Nevadans?

[SunnyDawn]

Quote:
I have pure bred Ameraucanas, Large Fowl, Blacks, but I will not have any for sell until next spring. These are not EEs and they are not Araucanas (rare and very hard to breed), they do lay the blue eggs. The blacks are the only pure colors (accepted standards) I will have but I will also have white Ameraucana over wheaton Ameraucana (using Genny's white roo) which would be considered EEs even though both parents are Ameraucanas (and the result is still a blue egg layer) because it is not an accepted cross.

If you want some next year let me know!

 

[The Sparks Coop]

Quote:
I have pure bred Ameraucanas, Large Fowl, Blacks, but I will not have any for sell until next spring. These are not EEs and they are not Araucanas (rare and very hard to breed), they do lay the blue eggs. The blacks are the only pure colors (accepted standards) I will have but I will also have white Ameraucana over wheaton Ameraucana (using Genny's white roo) which would be considered EEs even though both parents are Ameraucanas (and the result is still a blue egg layer) because it is not an accepted cross.

If you want some next year let me know!

Yes I would love 2!! And, between the Maran and Wellsummer, do you have a preference? I have 2 Wellsummers, yet they are too young for eggs. I also have the Penedesenca which are also too young. I really want to get some Marans to round out the dark eggs.

Thanks!!

Tom

 

[daegorn]

Well it sounds like Tom ( the sparks coop) and I are of the same mind.I got my first chickens from McMury and then started to figure out what I wanted in my coop. I am learning so much with soooooo much more to go. Just like my horse, I went to school for that and have been riding my entire life but still learning!

 

[Holly31]

The hawk looks like a Cooper's Hawk to me. I have seen them take sparrows, but not a regular large chicken. I have a red-tail in my neighborhood that has taken large roos, banties, ducks, and even my cats (or else it's been him and a coyote). It is a beastly thing, but what can I do? It is part of nature. I have been making a concerted effort to get my cats and chickens INSIDE the home and their pens at night - most problems seem to happen at dawn. Can't have any free rangers anymore.

I don't think I'll be in Reno any time soon, so I may have to deal with eggs in hopes of getting a blue laced ee pullet. Some of my black EEs lay a nice bluish egg, but I too wish for the BLUE egg, not so much the greenish one. But the beauty of the hen outweighs the egg color. I spend more time breeding my copper marans. I had some beautiful blue egg ees, but, of course, the hawk got them years ago.

I will have dark maran eggs available at some point - people are looking for copper marans. But my strain isn't great yet, I only have three really nice birds to breed. So it takes a while before I will have those. I have a lot of layers just hanging around laying normal brown eggs, or they have no feathers on their legs, or copper on their hackles, but the new roo will add some great color and feathers to the next hatch. I'm pairing him only with hens that have dark eggs and feathered legs now.

I caponized a dozen roos today, it took 4 hours. I think I am slow because I suture up their holes that I make. I also managed to cut too far forward on 2 of them, so had to suture 2 thoracic cavities too. I am not real happy with my style, speed or ease, it seems like a lot come out in chunks instead of whole testes. Sometimes I can't find the things without a lot of searching. But my latest "client" had 3 of 3 fatalities and brought his remainders to me, was queasy of the procedure, thrilled with the 12 live done birds, and plans on bringing all his cocks to me to caponize (he will be one of almost zero capon raisers in LV; looks like I have lot of work ahead).

The more I do, the more I think they need to go a minimum of 24-36 hours without food - the intestines certainly have a tendancy to look like testicles. The hardest part is SEEING what you are doing. If you get a bleeder you stuff a paper napkin in the hole and hold off a few minutes until the bleeding stops. Better than letting them bleed out internally. I think using that bit o' lidocaine on the skin helps a lot keeping them calm before you make a cut, too. I think I want to try the loop!

 

[laceynoelle]

I think youre right, that is a cooper's hawk. Google says that the red tailed have redder tails, go figure.

No, actually same basic color, but Cooper's have more barring on the tail. Good Job, i never knew that!! Ive been calling those fellas red tailed for years.

Caponizing is kinda mental. Its cool and everything, but too time comsuming. If you have extra roos, eat them. If you want big roos, buy turkeys. I know they get nicer, but i'd hate to get attached to a nice rooster that we now have to eat because he cant do his manly duty. ^^ lol narrow minded, i know, but its the way i see it. Sorry guys.

 

[SunnyDawn]

Quote:
I have pure bred Ameraucanas, Large Fowl, Blacks, but I will not have any for sell until next spring. These are not EEs and they are not Araucanas (rare and very hard to breed), they do lay the blue eggs. The blacks are the only pure colors (accepted standards) I will have but I will also have white Ameraucana over wheaton Ameraucana (using Genny's white roo) which would be considered EEs even though both parents are Ameraucanas (and the result is still a blue egg layer) because it is not an accepted cross.

