INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Faraday40]

Inquisitve and Friendly. I like my chickens and they seem friendly enough. My EE is pretty, but she is a little more skiddish than I would like. I don't know if all EEs are like that though because of their "mutt" genetics. Honestly, egg color is not high on my list of why I would choose a chicken. But, I would like to get eggs. I don't need them to lay every day. As it is now, we get 3 per day and that is just enough for us. When the EE is laying, we get 4 eggs/day. So, once I add more chickens, I know we will have excess. I think the Isa Browns are inquisitve and friendly, but then they aren't going to win a fahsion show. So, some glam wouldn't hurt.

As far as ducks, I think I have narrowed down my choices to welsh harlequin and/or muscovies. Maybe one day I will have both!

As most people know, I'm a strong orp lover because they love to cuddle & are so pretty. However, I do like a little variety in the flock. When you mention you want an "inquisitive" bird, Dominiques come to mind. For fun we train some of the birds to do tricks. I trained good old Cuddles (a lav orp) to do all sorts tricks and brought her along to classroom visits. (The fav was a game called, "Ask a Chicken" It was sort of like my version of "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?")

Anyway, DD wanted her own trained chicken and decided to use the same clicker training method to train her Dominique, Bubbles. I was completely amazed. What took me about 3 sessions to teach Cuddles, Bubbles learned in about 10 min. She's a friendly, playful bird and follows us around the yard. She's usually one of the 1st to try out a new treat, chicken toy, or figure out how to break into my garden.

If you haven't see if before, Here's DD's training project. "Bubbles the Amazing Psychic Chicken" starts about 1/2 way.

We no longer have my sweet Cuddles, so Bubbles is now the local celebrity.

Similar in personality is our Speckled Sussex. She's a fun-loving, out-going gal and always checking out what's going on in the coop, by the dust bath, or around the drinking bucket. She's a bit too chatty and can be downright loud if she feels I'm ignoring her. She's my son's hen and has the adventurous spirit to match.

I'll always have an EE in the flock. I like the blue and blue-green eggs and they're pretty birds as well. Every EE we've owned has had a strong but very unique personality. Our little Tyrion was the smallest chick but bullied our 100 lb dog. She learned to despise squirrels from our dogs and would patrol the yard for any opportunity to chase one away. While most chickens would run away from visitors, Tyrion learned that little children were great sources for treats. We thought Tyrion was a roo until she started laying eggs. With the passing of Princess Lay-a, Tyrion is now the oldest in the flock. Her "sister" was a beautiful golden EE , sarcastically named "Einstein." That girl didn't have an ounce of common sense and took forever to learn to use the nest box.

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

As most people know, I'm a strong orp lover because they love to cuddle & are so pretty. However, I do like a little variety in the flock. When you mention you want an "inquisitive" bird, Dominiques come to mind. For fun we train some of the birds to do tricks. I trained good old Cuddles (a lav orp) to do all sorts tricks and brought her along to classroom visits. (The fav was a game called, "Ask a Chicken" It was sort of like my version of "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?")

Anyway, DD wanted her own trained chicken and decided to use the same clicker training method to train her Dominique, Bubbles. I was completely amazed. What took me about 3 sessions to teach Cuddles, Bubbles learned in about 10 min. She's a friendly, playful bird and follows us around the yard. She's usually one of the 1st to try out a new treat, chicken toy, or figure out how to break into my garden.

If you haven't see if before, Here's DD's training project. "Bubbles the Amazing Psychic Chicken" starts about 1/2 way.

We no longer have my sweet Cuddles, so Bubbles is now the local celebrity.

Similar in personality is our Speckled Sussex. She's a fun-loving, out-going gal and always checking out what's going on in the coop, by the dust bath, or around the drinking bucket. She's a bit too chatty and can be downright loud if she feels I'm ignoring her. She's my son's hen and has the adventurous spirit to match.

I'll always have an EE in the flock. I like the blue and blue-green eggs and they're pretty birds as well. Every EE we've owned has had a strong but very unique personality. Our little Tyrion was the smallest chick but bullied our 100 lb dog. She learned to despise squirrels from our dogs and would patrol the yard for any opportunity to chase one away. While most chickens would run away from visitors, Tyrion learned that little children were great sources for treats. We thought Tyrion was a roo until she started laying eggs. With the passing of Princess Lay-a, Tyrion is now the oldest in the flock. Her "sister" was a beautiful golden EE , sarcastically named "Einstein." That girl didn't have an ounce of common sense and took forever to learn to use the nest box.

I taught my dogs with the clicker. So fun. I bet your daughter loves training the chickens.
Thanks for sharing. I know I watched your video before, but it is so much fun to watch again.
My EE lays a light tan egg. No blue ones for me. I do like her even when she acts like she has to run from me if I look at her the wrong way. Lol She does chit chat with me as long as it is at a distance.

