Minnesota!

[Bogtown Chick]

Hi Cochins! Welcome to the MN thread. I LOVE that picture of those darling chicks in the box. They are so beautiful!

We have one blue cochin bantam roo who keeps up with the larger birds in his mixed flock. He is our comic relief. We've usually got a "Duke story" everyday. Gets along well with his brooder mate head rooster without problems. We really enjoy him.

 

[lauralgirl]

Hi, and I'm so sorry. If our dogs ever got to our chickens, we'd have the same problem and I'd be devistated.

So what breeds are you incubating? I hope you have a wonderful hatch rate! Right now, I've got 2 Sebastopol goose eggs incubating. They were shipped here from Florida and I'll try candling them in 3 days.

Anyone else hatching right now?


Why cochins of course, hahaha. I ordered the cochin bantam assortment while ideal poultry was having their 85 cent bantam sale. I just couldn't resist. I ordered 55 of them and gave 16 of them to a friend.

Here's when they first arrived, all but 4 survived the 2 day shipment with temperatures well below 0. I was so worried about them.

Adorable!! Great survival rate for the weather! I have Welsummer, Black Copper Marans, Blue Copper Marans and Euskal Oiloas (Marraduna Basque Hens) in the incubator right now. Welsummers and Marrans go into lockdown tonight! I'm new to incubating/hatching, so am keeping my fingers crossed that it goes well!
ScoutsNana - if I end up with extra Welsummer cockerels from this hatch, I'll let you know, if interested.

 

[lauralgirl]

Cool, How far are you from the cities? I raise Black Australorps and have a pair of Cream Legbars. I would love to have some broody's to help raise some chicks for me. I also have lots of room. How is their quality with the cochins as I might be interested in some. I have been going to shows with the BA's and would like alittle diversity perhaps.

How big are the eggs you get from the Cream Legbars? I've been sorely tempted to get a few, but haven't found anyone who gets more than a medium sized egg. I'm hoping to find some that lay large to XLarge, but just not sure they exist

 

[Triplell]

How big are the eggs you get from the Cream Legbars?  I've been sorely tempted to get a few, but haven't found anyone who gets more than a medium sized egg.  I'm hoping to find some that lay large to XLarge, but just not sure they exist

Mine should start to lay sometime this month. Cream Legbars do only lay a meduim or just a little bit bigger. They don't lay a large to ex-large egg.

 

[Sairi]

im from MN! (personally, i beleive its the best state... )

 

[goose4]

Does anyone here raise Marans? I would like to try a few to get some different colored eggs. Currenty we have Rhode Island Reds, California Whites. Silver laced Wyandotes, Easter Eggers, and a couple of Buff Orpingtons. Would they hold their own with the Rhode Isand Reds?

 

[aussiegal318]

I was looking for Bogtown Chick's Minnesota Coop thread and found this.
Yea! Not that I'm much of a poster/joiner, it's nice to know others are as nuts as I am.

Let me introduce myself:
Aussiegal, proud dog-mom of 4 australian shepherds ranging from 12yrs to 6yrs old;
keeper of 4 cats, 3 belong to my daughter, but they don't want to live with her because she had the audacity to bring home a 7 month old lad/bully;
Owned by 5 alpacas, the attitude of cats with the size of great danes; in love with 15 chicken, 4 BO, 2 silver wyndattes, 4 blue cochins, 1 cochin x,
1 black orp, 1 EE, 1 RI White roo & 1 EE? mix roo;
3 grand children and 1 husband (quad for 39 yrs).

I feel bad about all the dog horrors. I'm blessed to have my dogs as guardians (except the puppy who my find out about rock salt). My Bandit boy sits on the hill over looking the chickens and will sound the hawk alert. Many nights he will head out when he hears the coyotes & barks his fool head off for a while. We have a pack of coyotes around here that attacked my neighbor's cattle, go figure.

Oh, please don't tell any of my southern relatives that we don't live year round in igloos.

 

[coldupnorth]

Hi Cochins! Welcome to the MN thread. I LOVE that picture of those darling chicks in the box. They are so beautiful!

We have one blue cochin bantam roo who keeps up with the larger birds in his mixed flock. He is our comic relief. We've usually got a "Duke story" everyday. Gets along well with his brooder mate head rooster without problems. We really enjoy him.

I have 2 LF Cochins that I hatched from mrheinz(Iowa) last year. They will be a year in less than a month. Our splash girl, Daisy, is just beautiful with her bountiful feathers everywhere. Our Blue boy, Tiny (anything but), is the sweetest thing in the world. He is by far the biggest bird in his coop, but he lets his buddy Araucana be head roo. No fighting, no arguing, no picking. They do take a long time to mature.....She just started laying eggs and he hasn't even crowed yet. I just love watching them.

 

[cochins1088]

I have 2 LF Cochins that I hatched from mrheinz(Iowa) last year. They will be a year in less than a month. Our splash girl, Daisy, is just beautiful with her bountiful feathers everywhere. Our Blue boy, Tiny (anything but), is the sweetest thing in the world. He is by far the biggest bird in his coop, but he lets his buddy Araucana be head roo. No fighting, no arguing, no picking. They do take a long time to mature.....She just started laying eggs and he hasn't even crowed yet. I just love watching them.

They do take a long time to mature. My LF hens usually don't begin laying until they are 1 year old, and some take even longer. I love their docile nature and how easy going they are. My old rooster Tom was my baby. He loved attention and would snuggle with me. When he passed away at the young age of 5, I buried him and made him a grave stone. He was the only chicken that I ever buried.

Does anyone else have a problem with frostbite? It's been extra bad this year... The combs and wattles of the older roosters are pretty beat up with black edges. And worst of all, I have this one LF blue cochin hen who has a bad leg. 2 of the toes on her bad leg are completely black. I feel so bad about it. They are sheltered, but it's not insulated. Does anyone have any advice to prevent it in the future? Some say vaseline, but I don't think it does anything...

 

[coldupnorth]

Quote: Frostbite has been really bad this year with the deep cold weather we've been having. Very few of my chickens have escaped without some comb/wattle damage. Our coops are insulated but not heated and the chickens producing heat/moisture and the cold was just a bad combination. I've never really had good luck with the vaseline when it gets as cold as it has either. For feet, having their roost bar wide enough so that they can get their whole body over their feet or plenty of clean thick bedding that they can stay a little warmer. Some are a little smarter than others in taking care of their own combs/wattles. Hope your hen will be okay. I did have a roo a couple of years ago who got frostbite on one of his toes because of where he choose to roost in the coop. It took him a couple of months to heal, but then he was okay.