Maine

[buckabucka]

Originally posted by SCG: "Besides, my breeding program is... a mess. If it'll produce babies, it can and I'll let it. Except me."

HA! Me too!

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Originally posted by SCG: "Besides, my breeding program is... a mess. If it'll produce babies, it can and I'll let it. Except me."

HA! Me too!

I thought you'd like that. Do you want to take a few of my leg bands and try them out?

 

[ashandvine]

Here are a few pics of my 2 new red Dorking ladies, and my 2 new Welsummer ladies. Sorry the pics aren't that good.

I LOVE these pictures, very artsy, as if they were printed on pearl paper instead of glossy. LOVE them.

I am struggling here. Weather, mood and chickens... chickens aren't laying, my mood won't get up and the weather is sinking. Two down and one refusal. Not a good threesome. I have lights on, I have feed and water and... no eggs from the breeds I want to raise and hatch. IDK what else I could be doing right now besides heat the area, put on mood music or ship them south. All the 'egger' breeds are refusing to do their jobs.

I tried looking up show cages. I found some in the UK... not close enough for me. Hoppy, got ideas? Chickemagnet, you?

 

[Keric]

As usual, I have lots of questions.

On the leg bands, if you are starting with them on day old chicks, it looks like you use size 5. How often do you have to go up in size, and what size would adult large fowl wear? How many different sizes are needed?
Also, are they difficult to put on? Do you need both hands or a tool to pull them open? Zip ties would certainly be easy to put on, but I can't imagine trying to cut them off.

If you go to the e-bay link that hoppy put up there is a chart that lays out what breed gets what size band. An easy way to remember the size is also to add a /16 to it. So a #5 is 5/16" ..Inside diameter and a # 11 is 11/16". You have to reduce fractions for some like a #8 which would be a 8/16" or 1/2".

 

[lazy gardener]

I LOVE these pictures, very artsy, as if they were printed on pearl paper instead of glossy. LOVE them.

I am struggling here. Weather, mood and chickens... chickens aren't laying, my mood won't get up and the weather is sinking. Two down and one refusal. Not a good threesome. I have lights on, I have feed and water and... no eggs from the breeds I want to raise and hatch. IDK what else I could be doing right now besides heat the area, put on mood music or ship them south. All the 'egger' breeds are refusing to do their jobs.

I tried looking up show cages. I found some in the UK... not close enough for me. Hoppy, got ideas? Chickemagnet, you?

A cruise ship in the Carribean might just do the trick for both you and the girls.

 

[Clover Run]

I LOVE these pictures, very artsy, as if they were printed on pearl paper instead of glossy. LOVE them.

I am struggling here. Weather, mood and chickens... chickens aren't laying, my mood won't get up and the weather is sinking. Two down and one refusal. Not a good threesome. I have lights on, I have feed and water and... no eggs from the breeds I want to raise and hatch. IDK what else I could be doing right now besides heat the area, put on mood music or ship them south. All the 'egger' breeds are refusing to do their jobs.

I tried looking up show cages. I found some in the UK... not close enough for me. Hoppy, got ideas? Chickemagnet, you?

I see them on craigslist often - just search "crate" and "cage" often. Many times it is not described correctly but when you see pic it is a show cage.

A cruise ship in the Carribean might just do the trick for both you and the girls.

Can we all go?

 

[hoppy]

welcome to BYC!
come to some of the spring swaps if you are not totally set on those breeds (except silkies, those are usually there). for the rarer breeds, either hatchery stock or go to a show.

Hi!

We're a family of 5 with a small flock in Western Maine. We are looking to add 4 more hens this spring...2 black or white Silkies, 1 Golden-Laced Polish and 1 Blue Hamburg. I'd new to BYC...but does anyone have suggestions on finding chicks? I am having a really hard time finding them!

Thanks a bunch!
Jessy

leg bands. I have 4 sizes. I stretch them out prior to putting them on, they go on easier and sometimes I use hemostats to stretch them for removal. I change them out as I need to (as they grow) some will need changing after 1-2 weeks for the hatchling bands, once they get to the juvi bands, it's usually 3-4 weeks. just watch the feet for swelling. I use the same size band on my adult silkie as I do my LF. size 14? I think those are wrap around bands with numbers and they go on so much easier then the smaller colored bands

As usual, I have lots of questions.

On the leg bands, if you are starting with them on day old chicks, it looks like you use size 5. How often do you have to go up in size, and what size would adult large fowl wear? How many different sizes are needed?
Also, are they difficult to put on? Do you need both hands or a tool to pull them open? Zip ties would certainly be easy to put on, but I can't imagine trying to cut them off.

and you can make them fancy

 

[hoppy]

show cages like they use at the shows, are not cheap to buy new. if you can find them used it's a better deal. I don't use them. maybe do a search for wire chicken coops
i think Kemp is the name of the coops I've seen at the shows here.

I tried looking up show cages. I found some in the UK... not close enough for me. Hoppy, got ideas? Chickemagnet, you?

 

[buckabucka]

Originally posted by SCG: "Besides, my breeding program is... a mess. If it'll produce babies, it can and I'll let it. Except me."


HA! Me too!

I thought you'd like that. Do you want to take a few of my leg bands and try them out?

Well, thanks. Yes, I might like to try a few out and decide if I can deal with them before I think about ordering some. Last year, I kept track of which eggs hatched, and at first, knew who came from what egg. Then everyone grew blue feathers and started to look alike. I still have 3 pullets I call the triplets and I have no idea who their mom is. I need to start by separating the eggs in the incubator with baskets or whatever. I usually overcrowd it though.

Hang in there ashandvine. The weather this week is a real drag, but it can't go on forever. I am getting a decent number of eggs, but none from the breeds I want to hatch. By the end of February, we'll have a full hour and a half more daylight. I think things will start picking up next month.

I'm hoping the chickens don't suffer too badly during this cold snap. The only adjustment I made was I covered the west end vent of the hoop coop with old ratty electric blanket scraps. It is real pretty and I'm glad that end isn't facing the road! Someone on the Basque thread suggested I had plenty of ventilation with the other end open, and with strong westerly winds forecast, I decided to cover that end.

 

[CoopChick719]

Nice looking birds Kinsey228!