Lavender-Based Leghorn Breeding & Improvement Discussion

[The Moonshiner]

Well I guess my attempt to give out a hint just went over everyone's heads or maybe something's brewing behind closed doors but that above was my attempt to get ChicKat and Moonshiner inspired to do a collaboration on some books or A BOOK.

Lol.
Didn't you say something about me and "pure gold" the other day?
You forget I'm a hillbilly. Whats a hillbilly do if he has gold? Bury it in the backyard of course.
I'm taking my gold to the grave. Lol.

 

[Miami Leghorn]

Lol.
Didn't you say something about me and "pure gold" the other day?
You forget I'm a hillbilly. Whats a hillbilly do if he has gold? Bury it in the backyard of course.
I'm taking my gold to the grave. Lol.

Not fair.
I'll keep trying.

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

She's really not to bad. More potential then most I've seen.
Do you have any other leghorns. Now I'm curious how her size compares.

She hasn’t laid an egg in a week.
I don’t have any other Leghorns sadly. I’m restricted on space. If you zoom in on the picture you can see that she is larger than an Araucana hen.

 

[ChicKat]

LOVE YOUR coop, and that chicken. Walk-in-coops are just so nice.

I have a couple that require crawling hands-and-knees if a chicken happens to lay an egg in the middle of the attached wire run -- which sometimes includes crawling on poo. Also if they pass out, or die.

See above, sort of like a dog-house with attached run (Eglu). Right behind the Eglus (there are two in the pict a green and a blue- both have blue tarps over the front of the welded wire run to keep the rain off their feed and provide some shade.) are the 4 panels of 10x6 chain link. The person in the back ground is someone who helped with the building of the chain-link panel (dog kennel from TSC) coop.

Also, I like your door. The first wood construction project I did was a door to a coop out of old 2x4. I had gotten a Kreg Jig, so even klutzy me could construct it with my minimal skill level and some left over dimensional lumber. LOL.

Pretty tree too, is that forsythia?

 

[Miami Leghorn]

Nice open spot.

 

[The Moonshiner]

Nice open spot.

I agree.
Looks like plenty of space for way more chickens.
@ChicKat you need a stick with a hook on the end or something to fetch those eggs.
I had that issue once and uses an old hoe that the blade broke of just leaving the hook part. Id just drag them within reach.

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

The forsythia is on the neighbor’s property. The run is only 12’x6’. I told my dad I wanted to build it 12’x8’ but he said I couldn’t because he didn’t want to potentially upset the neighbors.
I already have 12 chickens and 2 pigeons (in the small coop). Of course I want more chickens but my mother won’t let. We hope to move to a property with at least an acre in the near future.

 

[ChicKat]

Hang in there Brahma - hope it isn't too long before you get the space you want. Add to that it's great that your parents are supportive of your chicken hobby. !! (I think space considerations is one reason that so many people are going bantam now-a-days. Last poultry show I attended I was surprised by how many Bantams.)

So 12x6 is still pretty good Brahma, you know you will always be able to grow and grow chicken pens as chicken math gets you. Probably we all would like more chicken pens, except on pen cleaning day -- then that day -- maybe we're glad there aren't more.

Question about your very beautiful chicken, do you know how old? What is the source? Do you consider that one an Exchequer? Has she laid eggs at all then stopped - or are you awaiting a start up?

Also - looks like you have some cool perches inside your coop. I betcha that having inside jungle-gym for our chooks is equivalent of having more sq ft of coop space. Plus it's probably way more fun for them. I will have to follow the leads some of youse guys are showing.

Okay here's what that same space of mine looks like now. Remember when I had two Eglus, I was down to one beloved roo, and kind of just awaiting his demise. Then I got back two spent hens to keep him company -- because I thought he was dying of lonliness. Then he died, then one of my old hens (got her in 2012) died, or was killed by a rock thrown by the lawnmower that my mower guy was using-- and finally I was down to one chicken that was born here in 2014. THEN when I knew I wasn't moving someone was selling POL Cinnamon Queens - so I got some. THEN - I was able to get back the trio I had sent to my ex's nephew. He took really good care of them, but they didn't fit his breeding program -- so Lucky me.

