North Carolina

[BHep]

I would like to raise a few Belgian Malines but the only breeder is Bart in Canada, IMO a reasonable price but to ship here in the US really expensive with all the gov regulations
Bart's website is bulbsoffire.com

Greenfire Farms has them coming for sale this Spring...Saw it on their FB page.

 

[DSTchickencraze]

Let our birds roam today!!!



















And the little Bantams are peaking through the bushes.


I'm so sad we lost our two Japanese bantam hens to what we think was a fox

but the roos are doing great

Could someone explain to me the whole Cuckoo Maran, bared rock, sexing thing? We have two hens out our four that hatched and we are pretty sure ones a little roo and the other is a hen.

What I think is the hen:



She is soooooo friendly and sweet!!!!!!!

And what we think is the cockerel:




It looks like his crown is bigger and he is a whole lot darker than the "hens" were when we had more than one. Is that normal?

Oh and this is little Rocky!!!! The chick we got from the feed store with splay leg. He is officially better and is doing great and jumping around running and everything.






Well we think he is a he anyway... He/She had a little green dot on his head when we got him... and he has that little black top on the top of his head. Don't know what to look for exactly. He is suppose to be a White Plymouth Rock. The guy at the store wasn't one hundred percent sure, because we were just in a hurry to get them away from the other chicks since they were hurt and getting pecked at and hurt worst.

Do you guys have any idea what he is?! I've never messed with plymouth rocks and don't know what to look for....

Oh and with all of the big hens above I only got one egg again today!!!! I'm not sure if I should be worried at all......

We are trying to get some more laying hens soon! We have found some people with laying RIRs and Australorps. Since we got the Australorps we have loved them and we have always loved RIRs so we want more and their amazing eggs!

Does anyone think there is something I can do for our laying hens? Like why would they just stop laying. I'm not entirely sure if they are molting or not; I do not see too many feathers around.... Our friends also have gotten quite a decrease in eggs in the pass week or so as well. Is anyone else having this issue, if its and issue at all or just them about to molt. Don't think they are egg bound or anything because why would they just all stop... or all get egg bound at the same time....

 

[pamschick]

I'm so sorry!
My mother thinks our chickens are making us sick.
My kids have stuffy noses and conjestion a lot.
We've been sick I guess more than "normal" with different things since we've gotten them.
Personally, I don't think with my chickens there is a connection to it, though every time one of my kids gets sick my mother is convinced it's bird flu!!!
I have heard of others having breathing problems from them though.  I really hope you start feeling better and don't have to get rid of them

Here is another possibility: mold--either in your house or your workplace. The reason I say this is because my co-worker and I discovered mold in the building where we work. We both had pneumonia back in April---at the same time. She ended up in the hospital ICU with a collapsed lung. Her boyfriend bought a home mold kit just to see if their house had mold. Our "boss" was very ugly and kept saying that her breathing problems and sickness was from "them mules of hers". She has 15 chickens, 4 horses, 2dogs, and 2cats. Well --- her house did not have mold, but our place of work had toxic mold that had to be cleaned up. It caused asthma and a whole host of other problems, mostly respiratory. So you might want to test for mold. There are home kits at Lowes for $10. Good luck. Hope you feel better soon!

 

[dutchbunny83]

DST-- "Usually" the girls are darker and the boys have a lot more white.
I've also read in Barred Rocks the girls usually have more slate coloring on the legs in the front?
As chicks the girls have a larger defined yellow spot where the boys are more sparatic and uneven (though RF said that's not usually true unless hatchery stock and she knows way more about chickens than I do!!!)
By coloring the first one looks more roo-ish to me because of the white but the rest of the features don't necessarily.
I had a barred rock be really light and be a girl....
As far as I know BR roo's are one of the friendliest (at least from what I've heard I've never had one)
If you wanted a girl, I hope it is!!!

Your birds are so pretty!!!

 

[dutchbunny83]

Hey everyone I have a hatching question for you...

