Meyer Hatchery Chicken pics anyone??

[NotableNancy]

You have a Barred Rock, right? That's what I meant. Maybe I am wrong to lump all the Rocks into one category. I have a White, Partridge and Barred Rock, well actually 2 Barred Rocks. I do see similar traits, shape really in the 3 hens but just different coloring.

I am still figuring out who laid what, my husband wonders why it matters to me. I just have fun trying to figure it out and I figured down the road I'll know if any of them have any egg laying issues or health problems, if I don't see their eggs. I don't handle mine quite as much as everyone else though, I have never done the 2 or 3 finger check to see if they are ready to lay. Maybe I should know how to do that too?

LOL, you know my chickens better than me. I do have a BR but was thinking you meant White Rock. Maybe I'll try the food coloring thing. That would answer a few questions for sure!



I'm bummed... the feed store contacted me and they don't think they're getting the Cream Brabanters in

Soooooo, I was on Meyer's site and I'm making a little list for end of
April delivery

Thinking of 3 Olive Eggers (that way I'll be sure to get 3 green layers), 1 White Leghorn, 1 Polish of some sort, and maybe a Golden Lakenvelder? Does anyone have one of these and what do they think of them? I don't let them free range because of predators so I want to be sure the breeds I get are ok in confinement. But my run is really huge and lots of things to climb on and rafters to fly up to. My BR and one of my EE's were up there the other day which surprised me because they're big girls and it's about 9 feet high!
I think I have a little coop picked out and my DH is such an enabler he's building onto the run as well! How'd I get so lucky???

 

[trsturself]

LOL, you know my chickens better than me. I do have a BR but was thinking you meant White Rock. Maybe I'll try the food coloring thing. That would answer a few questions for sure!



I'm bummed... the feed store contacted me and they don't think they're getting the Cream Brabanters in

Soooooo, I was on Meyer's site and I'm making a little list for end of
April delivery

Thinking of 3 Olive Eggers (that way I'll be sure to get 3 green layers), 1 White Leghorn, 1 Polish of some sort, and maybe a Golden Lakenvelder? Does anyone have one of these and what do they think of them? I don't let them free range because of predators so I want to be sure the breeds I get are ok in confinement. But my run is really huge and lots of things to climb on and rafters to fly up to. My BR and one of my EE's were up there the other day which surprised me because they're big girls and it's about 9 feet high!
I think I have a little coop picked out and my DH is such an enabler he's building onto the run as well! How'd I get so lucky???

I've heard even the olive eggers aren't a sure thing, they can lay brown too but I don't have any experience with them (but I want one!). I have 2 meyer polish right now (I ordered 18 in april last year) and I got a white leghorn as the meal maker but my friend took it. The white leghorn is pretty skittish but lays a huge white egg and started at a young age. The polish (I have 2, and two of my friends each have 2) aren't mean but they aren't friendly either. None of them are laying yet though so they may get friendlier after that. I had a really hard time with them surviving. We got 4 from a feed store (at different times) and 3 died within 2 days, the other lasted about 2 weeks. We then ordered 18 from Meyer and lost 6 of them, got replacements and lost 4, then got one in our rare layer group that was replacements for the polish and it survived. So out of 29 chicks we had 13 survive. We almost lost the last one a couple weeks ago and another lady that bought one from the original group died recently. I think I'd look real hard for a local breeder before getting polish again.

 

[NanaLynn]

LOL, you know my chickens better than me. I do have a BR but was thinking you meant White Rock. Maybe I'll try the food coloring thing. That would answer a few questions for sure!



I'm bummed... the feed store contacted me and they don't think they're getting the Cream Brabanters in

Soooooo, I was on Meyer's site and I'm making a little list for end of
April delivery

Thinking of 3 Olive Eggers (that way I'll be sure to get 3 green layers), 1 White Leghorn, 1 Polish of some sort, and maybe a Golden Lakenvelder? Does anyone have one of these and what do they think of them? I don't let them free range because of predators so I want to be sure the breeds I get are ok in confinement. But my run is really huge and lots of things to climb on and rafters to fly up to. My BR and one of my EE's were up there the other day which surprised me because they're big girls and it's about 9 feet high!
I think I have a little coop picked out and my DH is such an enabler he's building onto the run as well! How'd I get so lucky???

You know this really makes a lot of sense that you would get more chicks now. You have your Brinsea, so you need to get a lot of use out of it so it pays for itself in saving power, etc. I keep hearing people talk about Olive Eggers, I just realized that they are a different breed then the EE's. They do cost more I see, but a guaranteed olive egg is worth a few more dollars, I think. Now if they were $20 I'd say no, but $10, yeah okay, I'd order some too.

