Meyer Hatchery Chicken pics anyone??

[kbh82310]

I've been busy, so I probably missed a lot here, but we've been working on my awesome new coop addition over the past couple weeks, which gives me enough room for all my girls!

I also added a Silkie to my flock who is not of Meyer's stock so I won't post her pictures here, but I'm in the midst of turmoil over whether she is actually a she or not. I managed to get rooster paranoia this year after all! My young Meyer birds are about 14 weeks old now, but I haven't had the chance to take pictures of them this week. The Easter-egger bantam cockerel turned into a jerk and has reached a point of freaking every time I try to do anything. He is too difficult for me to deal with and so he has been evicted from my main flock. The others are doing wonderfully, though. Po baby (the smooth-feathered Cochin from Meyer's frizzle Cochin bantams) has started 'maturing' and is in a separate pen so that he doesn't pull feathers out of the pullets. In spite of how that sounds, he is still quite gentle and has been even alerting the girls to things flying over. My Light Brown Leghorn, Tiwhiri, already has a comb and set of wattles that could put some of my older hens to shame! I'm thinking she'll be the first of this set to lay an egg! Rangi (my Ancona) is still Rangi. I was taking video of Po the other day and she flew out of nowhere to my shoulder. That's my girl. Marama (Egyptian Fayoumi) and Ihi (Golden Campine) have grown quite shy, unfortunately, but are getting along well. Marama is the smallest of the pullets, but probably the most defiant when it comes to the pecking order. She and Ihi are almost always side by side! The derpy little Exchequer Leghorn, Roha, has surprisingly become among the more dominant of the pullets! She talks a LOT and her comb has started to grow. Perhaps she's second in line to lay..? And finally, Huka the silver Lakenvelder has been changing colors! Well, sort of. Her head and neck, which should be black, have been feathering in in white for some reason. She's still a beautiful, graceful little lady, though. Hope I haven't bored y'all with my ramblings. Next time, I'll try to have pictures of the young ones to go with my post.

I love the coop! I would love too see pics of the silkies, how old are they? Maybe I can help you sex them. After trying to sex mine I feel like an expert on it. I love hearing about your babies, I can't believe how much they have grown. It feels like you just got them..

So proud of my girls, 5 eggs today!!!! (with no rubber ones!)

I have 5 that are of laying age, so that's great! Plus a double yolker from my RIR, Ash!!!!! All but one was in the nest boxes too, I hope I can teach my stubborn BR, Oreo to use the nest box! Working on it, I keep disturbing the area and putting things in the way of each nest she lays on the floor, but she just moves to another area on the floor. She is the queen of the coop and does as she pleases. Pretty soon the whole coop floor will be covered with wire if she keeps this up, just until she starts using the nest box that is. Of course I have 4 nest boxes, but they only use the two lower ones, so I need to put a shelf or something to encourage them to use the top two. Don't ya think the eggs are just beautiful?

I hope the rest of the Meyer flock out there is having a good day too!

Congrats on the eggs! I'm still waiting on pearl to lay I don't think it's ever gonna happen. Who laid the pinkish ones?

 

[NanaLynn]

That definitely ruins the mood. When we were at fair we had the chickens out on our laps a lot. My DH was sitting there and I got up to get something so I put Sky on his lap. Right as I was about to pick her up and put her away she pooped a huge runny poop right on his crotch! He handled it beautifully but I felt so bad even though I was laughing.

ha ha, those special moments with our spouses! ...and chickens!!!

I love the coop! I would love too see pics of the silkies, how old are they? Maybe I can help you sex them. After trying to sex mine I feel like an expert on it. I love hearing about your babies, I can't believe how much they have grown. It feels like you just got them..
Congrats on the eggs! I'm still waiting on pearl to lay

I don't think it's ever gonna happen. Who laid the pinkish ones?

Thanks, my camera and flash make them look more pink then brown, but they are more a light brown. They were laid by my two BR's, their eggs are pretty identical to each other.

How old is Pearl now? I know you probably said, but I can't remember.

