NY chicken lover!!!!

[Henicillin]

Joining this forum may have been a bad idea....im awaiting my chicks in october...and I already want more...My husband just joked that I caught chicken fever..or bird flu.

Tell him that the technical term is Morehens Disease, because the primary symptom is wanting More Hens.

 

[Pyxis]

Joining this forum may have been a bad idea....im awaiting my chicks in october...and I already want more...My husband just joked that I caught chicken fever..or bird flu. How do you guys handle all the choices? I feel like there is so much variety and beautiful birds, and I keep saying...I will use all the eggs...I have a useless cat....but chickens can actually do me some good...They are beneficial to my garden (under control)....I love to cook...so eggs are great...I just keep making more excuses to have more. I didn't even want chickens to begin with. I only started my research because I was pressured into getting some ...now I feel like its a drug...I am spending my days and nights combing through chicken books and on the web. The librarian thinks I am crazy because I have been there four times in one week for chicken books. 

So now I have to ask....if I decide to add four more to my flock.....before it ships out to me....what would your favorites be for this area? I am in southern ny. I cannot have roosters where I live, but being here makes me want to move lol....

Help  

Well, I'm just like you and I have bunches of breeds because they all look nice and are all a little different. These are the breeds I have and what I like about them:

Light Brahmas: Oh I do so love my light brahmas. They're very friendly and laid back. My roo is watchful of the hens and while he prefers not to be touched and definitely isn't what could be defined as cuddly, he's not mean either, and never shows me aggression. My hen is a sweetheart and loves to picked up and carried around and petted. She jumps into my lap if I sit in the yard with the chickens. These guys come in bantam size too. They're also very cold hardy and are dual purpose, meaning the hens lay decently well and the roos get nice and big for eating, which I don't do but I know some people like.

Buff Orpington: My only buff orpington is a roo and boy is he a sweetheart! He likes to sit in my lap and be petted and have his comb stroked. He's still learning his way around the ladies and is second in line to the light brahma. The hens lay well and are known to be friendly.

Red Sexlink: My first hen was a red sex link and I acquired her on accident. My younger one is very sweet and lets me pick her up. She also lays me lots and lots of brown eggs.

Polish: She was another accidental hen. She's okay but sometimes she acts a little odd because her crest gets in her eyes. She's pretty friendly and I'm sure had I raised her from a chick she'd be much friendlier. These guys also come in bantam size. She lays me medium white eggs pretty regularly, although laying can be hit and miss with polish girls.

Leghorn: My leghorn girl is pretty flighty, although that's a good thing if you want to free range your birds. She's still pretty friendly and lays large white eggs - lots of them! I just ended up with another one from Meyer hatchery (the same place you're getting yours from) and have her inside right now. Cute little chick.

Silkie: I have a silkie sitting on five paint silkie/showgirl eggs and four more silkie/showgirl eggs in the incubator right now! Why? Because I love love love these chickens! My first ever chicken was a black silkie roo I adopted from some friends who wanted him gone or they were going to cull him because they had too many roosters. He was a real sweetheart and he lived with my two pet ducks I had at the time until he left me for a neighbor who had some ladies he could enjoy. My current hen is a sweetheart too and though I didn't raise her, I still like her. She's not really very friendly because she wasn't handled much as a chick but she's gentle. They are very broody, though - my hen has been broody three times this year and this time is the first I have her on fertile eggs.

Old English Game Bantam: I cannot say enough about this breed. Maybe my hen is unique, but she is, hands down, the friendliest chicken I own. She's tiny, and very cute. She was a TSC mystery bantam bin chick. I was worried she'd be easy prey for a red tailed hawk or raven but she she's okay so far. Walk into the yard and she'll fly up onto your shoulder to hang out until you have to go back in. She loves to be petted and carried around and really, if I had the space, I'd get her her own rooster and a few more hens and have a little flock of just these guys. She lays really tiny eggs - I doubt she herself weighs much more than a pound or so - so as far as egg laying goes they're not really the best. I don't think MPC offers these guys, though. I do wish I had gotten a few more when I bought her. But, hindsight is 20/20, I guess.

I also have a sultan chick growing up with the leghorn right now and she's really friendly and tame, but she's still a baby so I can't really say how she'll be when she grows up.

I also have a cochin, but she was an accidental chicken and I can't really say much about her, 2 accidental barred rock pullets, a mixed rooster of some red variety, and 3 easter eggers who are all nice. The accidental chickens all resulted from one of my oh so wonderful neighbors but I've already written a small novel here so I'll leave that for another time. Oh, and with an 8x10 coop, you could keep 20 hens pretty comfortably. Just throwing it out there

 

[java girl 2]

thank you all for your wisdom

much appreciated...I already am thinking of a second coop.....and the original plan was four to six....but the best plans of women and chickens...lol

ok, first off. full size chickens only need 4 sq feet per chicken and bantam chickens need 1 1/2 sq feet per chicken and bantams do just fine in the NY winters.

