New Jersey

[SparkleChic]

I like the contrast of their head and body. Are they darker now? Love your egg colors. My EE gives me an olive colored egg and sometimes it's more minty green and lighter. I only have one so I know it's her giving me different color eggs. Are yours consistent in color or do they vary?

I do have some pics, but none that are too recent. They were going through an ugly fluffy stage in these...LOL Their color has also changed, I can try to get some new pics this week...
They came from Cree Farms in WA state, shipped as day-old chicks.







The EE on the right (Pheonix) is in the pen with the wheaten marans. She lays mossy green eggs, I want to hatch some olive egger chicks from her and my marans roo.




These are the eggs I've been getting - they are a little darker in person. Pheonix lays the green, the one marans lays about a 6+ on the color scale. The other hasn't started laying yet...but hopefully soon!
The other eggs are my silkies and the Orloff - the silkie eggs are pink in person, the Orloff is was light beige. Pheonix laid the two green eggs and the greyish egg on the top, to the right of the marans egg. And the two blue-er eggs are from my other two EE's.




I've had my marans pen set up for about a week - once the second pullet starts laying, I will fire up the incubator.

 

[LilNugget]

Lil nugget,

Nice coop! It reminds me a little of mine. Lol! I think yours is bigger though and mine is made out of a kids swingset. I think www.jerseychickens.com has silkies and polish. You can put your order in now.

Very cute! Yes, they are similar! I am going to check with Bruce, but he doesn't have any Silkies or Polish on the jerseychickens site

When is his birthday? I should have some silkie chicks soon. They'll be black, some showgirl and some not. They are really nice quality.
Your coop looks great!

Remember that black jersey giant that got injured? Well, that wound got really nasty and she lost a huge chunk of skin. She finally healed up, grew feathers back, I was thinking I should try to sell her soon.
Well..the next day I noticed that she was limping badly...She can move her left leg but won't put weight on it.
So now I have to nurse her again...She is one accident prone little chicken!!!

His birthday is March 7th. When are you expecting?
Poor little Jersey Giant. Hope she heals quickly!

 

[kahlua]

I like the contrast of their head and body. Are they darker now? Love your egg colors. My EE gives me an olive colored egg and sometimes it's more minty green and lighter. I only have one so I know it's her giving me different color eggs. Are yours consistent in color or do they vary?

The marans aren't darker exactly, but their color is more consistent. Their color seemed patchy - now the color is smoother. I don't know if that makes any sense, I can try to get some pics this weekend. I don't usually get home before it gets dark during the week.
So far Pheonix is fairly consistent, she did lay 3-4 eggs that were light, but they're back to mossy green again. My other two EE's seem to be laying consistent colors - one light blue, one nice, almost robin's egg blue.

Very cute! Yes, they are similar! I am going to check with Bruce, but he doesn't have any Silkies or Polish on the jerseychickens site
His birthday is March 7th. When are you expecting?
Poor little Jersey Giant. Hope she heals quickly!

I am not sure exactly when I'll be hatching, but I was thinking I might set some eggs around Valentine's day, or maybe this weekend. So they'd be due around the 3rd to the 7th.

I also have a pair of chicks that are a week old, and 4 eggs that I hope will hatch next week. I'll probably keep any showgirls, but could part with some of the non-showgirls


Here are the two that hatched last week (the SG is on the left...)
Taken the day they hatched...







And their momma...don't mind the cheese on the floor...LOL

 

[NJchixs]

Very cute little chicks

The marans aren't darker exactly, but their color is more consistent. Their color seemed patchy - now the color is smoother. I don't know if that makes any sense, I can try to get some pics this weekend. I don't usually get home before it gets dark during the week.
So far Pheonix is fairly consistent, she did lay 3-4 eggs that were light, but they're back to mossy green again. My other two EE's seem to be laying consistent colors - one light blue, one nice, almost robin's egg blue.


I am not sure exactly when I'll be hatching, but I was thinking I might set some eggs around Valentine's day, or maybe this weekend. So they'd be due around the 3rd to the 7th.

I also have a pair of chicks that are a week old, and 4 eggs that I hope will hatch next week. I'll probably keep any showgirls, but could part with some of the non-showgirls


Here are the two that hatched last week (the SG is on the left...)
Taken the day they hatched...







And their momma...don't mind the cheese on the floor...LOL

 

[SparkleChic]

LilNugget, Bruce has the polish under rare breeds tab and silkies are under bantams tab on his site, but I would still call and ask when he's getting them. They are not currently on his hatch list. I got 6 hens from him last year and they are all nice. 2 LB, 2BO, 1CQ, and1RIR. All are laying.

 

[SparkleChic]

Kahlua,
keep me posted on your Marans hatch. Thanks

 

[mame1616]

Hello my BYC friends!! We are moving forward with our coop and run

now my husband wants silkie and polish babies for his birthday. Where to find them?? Btw Marsie is still alive and happy and our babies (well 12 weeks now) are grown and more than ready to go out!! Just need to complete the run. It's partially finished here

I was just thinking about you guys, and wondering how you were making out! What a great job on the coop and run! Glad to hear Marsie is doing so well!

 

[kahlua]

Kahlua,  
keep me posted on your Marans hatch.  Thanks

Will do!

 

[SparkleChic]

To clean chicken butts or not to clean chicken butts. That is the question of the day. My husband and I decided to, because we've been putting it off for a very long time. Unfortunately, too long, as we soon found out. After we cleaned out the hen house a bit and added fresh bedding, I put my long purple rubber gloves on knowing whats coming up next will be a dirty job. There were 3 hens needing attention. The light brahmas were the worst then the RIR. My husband got assigned to hold the hen as I trimmed the poo off. Fortunately, they are not too hard to pick up, but they get heavy when you hold them for a while! Anyway, as I was trying to cut close to the vent,the scissors were bending the feathers instead of cutting, Rats! So I started to cut through the poo instead, holding my breath. As feathers and poo blew in the freezing breeze and went up our noses my husband and I just looked at each other in disgust, then started cracking up. What did we get into! We must really love them. I was a hairstylist, so after getting all the poo off I gave her a nice short butt cut! Much better. We finished all three relatively quickly and I really think that they enjoy the freedom of a clean, lighter feeling butt. No more hanging dingle berries! Hurray!

 

[mame1616]

To clean chicken butts or not to clean chicken butts. That is the question of the day. My husband and I decided to, because we've been putting it off for a very long time. Unfortunately, too long, as we soon found out. After we cleaned out the hen house a bit and added fresh bedding, I put my long purple rubber gloves on knowing whats coming up next will be a dirty job. There were 3 hens needing attention. The light brahmas were the worst then the RIR. My husband got assigned to hold the hen as I trimmed the poo off. Fortunately, they are not too hard to pick up, but they get heavy when you hold them for a while! Anyway, as I was trying to cut close to the vent,the scissors were bending the feathers instead of cutting, Rats! So I started to cut through the poo instead, holding my breath. As feathers and poo blew in the freezing breeze and went up our noses my husband and I just looked at each other in disgust, then started cracking up. What did we get into! We must really love them. I was a hairstylist, so after getting all the poo off I gave her a nice short butt cut! Much better. We finished all three relatively quickly and I really think that they enjoy the freedom of a clean, lighter feeling butt. No more hanging dingle berries! Hurray!

Why would you cut the feathers? (Sorry - show person here.) When I have birds with a poopy butt, I just stick them in the tub and work it out under the water. With the way they sleep, having their butts naked is not the best idea, as they have no barrier to the cold air without their feathers. Plus, the feathers won't grow back until they molt, so they could be naked for quite a while.