 

[ellymayRans]

I had great luck if they grew up together. I had one silke hen that was a terror, even large frame roos didn't challenge her. I kept Millies, OEGB, sebright and silkies a few years. Most have the "napoleon syndrome" don't realize they are small. Didn't @ellymayRans have mottled cochin?



Wow don't feel so busy now!!

I have the Mille Fleur Cochins (bantam).

 

[Indyshent]

Looking forward to a very busy Spring! All 4 of my goat does are very pregnant, and 2 Sugar and Mocha am quite sure will have twins. Also pretty sure at least 2 of my cows Abby and Dixie area bred, will have my vet out to ultrasound next month. My bull doesn't seem to like Pixie, the 3rd girl or it just didn't take.. Moose, my bull just came home last night after a long stay at my neighbors farm "visiting his cows". Chickens have picked up laying, happy to finally be getting eggs again. Time to dust off the incubator.. and decide about hatching.

Thought Abbie was a freemartin?

 

[Indyshent]

@Soon2BChixMom Any breed can have friendly, inquisitive specimens. Hatchery birds are more up in the air on temperament. Most of your lighter built breeds tend to be inquisitive, but may be flighty or have domineering personalities or the most shy creatures in your yard. Bigger breeds are often cuddly but might not be the sharpest knives in the drawer. More traditional dual purpose breeds are often between those extremes, especially depending on breed and breeder. RIR and their derived breeds tend to be bad about not accepting new flockmates, so watch your ISAs.

Inquisitive often comes with flightiness, but doesn't always. I've had one Orp who had to be in the middle of what I was doing, but mostly the winners for being in the middle of my business were EE, Leghorns, Rocks and Welsummers. The one Dominique was like that too, but she started getting a nasty attitude.

If you really want friendly and inquisitive, you could try turkeys too. They're a lot more fun than they get credit for, aren't anywhere near as stupid as people think, and really love being the center of attention.

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

@Soon2BChixMom Any breed can have friendly, inquisitive specimens. Hatchery birds are more up in the air on temperament. Most of your lighter built breeds tend to be inquisitive, but may be flighty or have domineering personalities or the most shy creatures in your yard. Bigger breeds are often cuddly but might not be the sharpest knives in the drawer. More traditional dual purpose breeds are often between those extremes, especially depending on breed and breeder. RIR and their derived breeds tend to be bad about not accepting new flockmates, so watch your ISAs.

Inquisitive often comes with flightiness, but doesn't always. I've had one Orp who had to be in the middle of what I was doing, but mostly the winners for being in the middle of my business were EE, Leghorns, Rocks and Welsummers. The one Dominique was like that too, but she started getting a nasty attitude.

If you really want friendly and inquisitive, you could try turkeys too. They're a lot more fun than they get credit for, aren't anywhere near as stupid as people think, and really love being the center of attention.

I'm not sure about turkeys. I have not given them much thought. Do ISAs generally not accept new members? The EE tends to not take any "flock" from them.

 

[Leahs Mom]

@ellymayRans
I sent you a message

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Thought Abbie was a freemartin?

Thought she is, but I haven't had ultrasounds done yet. Neighbor and I are trying to wait til end of march, have them all checked same day. Its a flat rate, 5 cows or 15 doesn't matter. He has a much larger operation so I always take my ladies up there to his farm.

 

[Indyshent]

I'm not sure about turkeys. I have not given them much thought. Do ISAs generally not accept new members? The EE tends to not take any "flock" from them.

ISA and red sex links (black sex links too) are all derived from RIR and known to sometimes have issues with rejecting new flockmates. It can happen in any breed, but they're the worst in my experience. Hens police other hens, and roosters police other roosters, mostly. So if you're introducing new girls, it's your alpha girls that will try to ensure the new girls know their place in the chicken yard. Roosters are pretty much always happy to have more girls around.

The ISAs I've had weren't so bad but they weren't dominant birds, and that's the kicker. If they know they're the bottom, they're not going to cause as much trouble generally. Straight up RSL tend to have more fire in their veins, but selective breeding for battery layers has knocked ISAs down some attitude notches, which should benefit you.

Even spitfires and harridans can tone it down eventually. Hens don't usually get too bloody with newbies. EEs can be pretty bad too, but I've never seen them be that bad (they're more likely to take exception to other species--like cats, dogs, squirrels, rats, etc).

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

I use "see don't touch" integration. I put up a temporary barrier to introduce with the same coop. Simple chicken netting is fine. After 2 weeks pass, I can usually add the new birds with little issue. They need to meet the young birds without being able to harass them. This method works with all the livestock and poultry, of course a different barrier for each species. I do remove my goats that are kidding, cows calving. Bucks and bulls sometimes will interfere in a tight winter pasture. Anytime you add to your flock or herd, be very diligent watching body language.