cross cockerels, let me know!

I may have mentioned this before, but I have an on and off thin shell issue with just one of my hens. They have oyster shell available at all times too, and nobody else has that problem, so I don't know if she just doesn't get enough - or if that could go for all of them in your case. Worth a try with layer feed and/or egg shells though - mine love hard-boiled eggs all smushed up with the shell and all.

Fingers crossed that those that keep you guessing are girls - or at least some of them are!

I think it is hard to give a good answer about the best Rooster/hen ratio. I do know that watching my flock last year and this spring, I needed more than one rooster to keep them safe and in order. At that time I had 16 hens and one rooster. Poor Willie got a workout running from one area to the next each time someone made a peep. I felt like he couldn't possibly protect them all. My plan was to have two roosters for about 22ish hens in a free range situation. I'm at about 23 females and three males right now. If everyone did not get along, I would have to change that. Cielo has not challenge Willie yet, and at 17 weeks old, Blackbeard has yet to even crow. I really feel multiple roosters are the way to go with more than 10 hens if they can fall into the Alpha Beta roles. Time will tell if that works out here. Winter will be the most trying time while they are confined to a smaller area. I need to add more outdoor roosts to keep their minds busy.

I agree, the best rooster/hen ratio also depends on roosters (of which I currently have too many, but I digress). With my silkie roo as the alpha, there were never problems with the second roo even when I had only 10 hens (I know that's hard to believe, but there really was such a time). But he's very mellow and tolerant and even encouraging of others - and no longer a teenager, so the hens are not overmated. In my head, I'm convinced 2 roos are fine for anywhere between 10-20 hens if they get along (or 3 if it's closer to 20) but it is mostly based on my experience... trial and error is probably the only way to know for sure though, since those chickenalities can be unpredictable.

IC, I missed your post earlier. I am so sorry to hear about your araucana pullet.

Your blues are so pretty!

I also wanted to add a quick pic of these guys… look how huge they are! Ignore the pouty looks on their faces for being cooped up!

Thanks MM!

By the way, the boy Orp (Cesare) is actually lavender, not blue - I couldn't tell the difference before, but now that I have a living reference, it's much easier. Sadly, that was the only lavender egg that hatched, so I don't have a female reference on hand. (Makes me want to get one, of course.)

Wow, those are some big pouty kids you have there!!! How old are they now?



Ok, time for me to go count/close the chickens. Talk soon!

 

[MistyMountain]

Thanks MM!

By the way, the boy Orp (Cesare) is actually lavender, not blue - I couldn't tell the difference before, but now that I have a living reference, it's much easier. Sadly, that was the only lavender egg that hatched, so I don't have a female reference on hand. (Makes me want to get one, of course.)

Wow, those are some big pouty kids you have there!!! How old are they now?



Ok, time for me to go count/close the chickens. Talk soon!

Noooot helping you reach your goal of 20 at all, buuuut I would be tempted to find Cesare a girlfriend, too

.

Those big kids are 17 weeks already!! I think I will fully integrate Daphne (white one), Velma (Black headed bearded one in the way back) and Chloe (poofy headed one on the other side of Daphne) to the big coop flock. Those are the three I was thinking of keeping, anyhow. I'm going to leave blackbeard and the beardless triplets in the schoolhouse for now. I really need to extend that run a bit for a group a big birds before the winter lockdown.

Both flocks are still on lockdown until this predator gets sorted out. I added a whole bunch of leaves and pine litter to their run and mixed in some scratch and BOSS to keep them busy today. I picked up a cabbage from the store yesterday to hang like a piñata in the coop. I don't think they are bored yet, but one of the white ones is molting like CRAZY! It looks like it snowed in the coop!

 

[ItalyChickie]

Noooot helping you reach your goal of 20 at all, buuuut I would be tempted to find Cesare a girlfriend, too

.

Those big kids are 17 weeks already!! I think I will fully integrate Daphne (white one), Velma (Black headed bearded one in the way back) and Chloe (poofy headed one on the other side of Daphne) to the big coop flock. Those are the three I was thinking of keeping, anyhow. I'm going to leave blackbeard and the beardless triplets in the schoolhouse for now. I really need to extend that run a bit for a group a big birds before the winter lockdown.

