"Louisiana "La-yers" Peeps"

[LAchickenMESS]

Got two questions for you guys.
1.


Seems one of my girls is moulting. She's an Easter born Easter Egger and has interesting feathers around her face and seems to have lost some on the back of her neck. Every time she flies, feathers are everywhere. Is this fairly routine for light molting or do you think she has had an illness?


2. Is this white rock a roo? I have been calling Avalanche "Lanny" instead of Ava because his legs are bigger and wattles are bigger than the BR we got at the same time. They are 16 weeks old.
Thanks all!

 

[Celie]

Ok. I will get some of the nesting boxes this weekend. He said something about the type of "galvenized" wire that will never rust, blah, blah, blah, etc. Who is Carrie?

Carrie is a long time rabbit breeder, that owned Holden Rabbit in Holden, LA, between Baton Rouge and Hammond. Her rabbitry was destroyed by Hurricane Issac last year. I was going to buy some New Zealands from her the year before, but she lost her does to triple digit temps and then her bucks went sterile after that I think, Anyway, when I went looking for quality stock after that for breeders, had to go all over Louisiana and Mississippi to buy 8 does and 2 bucks who were not related to each other. I wanted to make sure, if I was to increase my breeders, there would be no inbreeding. I am very careful about that sort of stuff. Anyway, she for out of rabbits and into chickens, She had necken necks and silkies, the last I heard. She used to show rabbits a lot.I recognized her name is in the ad that was posted.
There is Galvanized wire before welding that will ruse and galvenized wire after welding that is better that will not rust. Everyone I know uses the latter, but $30 a hole is too high, in my opinion, for a used cage. Ask Carrie if she knows anyone, selling some. I remember her selling some really big cages for $15. a hole. I can call the guy, I bought some from if you need some more and see if he has any left? The reason that you want the door to open in and up, is that when you open the cage , it is not in your way, and if you forget to latch it, the rabbits, still can't get out!
Not rusting doesn't mean, can't oxidize! Any dissimilar metals touching can do that. That is why copper house plumbing, in the slab, has to be covered in plastic, by code!

Terri, I love the tractor. It looks like it should be featured in a Country Living Magazine.

I want a tractor so bad but I won't push my luck with my "builder". I gotta get the next Pea Aviary/Flight Pen built before I get a tractor. And I can't forget about the plucker. But the Pea Pen is priority.

Very pretty little chicken house! If I only had 3 chickens, instead of 300, I certainly want one like that!

any recommendations for chicks to purchase locally? since i can only have 3 - i'm looking for good layers, and different colour eggs from each.

i look through breeds and i can come up with stuff like Australorp, Speckled Sussex, Golden Spangled Hamburg... but, idk how well those three would do in Baton Rouge, compared to other breeds.

plus, i'd rather buy local.

Me careful about buying from feed stores, you could end up with 3 roos as they buy straight run chicks., if you don't know how to sex them. If you read through the back post on this thread, about the middle of October, I told everyone how I sex without using the vent. I am not saying it is 100%, but as good as the experts in the hatcheries do with vent sexing. It's just an old-timers trick, if that's what you want to call it. I have showed it to many of my customers and we haven't missed yet, because if there is any doubt, I call it as a roo! Any breed with a big straight comb can usually take a lot of heat, because that is how they dissipate heat, through the comb. An Australop holds the Ginnus book of world records for the most eggs, having laid 364 eggs in 365 consecutive days. They look just like Buff Orpingtons, only Buffs are Gold colored and Australoups are black. Delawares are a very good duel purpose chicken for meat and eggs, but the grow faster and get bigger than the Orpingtons and Australops, so they might dominate. Jersey Giants grew slowly, but get HUGE and are also black. Barred rocks are very good layers of dark brown eggs and about the same size Americuanas are about the same size and lay blue or teal eggs as Easter eggers do. RIR's are very hardy, but some can be aggressive. You would probably do better, looking on the chicken threads and finding someone around here that sells "point of lay, pullets". Be carefull someone does not sell you their spent hen! I don't think anyone on BYC would, but another individual might.

Well, if you are going to buy from most feed stores, you will have to wait till March or April for chicks. Plus, a lot of them handle only a few varieties. Out of about 5 feed stores within 20 miles of my house, only one orders a large variety of breeds (from Ideal Poultry).

Your best bet would be build the coop, and then post your want list here on this thread. I am SURE their are a couple folks in your area with juveniles in the breeds you want. Some of the breeds I have that do great at my place are RIR, Delaware, New Hampshire, Ameraucana, Marans, Barred Rocks, Dark Cornish, Dorkings, Naked Necks, and Orpingtons. The breeds with the largest combs and least feathers seem to do best in the worst of summer's heat.

As to your coop....a lady that posts on here in the goose section has a great little, easily built coop. You could shrink your version down to suit the smaller number of hens. It could also be made into a tractor pretty easily with a wire floor and tires.Here is a picture of it.


The front and back are cut from sheets of plywood. and the bottom framed out of 2x6. The main "body" is concrete wire covered in hardware cloth and then the back is covered with a tarp: The hoops could be made from PVC pipe instead. If done correctly, this would be very secure and more than big enough for your girls.

Good luck!

