Illinois...

[Life is Good!]

Thank you for the warm welcome!

Garfield Farm Museum is on Rt. 38, a couple miles west of Randall Rd. Website is: http://www.garfieldfarm.org/ A small organization but dedicated to preserving and telling about life during settlement times. Great place! The Rare Breed Show is incredible with it's variety of critters shown...and if you're suburban (and cannot have a miniature hereford cow) gets you thinking about alternatives! Last year's Babyface sheep were quite a sight to see! Lyle Behl has been there the past few years with his Auburn Java's and Icelandic chickens. And Garfield sells Java chicks at the event too (last year's prices were $3/chick if memory serves). There's ducks, geese, horses, turkeys - wow, lots to see!

Yes, the show is May 19th, a Sunday, all day. There's a small fee to enter, but all proceeds go towards restoration of the site - it's well worth the cost! Don't forget your chicken totin' box...you might come home with some Java chicks....I know I do!

 

[Witzman]

I ordered them from McMurry. But I know now why they are endangered, they were really hard to get to this stage. I started with 5 and now I have 2.
By the way welcome "LIFE IS GOOD." I am way down in southern Illinois, Alto Pass.

 

[tbitt]

I have to admit, a few of us went in on this oder:

http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/ornamental_layer_collection.html


25 chicks to be delivered for the Feb 11th date.



Wonder if there will be any red caps in there?
Do you have pics of yours when they were delivered? I'd like to know what to look for.

 

[Witzman]

oh gosh, I don't have any pics when I got them. I got a few different kinds when I ordered and I didn't know which one was which. Sorry
but I hope you do get some redcaps.

 

[Gargoyle]

Life is Good! Welcome! I live west of tbitt a bit

but my DH works in Naperville, DS and DIL live in Plainfield and SIL in St Charles, so am familiar with the Western Suburbs. We could pick some place and get together for a "spell". Pick a time and place and we'll see what we can work out!

Sounds good, we should do that this spring.

We're in Western Suburbs of Chicagoland. After seeing the Museum of Science and Industry incubator a few years back - finally made the connection between MSI and Garfield Farm Museum in LaFox.

Primrose Farm, part of the St. Charles Park District, supplies Columbian Wyandotte eggs to the MSI incubator exhibit and to some school hatching programs, and then takes back the chicks. Thats where we got our birds. We figure, they were either hatched in a museum or a school, and therefore they are very smart educated chickens.


Young chicks at Primrose last summer. They had perhaps 200 sq. feet in the coop, but they all hung out together in tight groups.

 

[Gargoyle]

After posting the above, I just stopped by Primrose Farm Park. They have an overabundance of roo's this year, they need to thin the flock. A lot of them aren't purely SOP Columbian Wyandottes (note that some of them don't have rose combs), but they are good, strong healthy dual purpose birds. So, if you need a roo or a few, give them a jingle.

 

[tbitt]

I think 2012 was the year of the Roo.

 

[Gargoyle]

I think 2012 was the year of the Roo.

It certainly wasn't the year of the Deer. Blue Tongue disease has wiped out about 40% of them in Illinois. Drought, and also probably the warm winter a year ago (when we didn't have enough deep freeze to kill the insects and bugs that carry the disease) brought it on. This also means Coyotes are more desperate this year, since they don't have deer to snack on.

Make sure your coops are reinforced against predators...

 

[flaming007]

they look Like nice birds

 

[flaming007]

they look Like nice birds