I loved my White Leghorn, Snow. She was a very sweet chicken and she was the first one to lay eggs. I like my Light Brown Leghorns too, but they are much more skittish then Snow was. I would trade Daisy, my White Rock for a White Leghorn any day. I've ordered a Golden Lakenvelder twice and still have not gotten one since there was a bad hatch both times, I hope you can get one if you decide too.

I love my one Buff Laced Polish, she is squatting already and is just so much fun to watch. I would not want too many of them since they are really just for decoration, but she is a lot of fun to have around. My Light Brown Leghorns are more skittish then she is.

Your DH sounds great, I keep slowly talking mine into more and more too. Not more chickens until we get rid of some of the ones we have, but more fencing, coop and run space, etc. He loves to build too, so that helps.

I've heard even the olive eggers aren't a sure thing, they can lay brown too but I don't have any experience with them (but I want one!). I have 2 meyer polish right now (I ordered 18 in april last year) and I got a white leghorn as the meal maker but my friend took it. The white leghorn is pretty skittish but lays a huge white egg and started at a young age. The polish (I have 2, and two of my friends each have 2) aren't mean but they aren't friendly either. None of them are laying yet though so they may get friendlier after that. I had a really hard time with them surviving. We got 4 from a feed store (at different times) and 3 died within 2 days, the other lasted about 2 weeks. We then ordered 18 from Meyer and lost 6 of them, got replacements and lost 4, then got one in our rare layer group that was replacements for the polish and it survived. So out of 29 chicks we had 13 survive. We almost lost the last one a couple weeks ago and another lady that bought one from the original group died recently. I think I'd look real hard for a local breeder before getting polish again.

We lost a Golden Laced Polish in our very first order, it was February though and super cold and she died at about 2 or 3 days old. The other Golden Laced died after the dog attack, but I had many breeds not make it then.

Buffy, our Buff Laced seemed to do really well and I did not have any problems with her, but we did get her in the summer. Of course, she is still just 6 months so I guess time will tell.

 

[MsChickenMomma]

I am so jealous of everyone getting chicks in the Spring... My chicken wish list is quite long. But considering since we are moving into the city limits, and we'll most likely never be allowed to have more than 8 hens (im not counting Sunni

), I won't be able to get more chickens for several years. Which is okay, I'll just be a very jealous girl over here once the baby pictures start back up again on this thread.

We are waiting to hear back from our city council. They haven't officially started allowing chickens yet, but they were having a meeting this past Wednesday to discuss the topic and decide whether or not they would families to have backyard chickens. I'm a little worried because they were saying that we would only get to have a maximum of 4 hens if they decide to allow it, and I have 8 hens. But we got in touch with one of the people on the council, and he is trying to push for people on bigger properties to be allowed to have 8 hens. We'll see how that goes. I really don't want to have to re-home any more hens...

 

[chickadee5002]

I have 18 chicks ordered at the end of March. 5-EE's, 5-golden buffs, 5-barred rocks and 3-olive eggers. So excited! I can't wait! Hopefully the weather will be warmer out by then.

 

[NotableNancy]

Today was the 4th day in a row that it didn't get above 20 degrees during the day and of course single digits at night.
The girls didn't seem to want to eat their layer feed today... they barely touched it! That's never happened. they did eat some eggs and
scratch and ate a bit out of one of the feeders in the run but not the other. Normally they eat about 1/2 the feeder of food, today barely anything.
They have a small feeder in the coop but only eat from that when they
first wake up or just before roosting at night. They never go in the coop just to hang out, just to sleep and lay eggs.
They have plenty of water all day and I see them drinking that.
Any ideas?? Do you think the metal feeder is making the food to cold to want to eat it?

tomorrow is supposed to 'warm up' to 28 then back down to the teens and nights are only 4-9 degrees. Really, we haven't seen this kind of
cold for many years!

I know some of you are in this kind of cold all the time... i'm not panicked or anything, just wondering if anyone has seen this. We'll see what happens
tomorrow during the heat wave

 

[NotableNancy]

I've heard even the olive eggers aren't a sure thing, they can lay brown too but I don't have any experience with them (but I want one!). I have 2 meyer polish right now (I ordered 18 in april last year) and I got a white leghorn as the meal maker but my friend took it. The white leghorn is pretty skittish but lays a huge white egg and started at a young age. The polish (I have 2, and two of my friends each have 2) aren't mean but they aren't friendly either. None of them are laying yet though so they may get friendlier after that. I had a really hard time with them surviving. We got 4 from a feed store (at different times) and 3 died within 2 days, the other lasted about 2 weeks. We then ordered 18 from Meyer and lost 6 of them, got replacements and lost 4, then got one in our rare layer group that was replacements for the polish and it survived. So out of 29 chicks we had 13 survive. We almost lost the last one a couple weeks ago and another lady that bought one from the original group died recently. I think I'd look real hard for a local breeder before getting polish again.

