"Louisiana "La-yers" Peeps"

[JennieRD]

Haha, we posted at the same time. Glad to have your insight. Maybe next fall I'll try to find a black roo. We work in camping, so spring and summer are out.

Let me know before you buy any, I hatched off a dozen black orpingtons, looks like I only have two pullets, the rest are cockerels. If you don't mind them being culls, Id be more that happy to give you one. I am only culling a few because I don't need a dozen black orpington roosters. Id rather them go to good use, if they are worthy of breeding, than see them on a pit. If your interested let me know, it will be April or May before I know which ones go in the freezer and which ones are kept in the flock. Since were in pretty close proximity, I could meet you in Iowa or Moss Bluff. I am in both area's almost every day, I drive through Iowa to go home and to go to work. So let me know and Ill save you one or two if you want.. I also have too many Lavender cockerels, I have 8 chicks, Ill be culling them in March or April. If they don't go to the pit, they will go to the sale barn.Don't worry I wont give you a mutt...

 

[campingshaws]

Is that a dark round scab on the bottom of her foot?

I think it's mud, because I wiped her feet off when I picked her up, but I'll go check when they roost. We finally finished getting the sand in the run today, so hopefully that's the end of the black feet!

ETA: I checked them both because I couldn't tell them apart in the dark, and both sets of feet are soft and clean! Thanks for noticing that, Pam.

 

[campingshaws]

Let me know before you buy any, I hatched off a dozen black orpingtons, looks like I only have two pullets, the rest are cockerels. If you don't mind them being culls, Id be more that happy to give you one. I am only culling a few because I don't need  a dozen black orpington roosters. Id rather them go to good use, if they are worthy of breeding, than see them on a pit. If your interested let me know, it will be April or May before I know which ones go in the freezer and which ones are kept in the flock. Since were in pretty close proximity, I could meet you in Iowa or Moss Bluff. I am in both area's almost every day, I drive through Iowa to go home and to go to work. So let me know and Ill save you one or two if you want.. I also have too many Lavender cockerels, I have 8 chicks, Ill be culling them in March or April. If they don't go to the pit, they will go to the sale barn.Don't worry I wont give you a mutt...

Thanks Jennie! That's so sweet. Let's revisit this in the spring, then. Spring is usually busy for us, and we're totally slammed through August, but that would give a new boy time to get settled with the girls and I could really focus on their eggs in the fall? Just trying to think this through...

I've only had chickens for two months, but really sometimes I just don't know how I ever lived without them.

Haha, I'm rambling now. Must be dehydrated. It wasn't very hot this evening but the humidity! Ugh. The four of us are covered in sand and sweat. I miss the days when my babies were small enough to pop in the shower with us for a quick rinse. Somehow turning the hose in them only makes them messier? :/

 

[JennieRD]

Here are a few of my young birds, notice the bottom of all of their feet are pale...the shanks vary, the blacks, chocolate, blue, splash all have dark legs and the bottom of their feet are pale.. The buff have a bright yellow leg and bottom of thier feet which is completely normal. Hope this helps. Light Colored shanks on dark birds are not a desirable trait. You want dark legs, a splash carries the blue gene, so you want the legs to be dark, not pink! Sorry for the disorganized pics...everyone is separated into pens of the same age...it got a little too dark to take any more....Im still convinced you have orpingtons, or they are dog gone close to full blood orpingtons as you can get at an aution.
..
Chocolate Orpington 6wks Lavender Orpington 6 weeks Blue Orpington 12 weeks


Black Orpington Cockerel 16 days old Splash Orpington Cockerel 9 weeks old feet and head



Buff Orpington 16 days old

 

[campingshaws]

Here are a few of my young birds, notice the bottom of all of their feet are pale...the shanks vary, the blacks, chocolate, blue, splash all have dark legs and the bottom of their feet are pale.. The buff have a bright yellow leg and bottom of thier feet which is completely normal. Hope this helps. Light Colored shanks on dark birds are not a desirable trait. You want dark legs, a splash carries the blue gene, so you want the legs to be dark, not pink! Sorry for the disorganized pics...everyone is separated into pens of the same age...it got a little too dark to take any more....Im still convinced you have orpingtons, or they are dog gone close to full blood orpingtons as you can get at an aution. .. Chocolate Orpington 6wks Lavender Orpington 6 weeks Blue Orpington 12 weeks Black Orpington Cockerel 16 days old Splash Orpington Cockerel 9 weeks old feet and head Buff Orpington 16 days old