Both flocks are still on lockdown until this predator gets sorted out. I added a whole bunch of leaves and pine litter to their run and mixed in some scratch and BOSS to keep them busy today. I picked up a cabbage from the store yesterday to hang like a piñata in the coop. I don't think they are bored yet, but one of the white ones is molting like CRAZY! It looks like it snowed in the coop!

Haha! I need very little (if any) convincing to find Cesare a girlfriend, but the only way I can get a lav orp around here is by hatching more... so hmm... maybe in a few months.

Daphne does look like she is close to laying! Hope they all integrate without issues - and, more importantly, that the predator is sorted soon!

I've got white feathers all over the place too, and some black mixed in, not sure which ones are molting, but that's probably a good thing - so far no hard molters in my flock.

 

[tommysgirl]

Here is Konza Info from Renee, BYC name ChooksChick.:

"Konza Prairie Rangers- These are a dual-purpose project I've been working on to produce an exceptional foraging bird for meat production as well as great hens. The birds are often HUGE. I've had males dressing out at 6.5# at 14 weeks, and the pullets lay almost daily at 17+ weeks. These are created to have a minimal or flat comb for cold winter temps. They deal very well with heat and humidity, as well. There isn't a consistent coloration as of yet. This is a friendly, docile, broad-breasted bird. The project consists of Partridge Chantecler, Australian Coronation/Light Sussex, Plymouth Rock, Orpington and Cornish lines. My goal is not yet reached, but I am continuing to work on it continuously. I am getting an egg 5 days out of 7 from pullets, and I only hatch eggs from the cushion-combed pullets. Older hens are still laying very well, however I have several 2nd year hens who have gone broody. I have sold several sets of eggs, clarifying that the offspring are still occasionally showing a single comb here and there. Coloration is inconsistent and most appear to have a black and white appearance, either like the Delaware, a Columbian or like an incomplete Lakenvelder pattern. Sometimes the partridge comes out and they have a lovely Silver Lacing on the breast. I'm looking for rapid growth coupled with good laying ability and a good foraging behavior for lower feed costs when pastured. This is still a project, so I can't promise anything about the outcome yet. I know they have not had motility issues or any early deaths like the Cornish crosses have, but they aren't ready to process that early, either. I don't intend to move into that class, but want something faster-growing than dual purposes currently available without a large single comb."





That's a full sized chair he is standing next too. My two are the daughters of one or both of the two boys pictured.



I bought a mixed dozen eggs from Renee for my first hatch...only 3 hatched including Godiva and a Konza but I lost it in the first days. It was such a great little chick and I felt so badly about loosing it that I wanted more so ordered 8 but I got 18 eggs from her again this summer and only Reese and Maggie hatched. You guys know the rest. "Konza" is the Native American name for Kansas. Renee is from Kansas and what she was trying to create was an early maturing dual purpose forager that was heat and cold hardy and well camouflaged from ariel predators. I just thought they looked cool but now here I am. Reese is nearly invisible against dried leaves so she has the camo thing down but Maggie not so much.


Liz I will be happy to share pics of your boys when the time comes.

Thanks all for the compliments on Maggie. You can't tell in the pic but her chest is covered with little black hearts. I will try to get a pic of them.


Happy chicken loving all!

 

[tommysgirl]

Thank you all for your positive job thoughts for Erin and your sympathies for Magic. He had a really good day yesterday. Even had a bit of a skip in his step at one point b/c we started giving him Meloxicam (sp) for his stiffness.

@MistyMountain I raised a Guide Dog Puppy as a 4-Her. She flunked out because she had seizures but scored at the top of the class at the field day right before they took her in for training. We took her back and she was the sweetest girl. Erin applied with them too but hasn't heard back. So nice that your MIL was matched with a dog. They change lives and to watch them work is amazing...makes me cry. Did she loose her vision as an adult?

CCI has 4 areas of training: hearing dogs, therapy type dogs that go to hospitals and residential homes and schools for disabled and severely ill, Assistance dogs for those who live independently and assistance dogs for those who have a parent/care giver. Erin has been an animal whisperer her entire life. Outside the company of her twin sister and the rest of her family she grew up preferring them to humans. A job like this seems like it would be ideal in that she would bring a lot to the table but also for what working with other similarly minded people and people with challenges would do for her as a person. Other than the first 9 or so months when her major responsibility would be cleaning kennels and washing dogs which she would happily do...she would be living her dream.