My little homestead

[Ilovechickens2525]

Hello! I am new to raising my own chickens (had chickens as a child, but first flock that I’m raising myself) and am loving every minute. We have 9 girls! 3 copper marans (though one I suspect could be mixed), a couple silverudds, a few silverudd mixes (I think a couple mixed with cream legbar), one mystery girl (maybe ayam cemani and Wyandotte?) I also suspect one of my silverudds may be mixed with ayam cemani. They all came from the same farm!

Follow along for pictures and updates! Our excitement today is we got our first egg last night! I suspect from my blue silverudd.

 

[The Coop Crew]

Beautiful girls

 

[Ilovechickens2525]

Beautiful girls

Thank you so much! I think so too but I might be biased lol!

 

[Ilovechickens2525]

Now that I’ve got my first egg I’m so curious what colour eggs I’ll get from some of the others and how I’ll know who lay them lol! This girl doesn’t have red wattles showing really yet but she’s a mystery to me. Possible theories from the farm were that she may be part ayam cemani and Wyandotte? They also have a lot of silverudd there. What do you guys think?

 

[Ilovechickens2525]

And this girl was supposed to be a black silverudd but her face and behaviour are similar to my fancy looking one above. Wondering if she could have some ayam cemani in her too? She is a different vibe, more curious, than my ones who I think are pure silverudd. So I’m not sure what colour eggs she’ll lay.

 

[Ilovechickens2525]

And these two were also supposed to be silverudd’s but I think might be crossed with cream legbars. They are more petite and have crests. What colour eggs do you think? I think the splash will be my next layer so particularly curious if I’ll see something different from her or another minty green like my first girl!

 

[Ilovechickens2525]

And I think this lady won’t be far behind. Definitely part French copper marans, but I’m not convinced she’s pure bred. She has fewer feathers on her feet and a rose comb, which several silverudds on this farm had. Could she have the same dad as the silverudds and have some of that in her? Very different body, same shape as my other copper marans.

 

[CCsGarden]

Beautiful hens and egg!

 

[Ilovechickens2525]

Today we had three eggs for the first time! My son’s chicken laid her first egg, I was so surprised that she was next! I thought she’d be one of the last. Attaching a picture of her.

I’ve been debating about adding a couple more girls to our flock lately too. It’s just such a nice group now, I’d hate to mess up the dynamics as all girls are so sweet right now!

 

[Ilovechickens2525]

Hello all!

It gets cold where I live in the winter! I’ve been busy adding some more ventilation to the coop and wrapped the sides of the run that get the most wind in plastic. I think it’s fairly well winterized. I was thinking of adding a wall radiant heater as we do get down to -40/-50 at times here. The roost bars are now flat and wide so the girls feet will stay warm. My coop is 8x10 and I only have 9 girls, will they be able to keep enough body heat to keep warm? With the radiant heater.

I plan to order hatching eggs in the spring so I don’t want to overcrowd my coop prior to that.

Any advice on hatching eggs? I’ve never done it before! Thinking of legbars for sure as I have desperately wanting them! The hatchery also has mosaics, Swedish flower hens, biekefelders, Hmong that I’ve been considering adding. They also have marans which I already have but interested in a couple more and they have orpingtons which I may consider as well, I know many love them! I can’t get them all though!