This is also a nice looking utilitarian coop. Hammond feed store has chicks for sale NOW, so I don't know about the 5 feed stores you are talking about. In Louisiana, I have seen many chicks in feed stored in January, but watch you don't buy roos. Some mentioned here are very nice looking eggs and very colorful, but not all lay that consistently and if I could have just three, I would stay away from the unusual breeds. Cornish do not lay large eggs nor very frequently, and my marans, while laying very dark eggs, do not lay as well as Rocks, Aurstraloups and Orpingtons. BYW, I am not bias, since I do not raise any of these on a regular basis. I just raise Backyard birds, for the most part, except for the Cornish that I raise for meat and do not recommend. No offense to anyone, Just my opinion.

x2. Throw some eggs under that girl.

X3 I agree! Either that, or put her nest on a swing until she gives up, but you would make better use of her broodiness with a clutch of eggs. We are probably getting more eggs than we can use right now. I picked up 60 a little while ago and they are not done for the day. She will let other chickens lay next to her so she can steal the eggs, if she is broody. She will leave the nest to eat and drink, just not when anyone is watching. A bird can only live about 3 days without water. Check to see if she isn't egg bound!

 

[kuntrygirl]

Well Celie, let me know if you or anyone else has any extra cages. That would be great!

 

[Celie]

No, Julie no extras here! In fact, I will be making more myself, since I am increasing my breeding does from 10 to 16. I'll have 40 holes for New Zealand White meat rabbits and 8 for little Mini Rex pet rabbits for kids. I just can't, in good conscious, sell a meat rabbit, as a pet, for a child. Big rabbits have large sharp claws, and any rabbit, if frightened, will scratch. I would never condone declawing either! I think that is cruel.
Let me change the subject, for a minute,
I wanted to ask you about turning eggs before incubation: You said the turkey eggs were in the fridge for 2 weeks before you started incubation? Did you turn them during incubation, or is this really necessary? I put eggs into cartons for customer pickup and turn them several times a day, always an odd number of times, but is that necessary or what? I also had a customer who bought hatching eggs from me 3 times, twice without success, because he listened to someone on the net, that was teaching people to lower humidity to have a "dry hatch" to increase air space. I think I finally talked some sense into him to up the humidity, because he finally got a good hatch and didn't need any more eggs. I don't know why, but common sense just isn't very common anymore! I don't mean to be so gruff, but some people keep hitting the"A" and think they will eventually Get a "B" to print!!!

 

[DHinton]

if i'd go to the watson swap meet, which is actually in ponchatoula (http://batonrouge.craigslist.org/grd/3554302859.html), would the chickens which are npip, have signs and could be trusted that they are npip certified? or is it not a great place to look?

 

[mzstre]

if i'd go to the watson swap meet, which is actually in ponchatoula (http://batonrouge.craigslist.org/grd/3554302859.html), would the chickens which are npip, have signs and could be trusted that they are npip certified?  or is it not a great place to look?

There is actually a Facebook group "Watson Poultry Swap Meet" that is specifically for that swap. I recommend you post there that you are looking for chicks from someone who has NPIP certification. The only problem is that even though most people who sell at the swap have healthy, disease-free birds, those chicks could be exposed to any number of things while they're at the swap. I sometimes go and browse, or even sell birds IF it's pre-arranged, but the only birds I have ever brought home are my Sebbies that I bought from a trustworthy source on the board here, and waterfowl don't seem to pick up the "nasties" as easily as chickens. I'm quite paranoid, though.

 

[mbmess2003]

What are you looking for? Chicks, mutts, pullets, point of lay.... If you buy something other than chicks that you can brood in the house for a bit....where would you keep them. Get your coop and run set up. If not chicks then roosts and nest boxes need to be set up. Do you have feeders and waterers...

Believe me....there will always be someone selling birds. It's exciting and it's easy to get caught up in the excitement but don't put yourself behind the eight ball.

 

[PrimroseMom1]

I'll have 40 holes for New Zealand White meat rabbits and 8 for little Mini Rex pet rabbits for kids.

Celie, I've been reading your posts about "holes" in rabbit cages. What does that mean?

 

[chickenbelle]

if i'd go to the watson swap meet, which is actually in ponchatoula (http://batonrouge.craigslist.org/grd/3554302859.html), would the chickens which are npip, have signs and could be trusted that they are npip certified? or is it not a great place to look?

My first birds came from an NPIP flock, but the place looked kind of nasty. I just let it go thinking they were country folks and it wasn't a big deal. Time, Money, Attachment to the birds...4 months later when the first illness pops up....they're all dead. My birds from a farm I found here on BYC which were well taken care of and provided for--survived the cocci with no problems. Ask questions about NPIP and ask about their set ups. If they appear to be putting a lot of time and energy into caring for their birds, you've got a good, legitimate breeder. I'm sure most folks here would agree with that.

Go and have a look since you need to have an idea what you might like. Get some phone numbers while you're there. I would wait until your coop is built--if you buy chicks in the 3 - 6 week range, you can easily add a light to the coop to keep them warm during the next month or so of our cold weather and they should be fine.

If I could only have 3 hens and wanted a variety of eggs, I would definitely find an Ameracauna or Easter Egger that gave a blue egg, a Marans for a dark chocolate egg, and then take my pic of the many birds which lay cream or light tan colored eggs.

Some chickens even lay pink eggs...it will be a matter of whatever bird strikes your fancy at the time when you really get to looking. I enjoy variety in bird coloring and egg coloring. And every breed seems to have a different personality type.

 

[Celie]

if i'd go to the watson swap meet, which is actually in ponchatoula (http://batonrouge.craigslist.org/grd/3554302859.html), would the chickens which are npip, have signs and could be trusted that they are npip certified? or is it not a great place to look?

Ask for their NPIP number.