Maine

[GoodwinMaine]

X 2!!! So cute...

 

[GoodwinMaine]

here are the boys
the swedish flower hen on the right and jubilee orp on the left



blue orp roo

The blue roo is awesome! I have a mama that would make beautiful little babies with him. We still aren't 100% sure of what she is... see avatar pic, she's very pretty.

 

[Clover Run]

Here's the first of my babies here...





First ones are of the OrloffxAms and then these two snugglers are the Ams: Splash and Blue. We are hoping for a few more out of the other nests. LOVE blue.
KLF... your Blue Orp boy is welcome to mate over here!

Congrats Ash! I can't wait til we hatch our first here as well. They are too adorable.

 

[Clover Run]

I started facebook page for our little micro farm. Does anyone else have a dedicated page for your farm? Mine is facebook.com/CloverRunFarm please let me know what you think! and share yours! I would love to see some.

 

[Clover Run]

I need some frank opinions on commercial hatcheries. Which do you use and why - which should be avoided at all cost and why? I want to order a large batch of white and barred rocks for laying purposes and am trying to figure out where to order them from. Thank you in advance for your reply.

 

[gracejr]

I'm assuming you want chicks, but incase you wanted pullets... Avoid Empire Acres in Poland. Lots of sick birds when we were there earlier this year. Treatable, but...

I don't know much about the online hatcheries, but I have heard good things about Cackle and Ideal.



Tried to visit your FB page but it's saying page not found.

 

[gracejr]

Ok, I'd love some input on chicken runs! We are picking up the rest of the fencing on Wednesday, and I'm trying to figure out just how I want this. Do it once and call it good!

Option A, one big giant run. Even at max capacity for the coop (25 chickens), that gives 34.4sqft of space per bird. I would need to double check to make sure we have 48' of space in the right direction, but I'm pretty sure we do.

Option B is a smaller main run, only 16.8sqft per bird at max capacity. But has a built in grow out pen for broody hens and cockerels until they are sold/slaughtered. Grow out pen would have 240sqft of space. I COULD leave the door between the two pens open, giving a total of 26.4sqft per bird when the small pen isn't in use.

Do I go with the smaller pen, so I can easily separate birds? (We do NOT have a shelter for a small coop, though) Or do I stick with one big pen for everyone? It's not a concern right now, but next year we will be letting hens go broody and raise chicks. We will keep some, sell some, and grow some out for meat. We cannot free range, so the more space the better.

Or is there a better setup you can think of? The coop is 10'x10'. We have six 6'x6' panels, and will be picking up eight 10'x6' panels on Wednesday. Two 10' panels have doors, 1 of the 6' panels has a door.

 

[sailorchick]

I need some frank opinions on commercial hatcheries. Which do you use and why - which should be avoided at all cost and why? I want to order a large batch of white and barred rocks for laying purposes and am trying to figure out where to order them from. Thank you in advance for your reply.

I got my baby chicks from Ideal this spring. 11 in all. They arrived happy and healthy, and haven't had any problems with them. I got barred, white and buff rocks, and two RIRs. I was really happy with their customer service. If you are getting a small order there is a chance that they will pack your box with extra roos for warmth. I was told I might get 12 extra, but the weather was warm enough I guess and I only received what I ordered. I would order from them again in a heart beat.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

I need some frank opinions on commercial hatcheries. Which do you use and why - which should be avoided at all cost and why? I want to order a large batch of white and barred rocks for laying purposes and am trying to figure out where to order them from. Thank you in advance for your reply.

I ordered once from Murray McMurray. Their customer service was great, everyone arrived alive and well and the minimum was 25 birds and they sent an extra plus a Free Rare Bird which is almost always a rooster. The sexes were 100% correct, which was great for my first batch of chickens. They aren't the nicest specimens of chicken breeds (in fact one of my barred rocks was barely barred), but if you just want some layers and not breeders, then you'll be fine. If you want breeders (even if it's a remote possibility), don't look at hatcheries. The only chickens I am unhappy with from there are my leghorns. One arrived and had a wry tail when she feathered out, laid for a few months and then started internally laying. We had to cull her about a year ago because she was basically too full of egg to walk. Then another one dropped dead all of a sudden and now another is internally laying. They also have the worst cases of chronic bumblefoot I've ever seen, it HAS to be genetic. I spend most of my nights soaking, cutting and bandaging leghorn feet. Occasionally a different chicken gets bumblefoot, but it heals quicker and doesn't return like it does on the leghorns. They're really sweet though and I do love them. Most of the other birds from that group are very friendly.

If you just want layers/eggs you may want to consider just getting some pullets locally (I still have some non-hatchery stock POL pullets for sale). A brown egg is a brown egg.

My biggest beef with the hatcheries is what they do to the extra males that aren't wanted/sold.

 

[MustardTiger]

Ok, I'd love some input on chicken runs! We are picking up the rest of the fencing on Wednesday, and I'm trying to figure out just how I want this. Do it once and call it good!

Option A, one big giant run. Even at max capacity for the coop (25 chickens), that gives 34.4sqft of space per bird. I would need to double check to make sure we have 48' of space in the right direction, but I'm pretty sure we do.
Option B is a smaller main run, only 16.8sqft per bird at max capacity. But has a built in grow out pen for broody hens and cockerels until they are sold/slaughtered. Grow out pen would have 240sqft of space. I COULD leave the door between the two pens open, giving a total of 26.4sqft per bird when the small pen isn't in use.
Do I go with the smaller pen, so I can easily separate birds? (We do NOT have a shelter for a small coop, though) Or do I stick with one big pen for everyone? It's not a concern right now, but next year we will be letting hens go broody and raise chicks. We will keep some, sell some, and grow some out for meat. We cannot free range, so the more space the better.
Or is there a better setup you can think of? The coop is 10'x10'. We have six 6'x6' panels, and will be picking up eight 10'x6' panels on Wednesday. Two 10' panels have doors, 1 of the 6' panels has a door.

From my own limited experience I can tell you that having a separate compartment to put injured/young/new chickens in would be so helpful! - when you do not need it, leave it open as you said and everyone has more room.


Clover Run: Also I second avoiding empire acres. one of the pullets I got there had Myreks and we had to cull her within a week. Also, the now 19 week old pullets I got from there are super skittish since I do not think they are handled at all when they are small. Next year I will be buying a big mixed bag for meat and layers so I too am curious about which hatcheries have good reviews.