 

[kbh82310]

 ha ha, those special moments with our spouses! ...and chickens!!!
Thanks, my camera and flash make them look more pink then brown, but they are more a light brown. They were laid by my two BR's, their eggs are pretty identical to each other.

How old is Pearl now? I know you probably said, but I can't remember.

It's hard enough trying to remember our own chickens age let alone everyone else's.

She turned 19 weeks Sunday. It's probably a good thing we don't really eat eggs cause its gonna be dec/jan before my Meyers babies lay. Since it would be middle of winter before they would be old enough to lay would they just wait till spring?

 

[MsChickenMomma]

It's hard enough trying to remember our own chickens age let alone everyone else's.

She turned 19 weeks Sunday. It's probably a good thing we don't really eat eggs cause its gonna be dec/jan before my Meyers babies lay. Since it would be middle of winter before they would be old enough to lay would they just wait till spring?

I have a hard time rembering my chickens ages. I have 23 chickens, (was 24 but I just got home from rehoming a rooster) and they are all different ages. I have my 9 from Meyer that are 15 weeks, 5 that are one year, 2 that just turned two yesterday, and then 7 who are five years old. Sometimes I really have to sit and think about how old they all are.

I think your girls should still lay this winter, they just wont lay as frequently as they would if they had started laying in the Summer or Fall.

 

[NotableNancy]

Thanks, my camera and flash make them look more pink then brown, but they are more a light brown. They were laid by my two BR's, their eggs are pretty identical to each other.

They look exactly like my BR's egg! My one RIR still lays a really dark egg. I thought it would lighten up by now, it's darker than my CM egg. But my other RIR lays a much lighter egg.
I love giving the eggs to my family and I can tell them exactly who laid them. Of course they just roll their eyes at me and nod their heads till I shut up.

Like they really care who laid what egg!!

I have a hard time rembering my chickens ages. I have 23 chickens, (was 24 but I just got home from rehoming a rooster) and they are all different ages. I have my 9 from Meyer that are 15 weeks, 5 that are one year, 2 that just turned two yesterday, and then 7 who are five years old. Sometimes I really have to sit and think about how old they all are.

I think your girls should still lay this winter, they just wont lay as frequently as they would if they had started laying in the Summer or Fall.

Wow, your Meyer girls are 15 weeks already.. getting close to laying!!

It's hard enough trying to remember our own chickens age let alone everyone else's.

She turned 19 weeks Sunday. It's probably a good thing we don't really eat eggs cause its gonna be dec/jan before my Meyers babies lay. Since it would be middle of winter before they would be old enough to lay would they just wait till spring?

I take care of a neighbors chickens when they go away and when I watched them last winter I used to get tons of eggs! She had about 15 laying hens and I was getting approx. 10/day.
What are you going to do with all your eggs?

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Ha ha, well if y'all insist!

The Silkie is between 17 and 19 weeks old now (the guy didn't have an exact age). Her name is Margaret, which is at the moment short for 'Margaret Until Proven Otherwise'. These pictures are from last week:

I have 6 votes for pullet and 3 votes for cockerel so far on her. Oh, and just in case anyone skips to this page without seeing the last, Margie is not from Meyer Hatchery stock.


My beautiful coop from the front (with Frou-Frou the Meyer Blue Splash Marans standing in front, because I was not giving her the appropriate amount of attention ):

The big section on the left is what I had to start, an 8x10 shed kit that we put together. The addition, in the middle on this picture, is 8x6 feet. And the small beige building to the right is my feed storage shed and a convenient thing to stand on when the hens feel like preening. I'm not sure of the dimensions on the feed shed, but I think it's something like 6x3x4 feet tall.

 

[kbh82310]

They look exactly like my BR's egg!  My one RIR still lays a really dark egg. I thought it would lighten up by now, it's darker than my CM egg. But my other RIR lays a much lighter egg. 
I love giving the eggs to my family and I can tell them exactly who laid them.  Of course they just roll their eyes at me and nod their heads till I shut up.    Like they really care who laid what egg!!

Wow, your Meyer girls are 15 weeks already.. getting close to laying!!

