Maine

[lazy gardener]

Good news/bad news/surprise! The pullets are laying. (17 weeks old.) The pullets are laying under the coop. The eggs are not blue or green. So far, tiny little white, and tiny little brown eggs. Apparently, Jack's gene pool is more mixed up than I thought. I was thoroughly expecting blues and greens. But, combs are still nice and tight, so that's a plus.

 

[Feather duster]

Thanks very much for your response. What would happen if you threw a piece of sour dough bread starter in it to get it going?
I have 9 plymouth partridge rock pullets that I hatched out this spring. They are 17 wks old this week and their combs and waddles are growing and turning redder by the day. I had 15 hatch out 6 males & 9 pullets. The cockerels went to a farm in Warren to be raised for the freezer this fall. I've been following your hatching experiment with interest. I hope you prove all the nay Sayers wrong.

 

[lazy gardener]

Sour dough starter totally not needed as you want a blend of bacteria and yeasts. If you want to jump start the mix, you could add some natural unpasteurized ACV, or some active yogurt whey, but... just the yeasts and bacteria floating around in the air will get the ferment going. Your hatch of 9 pullets to 6 roos was a good ratio. Most folks would be very pleased. My ratios before this year were always AT LEAST 60% (or more) roos. The broody chicks are still a bit too small to tell for sure, but if their leg color is following suit of the previous 2 hatches, I have 5 girls and 1 boy! (unless of course one of the cockrels threw his sperm into the mix.)

 

[Helena Starr]

Hello Polly, I just joined today. I got your name from the Wilton Tractor Supply. I am looking to purchase some chickens and heard you had some Barred Rock for sale. Went to Chicken swap saturday but nobody there. Just finished my pen last weekend. could you contact me either way. Thank you Helena Starr

 

[lazy gardener]

Helena: I'm not sure who you're trying to contact. I don't know a Polly. But, I'm located in Central Maine. (My name is Holly, so that's close, but not quite!) I do hope you find the person who has BR for sale. I have barnyard mix, and may have a few pullets left after the final numbers shake down. I should have a final count by this weekend. How many girls are you looking for? You can PM me if you want further contact. I wish you the best.

 

[dragonmomma]

Hi I'm from maine too have a flock of 21 at the moment 14 weeks old selling a pair of blue laced red wyandotte rooster and hen for 35 if anyone is interested got too many roosters. One going to be eaten then I want to get more ladies for the other 3. I have a post with a picture of the pair on craigslist. Hope you are all having a great summer. Was thinking about getting more pullets from orchard ridge farm in southern maine has anyone had any experience with them?

 

[lazy gardener]

HAWKS! I wanted to let the flock out of their electronet to free range so Mama broody could get out of her enclosure with her chicks. There are several hens in the flock who show too much interest in the chicks, and one of the hens injured a chick's foot yesterday. Mama is not aggressive enough to run the pushy ones off. So, I didn't have the run open for more than 5 minutes, before the crows were screeching, and there were 2 hawks circling overhead. Looks like the flock will be stuck behind fencing for the duration. I may round up Mama broody and her babies, and bring them out to the tractor tomorrow. That will entail catching all 7 of them several times/day. So much work to do outside. Too hot to do it.

 

[lazy gardener]

Mama and babies out in tractor this afternoon for a few hours. They finished off their afternoon by gobbling a cup full of Japanese Beetles that I caught and stomped before dumping them in the tractor. How such tiny little beaks can manage such a big insect is surprising. If I intend to keep these babies alive, they will have to be content with tractor living until they have some good size on them. I think there are 5 girls and 1 boy.

Looks like at least one of the pullets has decided that she can lay in the nest instead of under the coop. Hope the rest follow suit.

 

[buckabucka]

Glad the hawks didn't take off with a baby, LG.

I am frustrated by keeping birds captive here. My GCM rooster is determined to mate the GCM pullets, but they are too young, so I put them back in their enclosure. They've been in a small sectioned off area of the coop for a month now. I'm going away for a few days next weekend, and decided it is best to keep them captive and safe.

If I let the pullets out when they are 18 weeks old, is it bad if the rooster is mating them? They won't be laying yet, but are a good size. I just don't want their backs getting too torn up. How long should I wait?

In my older flock, the rooster leaves the pullets alone, and they have integrated nicely. And then there is the new lavender rooster..... He is such a baby. I've put him in an enclosure with his future flock, to get him out of the bachelor pen which has large GCMs. This week, I released him and the hens picked on him so much that he hid in a tree all day
He is back in the enclosure again where I'll leave him until his hormones kick in more. He's 16 weeks old, and still not crowing, so I guess he is just not ready to take on the hens. My chicken sitters will have quite a few pens to check on, but I did their dogs for them for a short stretch, so I guess we'll be even.

 

[lazy gardener]

My rooster has been a gentleman with the pullets. But started mating them when they were approaching POL. I saw one squat for him last week. Shortly after that, got my first pullet egg. How many females for the one rooster? My biggest concern is if there are not enough mature females to go around, or if there is more than one rooster. I've found that more than one roo is a recipe for disaster, as they tend to gang up on the most submissive female and repeatedly gang rape her. (my rooster is not terribly gentlemanly when it comes to getting the act done, but he's good in all other respects.)