My father passed away in January 2012 & left a small piece of land & 9 chickens. I moved my family(husband & 17 year old) to ok to live at the old farmstead. We are working hard cleaning up the property & fixing SO MANY things in & around the house! Meanwhile I have lost a few & aquired several new hens. I never thought I would LOVE Chickens so much!! They are my new children & babies! I almost got into a fight with a distant neighbor when her dog killed 3 of my dad's (original hens) old girls over a week after we got here. I love the old girls (hens) & feel sad everytime one has passed away. (I know they're old, they stopped laying when the summer heat was unbelievable, but they were faithful wonderful critters & have earned the right to live out the rest of their lives in their home. I have learned so much since beginning but have so many more questions! Starting with what kind of birds did I get when I bartered for bales of hay? I know I have a few barred rocks & Leghorns & the old girls were Plymouth's. The new ones (I call them generation x) are probably mutts but curious what people think they could be mixed from. I will see if I can figure out how to post the pics and look forward to hearing from people like me who are crazy about their chickens. Oh yea, I was told to get a rooster to improve egg production. Is that true? I'm not sure, I never had good experiences with roosters when I was young! Thanks in advance for the help & advice! God bless you, your families & your critters!
Greetings from Kansas, and ! Pleased you joined our flock! So sorry to hear about your father passing. Glad you got to experience country life. In reference to the rooster - I don't believe a rooster does anything for egg production, just for fertilization. It's good to have a rooster around, however, to keep the pecking order stable and look out for the ladies. Looking forward to the pics of your birds! Best of luck as your flock increases and have a Happy New Year!!
Hello and welcome to BYC Sorry to hear about your Dad and his poor hens. I hope your country adventures will turn out wonderful for you! Leghorns are great hens, they'll give you lots of eggs. A rooster is a handy watch dog (they'll tell the whole farm when there's a predator threat!) And a well behaved roo that respects you can be an awesome pet, but they don't influence the egg laying in any way. They just fertilise them. Here's a tutorial on how to upload pics: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/inserting-pics-in-on-the-new-byc Let's see your flock!
I have three left of the old girls(dads hens) two buff orpington & oneblack sexlink. Then after realizing & comming to terms with how much I loved chickens(lol)I bartered with a local guy for the left over hay bales & got a potpourri of pullets. He said they were almost ready to start laying. I didn't know squat about chickens so we picked they healthy & pretty looking ones. We did pretty good for not knowing what we were doing. We got a few EE's a Bantam Brahma, a splashed laced red wyandotte, a blue andalusian, leg horns & a few I'm still trying to get posted on BYC so people can give me an idea of what they are. then I got my last five pullets in November. They are barred rocks. Olivia, Dotdot, & just had folks tell me that Amelia is a roo(woo hoo)& the jury is still out on Barbie (white -rock or Leghorn?) & nigglett(black -maybe an australorp)
Glad you joined us. I'm so sorry to hear about your dad. Its awful loosing someone. I hope you enjoy your new chickens. Rooster do not improve egg production, but are good for protection and help keep the others in order. Glad your loving your chickens.
Me with Olivia Dotdot & Barbie. Time for snacks & loveins The old girls & generation X-Happily grazing in front yard All the peepers-newest pullets &(surprise) a little roo getting treats