I take care of a neighbors chickens when they go away and when I watched them last winter I used to get tons of eggs! She had about 15 laying hens and I was getting approx. 10/day. 
What are you going to do with all your eggs?  

All my animals minus my python love scrambled eggs so I'm sure a lot is gonna go to them and left overs are gonna go to family and friends (provided I get egg cartons, so far the only people getting any eggs is my parents & my FIL because he has a house next to us, he has given us a lot of materials and he has been mowing our lawn). The duck eggs will be used for baking which me and my mom will prob use all of.

I have a hard time rembering my chickens ages. I have 23 chickens, (was 24 but I just got home from rehoming a rooster) and they are all different ages. I have my 9 from Meyer that are 15 weeks, 5 that are one year, 2 that just turned two yesterday, and then 7 who are five years old. Sometimes I really have to sit and think about how old they all are.

I think your girls should still lay this winter, they just wont lay as frequently as they would if they had started laying in the Summer or Fall.

I would have to sit down and think about all that too lol. I have a hard enough time keeping track of the 4 silkies that are the same age. We are probably going to have to rehome a couple roosters also

 

[kbh82310]

Ha ha, well if y'all insist!

The Silkie is between 17 and 19 weeks old now (the guy didn't have an exact age). Her name is Margaret, which is at the moment short for 'Margaret Until Proven Otherwise'. These pictures are from last week:

I have 6 votes for pullet and 3 votes for cockerel so far on her. Oh, and just in case anyone skips to this page without seeing the last, Margie is not from Meyer Hatchery stock.


My beautiful coop from the front (with Frou-Frou the Meyer Blue Splash Marans standing in front, because I was not giving her the appropriate amount of attention ):

The big section on the left is what I had to start, an 8x10 shed kit that we put together. The addition, in the middle on this picture, is 8x6 feet. And the small beige building to the right is my feed storage shed and a convenient thing to stand on when the hens feel like preening. I'm not sure of the dimensions on the feed shed, but I think it's something like 6x3x4 feet tall.

My vote is for pullet. Her comb isn't turning red & she has next to no wattles. I knew by 10 weeks who was who. I have a question for you, I wanted to keep their feed in the barn but I don't want the feed to mold cause of heat and humidity. Do you have that problem? Does Frou Frou lay dark eggs? And I would be shocked if I saw a picture from you and she didn't try and sneak herself in there instead of where's Waldo where's Frou Frou!

 

[MsChickenMomma]

Wow, your Meyer girls are 15 weeks already.. getting close to laying!!

I know. I dont know where the time went. I'm really looking forward to the eggs. Both of my leghorns have long red combs and waddles already. They literally grew overnight. I think they will definitely be my first ones to start laying.

I would have to sit down and think about all that too lol. I have a hard enough time keeping track of the 4 silkies that are the same age. We are probably going to have to rehome a couple roosters also

Re-homing roosters is tough, just warning you. Ive been trying to find a home for my rooster that I just brought to a new home for over a month. I had great luck with Craigslist though. I just made sure and put that I was only bringing him to them. That way I could see where he went and if it was the right fit.

I found him a nice home with a family who has four chickens and three young children. He'll definitely be very happy there.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

(Forgot to quote--this is a reply to kbh. )

She does have a reddish tint to her comb, but I'm wavering back toward pullet for my little Margie as well. After looking at dozens of pictures of Silkies at around the same age, I feel somewhat reassured. The cockerels that had similar combs and wattles to Margaret's already had streamers in their crests, so...

I have never had a problem with the feed going bad being stored in the feed shed, but if I leave any out and it gets rained on, it molds like there's no tomorrow!

Frou'f's last known egg was not terribly dark, but darker than all of my other brown egg layers' eggs. I have been getting some medium-sized eggs that are considerably darker than the rest, but I haven't actually seen who has been laying them. It could be her, but then I have never seen her use the boxes, so I don't know. They aren't that really dark, chocolate brown, though, more of a chocolate milk brown. And yeah, I have a few pictures like that! Where's Frou-Frou?