Hello all,
I have been looking things up on BYC for at least 6 months, but never registered before. I got about 70 chicks this spring, which as my DH reminds me everyday is too many and he wants nothing to do with them. I believe my current count is about 35. I had one that died a few hours after getting them and 2 we dispatched by the hatchet method when they were fairly small because one would never walk and the other had a deformity of the beak and was slowly starving. One was crippled by I think, neurological damage and couldn't walk for a month. I nursed her 24/7 and she even slept in bed with me, as she got very loud and upset to be left alone for a minute......now she is a normal bantam cochin, still bossy, but running around outside with the best of them. I sold a number of them during the summer, especially pet roosters, and either a fox or racoon got a number of them, until we were down to 39, and them after advertising and asking everyone we met we had to get rid of some excess roosters. The noise starting at 3:30 am is horrendous. Of the originial 70 only 6 were full size, the rest bantam. Three are Hubbard Golden Comet pullets (and I have never seen such large eggs as we sometimes get) Three turned out to be RIR roosters, and they are huge birds and very hard on the bantam pullets and roos. Five are silkies (my favorites) unfortunately I believe 4 of the 5 are boys. I have 3 bantam blue cochin left (1 roo and 2 girls, both bossy pets), The rest are Dark Cornish bantam, Black Japanese bantam, and Self-Blue Belgium d'Uccles. Most of the Jap and d'Uccles roost in an apple tree. There is also a pair of silver or blue Dutch bantam. The tiny girl roosts very high up in a Cedar tree and the boy associates only with the RIR roo and Golden Comet pullets. A few days ago we dispatched 2 RIR roos and 2 Jap roos...the hardest part was making the decision. I have yet to build a winter coop and get the birds out of the trees. The forums here have been very beneficial to me so far.
Carol
I have been looking things up on BYC for at least 6 months, but never registered before. I got about 70 chicks this spring, which as my DH reminds me everyday is too many and he wants nothing to do with them. I believe my current count is about 35. I had one that died a few hours after getting them and 2 we dispatched by the hatchet method when they were fairly small because one would never walk and the other had a deformity of the beak and was slowly starving. One was crippled by I think, neurological damage and couldn't walk for a month. I nursed her 24/7 and she even slept in bed with me, as she got very loud and upset to be left alone for a minute......now she is a normal bantam cochin, still bossy, but running around outside with the best of them. I sold a number of them during the summer, especially pet roosters, and either a fox or racoon got a number of them, until we were down to 39, and them after advertising and asking everyone we met we had to get rid of some excess roosters. The noise starting at 3:30 am is horrendous. Of the originial 70 only 6 were full size, the rest bantam. Three are Hubbard Golden Comet pullets (and I have never seen such large eggs as we sometimes get) Three turned out to be RIR roosters, and they are huge birds and very hard on the bantam pullets and roos. Five are silkies (my favorites) unfortunately I believe 4 of the 5 are boys. I have 3 bantam blue cochin left (1 roo and 2 girls, both bossy pets), The rest are Dark Cornish bantam, Black Japanese bantam, and Self-Blue Belgium d'Uccles. Most of the Jap and d'Uccles roost in an apple tree. There is also a pair of silver or blue Dutch bantam. The tiny girl roosts very high up in a Cedar tree and the boy associates only with the RIR roo and Golden Comet pullets. A few days ago we dispatched 2 RIR roos and 2 Jap roos...the hardest part was making the decision. I have yet to build a winter coop and get the birds out of the trees. The forums here have been very beneficial to me so far.
Carol
