Nice to meet you!

[trinitynow]

Hi there! I live in sunny San Diego and I am very new at raising chickens and really have no idea what I'm doing! Our family now has three beautiful birds that were given to us by the local elementary school -- the kids were studying life cycle in science class. Near the end of the school year, the chics hatched but had no home. We are known as animal lovers and I'd expressed my desire to get into raising chickens (we would love to have organic, home raised eggs from chickens that are healthy and treated right!) -- so we adopted them in May 2010.

Raising them under a heat lamp from little fluff balls, I've grown to love my three chickens, very much. I guess they are about 6 to 8 months old. I still can't tell what breed or gender they are, and would love some advice (one is black - TRex, one pale yellowish - Raptor, and one multi-brown - Sarah). I also would love some advice on the best way to make sure they don't get too cold now that we're entering colder months here in San Diego (I know! we are spoiled here, and it never gets that cold, but just cold enough that we enjoy a lovely fire in our fireplace at night.) I will upload photos following this post so you can meet them!

I've been reading your forum off and on for a couple of months, and you seem like a very knowledgeable, kind group of folks. I would love to learn from your experience and wisdom!

Thanks for having me!

 

[trinitynow]

Hello again!

So this is a picture of my brood. Would love to help identifying the breed and gender of my babies!

This is TRex. TRex is the friendliest of the brood, and I speak "chicken" to him throughout the day. TRex likes swiss chard and oregano!

This is Raptor (yellow) and Sarah (brown). Sarah is very shy and I would wager she is a hen. The other two, I don't know. Hens or roosters???

Another picture of the brood. They really love each other can't stand being separated from each other at all.

 

[annaraven]

Welcome!

The big buff colored one looks like my Buffy, a Buff Orpington. Don't know the others, especially without seeing the combs. Does the goldspeckled one have a single comb or a rose comb?

In any case, they're all lovely!

 

[Yay Chicks!]

Welcome to BYC! You can learn a lot here. Make sure you check out the learning center.

Not sure on the breeds of your birds, but they are cute. The brown one looks like an Easter Egger. I don't think the Buff one is an Orpington because her legs are so yellow, rather than pinkish. Not sure about the black one. The brown one and the buff one look like girls. Not sure about the black one, again. They also don't look quite 6-8 months old, but some seem to mature more slowly. Have you gotten any eggs yet? What are you feeding them?

You probably won't have to worry about cold in San Diego. Just make sure they have plenty of ventilation in the coop rather than drafts.

Have fun!

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

I'm in San Diego too!!

Your TRex does look like his namesake

Wonder what breed he is

. . .

The buff colored one (Raptor) looks life a Buff Orpington hen. The picture of the partridge colored one isn't good enough for me to tell . . .

no help here!!

Don't worry about the cold in San Diego. When you read these posts and see people raising birds in -17 degree weather you realize that our birds are pretty fortunate
to have landed in our back yards. Just make sure that there are no drafts hitting them and that they have ventilation.

 

[trinitynow]

You guys are awesome! Nice to meet you!

I had no idea what a rose or single comb was until reading this post and then doing a bit of searching. It looks like my chickens all have rose combs (although it is hard for me to know for certain). I'm feeding them Star Feed All Purpose feed, and we also feed them greens from our garden (chard, lettuce, oregano, and tomatillos now and then as a treat). For the first few months, we were feeding them backyard bird feed, and I think that may have stunted their growth, as we are total newbies.

Great news about the cold not being a risk here in SD. At night, we keep them in a large cage covered with a tarp and they seem to be pretty comfy in there.

No eggs yet. No crowing yet either. Fingers crossed for hens! Our neighborhood wouldn't take kindly to a crowing rooster

I'll upload a few more pix to see if it helps make their gender and/or breed more obvious.

Thank you all!

 

[LALASD4]

I am in San Diego also. They are fine outside, it does not get cold enough here to require heat.

I think they are all mix breed hens, Raptor (yellow) looks like a Buff Orpington but it does not have white feet and Sarah (brown) looks like my EE, the black one maybe an Australorp , I cannot tell for sure.

I started out with only 2 and have a few more now.

 

[theoldchick]

Hello from SC!

 

[4-H chicken mom]

and

from Ohio. I believe your buff is a buff wyandotte. Wyandotte's have yellow legs and a rose comb. Orpingtons have white legs and a single comb. Need better pics of the other two, but the black one is not an Australorpe. They have a single red comb. You can post some pics in the What breed and gender section and probably get more results.

 

[2many2count]

nice to meet ya

grab a chair and enjoy