Meyer Hatchery Chicken pics anyone??

[NotableNancy]

@NotableNancy Be careful before you get upset about the OE. I think I heard some have a straight comb. I'm not convinced you have a roo, but are you seeing pointed feathers?? It's hard to tell from the picture.

CRUD.... are you saying I'll get brown eggs because of the straight comb???? I don't think I see any pointed feathers but because she isn't even 15 weeks I was concerned about the redness and size of both comb and wattles. They're as big as the Ex. Leghorns but I know they grow earlier and they are a week older. I'll take a closer look at the feathers tomorrow.

Quote: I think we got ours the same week? Was it the week of Aug 10th yours arrived? Mine looks like it is gray in coloring rather than the cuckoo patterning I think I see in your pic.... but it's hard to tell from a pic. I just hope if it's a cockerel I can re-home easily.

 

[christine9]

@NotableNancy from everything I've read (not that I understand it) comb and egg color are genetically unrelated. I just think it explains why that comb is so big already. Does look like a girl to me. Also looks like they may have crossed a CCL with a straight combed bird. You will probably get an olive egg. I hope so...I just ordered one!!
Pretty sure you'd see the pointed feathers by now.

 

[autumnhearth]

First for my 3 kids....I had hundreds (& 30+ types) as a kid growing up, but none since then. We are limited by lot size to #, or I would have gotten a more diverse bunch. My younger son really wanted a polish,but I recall them being kind of scatter brained/stupid and not laying much. His second choice was a blue splash maran he intends to name Marie Antoinette.

How fun! Love his choice, I was considering Antoinette as a name for a Faverolles.

Hi autumn... got a few pics of the Meyer 3 (28 weeks) just now. Thought I would share. I am LOVING Austra, has given me an egg every day since she started, just skipped one day. Aurora religiously every other. Of course I'm over the moon with over 35 chickens on my property... they are the only two pulling their weight! lol.... I had a talk with Emma, Ms. Speckled Sussex that she better keep up with her sisters, as she eats the most of anyone!

MB

Ooo Austra is quite the looker as well! Love that pic of her. I was showing my husband the pics and when it came to the SS he said "That's a Speckled Sussex? I don't like it" I hope you don't take offense, it's not your girl particularly, I remember him saying he didn't like the look of the speckles last year when we were deciding on breeds. He thinks it looks like lichen. He just liked the idea of a Sussex but hadn't looked at a pic of a SS in about a year, silly husband. So its back to the drawing board. When I asked my 5 year old son what kind of chicken he would chose he said Copper Marans, not black, copper, like all red, ha. Then he said we should have a white chicken.

So yesterday my Daughter and I drove to the other side of the island to get two French blue copper marans chicks. And ended up coming home with a BO chick too

And now I'm convinced that the darker yellow mystery chick from Meyers IS a BO as they look EXACTLY the same and I can no longer tell who is mango, and who is the new girl

@COChix @NotableNancy

Aww that's great! You'll figure them out.

A real quick then and now:
Kiwi-delaware

Love Kiwi!

 

[rnchick74]

Hi everyone! Life has been crazy, so I've not been online here as much...

The girls are all doing wonderful. I've got the coop winterized - put a bird bath heater in my chicken fountain; installed CoopTight to reduce drafts; lots of hay; got my nest box curtains up; installed lighting!

No eggs yet, but by non-Meyer CCL are getting quite moody! They are 20 weeks this week & I'm hoping for eggs any day now!

I will try to post some pics soon!

 

[trsturself]

As long as the horses have hay in their bellies, they will be fine. I only recommend blanketing old or severely thin horses, or the rare horse with non-existent winter fur. We have damp, driving west winds in my part of Michigan and none of my (or my friends) horses suffered through the winters. Actually the worst thing you can do for them is to lock them up for days on end, when you finally release them, they tend to rambunctiously celebrate their freedom and that is when they are most likely to sustain an injury or fall.
IMO, just leave the barn open for them to come and go as they please. Keeping liquid water in front of them is the most important thing.

We don't have a way to lock them up if we wanted to. I don't believe in it. Horses need to move. They have roughly 2 acres with access to a loafing shed type thing. They have a 78 gallon tank with a heater in it to keep it liquid. I gave them a ton of hay this morning and they still had some left this evening. I'll do the same tomorrow but luckily it's supposed to get up to 40 tomorrow.

