New Hampshire!!

[BrewedInNh]

easter eggers

they even have a shiny new golf ball to help encourage them. the signs i keep reading about are there (their little combs are red, Red, RED!) i'm soooooooo excited and can't wait for my first egg!!!

Did you get them locally? We've decided not to winter our girls. We'll start over in the spring with a new flock and were thinking we might choose easter eggers this time. We pefer to spend our money locally when it's practical, like buying feed from the farmer down the street instead of going to a chain store, etc. If we could get easter eggers in southern NH it would be great.

 

[chicnchic]

Can u explain dust bath to me?.....i have heard of people using old tires and puttin sand in them....what is the purpose of this?

The girls LOVE their dust baths....I keep a pile of Diotomaceous Earth in the hen house for them to use...they love it and it keeps flies and mites away.

 

[chicnchic]

Originally Posted by kat e wampus

easter eggers

they even have a shiny new golf ball to help encourage them. the signs i keep reading about are there (their little combs are red, Red, RED!) i'm soooooooo excited and can't wait for my first egg!!!

BREWEDinNH: "Did you get them locally? We've decided not to winter our girls. We'll start over in the spring with a new flock and were thinking we might choose easter eggers this time. We pefer to spend our money locally when it's practical, like buying feed from the farmer down the street instead of going to a chain store, etc. If we could get easter eggers in southern NH it would be great."

I live in Northern NH

, and have my "original" mixed flock from 2 years ago, (they'll be 3 this coming Spring) 3 of which are EE's (Americauna's)...last year I got a "new flock" of barred rocks and won't go that route again...we had a lot of leg problems with them (not Merak's, but lots of weak/injured legs.)...we tried this spring to raise out own, but only ended up with one egg hatching (someone laid shell-less eggs just long enough to contaminate the 2 broodie's nests

) so this spring we'll get out own incubator and raise strictly EE eggs....they're the hardiest/best suite to free-ranging - imho - as they seem more alert and a bit more apt to defend themselves. Of the 4 breeds I had, the Wyandottes seemed the least hardy, the NH Reds, Barred Rocks and Americauna's all wintered well, but the EE (Americauna) gets our vote. We acquired an Americauna Rooster (who is now a year and a half old), and with the 3 hens still laying, have hopes to get enough eggs from them in the Spring to raise the new flock as all EE's...then we'll have a proven Rooster to trade with someone for another one!

He's a gem!

(And Kat e....don't plan on eggs until they're 6 months....before that sometimes happens, but 6 months is considered "normal".)

 

[Singlemaple]

BrewedInNh

I hatch chicks and then sell them when they reach 12 months just after there molt..( i do all the hard stuff lol)

i raise BR's, NH's, EE's and just started this year with BCM's and Cuckoo Marrans.

if your interested in the spring i will have quite a few EE's for sale.

 

[blackbirds13]

Giving a bump to NH to see who's home. Weather's not to bad so far but can tell the wind is picking up. This morning had to pick up all the styrofoam gravestones from the front of the property - plum forgot about them.
Birds seem to be okay so far - so glad I got that second larger coop built! Glad the Cream Legbar chicks in the brooder in that coop are pretty much feathered out just in case we lose electricity (almost a forgone conclusion). Hope all goes well for everyone.

What is everyone/anyone planning or hoping for next spring chicken wise?
I'm hoping my Jubilee pair (Atticus and Taloolah) make it to spring. Hoping my husband lets me keep all the roosters I want to keep so I can hatch my own BCM's, Legbars and Orpingtons (Jubilee and Chocolate). BUT hoping to add some Tolbunt Polish and Houdans. The Jubilee boy started crowing this weekend... Will be interesting to see how it develops as I think it's going to be a doosey of a crow! The Chocolate Bantam Orpington roo (Fat Albert) has a crow that's quite easy to live with. I thought about selling these off but they are so cute and my 3 year old LOVES them so they made the cut. My Marans boy (Davis) has not started crowing yet though he should be able to. He's a pure Bev Davis I hatched from Greenfire birds I had but sold off this year so hoping he'll be able to stay with the 5 girls I have from him - they hatched from some nice dark eggs so I'm looking forward to see what they lay. I lost more birds than I'd like to think about this year - some were hard to take. I lost my Alpha Legbar rooster and a Jubilee hen among many more. No one free ranges now. Not until I grow the flocks some more. I think I'm good with the Legbars as I have a good number of those. Looking forward to hatching and maybe really selling some birds next year in a bigger way than I have so far. I cannot stand chicks in the house nor can my husband. I had them in the basement but even if I cleaned up every day or so the dust and smell were too much for me so I built a brooder in the second coop I built this year. I have a nice big shed that needs some finishing up a few yards from the area I keep my pens that I think I will try to work into a brooding system over time. I'd like to do the swaps but don't think my 3 year old is quite ready for such a chicken filled day - I also worry about taking birds to and from the swaps but that's probably unfounded for the most part and just my own bio-security paranoia.
Still going to overwinter more birds than I planned so we'll see how things go.

