Key West chickens relocating

[NoelTate]

I got an email from the lady who runs the Chicken Store in Key West and does rescue with the KW chickens. According to her, the trapping efforts were very brief. Although some residents complain about the chickens, they ran into much more resistance to removing them. Traps were destroyed and people were very angry and resentful against the guy hired by the city to catch the birds. She told me that for now the chickens are safe and sound and remaining a part of KW. They do have chicks and adults available for adoption pretty much all the time, but they do not ship chickens. They used to ship fertile eggs but have mostly stopped due to problems with cracked eggs and fertility rates of shipped eggs. She did tell me, however, that if I wanted to give the eggs a try with the understanding that they may not ship well, she would be happy to work with me on it. I hope to get down there this summer to bring a couple of hens home. There is a really beautiful blue version of the KW chicken I would love to have!

 

[merryreader]

I was told, they would ship, but only to Boston. I would travel to Boston to get them, stay overnight if I had to. I saw a pen with about 30 roosters and about 15 hens at the wildlife center in Key West. They really are gorgeous. Is the blue version a hen or rooster. The hens, I know are many different colors. I've only seen red, black or white/multi color in roosters. Any body with more info, please pass it on. Thanks, Merry

 

[NoelTate]

This site has a breed standard and photographs:
http://www.keywestchicken.com/
Keep in mind that this is the group that has captive birds they are working with to develop a known pure strain of a certain quality. Personally, I prefer the KW chicken in its wild state where nature takes it course in determining the looks and characteristics. The human control takes the uniqueness and eccentricity from the breed, in my opinion. I just want a couple of rescue hens for my backyard flock, forget the pedigree and banding and stuff.

 

[Cheekon]

I would love to own one of the Key West chickens but Boston would be a bit of a drive......

 

[merryreader]

I agree. I want one that has evolved right off the streets of Key West. I love the free nature of them and the wildness.To Cheekon- I bet they would ship to NYC. Check into it and let us know. This is an exciting time. Spring is here and it's the perfect time to get new blood in the flock. Merry

 

[Fowlman4]

Quote:
Katha Sheehan is the Chicken Lady you're talking about. I've become friends with her and she shipped me 2 doz hatching eggs. I was able to fit 21 of them (they're small, but bigger than bantam eggs) into my incubator, and out of that I got 8 chicks (partially due to the stress of shipping but also due to incubator problems I had during the set). Of the 8 chicks, 7 turned out to be cockerels and darn if the one pullet wasn't a voracious and tenacious feather picker. The cockerels were aggressive with lots of sparring going on in the coop. And mind you, they were only something like 6wks old at the time! Out of the bunch I kept one cockerel who was relatively mild-mannered and was the alpha of the bunch. He has turned into the prettiest thing .. he's a Blue Copper with a rose comb and lemme tell you he's a stunner! His dad is Katha's rooster by the name of BlackJack and his mom was a blue hen who has since left this earth courtesy of a pack of dogs that got onto Katha's property. I plan to cross him with several Araucana pullets and develop a flock of brood hens from the offspring. Since game hens make excellent moms, as do Araucanas, I figure it'll be an interesting and effective combination.

Ig

 

[jnjross]

i'm glad they're staying,, it's like the hemmingway cats, they're just part of the island life

 

[Bec]

Here are some pictures of some of the chickens down there in Key West! I was just there at the end of September for my brothers wedding. My sister-in-laws grandfather lives there and says most of the people that are year round residents in the keys love the chickens. Some of the people down there said that they do occasionally rehome them in South and Central Florida. I would love to adopt some! If I could have snuck some in my carry-on, I would have...LOL

This was a momma with 12 babies under her!

Here is another momma getting a snack with her babies!

 

[key west chick]

David, I've been dealing with Katha for a few years now. She LOVES her KW chickens. I was born in KW and left about 16 years ago. I have family still down there and would occasionally catch a few and bring them back with me. Got to hard so I started adopting them from Katha. I'm waiting on my second shipment of the tiny Kiki eggs from her now. Shame she moved to Homestead. I am down to 5 kW chickies now, 3 were born there. 2 I hatched over the years. My roo is blue and cooper also, he's about 8 years old now and a wonderful guy.

 

[Fowlman4]

Quote:
Very cool! I'd love to see a pic of your roo, so plz post one if you can. I'll post a current one of my Gypsy roo, Ardilla (Spanish for "squirrel" cuz he looked like a little striped chipmunk when he was a wee chick) as soon as I can get out there with the camera .. it's been raining a lot here lately. Here's a pic of him from late September --- you can tell by his head and hackle feathers that he was still feathering out --- and note the rose comb, which he got from his dad, BlackJack: