Michigan

[NovaAman]

misslady, It might be easier to just buy the birds, and let them do the work for you... Maybe shelleyb can sell you birds and then start in the spring?

I like my little ISA. She's a sweet enough bird. Not laying yet, but the most curious one I've got, so maybe that's why I like her. LOL They free range also, so maybe that's why she's smart enough to get in the coop on her own... I think in the summer If I were a chicken in a secure run, I might prefer to be outside too! LOL.

 

[misslady]

Quote:
Thank you! I will contact her.

I'm not a big fan of the frost either, I had a "mixed precipitation weather alert" on my cell phone when I woke up this morning. If I see snow today, I am not going to be a happy camper! Thankfully it's nice and warm in my house and I have the whole basement at my chicken rearing disposal.

Hopefully it's nice out on Halloween so my poor kids and all those other cute trick-or-treater's don't have to cover up their costumes with big winter jackets.

Whoever makes Halloween costumes doesn't live in Michigan! I always have to dig to find one I can layer up underneath.

 

[shelleyb1969]

NovaAman and chickflick...thanks for thinking of me.

I have 2 super nice Silkie roosters for sale right now...a blue and a splash. But I only have partridge pullets to go with them. And I do sell eggs...but I'm checking fertility in my BBS pen this morning. If fertility is good in that pen, then eggs are available. My white Showgirls are laying, and fertility is excellent in that pen. All of my other colors/varieties are under "lock and key" right now.

 

[KrisRose]

Quote:
I have a coop with a loft in it that Babette and her babies sleep in. They would to prefer to be out but the babies had a problem with cocci earlier in the summer so I dont want them out in the wet and cold.
Henry my tom is out on his roost at night but come winter he will also go in with his hen.
Once they roost they will not leave their spot until light no matter what the weather brings.

 

[keyt1969]

Quote:
hahaha yeah, giving away FREE because they're the worst birds ever!!!

We were laughing today with our neighbor about how they're a terrible bird and we couldn't understand why some people love them. No one would buy mine even at $3 a piece when i wanted to go to chickenstock, then a guy who was just getting into chickens offered $20 for all 8 and I was SO excited!!! Aric hated those birds and he's the chicken fan!!

We do love the Araucanas we got from Aric's friend and another lady. They're all Araucanas but all look so different! Now if only I knew why we only get 1-2 eggs out of 30-some chickens a week!! I realize it's getting into winter but that's ridiculous! Today I walked into the barn when Aric was getting upset (not really) with them and lecturing them. I just stood there watching and trying not to laugh. It was hilarious!!

Both Chickflick and myself loved our ISA's. Very friendly and smart. lol Always working on how to get out of their enclosures and go free ranging. They where large egg layers which was their downfall. My 4 and Chicks 3 all died after becoming internal layers at around 2 years old. Thats the only reason I dont get them anymore.
Hard frost overnight

. Total bummer. Why cant we have just spring, summer and fall?
Only 2 eggs from my 29 yesterday. Everybody is molting!!!

SMART??? HAHAHAAHA that was one of the reasons we hated ours. They would NEVER go out of the weather. Last winter one of them was so cold it shivered in the corner and it's wing froze to the fence!!! We have a small space between the run fence and the barn/garage. If they'd see something move they'd have to go in that space like a cat to get it, then even though they flew over there they couldn't figure out how to get back!! So we'd spend our days, usually 10x a day or more getting them out of that space!! Plus they were terrible bullies!!!

As far as laying they were only ok! Out of 8 of them we'd get about 3-4 eggs a week.

 

[keyt1969]

M.sue :

Quote:
hahaha yeah, giving away FREE because they're the worst birds ever!!!

We were laughing today with our neighbor about how they're a terrible bird and we couldn't understand why some people love them. No one would buy mine even at $3 a piece when i wanted to go to chickenstock, then a guy who was just getting into chickens offered $20 for all 8 and I was SO excited!!! Aric hated those birds and he's the chicken fan!!

We do love the Araucanas we got from Aric's friend and another lady. They're all Araucanas but all look so different! Now if only I knew why we only get 1-2 eggs out of 30-some chickens a week!! I realize it's getting into winter but that's ridiculous! Today I walked into the barn when Aric was getting upset (not really) with them and lecturing them. I just stood there watching and trying not to laugh. It was hilarious!!