What I am hoping for is also some ducks, geese and especially Turkeys but I know the husband is not feeling that yet. We do have a small pond on the property but we need to finish some work on the land to and around it first...but

hopefully soon.

Wishing everyone a safe next couple of days!

 

[serenityNH]

Hope everyone and their furry and feathered friends stay safe in this storm

 

[aceschix]

Giving a bump to NH to see who's home.  Weather's not to bad so far but can tell the wind is picking up.  This morning had to pick up all the styrofoam gravestones from the front of the property - plum forgot about them.
Birds seem to be okay so far - so glad I got that second larger coop built! Glad the Cream Legbar chicks in the brooder in that coop are pretty much feathered out just in case we lose electricity (almost a forgone conclusion).  Hope all goes well for everyone.  

What is everyone/anyone planning or hoping for next spring chicken wise?
I'm hoping my Jubilee pair (Atticus and Taloolah) make it to spring. Hoping my husband lets me keep all the roosters I want to keep so I can hatch my own BCM's, Legbars and Orpingtons (Jubilee and Chocolate).  BUT hoping to add some Tolbunt Polish and Houdans.  The Jubilee boy started crowing this weekend... Will be interesting to see how it develops as I think it's going to be a doosey of a crow! The Chocolate Bantam Orpington roo (Fat Albert) has a crow that's quite easy to live with.  I thought about selling these off but they are so cute and my 3 year old LOVES them so they made the cut.   My Marans boy (Davis) has not started crowing yet though he should be able to.  He's a pure Bev Davis I hatched from Greenfire birds I had but sold off this year so hoping he'll be able to stay with the 5 girls I have from him - they hatched from some nice dark eggs so I'm looking forward to see what they lay. I lost more birds than I'd like to think about this year - some were hard to take. I lost my Alpha Legbar rooster and a Jubilee hen among many more.  No one free ranges now. Not until I grow the flocks some more.  I think I'm good with the Legbars as I have a good number of those. Looking forward to hatching and maybe really selling some birds next year in a bigger way than I have so far.  I cannot stand chicks in the house nor can my husband. I had them in the basement but even if I cleaned up every day or so the dust and smell were too much for me so I built a brooder in  the second coop I built this year. I have a nice big shed that needs some finishing up a few yards from the area I keep my pens that I think I will try to work into a brooding system over time.  I'd like to do the swaps but don't think my 3 year old is quite ready for such a chicken filled day - I also worry about taking birds to and from the swaps but that's probably unfounded for the most part and just my own  bio-security paranoia.
Still going to overwinter more birds than I planned so we'll see how things go. 

What I am hoping for is also some ducks, geese and especially Turkeys but I know the husband is not feeling that yet.  We do have a small pond on the property but we need to finish some work on the land to and around it first...but   hopefully soon.

Wishing everyone a safe next couple of days!

Not at home today but checking in on lunch break. Sounds like great plans for you for next year. Love those Jubilee Orp!

I have some exciting flocks that I can not wait to hatch from in the late Winter! Most excited about the LF Mottled Cochins! Can not wait to continue working on them. Also my BBS Cochins! My other exciting project continues to be my Birchen Marans!
Then there are my BLRW, DD has Wheaten/Blue wheaten Ameraucanas, It will be busy here in February with all our Spring hatching . Can not wait

 

[aceschix]

Everyone ready for a little snow?

 

[kat e wampus]

I GOT MY FIRST EGG THIS MORNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Singlemaple]

Congratulations kat!

Enjoy it.