I checked my phone when we went to bed at 11 last night and it said -13 with a RealFeel of -20! Everyone was fine this morning though.
I opened the coop door to feed/water them and they ran to the door like they were going to go out, saw the snow, stopped in their tracks and turned around. I left the door partially blocked so it would block the wind but they could come out if they wanted to. There were a few tracks in the snow when I got home this evening but not many. It was freezing when I put them up so I didn't even go in to check on everyone, just shut the door and ran back to the house. lol

How fun! Love his choice, I was considering Antoinette as a name for a Faverolles.

Ooo Austra is quite the looker as well! Love that pic of her. I was showing my husband the pics and when it came to the SS he said "That's a Speckled Sussex? I don't like it" I hope you don't take offense, it's not your girl particularly, I remember him saying he didn't like the look of the speckles last year when we were deciding on breeds. He thinks it looks like lichen. He just liked the idea of a Sussex but hadn't looked at a pic of a SS in about a year, silly husband. So its back to the drawing board. When I asked my 5 year old son what kind of chicken he would chose he said Copper Marans, not black, copper, like all red, ha. Then he said we should have a white chicken.
Aww that's great! You'll figure them out.

Love Kiwi!

Get a Corronation Sussex if he wants a sussex without the speckles.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Love the then and nows.  Little chipmunk chicks are so irresistible!  Do you have any pics of your Speckled Sussex and Partridge Rocks' eggs.  Are the SS light, tinted or pinkish?

I have pictures somewhere... Too tired and sick to seek them out at the moment, sorry. But it seems like the Sussex lay pinkish tan/light brown eggs and the Partridges lay an only slightly pinkish, deep brown. They're all four molting and I haven't gotten eggs from them in a while, so that's just from memory--don't hold me to it. I'll try to find the pics in the morning.

 

[COChix]

Quote:Hi autumn... got a few pics of the Meyer 3 (28 weeks) just now. Thought I would share. I am LOVING Austra, has given me an egg every day since she started, just skipped one day. Aurora religiously every other. Of course I'm over the moon with over 35 chickens on my property... they are the only two pulling their weight! lol.... I had a talk with Emma, Ms. Speckled Sussex that she better keep up with her sisters, as she eats the most of anyone!

MB

Thanks for posting a pic on her and thanks Autumnhearth as well for input on Marans. I contacted my neighbor up the street, with the cuckoo Marans and will probably be able to either gets eggs to hatch next spring or chicks. I would prefer to hatch along with our own and raise them all at the same time. Pretty excited and probably getting ahead of myself as this is next spring, lots can happen. The quest for chocolate colored eggs continue....

So yesterday my Daughter and I drove to the other side of the island to get two French blue copper marans chicks. And ended up coming home with a BO chick too

And now I'm convinced that the darker yellow mystery chick from Meyers IS a BO as they look EXACTLY the same and I can no longer tell who is mango, and who is the new girl

@COChix @NotableNancy

Hey we had the hardest time telling our boo roo's apart when they were young, really it wasn't until they hit about 4 months when we could really see how their combs varied....I love the name mango for a BO, cute! Thanks to those who weighed in on my possible chicken obsessiveness, I guess I am obsessed! I see me trying to figure out ways to get chocolate brown eggs so maybe ya'll are onto something.

 

[autumnhearth]

We don't have a way to lock them up if we wanted to. I don't believe in it. Horses need to move. They have roughly 2 acres with access to a loafing shed type thing. They have a 78 gallon tank with a heater in it to keep it liquid. I gave them a ton of hay this morning and they still had some left this evening. I'll do the same tomorrow but luckily it's supposed to get up to 40 tomorrow.

I checked my phone when we went to bed at 11 last night and it said -13 with a RealFeel of -20! Everyone was fine this morning though.
I opened the coop door to feed/water them and they ran to the door like they were going to go out, saw the snow, stopped in their tracks and turned around. I left the door partially blocked so it would block the wind but they could come out if they wanted to. There were a few tracks in the snow when I got home this evening but not many. It was freezing when I put them up so I didn't even go in to check on everyone, just shut the door and ran back to the house. lol

Get a Corronation Sussex if he wants a sussex without the speckles.

Coronations are stunning! We have a breeder near us who breeds them as well as the Light Sussex. She just sold her Speckled and Silver Sussex project pairs to another breeder. But this coming spring I think we are just going with Meyer.

Our girls didn't want to come out of the coop either this morning, because of the snow, the cold isn't nearly as bad here. I had to trick them with treats and even then they were apprehensive, see pics below.

I have pictures somewhere... Too tired and sick to seek them out at the moment, sorry.