So pretty! I really like orpingtons. I actually ended up with speckled sussex because I thought they were young jubilee orpingtons (because I have trouble telling breeds apart, and I also had an awful migraine at the time). Turns out I just LOVE the sussex, though. So it's all worked out. But I'm glad to accidentally end up with orpingtons anyway. I was just bidding on white/light chickens that had low starting prices.

 

[topdog24]

Thank you ALL for the compliments on the coop.

Yea Pam the chick math did a number on me! Math was my weakest subject. LOL
I figured I should build it bigger than needed. I'll get many years of enjoyment out of my effort, after all I'm still young.

So sounds like I'm on the right track for the brooder setup. I'll post more pics when the chics are in their new home.

Special thanks to Topdog for advice on building the house.

I've enjoyed being a member of the group. I don't post often as I'm a man of few words but I read yall's posts daily.

Thanks to everyone.

Cody

We are a all a special kind of ( for the lack of a better word) kin on here, we come from many walks of life and lifestyles but we are drawn together by a common intrest, it is a religion you might say, after all, we are all brothers and sisters in the eyes of the lord, so that makes us special in our own kind of way. On a new note my wife and i were buying groceries today, 5lb ground beef $17.98, a couple years ago, it was $8.88, what are we going to do if this keeps getting worse, We have decided to also start raising meaties just as soon as time and money permits, you have done well by building your coop IE processing plant as big as you haveKOODos to you

 

[topdog24]

Thank you, I found it...Its right off 165 just south of 49...I have to go to Shreveport next Friday so I can stop in and check it out on my way back or on my way there...I must have passed it a thousand times and never knew it was there! Thank you,

If you come up 165, to I 49 to go north, take HiWay 1,Boyce exit, they are about 3/4 mile on the right, you can go on out that way and get on 49 at the airpoirt road. I can not buy grower here in Jena, only starter grower which is 16$ and something, once my chicks hit the ground at 8 weeks, i take them of starter so they can build imunity to the organizms and bacterias in the soil so why pay 5$ more per 50lb to feed them?

 

[topdog24]

I am about to look for a deal on some meat birds.

 

[LemonMeringue]

Thanks Jennie! I saw your post in the feed thread, very informative.

I'm a geographical anomaly I guess, 30 mins from Iowa too.

From reading some of the other threads on feeding I am considering trying the Layena next, but if there is a mill in the area I wouldn't mind trying that either.

Has anyone gotten chicken feed from Petrus? We have friends up there and wouldn't mind traveling that far every month or so.

Pam, how much does your feed run? We're doing our best to keep chickens on a shoestring. Letting them out to range helps, but with so many new birds they've been in the coop/run until they figure out where "home" is.

In the 10 years we have had chickens our hens ALWAYS do better on Petrus Feed. We use laying pellets, chick crumbles and in some cases the high pro crumbles. There have been times that we used other feed and it has always been less than second rate in comparison! The chickens look better, act better and lay better on Petrus Feed. Its fresh for one. And I cannot for the life of my figure out why some of the name brand feeds smell fruity. Seriously what the heck are they putting in it that smells like that. The chickens don't care if it smells fruity and I doubt seriously that smell has anything beneficial to do with nutrition. If you can, you should at least give it a try for a month or 2.

 

[LemonMeringue]

If you come up 165, to I 49 to go north, take HiWay 1,Boyce exit, they are about 3/4 mile on the right, you can go on out that way and get on 49 at the airpoirt road. I can not buy grower here in Jena, only starter grower which is 16$ and something, once my chicks hit the ground at 8 weeks, i take them of starter so they can build imunity to the organizms and bacterias in the soil so why pay 5$ more per 50lb to feed them?

I am curious if by what you say about building up an immunity on your chicks...........were you thinking that Petrus has medicated chick feed? They have always told me they don't make medicated chick feed. That is another big reason we like their feed. I don't pre-medicate my birds "just in case".