New Hampshire!!

[aceschix]

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

Feels like Christmas doesn't it!?!

Congratulations!!!

What color was it?

 

[Chicken Techie]

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

awesome, when that happened to me i told my brother and dad and they were like "thats good" non chicken people don't get it..... but i do so again congrats!

 

[1Chick Magnet]

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 am in southern nh and will have easter eggers for sale next spring.

 

[1Chick Magnet]

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!

I see that you have legbars. how well do they do in the winter? I have a rooster. his comb has been purple tipped on the coldest mornings.

 

[blackbirds13]

I see that you have legbars.  how well do they do in the winter?  I have a rooster.  his comb has been purple tipped on the coldest mornings. 

My rooster lost all his tips last winter but I don't heat my coops. The marans' combs tend to recover but the legbar comb was just too big I think. I might keep a heat lamp in just that coop this year but not sure I want to start doing that as it may bring other issues with it.

 

[kat e wampus]

the egg was a gorgeous light blue, and not a teeny tiny one. it is a perfect, medium sized egg. i am so bummed i missed whoever it was laying it!

 

[1Chick Magnet]

My rooster lost all his tips last winter but I don't heat my coops. The marans' combs tend to recover but the legbar comb was just too big I think. I might keep a heat lamp in just that coop this year but not sure I want to start doing that as it may bring other issues with it.

I don't heat mine either. they are insulated but I don't think that will be enough for him. I am afraid of heet lamps because there are so many combustable items in the coop.
how does the color of your legbar eggs compare to the blue of americauna eggs?

 

[1Chick Magnet]

the egg was a gorgeous light blue, and not a teeny tiny one. it is a perfect, medium sized egg. i am so bummed i missed whoever it was laying it!

I blew out my first few eggs so I could keep them forever. congrats

 

[blackbirds13]

I don't heat mine either. they are insulated but I don't think that will be enough for him. I am afraid of heet lamps because there are so many combustable items in the coop.
how does the color of your legbar eggs compare to the blue of americauna eggs?

My legbars eggs are not as blue as the ameraucanas. They aren't as green as I remember my EE's eggs being. I only have one blue Paul Smith Ameraucana left and she's just done molting but I will have to compare to be sure. I have a color chart and they range a bit on that. At least one of my younger legbars has started laying. I have 10 young ones that are almost finished feathering out so they won't lay until next spring. I don't think I will keep all ten but not sure who won't make the cut just yet. I am interested in putting a pair on craigslist to see what'll happen.
My first coop only had a bit of insulation. The larger one I built this year will have just a bit but not much. I am wary of the heat lamp for the same reason but it's worked so far with the chicken brooder I put in there this fall to keep the chicks out of the house as I really hate the dust and smell. Even if I clean every day or every other day it's not to my taste.
Their combs are just so big that I don't think there's much that can be done at some point.

 

[DraigAthar]

Gandalf the Ridiculous says hello!