Now I have that trio, two cinnamon queens and 10 juveniles. 15 is a nice number for me. My ex's grandmother kept 100 Leghorns. They sold eggs, and the old lady put two daughters through college in the 1940's on Egg money she had saved. (She supplied local grocery store)-- They ATE the Leghorns, they gathered eggs etc. BUT -- did you know that having 100 chickens is considered a full-time job? Maybe a bit more automated now-a-days -- but maybe budget 40-hours a week for that many chickens (probably includes egg processing and packaging as well as chicken care, and also transporting the eggs to the store? dunno) Some people that don't care about eggs and don't want to market them just feed back to their chickens after they have disguised them right? Can't see that approach...but drop an egg on the floor of the coop and you will watch it disappear before your eyes.

Here's that same spot now-- one Eglu I put inside the big pens -- partially disassembled it to do so-- and put the grow out chicks in there. There comes a point where I'm so glad to get them out of the house. Cute chick or not cute chick. Just recently dragged it out -- that's almost a 2-person job. So when the 4-boys get crowded in one Eglu, I will split them into 2 in two Eglus.

I'm fortunate to have a lot of space. At one time I had 800sq ft in chain link fence pens and 3 8x8 cattle panel coops moved around in the yard and these two Eglus to move around. IT really was chicken land here. Where the part of the garden is now -- was enclosed chicken pens for 5-years, and the sandy soil there is so fertile that last year was my best ever garden.
So that first pict with the pile of unassembled chainlink panels has since grown because I bought 4 more panels and by swinging out one of the original square, and adding 4 panels I went from 100sq ft to 300sq ft. Then engineered my funky roof. (That I didn't build enough support into).....
Here's a "stay-at-home orders" tour of the back yard -- with cattle panel hoop coops long ago gone...because I had put the house up for sale in 2019.

Keeping safe from predators is a big deal for me! The tarp on the blue Eglu got ripped up by that wolf-looking thing that was in my back yard. Have yet to replace it.

Last picture is the inside corner of the L where the juvies can be seen. The males in the Eglu on the left and the juvie females on the right inside the chain link. This shot is the inside corner of the "L" shape. The white PVC inside is a partition I made of two 6'x5' PVC rectangles that keep the juvies and adults apart. At some point that can be removed.

Isn't it so great when the chickens are all lounging around, taking dust baths, and being peaceful? They just seem to be contented.

 

[Miami Leghorn]

Nice

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

Hang in there Brahma - hope it isn't too long before you get the space you want. Add to that it's great that your parents are supportive of your chicken hobby. !! (I think space considerations is one reason that so many people are going bantam now-a-days. Last poultry show I attended I was surprised by how many Bantams.)

So 12x6 is still pretty good Brahma, you know you will always be able to grow and grow chicken pens as chicken math gets you. Probably we all would like more chicken pens, except on pen cleaning day -- then that day -- maybe we're glad there aren't more.

Question about your very beautiful chicken, do you know how old? What is the source? Do you consider that one an Exchequer? Has she laid eggs at all then stopped - or are you awaiting a start up?

Also - looks like you have some cool perches inside your coop. I betcha that having inside jungle-gym for our chooks is equivalent of having more sq ft of coop space. Plus it's probably way more fun for them. I will have to follow the leads some of youse guys are showing.

The black and white chicken is an Exchequer Leghorn pullet from MyPetChicken. She hasn’t laid since I added 2 rescue hens from a live poultry market. She was laying maybe 5 eggs a week before. I want to have a coop large enough to house 50+ chickens and I’ll have 3 8’x12’ chicken tractors for quarantine and grow outs. The chickens love the perches in the run. I like to encourage my chickens to fly.