If you want some next year let me know!

Yes I would love 2!! And, between the Maran and Wellsummer, do you have a preference? I have 2 Wellsummers, yet they are too young for eggs. I also have the Penedesenca which are also too young. I really want to get some Marans to round out the dark eggs.

Thanks!!

Tom

I'll put you on the list for early spring next year. Out of my Marans and Welsummers I much prefer the Marans but I'm sure I could find better Welsummers from a reputable breeder. Although I even liked my hatchery marans better than my current Welsummers. About half of my hatchery marans laid a beautiful dark egg and were not as flighty as my Welsummers. Not ready to give up on Welsummers yet though. Just want to go through a quality breeder next time.

Anybody know who has some super dark egg laying Marans and Welsummers? Like Holly said they are often a work in process, breeding for SQ and dark eggs but I don't show my gals and so am all about the egg color.

Holly are you culling any BCM pullets for incorrect coloring/feathering that lay a really dark egg? I won't be breeding them but I do love, love, love the dark eggs!!! DH and I could pick some up for us and Tom (unless you want SQ Tom) and any other Reno folks that also only want the dark eggs. We need a weekend away anyway and love the little town of Mesquite which is not too far from you. If so how much for one of your culls?

Ke-Ben, I know you got rid of a lot of your birds but maybe you have marans left that are culls for other reason's (besides egg color) that you might want to sell as well?

I have 4 BCM pullets and three are too dark (all are solid black, with no lacing of any kind) and the other has way too much copper color all through the hackles and chest, but they lay the most beautiful dark eggs (especially 2 of them)!

They do have the right colored legs w/light feathering like they should and a couple of them have gorgeous combs but the coloring would make them culls for people who show their birds or breed them.

 

[SunnyDawn]

OMG! I just realized that we are almost to 200 pages and have almost 2,000 posts! You folks keep a look out for me cause I forget to pay attention. vegaschick let me know when we reached a 1,000 posts.

Thank you!

Hey, I need a favor from you all. I have a lot of chickens right now that are nameless! I got so many at once that I haven't had a chance to name them all and "girls" is getting old now that they are bigger. The names I do have are Bertha (dominant hen, actually she even dominates the cockerals), Merlot, Cab, Penny, Sweet Cheeks, Silver Belle, Honkers, Dutchess, Poppy, Sesame, Cotton, 3 "Miss Ts" (the BCM Tripletts that look so much alike I can't tell them apart), Baby and Q-Tip.
That leaves 14 gals without names! Any ideas? Help! My black Am girl, the 2 wheaton Am gals, 2 EEs, 1 Barney, 2 Welsummers, 1 Cuckoo Marans, 1 BCM, 1 Del, and a couple of barnyard hens still need names.

 

[NevadaRon]

We need visuals!

How can we give them names without some idea of appearnce/personality?

 

[SunnyDawn]

Quote:
OK. Heading outside with the camera now...

 

[Holly31]

I have named my girls after celebs, cities, food, fruit; my Frenchies get french names - Gabby, Gigi, Suzette, Jolie, Josephine, Napoleon.

How about Muffin (good for Amer), Raven (black girls), Lucy (red ones), Camilla or Diana (English ones), Gypsy, Della, Annie, Bonnie, Paris, Rome, London, Dakota, Texas, Denver, Juno, Shiloh, Sophie, Misty - ok, I'm outta names now.

BLACK COPPER FRANCH MARANS: I have 5 birds - a roo and 4 girls.

1- a very nice black and touch o copper heavy feather legged girl with ultra dark eggs and a nice personality (my keeper).
2 - a pullet that is pretty with touch o copper and small comb, lightly feathered legs, but has not started laying so don't know if eggs are dark yet. If they are, she is a keeper. Kind of skittish, but otherwise not a mean girl.
3 - an all black hen that lays a dark with speckled eggs but has no copper and hardly any feathers on her legs. I would like to breed her knowing that my roo will give me the pullet characteristics that she lacks. Dominant hen, bossy, mates a lot, her best characteristics is her dark speckled eggs.
4 - another all black one with a few feathers on her legs, black eyes, and lays a normal orpington colored brown egg. This is a # 1 cull, but since she's a good layer she just goes in with the rest of the layers.

The roo is quite nice, with heavily feathered legs, copper hackles and mahogany saddle, black and green tail, he is the son of # 1.

SO, I hate to say,

but I think I have enough people wanting marans that I will have to sell you eggs or chicks, from the pairing of the mother and son.

The son will pass on nice genes to the pullets, and the hen is pretty enough to pass on nice things to the cocks. I am just hoping that my beauty-hen will have more pullets this time instead of giving me 80% cocks like last time.

That totally sucked. It also was part of my motivation to become a caponizer.

I'll put some pics of the birds up shortly. I finally got the picture thing down. You would not have know that in my former life I helped customize big biz software, would you? I prefer being a an LVT.