Illinois...

[kathleens1979]

Hey, Faraday! I am also a teacher, although I teach 9th grade English. Lucky that you get to hatch with your class!!! What's your gig? I brought in my incubator and brooder setup for my biology teacher friend this year and she hatched chicks. It was phenomenal to see how excited the kids were and how engaged they were in learning about birds as they watched the development of the eggs even though they were high school students and all city kids to boot. It was awesome, and we plan on doing it again next year.

Hatching with kids!!!

 

[4stakes]

Does any one know of Orpington Breeders in IL? Looking for some Black and Blue's. Thanks.

 

[JonesEst1994]

Anyone in the Decatur area interested in a free brahma cockerel?

 

[Junibutt]

Does any one know of Orpington Breeders in IL? Looking for some Black and Blue's. Thanks.

@Faraday40 may have some Lavenders and a few blacks as far as I remember.

I have some Chocolate Cuckoos and Jubilees some of them I can spare. You can PM me for pics and details if you are interested.

 

[ChicagoClucker]

Does any one know of Orpington Breeders in IL? Looking for some Black and Blue's. Thanks.

I have 6 day old chicks coming this week hopefully. They are Black Blue Splash Orps and I got them from Papa Poultry only plan on keeping 3. I would have to see what he sends me.

 

[4stakes]

ChicagoClucker, See what you come up with. What town are you located in?

Kevin

 

[ChicagoClucker]

ChicagoClucker, See what you come up with. What town are you located in?

Kevin

I will let you know. I am on the south side of Chicago.

 

[Beshort2]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/content/type/61/id/6956304/width/200/height/400[/IMG
They are 4 weeks old now.

 

[RuzichFamily]

Love your puppy! I want an LGD sooooo badly. How are you training him? Any tips???

As for hatching my own eggs- YES! Lots and lots. I keep EEs, Australorps, and Icelandics. I am completely addicted to hatching, which has "inspired" me into building hoop houses, brooders, and now we are working on a bigger coop this summer...

Eating birds- not yet, but I did order 20 broilers from Hoovers and they are all growing like weeds. I don't know how I feel about them yet though. They are so gross and not very chicken-like. We are going to slaughter them and a couple extra cockerels we have and compare.

BTW- love your ducks!!! Wow! We have Cayugas and a lone Pekin and they are great!!! So much fun! Great personalities and really better layers than my hens usually.

Welcome to BYC!!

Thanks! This is my first LGD so I've been taking it really slow with him. He is free range at night when birds are put up and he can't get to them, he is in a kennel where he can see the flock throughout the day, and he is never let out while flock is out unless 100% supervised. He has gotten a couple of chickens but it was more of him playing and not being supervised tightly, he didn't try to eat them at all but they were slobbered on something terrible. One hen somehow got in his kennel and she didn't get killed but was soaked from him slobbering on her and trying to hold her down. IMHO, he'll grow out of it as long as we keep the tight reign on him.

You'll really like your home raised meat. It'll taste great, be healthier and the sense of providing for yourself is priceless.

We enjoy to hatching eggs! I've been doing in my classroom for many years. DD, at age 8, started 4H & made my hubby build a coop. She's picked up my love for incubation. Since I won't allow her to bring our chickens to the fair, she's always coming up with experiments & projects which require hatching eggs. Now she's 10 & still into chickens. DS is 5 and just started caring for the chicks this year. Or should I say that this year his "help" is actually helpful. Previously he only gathered & delivered eggs. Now the kids pretty much take care of the flock on their own.

Because we live in the suburbs, our hen limit is low. Most of what we hatch must be sold or given away. I'd love to learn how to process the extra chickens - or at least learn where to bring them. I think it's a waste for us to simply give them away. I have no problems when I teach dissections, so I think a chicken (without a name) wouldn't be too bad. I don't think I could do a pig, though. My parents raised lamb once & to this day, my older siblings call any meal involving lamb = "Scamper Chops." LOL It was before my time, but I've certainly heard the story more than once. I think it's great that your kids are willing to learn & help out.

Thats awesome, kids sure love to watch the incubation process. Pretty comical story about scamper chope. I can see how that'd stick. My kids just see it as another part of life and I think enjoy the fact that they are participating with adults much more than anything else.

 

[lizzychick]

What color would you call these 4-5 week olds legs?