Hi Fwlion
You know you dont HAVE to have a rooster right? You will still get eggs just none of them will hatch. Some roosters you can keep together others will attack & kill any other male bird in sight. Raising them together seems to help.
I would not order from a hatchery if you are looking for QUALITY birds. You will get many fine birds from a hatchery with good luck but it is just that LUCK. What I would do if I were you is look up the breeds and decide which ones appeal to you the most. Then scroll down this column, What Breed is this and Breeders & BY Hatcheries. Click on posts that sport the name of the birds you are looking for. Even if that person does not have the bird you want some of the posters will.
www.feathersite.com has a good quality list with pictures of many.
http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/ Has a good list with desciptions and pictures of the breeds. I would not recommend thier silkies or frizzles. The rest I have from them are quality birds. Every top hat I have gotten from them died except my gold. Maybe it was a fluke maybe not.
http://albc-usa.org/ Goto the Conservation Priority List, click it. Then scroll all the way down to Poultry Breeds. If you raise any of these birds you are helping preserve genetics for the future while having fine birds. They do not sell them its a non profit but they do have links to people that sell them.
If I were you I would just order from people here. The main reason why? They post pictures of the birds laying the eggs not some picture out of a book that says this is what the animal should look like but ours dont look like that so we are totally fooling you ya know huh do ya? How did you like that sentence huh?
Nothing beats knowing you are getting quality genetics. I will be getting eggs from Flufnstuff in spring. Her birds are AMAZING as are some others on here. If you like silkies hit her up.
Turtles are a BIG no no. Any reptiles in fact. You do WASH you're hands with soap after touching them right?
hepatitis has shown up in alot of reptiles. Children play with them put their hands in their mouth.....
I know turtles can transfer disease to humans, not sure what they can give to an avian. Don't find out the hard way for us ok?
Another reason is that turtles/tortoises are cold blooded and do not move fast. Birds prey on the weak. The turtles even if raised with the birds from chicks maybe be in trouble from eyes getting pecked out, maybe even extreme predation by the birds. They may get along fine, you will have to see and watch their reactions closely. If the chicks are to small im sure the tortoises would eat it to. If you are just letting your birds and turtles mingle in the backyard I see no problems. Now if they are in the same pen that is a problem. I would love to see some chickens riding a turtle haha.
On the heating issue I would talk to people in a colder state. I live in Southern California the only time I see ice is when I open a freezer hehehe There are several posts at the moment going on about just that issue. Read up.
Feeding? Goto the feeding column. Its more like what CANT you feed to a bird instead of what they will eat. They will eat just about anything that fits in their mouth edible or not. I give mine organic feed, all the plants in the backyard they can eat, fruits and whatever leftovers I feel like tossing them. I've even made them some veggie soup and froze bags of it in the freezer. They totally love it.
Onions, Garlic and peels of some fruit are things I would stay away from. As in most pets cases candy and chocolate are no nos to. If you give them rice soak it in water first or even cook it. My birds do seem to like stuff cooked over non cooked. Maybe they just like it warm idk.
I hope this answers things for you. Good luck in your research and hunt for birds!
Bubba
