Thanks for the clarity. I wasn't sure if that is what you meant. Good to know. Post a pic of your Brownie. It can be difficult to know by looks alone but....
they are so adorable ! love the shih tzu too really nice job I have two of them running around my house.and the babies
any that are not paint will be for sale.
I can't post a photo of Brownie without turning on the computer upstairs, but this is a link to her:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/131131/the-olive-egger-thread/4890#post_10058943
I'm definitely going to hatch some of my own eggs this spring, but I keep going back and forth on what else I'll try. I'd like to hatch Welsummers, but if I'm going to bother, I feel like I should get some nice hatching eggs from a breeder.
Then I think, what is the point of obtaining really nice birds if I am not going to breed them? I don't have enough pens to get another breed going (I could keep the hens, just no place for another rooster). It seems like a waste.
I have a couple of hatchery Welsummers that lay pretty dark eggs, so maybe I should just order some hatchery birds. But then I see photos of nice quality birds, and read threads about how it is important to bring back heritage birds to their original standard and quality, and how people would never buy hatchery birds if they saw the difference between hatchery and heritage birds, etc., etc.
And then I read things like this from a breeder: "It is very wise to get down your husbandry skills and tinkering with poultry with hatchery stock before investing in breeder stock, and I also advise it for anyone just wanting eggs or an ornamental backyard flock. There is nothing wrong with the hatchery stock. They are a lot of fun, interesting, behave like chickens should and full of personality----just like all chickens. I believe it is all good. The heritage breeds are too valuable and too rare to just have for eggs or as a backyard ornament. I get approached all the time by people just keeping hens but wanting to buy my best stock---I just won't do it."
My main goal in chicken keeping is a colorful egg basket, pretty birds, and plenty of eggs. I'd like to have nice quality birds too, but I can't have breeding groups for every color of egg, unless I keep expanding, which is overwhelming with a full time job.
Sorry, I have gone off on a long tangent! I'm just mulling over what comes next. I think a shot of testosterone would do me good!
That sounds like a good system Hoppy. I've got all these roosters, but I'm not really breeding anything!
My olive egger rooster gives me my collection of weird color eggs and he's in with my original aging flock, so I breed different mutts, I suppose.
The two Basque roosters are together in one half of the hoop coop. I don't need two, but I was so afraid of losing one. There are only 2 Basque hens (all the others are mutts), but I do plan to try and breed those.
The lavender Ameraucana rooster is on the other half of the hoop coop with a few lavender hens. The rooster has the ratty-looking tail feathers that crops up with this breed. I could try to fix that with breeding him with a fancier black Ameraucana, but honestly, I get so few eggs from those birds that I may turn it into an EE pen. So like you, my fancier breed is not productive.
I must say my lone French blue Marans has been laying great all winter, but she is less than a year old.
I am told the Basques will make an exception to this, as far as production goes, but I have not had them long enough to see if that is true. They quit mid-December.
Now I need dark brown and white eggs. My few Marans have been so broody! So I'm going to fall back on the Welsummers. I had planned to order fancy Welsummer eggs and Exchequer leghorn eggs, but the idea of getting them from a hatchery and getting all girls is very appealing. I'll still have plenty of roosters for the freezer from my own experimental hatching.
Of course, I may change my mind again, but that's the way I'm leaning right now. Meyer hatchery allows a smaller order of 10 birds, without a crazy shipping price...
