Maine

[Jazor]

Hoppy knows her BR's. She could tell you for sure, Jazor.

Then I will play the waiting game. We'll see what Hoppy says!

 

[ashandvine]

Portable Paddock:

I love this idea... but even magnifying it the construction was tough to figure out so I could replicate. Got me thinking though

The really giant squash seeds, I dry out and chop slightly in the cuisinart. I don't know if it is necessary, I just read it somewhere and started doing it that way.

I love this idea. A chicken's life at your place almost sounds gourmet.

Then I will play the waiting game.

Check legs and combs. The trouble with hatchery is that they are all meant to be sex determinate so all those black ones look like males to me. You'll know a lot more in just three or four weeks.

 

[buckabucka]

Our chickens are spoiled. And now we can't seem to kill the older hens. I'm hoping a few drop off this winter so I can get younger layers in the spring without adding to our numbers. I'm not even totally sure how many are out there, I think 57, if you count all three roosters.

While I hated raising all the cockerels this summer (way to much fighting and escaping), DH made barbecued Thai chicken for dinner and it was quite delicious!

 

[twi728]

I have the same problem I spoil my chickens so much that when it comes time to sell or remove birds I just cant do it. They all become like family to me I love my birds and all who have gotton birds knows ours are spoiled worse then kids lol lol gota love chickens

 

[CoopChick719]

coop chick: I also asked Hubby for a refresher course with the .22. As I am a hands on learner, I'll wait till he can walk me through the loading and shooting again. Thankfully, he took the scope off it. When we went out target shooting, it was quite the experience with the scope. I'm left eye dominant, right hand dominant, and I'm so poorly coordinated that I never did learn how to close just one eye... add to that that my upper body strength has taken a nose dive. The only way I could shoot the thing was to sit in a lawn chair, manually close one eye with my finger, then hope it would stay shut while I waved the gun around trying to see the cross hatch in the scope... by then, my arms were tired, so I had to hold the gun up with my feet to shoot. By then, Mr. Wile E. Coyote and company would have made off with all of my babies!

I gave the squash seeds to the girls. They checked them out, played with a couple, then moved on for less challenging food. I think they were too big, and perhaps not recognized for the nutritious treats that they are.

Loved your target shooting description!! On the squash seeds, maybe they just need to pick at the a little. I know when I give new foods sometimes my girls ignore it but it's usually gone by the time I get home from work.

Ok so I've been trying to narrow it down to which chick is the "rare exotic" that was included in my order from the hatchery. I have 17 total, of those there are 10 barred rocks and 6 red stars. The red stars are easy to ID, but the barred rocks are all "similar" but not identical. I have one suspect at the moment simply based off coloring:






Anyone have any guesses?! Perhaps it was late in the hatch and they simply gave me another barred rock? Beats me! They all look quite similar, this one just seems to be the most different out of all of them. I think it's a barred rock, but I would only be guessing.

I think barred rock. I had 2 in my first hatch. What I learned was:

BR Males: larger, splotchy headspot, lighter silvery/grayish color rather than black, no or little black down leg fronts

BR Females: headspot is more defined and smaller, down is very black, legs usually have dark wash down the front.

These, taken together, will give you the sex about 90% of the time. The other 10% aren't as clear and can fool you.

You must go by down color plus leg color plus head spot. Cockerels will appear more washed out black than deep, dark black. http://www.dominiquechicken.com/Sexing_Dominique_chicks.html This link is good for Barred Rocks, Cuckoo Marans and Dominiques.

The shank on the right is light throughout and is from a male chick. The one on the left is on a female--note how dark it is.


Equally reliable is the sexing of chicks based on the shape of the light colored spot on the top of the chick’s head. As reported by F.P. Jeffrey, at hatching the male head spot, for the most part, is larger and more scattered than the one on the female which tends to be small (though not always) and more compact -- free of black areas -- see photographs below.



This is a group of male chicks. Notice the wide assortment of head spots, most of which could be described as scattered. The second chick from the left might fool the novice, however notice the white frosting that is on the back of the head, think of this as part of the spot.

 

[chickery-do]

Hay you guys! I'm looking for a SLW hen. Does anyone out there know of someone out there, close to Bethel would be great!
Also, a blue or black Silkie hen would be nice! Give me a holler pls!

 

[Jazor]

Loved your target shooting description!! On the squash seeds, maybe they just need to pick at the a little. I know when I give new foods sometimes my girls ignore it but it's usually gone by the time I get home from work.

I think barred rock. I had 2 in my first hatch. What I learned was:

BR Males: larger, splotchy headspot, lighter silvery/grayish color rather than black, no or little black down leg fronts

BR Females: headspot is more defined and smaller, down is very black, legs usually have dark wash down the front.

These, taken together, will give you the sex about 90% of the time. The other 10% aren't as clear and can fool you.

You must go by down color plus leg color plus head spot. Cockerels will appear more washed out black than deep, dark black. http://www.dominiquechicken.com/Sexing_Dominique_chicks.html This link is good for Barred Rocks, Cuckoo Marans and Dominiques.

The shank on the right is light throughout and is from a male chick. The one on the left is on a female--note how dark it is.


Equally reliable is the sexing of chicks based on the shape of the light colored spot on the top of the chick’s head. As reported by F.P. Jeffrey, at hatching the male head spot, for the most part, is larger and more scattered than the one on the female which tends to be small (though not always) and more compact -- free of black areas -- see photographs below.



This is a group of male chicks. Notice the wide assortment of head spots, most of which could be described as scattered. The second chick from the left might fool the novice, however notice the white frosting that is on the back of the head, think of this as part of the spot.

Oh great info! That actually makes quite a bit of sense. Looking at those photos, I would almost certainly guess I've got a BR cockerel. Time will tell for sure, but this is a great indicator. Thank you! I will take some photos to match the ones above for demonstration purposes.

 

[quailtrail]

What a beautiful day!!!! The chickens have found their way back into their new coop. They are so cute all snuggled up together. My 10yo calls herself little farmer Ash. Lol!!! She is doing a great job feeding them, refilling the water, and is picking up fallen apples throughout the yard for them

 

[hoppy]

Then I will play the waiting game. We'll see what Hoppy says!

I wonder why as your exotic chick that they would send another barred rock. so i'm thinking maybe it's something with a similar pattern. maybe it's the cuckoo pattern
could be a marans (with unfeathered shanks), dominque or they ran out and gave you another barred rock. usually for me, the leg color gives it away at this age.

 

[lazy gardener]

I'm guessing that the exotic is what ever happens to be handy. Just as easy to grab a male from the crate already being packed than to get one from an other crate... also, barred chicks are super easy to sex.