Oh boy... I assumed Olive Eggers were a sure thing to get green eggs! From the description on the Meyer site it seems the crosses they are doing would produce green eggs. I don't care if they're olive, just green would be nice. Maybe I'll call and pick their brains.
And, yes, i'm thinking hard about the Polish because of all the trouble people had with them dying in transit and shortly after. I don't live in an area with a lot of breeders. It's not a big chicken area. And Marek's scares the heck out of me and would only want to buy from someone that vaccinates for it. I still have my reserve in at my feed store for 2 Leghorn and 3 EE's but I didn't have to put money down so i can cancel at any time. I'm holding out to see if they will get the Brabanter's in.

You know this really makes a lot of sense that you would get more chicks now. You have your Brinsea, so you need to get a lot of use out of it so it pays for itself in saving power, etc. I keep hearing people talk about Olive Eggers, I just realized that they are a different breed then the EE's. They do cost more I see, but a guaranteed olive egg is worth a few more dollars, I think. Now if they were $20 I'd say no, but $10, yeah okay, I'd order some too.

I loved my White Leghorn, Snow. She was a very sweet chicken and she was the first one to lay eggs. I like my Light Brown Leghorns too, but they are much more skittish then Snow was. I would trade Daisy, my White Rock for a White Leghorn any day. I've ordered a Golden Lakenvelder twice and still have not gotten one since there was a bad hatch both times, I hope you can get one if you decide too.

I love my one Buff Laced Polish, she is squatting already and is just so much fun to watch. I would not want too many of them since they are really just for decoration, but she is a lot of fun to have around. My Light Brown Leghorns are more skittish then she is.

Your DH sounds great, I keep slowly talking mine into more and more too. Not more chickens until we get rid of some of the ones we have, but more fencing, coop and run space, etc. He loves to build too, so that helps.

We lost a Golden Laced Polish in our very first order, it was February though and super cold and she died at about 2 or 3 days old. The other Golden Laced died after the dog attack, but I had many breeds not make it then.

Buffy, our Buff Laced seemed to do really well and I did not have any problems with her, but we did get her in the summer. Of course, she is still just 6 months so I guess time will tell.

Well aren't you the little chicken enabler!! LOL. Yes, it will be nice to use the Brinsea and with only 5-6 chicks they should fit under there better. I didn't remember you tried to get the Lakenvelder before. That's a shame that happened 2x. They are really pretty birds!

I am so jealous of everyone getting chicks in the Spring... My chicken wish list is quite long. But considering since we are moving into the city limits, and we'll most likely never be allowed to have more than 8 hens (im not counting Sunni

), I won't be able to get more chickens for several years. Which is okay, I'll just be a very jealous girl over here once the baby pictures start back up again on this thread.

We are waiting to hear back from our city council. They haven't officially started allowing chickens yet, but they were having a meeting this past Wednesday to discuss the topic and decide whether or not they would families to have backyard chickens. I'm a little worried because they were saying that we would only get to have a maximum of 4 hens if they decide to allow it, and I have 8 hens. But we got in touch with one of the people on the council, and he is trying to push for people on bigger properties to be allowed to have 8 hens. We'll see how that goes. I really don't want to have to re-home any more hens...

I've got my fingers crossed that you can keep all of your girls!! Maybe you'll have to hide a few

I have 18 chicks ordered at the end of March. 5-EE's, 5-golden buffs, 5-barred rocks and 3-olive eggers. So excited! I can't wait! Hopefully the weather will be warmer out by then.

I got my 15 chicks early in March last year and only lost one at about day 5 or so. You're in Ohio so I would think you would be OK. I'm not that far but it still took a few days just because my PO is a bit backwards. Not the fault of Meyer at all

 

[sonderah]

Food coloring thing????? To see who is laying which eggs?? PLZZZZZZ! Explain more! Lol

 

[trsturself]

Food coloring thing????? To see who is laying which eggs?? PLZZZZZZ! Explain more! Lol

Quote:

I just did this today with our cochin to see if she's laying anymore.

 

[sonderah]

That's awesome! Thanks!

I just did this today with our cochin to see if she's laying anymore.