Michigan

[fuzzybutt love]

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Good for you! I myself am hooked on EE's; they are the ones who follow me around and scoot into my lap when they get a chance! should be loads of fun for the girls.

 

[fuzzybutt love]

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Good for you Olive. It is so much more enjoyable when you can just do it for fun. I have my laying flock that I sell eggs from and then I have my others that are here just because I enjoy them. My favorites are my Marans and then my crazy Lakenvelders. I enjoy my chickens so much.

Thanks.

Lakenvelders lay white eggs, right?

To be perfectly honest...

*whispers* I don't know that I will ever really "enjoy" chickens

... they're just really not my thing. Love my geese, adore my turkeys. Chickens... meh. I'm certainly not consuming store bought chicken and eggs though so they'll be here. And I am very much looking forward to being done with them on a professional level.

Don't goose eggs taste similar? if so mabie you could just get a FEW chickens. I think once you get away from "production" breeds they'll grow on you by the day, though! totally different bag of apples. these were bred for personality, as well as purpose. I think the cochins may have been for the chinese royal families, even. If nothing else, you'll have a lot less to clean up after, so that should be cheering, at least!!!

 

[RBahmer]

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Good for you Olive. It is so much more enjoyable when you can just do it for fun. I have my laying flock that I sell eggs from and then I have my others that are here just because I enjoy them. My favorites are my Marans and then my crazy Lakenvelders. I enjoy my chickens so much.

Thanks.

Lakenvelders lay white eggs, right?

To be perfectly honest...

*whispers* I don't know that I will ever really "enjoy" chickens

... they're just really not my thing. Love my geese, adore my turkeys. Chickens... meh. I'm certainly not consuming store bought chicken and eggs though so they'll be here. And I am very much looking forward to being done with them on a professional level.

Yes Lakenvelders lay white eggs but they are small eggs. They are such a beautiful bird though. I don't know if you know anything about sheep but I have Dorpers. They are white with a black head (beautiful sheep) and when I saw the Lakenvelders I told my hubby look , Dorper chickens too. And I had to have some lol.

 

[Farmerboy16]

Good morning ya'll! The sun is trying to shine through the clouds.

I brought home another bull calf home last night, he was born on Sunday. So, now we have 2 bull calves.

It was crazy trying to feed both of them at the same time.

 

[Olive Hill]

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Thanks.

Lakenvelders lay white eggs, right?

To be perfectly honest...

*whispers* I don't know that I will ever really "enjoy" chickens

... they're just really not my thing. Love my geese, adore my turkeys. Chickens... meh. I'm certainly not consuming store bought chicken and eggs though so they'll be here. And I am very much looking forward to being done with them on a professional level.

Don't goose eggs taste similar? if so mabie you could just get a FEW chickens. I think once you get away from "production" breeds they'll grow on you by the day, though! totally different bag of apples. these were bred for personality, as well as purpose. I think the cochins may have been for the chinese royal families, even. If nothing else, you'll have a lot less to clean up after, so that should be cheering, at least!!!

Goose eggs are fabulous, especially for baking, but they only lay for a short season in the spring. Turkeys also only lay during short breeding seasons. Most only in the spring but ours occasionally lay for a short period in the summer and fall, too.

Oh, we've had lots of heritage breeds over the years. We have actually done a lot of work in breeding and selecting heritage breeds for meat and eggs and for the past several years have offered heritage products exclusively -- even our meat chickens are heritage cockerels. We've had: Rhode Island Reds, Black Austrlorps, Light Brahmas, Buff Orps, Barred Rocks, New Hampshires, Wyandottes, Cochins both bantam and LF, Silkies, and d'Uccles -- as well as EEs. The last few listed being more "for fun", of course.

The funniest thing? Our favorite chicken of all time was a hen we had way back before we set to work with heritage breeds. She was an ISA Brown and an absolute hoot.

I have a BA/LB cross right now that I'm rather fond of, but not in an "I really enjoy this chicken" sort of way but in a "she's got a lot of good traits and is built in an aesthetically pleasing way" kind of way. *shrug* I know a lot of people enjoy their chickens as pets, it's just not for me. I appreciate them for what they are and will keep them around for that reason. I have my favorites based on traits but they're not really something I'm drawn to hold, pet, etc. I want my eggs and my meat and I don't want to be bothered with any high maintenance hens in making that happen.

Now, you can find me chattering with the geese and doling out belly and behind-the-ear scritches to the hogs on a daily basis.

 

[Opa]

The health issues with regard to the various types of building materials is a subject that comes up quite often and is one in which there are many misconceptions. As Raz said the health issue of treated wood is greatly overstated. Using treated wood for framing, particularily where there is ground contact, is the only prudent choice. Someone using it for siding material is unlikely due to the high cost.

Cedar is another misunderstood wood with regard to using it around chickens. Aromatic red cedar is the wood that can cause respitory problems for poultry. It is most often used for bedding materials for a variety of animals. It's most common form is shavings, chips, or sawdust. Rarely would you find it being used as lumber except as a lining material for cedar chests. The most common cedar found in 1x and 2x boards is western red cedar. It doesn't possess the same volume of toxins are the Eastern Aromatic Cedar. Also lumber "outgases", that is to say that the fumes leave the wood. This happens rather quickly once it is exposed to air.

So if you have treated lumber I wouldn't hesitate to use it, and cedar makes beautiful weather resistant coops. If you are still overly concerned about the possibility of toxic exposure you could seal the wood with a coat of shellac and that would eliminate any possibility of a problem.

 

[RBahmer]

I am so new to this and don't know a whole lot yet. At the chance of sounding dumb would someone please explain to me what "heritage breed " means? There are so many terms I have seen on BYC that I really don't understand what someone means but don't want to really ask and seem dumb. Thank you.

 

[flatlander S/W]

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Opa

Thanks for the info. I'm not overly concerned. Been using the stuff around pets and other small livestock fo years. This is my first attempt at raising chickens and didn't want to kill off the flock by useing inappropriate materials.

Doug

 

[Olive Hill]

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Heritage most often refers to those breeds that are:

1) An APA Standard Breed.
2) True Mating. That is, when mated to each other they produce offspring of the same type.
3) Naturally Mating. They do not require AI to achieve reasonable rates of conception.
4) Have a long, productive outdoor life span on average.
5) Have slow to moderate growth rate. Those chickens whose growth rate does not compromise their health and well-being.

Your most common backyard chicken breeds are all heritage breeds for the most part and many of the rarer types are as well.

Occasionally you will see someone advertising "heritage" and the word will be used in the context of the quality of the bird, not just its breed classification. In these cases the seller is usually trying to communicate that the bird is bred to APA standard or as close as possible. Hatchery birds tend to deviate from the standard to degrees that make them unfit for showing and less fit for dual purpose use than the same breed of bird from a breeder. Heritage can sometimes be used to make this quality distinction as well.

For instance, my Narragansett turkeys are both a Heritage Breed of turkey (which has a similar definition to that of the heritage chicken definition above) and they are heritage quality. That is, I breed to the APA standard and in the case of turkeys whose biggest purpose of meat this is especially pertinent to size. Hatchery Narragansetts, like many types of hatchery chickens, don't tend to be as big or correctly built as breeder Narragansetts. And that tends to apply to all turkeys and chickens.

HTH!

 

[M.sue]

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Opa

Thanks for the info. I'm not overly concerned. Been using the stuff around pets and other small livestock fo years. This is my first attempt at raising chickens and didn't want to kill off the flock by useing inappropriate materials.

Doug

DH built our coop out of treated lumber (frame, door frame & base)....the walls are OSB and my chickens have not pecked or attempted to peck.