My girls are 20 weeks!

[Hsoares]

I have 7 hens that are 20 weeks today!

When should I expect eggs?
I'm overly excited for my egg colors!
I do have two roosters in my flock a pure whiting true blue and a tolburt Polish frizzle!

My girls list below:

1 pure BBS Ameraucana
2 whiting true blue ( one 18 weeks)
1 Silkie
1 Speckled olive egger
1 Spearmint egger
1 welsummer
1 white rock ( 18 weeks)
1 olive egger ( 17 weeks)
1 Maran x Ameraucana

Pictures below are of them enjoying our trailor after the 4th of July when we watched fireworks on it... lol

I do need to add they are free range all day. Full access to the coop and run for food and water.

Thanks so much in advance!!!

 

[BarnyardChaos]

They are beautiful! And so is your place! You will get so many eggs soon, but I don't know which breeds lay first. I'd have to google it. I love to see when chickens can free-range and be normal happy birds. I do have to ask, though - because I've recently lost at least 4 birds to a fox in the middle of the afternoon, when I thought it was safe for them to be out:
Is their free-range area fox-proof?

 

[Hsoares]

They are beautiful! And so is your place! You will get so many eggs soon, but I don't know which breeds lay first. I'd have to google it. I love to see when chickens can free-range and be normal happy birds. I do have to ask, though - because I've recently lost at least 4 birds to a fox in the middle of the afternoon, when I thought it was safe for them to be out:
Is their free-range area fox-proof?

Thank you! I have had them since they were a few days old!

I live on 2 acres here, which butts up to 68 on one side of me and on the other is a home on 2.4 then 1000 acres.

We have everything around that can eat them unfortunately. Our outside dogs help with the predators. I'd hate for them to get taken , yet I risk that so they can live there best life! They love ( right now anyway) going into our woods and foraging in the dead leaves for worms and stuff. I do give them veggies about once a week for treats. They are on 16% protein laying pellets now too.

To me nothing is fox proof unless chickens are on a concrete slab with wire around them and that's no way to live in my opinion.


There coop(the run has wire under the ground all the way around so something would have to dig for a long while to get to them during the day if they are in the run) is completely predator proof. When they go to roost at night in there, they are completely safe.

The coop was hand built by my hubby and I last winter.

 

[BarnyardChaos]

I live on 2 acres here, which butts up to 68 on one side of me and on the other is a home on 2.4 then 1000 acres.

We have everything around that can eat them unfortunately.

They love (right now anyway) going into our woods and foraging in the dead leaves for worms and stuff.

Yikes! Seriously --- I do mean seriously --- do you not realize you're offering up a chicken buffet? Lots of predators hunt during the day, not just at night. I worry that your flock will end up like this one:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/unknown-predator.1539278/
Or this one:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/all-chickens-dead.1526481/
Or this one:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/what-killed-my-hens.1513377/#post-25704970
I could go on and on...
I've let our birds free-range during the day for the past 7 years. That stopped last week, poor things. I don't know when I'll feel comfortable letting them out again, even if we manage to trap or kill that fox. If you ever have a predator take your flock, or even just one of them, you may have to reconsider whether letting them live a free and happy life is worth their deaths.

 

[BarnyardChaos]

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hijack your thread. I just have a sore spot right now.
I love your pictures, and you DO have a beautiful flock and yard. Thank you for sharing your birds and set up, and I hope & pray that they can continue to free-range at will, and that NOTHING ever threatens your birds!!!

 

[Hsoares]

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hijack your thread. I just have a sore spot right now.
I love your pictures, and you DO have a beautiful flock and yard. Thank you for sharing your birds and set up, and I hope & pray that they can continue to free-range at will, and that NOTHING ever threatens your birds!!!

I was about to say, that was a little harsh...

Thank you.

 

[BarnyardChaos]

Where do you live? I saw your post about that beautiful tolburt polish frizzle chick... everyone thought it was a pullet. Turned out to be a rooster, did he? All of my birds are your ordinary run-of-the-mill layers - pretty boring looking, compared to some of these fancy birds!

 

[Hsoares]

Where do you live? I saw your post about that beautiful tolburt polish frizzle chick... everyone thought it was a pullet. Turned out to be a rooster, did he? All of my birds are your ordinary run-of-the-mill layers - pretty boring looking, compared to some of these fancy birds!

In GA.

Yes! He is a beautiful roo!

A lot of people around here have ordinary layers, but some have more rare fancier ones too! I love my flock. It has been a joy to raise them! I ended up with 4 rooster out of the 11 I got. 2 of the roos went to pots. I kept the other two.

 

[BarnyardChaos]

I have only one rooster at the moment, with 38 - yes, 38 - laying hens, and about 15 pullets coming along. There's also about 15 cockerels. I'm watching my cockerels to choose which ones will be spared from going to Camp Frigidaire - I do need to add 2 more roosters to the flock. Maybe 3, in case one turns out to be too aggressive.

My laying flock is a mix of BPR, RIR, black Australorps, an easter egger, an ameracauna, and a white 'something'. The rooster, pullets and cockerels are all offspring of these, with former BPR, RIR and Australorp roosters.

My rooster is an Australorp+??? cross, 2 yrs old - I think he's gorgeous, for a mutt He's a very good boy. Not aggressive at all, keeps a close eye on as many of the ladies as he can (he's got his hands full!), and calls alarm quite well.
This is Goldie:

From the cockerels, I've got my eye on a white boy with caramel streaks on his breast, back and wings - He will be beautiful, and at just 5 weeks old, he's the bravest of his bunch and quickest to nail any bugs or treats. (Sorry for the poopy mess in the photo! That coop gets cleaned this week )
No name, yet. Maybe Popcorn

I've also picked out one red/black speckled boy (the only boy so far with red coloring), and a beautiful soft gray with Ameracauna fluff on his cheeks and bronze coloring on his breast. I don't have photos of these two yet, but I'll post them when I can.