Maine

[suzMEchicks]

 

[dowgirl71]

Hey dowgirl, I have a banty cochin who I thought was done moulting. Poor girl lost a spot of feathers on her back and they grown back in but now she's losing from her neck.

I'm going to echo Tammaclean. Maybe a little more protein, whether that's meat or sunflower seeds, is in order. If you can sneak them to just her, even better.

I am not liking these weird temperature swings!! Last night it was 60 in the coop but the night before it was 48!

Yes, CoopChick, I thought my girl was done, too and that she'd just had a mini molt, this summer, but no. She doesn't look really bad, from a distance, but when I picked her up tonight, I could feel the bare areas. She also hasn't laid in about 2 weeks, now. I tried to give her some tuna, tonight, but she wasn't crazy about it, unless it was sprinkled with meal worms. Then, she kept wiping her beak. It was cute. But I suppose with what she's going through, she deserves some extra meal worms for the protein.

 

[suzMEchicks]

It just started snowing.here we go!

 

[lazy gardener]

Woke up to 3" this morning.

 

[mntnmom]

I popped in here once before- but its been a while so I'll introduce myself again. We moved to Sabattus this summer and I'm finalizing plans for chickens in the spring. I have a *little* experience in Missouri. But I was a kid so I have lots of questions!! What is your favorite chicken for getting started up here? I'm looking at Buff Chanteclers and have a soft spot for easter eggers. Also- is Marek's a common problem here?

 

[Marcy54]

Welcome mntnmom, before I moved back to Maine, I lived outside of St Louis for about 20 years. We are south of you in Shapleigh.

We only got about an inch of snow this time. The chickens first snow. No one seemed phased by it. It warmed up to 39 for awhile so the inch or so we had on the ground and trees is mostly gone. Looking at the chicken yard, it is pretty bare of snow. I threw more shavings in the coop this morning, fed the girls oatmeal, with cinnamon and raisins. Afternoon snack of some greens. no eggs yet, I have been getting two from eight pullets, I think only two or three are laying. One of the silver and a gold, maybe two of the gold. I'm not sure. Anyhow, we have been getting 12 - 13 eggs a week for a couple of weeks now. How is everyone else doing?

 

[superchemicalgirl]

I popped in here once before- but its been a while so I'll introduce myself again. We moved to Sabattus this summer and I'm finalizing plans for chickens in the spring. I have a *little* experience in Missouri. But I was a kid so I have lots of questions!! What is your favorite chicken for getting started up here? I'm looking at Buff Chanteclers and have a soft spot for easter eggers. Also- is Marek's a common problem here?

Welcome.

Personally I don't think it matters what kind of bird you get. My small (banty) birds and my very unfeathered birds (turkens and showgirls) are all fine up here. My heavy feather footed varieties don't like the snow/ice, but that's the biggest "keeping" issue, really, for me. So get what makes you happy.

Someone else can chime in about Mareks that is much more knowledgeable than I. I had my original flock vaccinated for it (because it was available), but none of the replacement birds (the vaccine is not readily available and even if it were, at this point I'm not sure it's worth the effort). It's not something that I personally am concerned with.

 

[islandgirl82]

I popped in here once before- but its been a while so I'll introduce myself again. We moved to Sabattus this summer and I'm finalizing plans for chickens in the spring. I have a *little* experience in Missouri. But I was a kid so I have lots of questions!! What is your favorite chicken for getting started up here? I'm looking at Buff Chanteclers and have a soft spot for easter eggers. Also- is Marek's a common problem here?

Hello mntnmom.

What qualities are you looking for in a flock? Eggs, meat or both? Do you plan to free range or keep them confined to a coop/run? Are you looking for a lot of interaction (cuddly birds) or mainly bird watching?

 

[lazy gardener]

welcome mtnmom. My favorite birds do not have straight combs. I'm leaning towards pea and rose combs, with the long term goal of breeding my own birds which are small combed and do well in our climate. Current flock: EE, ( Pea comb. love them, they are docile birds... can be picked on by more aggressive birds), Dominique (Rose comb. An other docile bird. Do not lay as big an egg as my EE) home bred black sex links (EE x PBR, pea comb. Nice looking birds. Most aggressive of this year's pullets. Lay a huge green/blue egg) Rose Comb Brown Leghorns (small white egg, flighty birds, pretty, and not likely to succumb to predators, but b/c of their flighty tendencies, may not stay in my flock for more than one generation, though I will breed some crosses from them) Pioneer: (Straight combed bird held over from meat flock. First pullet to start laying this season, very large brown egg. Very nice bird, and she'll be a nice addition to my breeding program) SLW: (rose comb, lays a nice big dark brown egg, good personality). Older birds include RIR and home bred BSL. All are managed by a large EE roo.

 

[IZZYBELLA]

I popped in here once before- but its been a while so I'll introduce myself again. We moved to Sabattus this summer and I'm finalizing plans for chickens in the spring. I have a *little* experience in Missouri. But I was a kid so I have lots of questions!! What is your favorite chicken for getting started up here? I'm looking at Buff Chanteclers and have a soft spot for easter eggers. Also- is Marek's a common problem here?

Welcome! I'm located on the coast south of Portland.

I have to second the "you can't go wrong" comment... it seems that people have all sorts of different breeds and they manage to make the cold just fine. Keeping them dry and in a well-ventilated but not drafty coop seems to be more important than breed. I got my first pea combed birds this year, so am looking forward to seeing how they do compared to the regular combed ones.

I don't have experience with Marek's... I think mine all came vaccinated, though.