I went into lockdown yesterday morning.
I had an Isbar rocking all day and did a pip this afternoon.
I could hear it chirping for awhile too.
For the past about 6 hours it's not moving at all, no noise, no more pipping.
Do I open it and try to do something???
I don't know what could be going wrong, but I feel like it should be out by now.

I have 2 other marans that started pipping around dinner time.
I'm laying in bed and I start hearing a loud chirping from down stairs (the incubator is in my dining room table a floor down on the opposite side). I go to look and another marans that wasn't even pipped when I looked a couple hours ago is out and very loud. It is running all over the incubator jumping on eggs, knocking them in to each other. I had them in an egg turner and at lock down took them all out and strategically laid them all on their sides against the side of the bator at a 30 degree angle. Can this crazy chick crashing them around cause damage by them rolling around when they're supposed to be in lockdown???
This has never happened to me before.

THANKS!

 

[Tikkijane]

DST-- "Usually" the girls are darker and the boys have a lot more white.
I've also read in Barred Rocks the girls usually have more slate coloring on the legs in the front?
As chicks the girls have a larger defined yellow spot where the boys are more sparatic and uneven (though RF said that's not usually true unless hatchery stock and she knows way more about chickens than I do!!!)
By coloring the first one looks more roo-ish to me because of the white but the rest of the features don't necessarily.
I had a barred rock be really light and be a girl....
As far as I know BR roo's are one of the friendliest (at least from what I've heard I've never had one)
If you wanted a girl, I hope it is!!!

Your birds are so pretty!!!

Barred rocks should have yellow legs. My cuckoo marans have the pinkish legs....fwiw. Looks like everyone was having a great time!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/617728/cuckoo-maran-barred-rock

 

[Coop Scoop Boogie]

Good morning folks

managed to get the lawn beat back after work
yesterday.......would have done that over the
lovely long weekend we had but noooooooo.......
had to spend that in bed all 3 days.........sick

hope everyone has a good day

 

[skitzkle]

Hey everyone I have a hatching question for you...

I went into lockdown yesterday morning.
I had an Isbar rocking all day and did a pip this afternoon.
I could hear it chirping for awhile too.
For the past about 6 hours it's not moving at all, no noise, no more pipping.
Do I open it and try to do something???
I don't know what could be going wrong, but I feel like it should be out by now.

I have 2 other marans that started pipping around dinner time.
I'm laying in bed and I start hearing a loud chirping from down stairs (the incubator is in my dining room table a floor down on the opposite side). I go to look and another marans that wasn't even pipped when I looked a couple hours ago is out and very loud. It is running all over the incubator jumping on eggs, knocking them in to each other. I had them in an egg turner and at lock down took them all out and strategically laid them all on their sides against the side of the bator at a 30 degree angle. Can this crazy chick crashing them around cause damage by them rolling around when they're supposed to be in lockdown???
This has never happened to me before.

THANKS!

I have no answers for you but would love to see pics! I could use some cheering up today!

 

[ramirezframing]

DST-- "Usually" the girls are darker and the boys have a lot more white.
I've also read in Barred Rocks the girls usually have more slate coloring on the legs in the front? Most all barred rocks have this as chicks, just the hens tend to keep it as they mature.
As chicks the girls have a larger defined yellow spot where the boys are more sparatic and uneven (though RF said that's not usually true unless hatchery stock and she knows way more about chickens than I do!!!) The good "breeder quality" head spots are more reliable than the hatchery ones. In "breeder quality" the female chicks should have a small defined spot where as the males have a larger undefined spot.
By coloring the first one looks more roo-ish to me because of the white but the rest of the features don't necessarily.
I had a barred rock be really light and be a girl....
As far as I know BR roo's are one of the friendliest (at least from what I've heard I've never had one)
If you wanted a girl, I hope it is!!!

Your birds are so pretty!!!

 

[ramirezframing]

DST by color the top one (lighter in color) would be a boy and the bottom one (darker in color) would be a girl. Are they about 2 months old?

Most hens are starting to stop laying eggs due to molting or getting ready to molt and for lack of day light. So it's not just your birds that have slowed up as you just said, "your friends birds have slowed down on egg laying as well". So don't worry to much.