Just curious as to why you feel that ISAs are awful birds? I have 4, they started laying around 20 wks and I get an egg a day from them.
Is there something specific or you just don't like the breed.​

To each their own! Ours were dumb and huge bullies. 5 of them were bullies anyway. I was more than willing to give mine away too like that ad but I was trying to raise money to go to chickenstock. Aric is the one who works with the chickens and I work with the ducks. He cursed the Isas all day long. We even said the main reason we got them is because people loved them so much. Then we found out our neighbor got rid of hers too for the same reasons. No one would take them when she was giving them away (she had 7 and a rooster) so she sent them to freezer camp.

Ooo time to turn on the pellet stove for the first time this seasons, it's sooo cold!!!

 

[KrisRose]

Quote:
Both Chickflick and myself loved our ISA's. Very friendly and smart. lol Always working on how to get out of their enclosures and go free ranging. They where large egg layers which was their downfall. My 4 and Chicks 3 all died after becoming internal layers at around 2 years old. Thats the only reason I dont get them anymore.
Hard frost overnight

. Total bummer. Why cant we have just spring, summer and fall?
Only 2 eggs from my 29 yesterday. Everybody is molting!!!

SMART??? HAHAHAAHA that was one of the reasons we hated ours. They would NEVER go out of the weather. Last winter one of them was so cold it shivered in the corner and it's wing froze to the fence!!! We have a small space between the run fence and the barn/garage. If they'd see something move they'd have to go in that space like a cat to get it, then even though they flew over there they couldn't figure out how to get back!! So we'd spend our days, usually 10x a day or more getting them out of that space!! Plus they were terrible bullies!!!

As far as laying they were only ok! Out of 8 of them we'd get about 3-4 eggs a week.

Yes smart. My ISA learn how to escape the back yard going under a stool I had the fence propped against. She came back and called all her sisters and they all followed her single file thru the fence. Except the rooster who stood there and watch all 30 go thru the hole and still couldnt figure it out. They were always with me in the garden helping me till up wormies. I miss them alot, esp my Splash and Chickflicks Sweetpea. RIP purty girls.

 

[1muttsfan]

Keyt, maybe you had some inferior genetics in your bunch of Isas. Mine were pretty typical acting chickens, friendlier than average, and layed lots of big brown eggs. The problem was after a year the eggs got HUGE with thinner and thinner shells (they put the same amount of calcium in each shell no matter how large the eggs get over time, so the eggshells thin out over time). I like to keep chickens for longer, or at least have them be useful layers for more than a year, so I switched to Delawares, Welsummers and EE and Ameraucanas. Not been sorry at all. BUT if you want lots of eggs from fewer birds, and plan on keeping them only for a year or so, Isa's are egg layers supreme.

 

[Olive Hill]

It's important in these discussions about breed and behavior for everyone to keep in mind that environment and management play a big role in how any given bird will act and perform.

When in doubt pick a couple up and try them out for yourself.

On ISAs being bullies: I've seen this on a couple occasions. IME it seems to arise when they are in crowded living quarters. I won't say overcrowded because obviously I'm not out there measuring other people's pens and counting their birds, but I have talked with a couple of people that when they have ISAs in highly populated runs they have seen the ISAs being very dominant. It's an interesting behavior pattern I have actually been a bit interested in for a while as ISAs were developed for battery production and are considered a good choice for confinement, but when it's confinement with a good number of other birds some aggression seems to come out. This has agricultural implications especially as consumers continue to push for the banning of battery cages in commercial operations. I'd like to have the opportunity to pick the brain of a cage-free confinement farmer on this, but haven't had a chance yet. I'll find one one of these days, corner him and see what I get...

 

[Olive Hill]

Quote:
SMART??? HAHAHAAHA that was one of the reasons we hated ours. They would NEVER go out of the weather. Last winter one of them was so cold it shivered in the corner and it's wing froze to the fence!!! We have a small space between the run fence and the barn/garage. If they'd see something move they'd have to go in that space like a cat to get it, then even though they flew over there they couldn't figure out how to get back!! So we'd spend our days, usually 10x a day or more getting them out of that space!! Plus they were terrible bullies!!!

As far as laying they were only ok! Out of 8 of them we'd get about 3-4 eggs a week.

Yes smart. My ISA learn how to escape the back yard going under a stool I had the fence propped against. She came back and called all her sisters and they all followed her single file thru the fence. Except the rooster who stood there and watch all 30 go thru the hole and still couldnt figure it out. They were always with me in the garden helping me till up wormies. I miss them alot, esp my Splash and Chickflicks Sweetpea. RIP purty girls.

We've had particularly intelligent ISAs, too. The story I told here recently about the hen that would help my husband on projects around the property and even learned to "hand him" screws when he was building something was an ISA.