Just ordered Special Assortment from McMurray

[PeuAPeu]

It has been a long day. my dogs killed 6 chickens and I am left for the time being with three. Two are indoors healing from wounds and I have one lonely hen out in the coop. Needless to say, the days of free ranging are over. I have just ordered the "Special Assortment" offered on McMurrays website with the addition of two Silver Laced Wyandottes that my boyfriend liked. I have read mixed comments about MM so I hope all arrive safely and in good condition. The ones I had I bought back in March or April locally but at this time of year there arent many places toget them. My order will be for Oct. 23. That means they should be laying around April to May. That would be lovely. Right now I am left with two easter eggers and one black jersey giant hen. Now I have a month to get my fence in order. Has anyone recently bought this assortment and how did you like it?

 

[RoosterAddict99]

I'm sorry you've had a bad day

. I haven't ordered thier assortment but, I've orderd from MM hatchery twice. My birds have always arrived healthy and adorable. You should expect a few of them not to make it (2-3 is usually the norm) But it is a fact of life, sad but, true. Good luck with your chicks!!!

 

[PeuAPeu]

We just put down two more hens this morning. From my 9, I am left with a single hen. On a positive note, she has begun to lay. I thought she was a Black Jersey Giant, but I know it takes them a while to fully develop (18-24 monts). Right now she has laid an egg for the past three days, but they are very small.....I would call them medium sized.

The special assortment is just for fun and then when the spring comes around, I may fill in with more egg layers depending on what I get. I have no idea what to expect from my assortment. Should I look at what is available this time? Could there be some other kind in there? Whatever we get, I will be happy.

My father is down the road from me so he and my mom are helping Geoff and I build a nice and large new pen for my one hen and the babies that will be arriving in October. It will be taking up a good portion of my side yard behind the garage and will encompass the smaller pen we built and the larger coop. I will have a great transiton are for all stages of the babies. The last time I kept the babies inside for a few weeks and then they went into our brooder area. I think everything will work out.

One question I have is how do I keep more than one rooster. I feel like I may want to keep them, but I know they must be seperated in some capacity from the main group. I know I won't have to worry about that for a while. With this delivery and I almost assured I will have a few. I guess I got lucky when I bought all my babies in the Spring. We did not get one rooster out of the initial 10. I had to get one from a relative. And they all lived until they were 5 months old. And only died because my dogs attacked them. So now I know and will be taking better precautions.

I LOVE my chickens so I will not let this get me down. I know what things happen when you have chickens.

 

[diriel]

Unless you build those pen's bullet proof, that dog is likely to Chew / Tear it's way back into that pen. Once they get a taste for chicken, it is extremely hard to break them or stop them. I think many of us have had this problem at one point or another. Hate to say it but you might want to consider finding a new home for the dog. My dog dug under the pen, then climbed over and squirmed in, then chewed right through the doubled chicken wire!

Good luck...
Gary

 

[RoosterAddict99]

My dauchshund has killed one chick. I have 11 roosters and once they grew up they learned to protect the hens with thier lives. The dogs have never messed with the chickens since. The way I look at it is this: if the dogs can get in, so can other predators and that shouldn't be able to happen.

 

[diriel]

I grinned when you said Dachshund I can see clearly in my mind a couple of roosters putting the hammer to a poor little dog that size! I know the neighborhood cats did not mess with any of the foul, I had too many full grown roosters! The dog I had was a full grown German Shepherd Dog. I had never seen a dog chew through chicken wire. We ended up burying "horse wire" about a foot deep, and going all the way around. Much Much stiffer stuff. Of course I still had to get rid of that dog because I refused to keep 30+ RIR's cooped up with no free range! One minute or less with our backs turned and he would have 1 or 2 We tried the tie the chicken to his neck, that did not work. Tried beating him with the chicken, that did not work. We worked with that dog for a couple weeks, the end was when he managed to open the pen door and killed about a dozen chickens. German Shepherd Dogs can be very smart!

Best of luck
Gary

 

[PeuAPeu]

Well the problem with mine is that I was letting my chickens free range all over the yard. The odd thing is the dogs and the chickens would go under the back deck together to stay cool and there would be no problems. My uncle seems to think it might have been the rooster that stirred them up because the attacks happened twice and each time, it was right after I had gotten the rooster. So now dad and I are putting up a better and much much bigger fence. I will be keeping the chickens in there and only letting them out to free range a little in the afternoon when I can be out there with them. One of the dogs involved and probably the one who instigated the whole thing is my little terrier mix. She is now a completely indoor dog. My little hen that is left looks lonely out there so I may get a couple of hens to put with her and then the babies will be arriving in a few weeks.

I called back McMurray today and added two more Silver Laced Wyandottes for a total of 4 females and then added 4 Buff Orpington femals and then I'll have my special assortment which I hope is not ALL roosters......and then the free "probable rooster" exotic.