Hi, there,
I am new to this forum, but not new to raising chickens. I have a question about Lakenvelders. Several years ago, I was hurt in an accident on the farm, and I was forced to sell off all the livestock because I could not get around to take care of them. Now that my son has grown up, he has decided he misses the chickens and he wants to get back into poultry, so we are starting over with a new small flock this year. He has selected some nice dual purpose breeds (Brahmas and Astralorps) but I wanted to get a few of my beloved Lakenvelders to start over with, and my son says he is happy to do the heavy lifting I might need. So, I went to a local breeder who has nice birds and bought a dozen eggs, and just hatched out a new batch on Tuesday.
Here is the thing: her adult birds seemed like mine were when I had them, a bit stand offish but not as freaky as say a Leghorn or some such. But everything I keep hearing, from reading around a bit on the 'net, seems to be about how crazy and self destructive they are, and how aggressive. Are there any other Lakie breeders out there who can discuss this with me? The gal I got my birds from was also kind of nonplussed by that description, but she says that she has not really talked to a lot of other breeders so who knows what the baseline for the breed might be these days. They are not very common around here (I live in Oklahoma.) These new babies are busy jumping all over my hands and trying to climb up my sleeves every time I reach in the brooder, but then I talk to my eggs when I am incubating (weird, I know!) But my granddad told me that if you talk to the eggs quietly, especially the last week or so, the peeps will recognize your voice after they are hatched out. I can't prove him wrong, so I still do it. It does seem to work.
At the same time as I hatched out the Lakenvelders, I also hatched out a couple dozen Americauna eggs for a friend. Those chicks are certainly robust and thrifty! also from the same breeder, but they are FAR less friendly than my Lakenvelder chicks. They are not spooky as such, just not as intense about trying to climb up me. And several run to hide behind the feeder when I reach in to take out the waterer, etc. The Lakies all run TOWARDS me.
Do I just have the weirdest Lakenvelders in the world, or are the characterizations that I am reading off base, maybe from people who are less experienced with poultry and are not managing them properly? I want to know, because I like my birds to be easy to handle, esp now that I am so disabled. I know my Polish were always less easily startled than my Lakenvelders, but not a lot. And my Lakies always recovered from startling pretty easily, and they were good about coming up to me for treats. Heck I had one roo I could not keep off of my shoe LOL. I am hoping to find out that there are other Lakie breeders out there I can go to for some variance in a year or so, who have nice fairly calm birds. I know they are not a sleepy and placid breed, but mine were never freaky flighty aggressive jerks either. Love to find a happy medium!! Anybody know?
Edited to add: I corrected where I had said they hatched Weds (today) I am on a different time schedule than most since my better half works nights, so they were hatched out late Tues nite/early yesterday morning, and I realized that might be confusing so I went back and fixed it
I am new to this forum, but not new to raising chickens. I have a question about Lakenvelders. Several years ago, I was hurt in an accident on the farm, and I was forced to sell off all the livestock because I could not get around to take care of them. Now that my son has grown up, he has decided he misses the chickens and he wants to get back into poultry, so we are starting over with a new small flock this year. He has selected some nice dual purpose breeds (Brahmas and Astralorps) but I wanted to get a few of my beloved Lakenvelders to start over with, and my son says he is happy to do the heavy lifting I might need. So, I went to a local breeder who has nice birds and bought a dozen eggs, and just hatched out a new batch on Tuesday.
Here is the thing: her adult birds seemed like mine were when I had them, a bit stand offish but not as freaky as say a Leghorn or some such. But everything I keep hearing, from reading around a bit on the 'net, seems to be about how crazy and self destructive they are, and how aggressive. Are there any other Lakie breeders out there who can discuss this with me? The gal I got my birds from was also kind of nonplussed by that description, but she says that she has not really talked to a lot of other breeders so who knows what the baseline for the breed might be these days. They are not very common around here (I live in Oklahoma.) These new babies are busy jumping all over my hands and trying to climb up my sleeves every time I reach in the brooder, but then I talk to my eggs when I am incubating (weird, I know!) But my granddad told me that if you talk to the eggs quietly, especially the last week or so, the peeps will recognize your voice after they are hatched out. I can't prove him wrong, so I still do it. It does seem to work.
At the same time as I hatched out the Lakenvelders, I also hatched out a couple dozen Americauna eggs for a friend. Those chicks are certainly robust and thrifty! also from the same breeder, but they are FAR less friendly than my Lakenvelder chicks. They are not spooky as such, just not as intense about trying to climb up me. And several run to hide behind the feeder when I reach in to take out the waterer, etc. The Lakies all run TOWARDS me.
Do I just have the weirdest Lakenvelders in the world, or are the characterizations that I am reading off base, maybe from people who are less experienced with poultry and are not managing them properly? I want to know, because I like my birds to be easy to handle, esp now that I am so disabled. I know my Polish were always less easily startled than my Lakenvelders, but not a lot. And my Lakies always recovered from startling pretty easily, and they were good about coming up to me for treats. Heck I had one roo I could not keep off of my shoe LOL. I am hoping to find out that there are other Lakie breeders out there I can go to for some variance in a year or so, who have nice fairly calm birds. I know they are not a sleepy and placid breed, but mine were never freaky flighty aggressive jerks either. Love to find a happy medium!! Anybody know?
Edited to add: I corrected where I had said they hatched Weds (today) I am on a different time schedule than most since my better half works nights, so they were hatched out late Tues nite/early yesterday morning, and I realized that might be confusing so I went back and fixed it
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