Minnesota!

[scandiafowl]

After this winter I can see why people would do that, but I have a mix. My rose combed chickens faired much better in the cold.

They do. My beautiful BO rooster lost part of his comb this winter.

 

[Minniechickmama]

The last of my @Minniechickmama babies laid her first egg!
a beautiful Welsummer egg...

Good sized for a first egg!


This scale errs a little on the light side, so this egg is probably closer to large in size

They do start out pretty good sized, one of the things I love about them. For a smallish bird, they sure do lay some big eggs! I am sorry she isn't laying them darker, most of mine are a bit darker than that. Maybe they will be once she gets to laying more. You can't really go by the first ones anyway.

Nice!
I'm adding a couple of nesting boxes to ease the traffic jam during the day.

Welsummers sure are purty birds.

Do many of you lean towards breeds with little/no combs?

One of the things I love about the Buckeyes is that I do not have to worry about combs and wattles freezing. They have pea combs that are close-fitting to the head on both the males and females when bred properly. They have very slight wattles that won't get wet when drinking too.


Don't mind his weird looking eye, one of his eyelids was closed.

After this winter I can see why people would do that, but I have a mix. My rose combed chickens faired much better in the cold.

Rose combs can get frostbitten on the point if it sticks up a lot. When I had Hamburgs that happened to them. Wyandotte don't normally have as long or as thin of a point.


I love my Buckeyes, but I also love variety. My husband's favorite breed of mine are the New Hampshires, but those do get hit with some frostbite with their big old combs, though not as bad as the Welsummers do, usually NH just get their tips frosted. It really depends on the thickness of the comb. I had Black Minorcas here for a few years, for various reasons, I got out of them but mostly because they had years of breeding them up to true show quality and I needed to reduce the number of breeds I was keeping. But here is what their combs looked like:


But the cool thing with these guys was that their combs were so thick, that even in the coldest winter we have had here in the last 16 years, they barely even got the tips nipped. I hate looking at these pictures because I really love those birds, they are so majestic looking! They even escaped frostbite on their wattles, I think because they were so big, that they drooped over the side of the waterer and not in it. They were very hardy birds.
OH NO! I am getting that feeling! That one that says I should get these again!!!! Of course, they are white egg layers. I do have two hens out here still. One is the first one I had and the other was injured when I sold the others, so they get to stay until they keel over. The younger one, for some reason, lays a blue tinted egg, very light but still has a blue hue to it. I have no idea where that comes from. If there was some crossing up in them, it has not been evident in any of the breeding I was doing. Although, I got them from Sand Hill, and there were others that I got that year that had been crossed with something and were not pure.

Ameraucanas and most Easter Eggers will have a pea comb or some variation on the EEs. Another comb that holds up in the north is the cushion, which can be found on the Chanteclers. They were developed in Canada, so surely that was a consideration when they were being developed for the cold they get as well.

BUT, when it is all said and done, even in the coldest cold, if that coop and where the birds spend their time is kept dry, then frostbite isn't such a big concern, even with those huge combs. If you let them out where they get snowed on and wet and then it gets cold, chances are they are going to lose some skin at the very least. Trust me, this is something I know too too well.

 

[NathanZee]

@Minniechickmama Do you mean his eyelid is permanently shut like that, or he blinked for the picture?

 

[scandiafowl]

Having a variety is fun. It helped my decide which breeds I like and want to continue working with.

Jerseys are such stately creatures. Eddie saunters about the farm like he has all the time in the world. My Red Stars are into everything..

Text from my mother yesterday:
"Chickens are visiting in my kitchen eating crackers. Now they won't go away!"

 

[KlopKlop]

Rose combs can get frostbitten on the point if it sticks up a lot. When I had Hamburgs that happened to them. Wyandotte don't normally have as long or as thin of a point.

I need to refresh my memory in the difference between pea and rose combs. Buck, my buckeye, would have a pea comb right?

My SLWs have rose I believe but they are very small and tight.

Off to google to confirm!

 

[Cluckies]

Quote: The next bag I buy i'm going soy free, main reason is my sister has rheumatoid arthritis and can't have soy. Even if she eats eggs where the chicken was fed soy she has pain, so, i'm going to switch over so she can enjoy eggs again.

Quote:
Nice egg, congrats!

I have 2 that got frostbite last year, they had larger combs. I felt terrible so from now on, only small comb breeds for me. Unless I become a millionaire and get a huge heated building, then i'll have every breed I want and more! lol

 

[bantiesrule]

Anyone else headed to Hutch tomorrow? After no swaps last year, I'm thinking it will be busy.

 

[Minniechickmama]

@Minniechickmama Do you mean his eyelid is permanently shut like that, or he blinked for the picture?

He just blinked. I can show you pictures of what a blind eye looks like, I have a Welsummer rooster who got his taken out in a fight. Then I have a Black Ameraucana who is blind but I don't know how that happened to her. She might just have cataracts though.

 

[Minniechickmama]

I need to refresh my memory in the difference between pea and rose combs. Buck, my buckeye, would have a pea comb right?

My SLWs have rose I believe but they are very small and tight.

Off to google to confirm!

Yes, the Buckeye definitely has a pea comb. I have never had one of my Buckeyes have anything but a pea combs. I have hatched eggs from other lines who had singles though.

Wyandotte should have a rose comb and the hens normally have smaller ones.

 

[Minniechickmama]

Anyone else headed to Hutch tomorrow? After no swaps last year, I'm thinking it will be busy.

@destiny_56085 said she will have birds there. I don't have anything to go for this time, maybe the next one though, but we will see. I am usually able to sell anything I have to go straight off the farm and not have to haul them out anywhere.