But it seems like the Sussex lay pinkish tan/light brown eggs and the Partridges lay an only slightly pinkish, deep brown. They're all four molting and I haven't gotten eggs from them in a while, so that's just from memory--don't hold me to it. I'll try to find the pics in the morning.

Oh no, sorry you are feeling sick, take your time and don't worry about it. Rest, hydrate and hope you feel better soon!

Thanks for posting a pic on her and thanks Autumnhearth as well for input on Marans. I contacted my neighbor up the street, with the cuckoo Marans and will probably be able to either gets eggs to hatch next spring or chicks. I would prefer to hatch along with our own and raise them all at the same time. Pretty excited and probably getting ahead of myself as this is next spring, lots can happen. The quest for chocolate colored eggs continue....
Thanks to those who weighed in on my possible chicken obsessiveness, I guess I am obsessed! I see me trying to figure out ways to get chocolate brown eggs so maybe ya'll are onto something.

Good luck with the Marans. Just fyi it's the Black Copper that tend to lay the darkest but the others should give you lovely variations of dark and some with speckles

Hi everyone! Life has been crazy, so I've not been online here as much...

The girls are all doing wonderful. I've got the coop winterized - put a bird bath heater in my chicken fountain; installed CoopTight to reduce drafts; lots of hay; got my nest box curtains up; installed lighting!

No eggs yet, but by non-Meyer CCL are getting quite moody! They are 20 weeks this week & I'm hoping for eggs any day now!

I will try to post some pics soon!

Welcome back, good to hear! How do they do with the CoopTight? Looking forward to pics!


So it started snowing yesterday, just little flurries, girls didn't mind. It picked up in the evening and started to stick a bit before their bedtime but they didn't turn in any earlier, I think it was actually a little later because it seemed lighter out because of the snow. But it kept snowing through the night and we had a decent blanket by morning. I was curious to see their reaction to the white stuff on the ground. They did not care for it and did not want to come out. A couple of them ate the snow off the edge of their door step but didn't venture on to the ramp. So I waited until the boy was dressed and fed and bundled up then we both went out together with a bag of scratch/meal worms/boss to lure them out.


We see the treats but the white stuff is to much


Amelia was brave, she is definitely the most food motivated. In motion she definitely looks like a comet


But she stopped at the edge, I don't know about this snow


But I really want the treats


Maybe if I really stretch

But she turned around and let someone else try

Victoria had a brilliant idea


Jump onto the human's shoulder


I want a shoulder!


Victoria eventually hopped down which encouraged Amelia, here Morgaine and Baby are feeling very torn


I eventually went to scoop Baby up and she stepped on to my glove, I lowered her to the food and she stepped right down


Last girl out of the coop, she hopped off the side and went right underneath


Sorry for the pic heavy post, just a few more, yesterday was the first day all 5 girls laid, each of them kept skipping a day, even Amelia who hadn't missed a day in a month.


EE, GB, BO, BCM, SGD


Clockwise from top: Clara the EE, Morgaine the Marans, Amelia the Golden Buff, Baby the Buff Orp and Victoria the Dorking

And now to go back outside and see if there are any eggs yet today.

 

[COChix]

Coronations are stunning! We have a breeder near us who breeds them as well as the Light Sussex. She just sold her Speckled and Silver Sussex project pairs to another breeder. But this coming spring I think we are just going with Meyer. Good luck with the Marans. Just fyi it's the Black Copper that tend to lay the darkest but the others should give you lovely variations of dark and some with some speckles. Clockwise from top: Clara the EE, Morgaine the Marans, Amelia the Golden Buff, Baby the Buff Orp and Victoria the Dorking And now to go back outside and see if there are any eggs yet today.

yes see I got ahead of myself, I really want chocolate colored eggs to add depth to our eggs. I will need to find out if they have any BCM up the street, love all your pics of the girls and their big adventure outside the coop. You also have good commentary! I love the color of your eggs, nice color varity. Speaking of speckled eggs, here is a shot of one from yesterday, have no idea who laid it. ]

Got this egg yesterday, very pale blue almost white looking in certain light, see pics below.

Funny how much more blue it looks with the wood background, it came from Beyone, one of our EE.

 

[autumnhearth]

yes see I got ahead of myself, I really want chocolate colored eggs to add depth to our eggs. I will need to find out if they have any BCM up the street, love all your pics of the girls and their big adventure outside the coop. You also have good commentary! I love the color of your eggs, nice color varity.

Speaking of speckled eggs, here is a shot of one from yesterday, have no idea who laid it.

Thank you Love the speckled egg! Irregularities are so fun!