North Carolina

[Tikkijane]

Evening all, My two rescue birds seem to be doing well. Today makes the 9th day, and we have 15 eggs to date. We plan to build a larger coop b/c I'm worried that they won't return to the coop if I let them free range. Also, why are coops built facing south?

Do people really do that?! We never worried about it. I'm pretty sure they don't need the light for painting.....

 

[chicken dad]

Anyone live near Hickory, NC. Most of the folks on this site are sooo far from me

Iredell county about a mile from catawba river

 

[chicken dad]

Thanks for answering my question.

BF thinks I'm "just a little" crazy b/c I say "Good Morning" and talk to them when I'm feeding and watering them and "Good Night" when I take the dog out for his evening run.

I talk to mine too. Told my mom that I was going to be a dad again and thought she was going to faint. Then she figure out I was talking about my girls(chickens). I thought that my Silkies started sitting around the 2nd week of March. Must have been wrong, went to check the eggs last night and I think they should hatch in about a week. First time hatching any, letting some Silkies sit, and i think i'll have around 5 or 6 Silkies and 2 or 3 others hatching soon. Not sure what they are till they hatch. Almost as excited as when my daughter was born.

 

[Hollowoakfarm]

South facing is partly to catch the winter sun, and partly because prevailing winds in the northern hemisphere are westerlies, so standard weather comes from that direction, while Nor'easters from the opposite side....but no main weather pattern comes out of the south.

I talk to my birds. They talk back, too.

 

[scottcaddy]

Good Morning, Happy Chicken People!

Scott, nice to see you poke your head in the room! Takes a good story for that now, does it?

Nothing to say this morning. Y'all have a nice day!

busy and no time for more then a very fast read of my FAV board here!

and sorry about Bob!

Scott

 

[moomoodiddy]

.

 

[CJJenkins]

Well I must be completely loony. I say 'goodnight' at every house I close up and 'good morning' when I open them in the mornings. That is 8 houses/coops each time. I even pick out specific ones and say it with their name. Not really sure how many time I say 'goodmorning'/'goodnight' each time.

Matt

What do you not thank them for the eggs also? I always thank my girls for the eggs, as well as tell them good morning , good night and 'hey babies' when I go near the pens as they all run to greet me! Oh my, if Fostermom is crazy and Matt is completely loony...what does that make me???

 

[Matt A NC]

Yes, I thank them for eggs. I tell them they are good girls when I pull more then one egg out from under one. A few days ago I pulled 3 jumbo eggs out from under a bantam and told her she was a really good girl. Then she went broody, so now she is a pest. LOL

AND... most of my girls are referred to as my 'darlings'. I don't use the lots anymore, so at least a few of the 85 darling ladies running around are with my at all times.

Matt

 

[missnu01]

When you have a whole lot of chickens how do you tell the difference between them? I have only 10 adult chickens and they all look different so pretty easy now, well there are 2 pullets that look almost exactly the same markings but one is bigger than the other, so I can tell which is which when they are near each other...anyway it seems like it would be nearly impossible to tell the difference amongst lots of the same breed chickens. I have 6 leghorns and 5 buff orpingtons in the brooder now and I don't think I'll be able to tell the dofference

 

[Matt A NC]

I have 8 gold comets(red sexlink). Each is slightly different, but Chanel and Sha Naynay are identical. Chanel and her sister Tunnel are 2011 birds. When I noticed that one of the 2012 pullets was going to look like Chanel I put white bands on Chanel and Tunnel. Chanel and Tunnel are almost identical, but Chanel's comb is slightly larger and has a small wave in it.

Before I lost Specks, I had a problem telling her from her sister(Midnight). They are both black mixes and have small white specks. When pullets, Specks had alot of specks and Mid had almost none. Each year when they molted they would be completely different as far as the amount of white. I always knew which was Mid, because she will eat from hand and could care less what I did when I picked her up off the roost. Specks was untouchable and would not eat from my hand.

Noisy Nell and Nosey Nell are identical EEs. Noisy Nell can't quit 'talking' so I always know which is her.

Basically, the more time you spend with them the more you will notice the slight differences in look and personality.

Matt