If I had to do it all over again, first off I would have stayed away from any hatchery birds

and go with JAVAS AND COCHIN'S!!!!!! I LOVE BOTH BREEDS!!!!!!

and I am getting rid of of my hatchery birds to make room for my new breeder birds! I have other breeds but over the years I have found out that the Javas and Cochin's are what I want to work with more then any other breed, I am still working on other breeds tho.

both the Cochin's and the Javas are GREAT MOMS AND DADS!!!!

when I first started out with the chickens, the bantam splash Cochin's were one of the first breeds I got and they have hatched out more chicks for me than any other breed I have had put together.

but the Javas are starting to catch up! With The bantam splash Cochin line I have, they are hatchery but they are the only hatchery birds I have been happy with and I can sex chicks at 2-3 weeks of age. they are also the MOST friendly birds I have, both the roos and the hens will have a fit as soon as I come in the barn and all of them at an early age and in the old age will fly up to me on my arms/shoulders/back and head to be with me!

My cochin girls will go broody 2-4 weeks after they lay the first egg, so they are great to hatch out chicks and you don't need a heat lamp even in the winter, they take very good care of the chicks and the roosters help the hens out too! so you don't have to buy a incubater!!! I am trying to find breeder Cochin's but it takes time. oh, and the Javas I can sex at 3-6 weeks of age. Javas are also very friendly birds and will do the same as the Cochin's and they also as soon as they see me take off running to me and will follow me EVERYWHERE!!!!!! They are GREAT for free ranging as they can free range and still give you almost the same amount of eggs as if they are by a feeder all the time, the other breeds I had, if I tried to free range them. the egg count drops. so if you like, I can ship eggs or chicks in the spring to you! I can hopefully do small orders like a hatchery but I am not a hatchery, just a backyard breeder!

 

[featherz]

Sallysec:

I love all my chickens and I started with 8 and now I have umm.. 60? LOL. Trying to cut down before winter, but it's hard with all these broodies..

Hatchery birds are less likely to go broody (although I had some that did), so that's one thing to consider if you want broodies. I had silkies, didn't like them and sold them - they are adorable but I bought super dooper poofy ones and they would do silly stuff like not eat because the poofs blinded them. So I was giving chickens haircuts. Plus their floofy legs were always getting dirty.

Right now I have a ton of naked necks, easter eggers and assorted others + mutts. Oh, and leghorns - don't let anyone tell you you can't have leghorns with the cold - mine always do fine. And so do naked necks! I don't do bantams as a rule, prefer large fowl chickens, although I do have a few 'almost' bantam chickens - my araucanas.

I have 3.5 coops, plus a barn. The .5 is a trailer we built into a coop, but I only use that as a growout, as it's a pain to use. My best coop is a horse run-in converted to a coop - it's HUGE and airy.

My first chickens ever (four leghorns, four RIR) were from My pet chicken (meyer hatchery) and they all did just fine!

 

[pharmchickrnmom]

I'm from Saugeries which is about 40 min or so south of Albany. Personality and laying I love my red sexlinks. I get 9 eggs out of 10 days usually now. I also have buff and lavender orpingtons, Silkies, Cayuga duck, white crested black polish and a silver laced polish cockerel. Oh and can't leave out the Chinese painted quail. I started off with just wanting a few chickens for eggs... Yeah that worked! Now I have a few more then I planned but wouldn't trade them for anything. If it's egg production and personality sexlinks are amazing. They like to fly up and just hang out on a shoulder like a parrot. If it's quirky small and killer looking pet polish silver laced or the silkies. Anyone near me on this thread?

Hey blacktop--I am just below kingston so yes I am near you. I have rir, br, glw, red sexlinks and blue/splash silkies. Yes, sallysec, silkies do just fine in ny. As long as you have a nice coop, they do fine.

 

[vmdanielsen]

I'm from Saugeries which is about 40 min or so south of Albany. Personality and laying I love my red sexlinks. I get 9 eggs out of 10 days usually now. I also have buff and lavender orpingtons, Silkies, Cayuga duck, white crested black polish and a silver laced polish cockerel. Oh and can't leave out the Chinese painted quail. I started off with just wanting a few chickens for eggs... Yeah that worked! Now I have a few more then I planned but wouldn't trade them for anything. If it's egg production and personality sexlinks are amazing. They like to fly up and just hang out on a shoulder like a parrot. If it's quirky small and killer looking pet polish silver laced or the silkies. Anyone near me on this thread?

Welcome blacktop! Yup! I got 4 hatchery bird 2 1/2 years ago, now up to 25, was up to 34. 8 in the freezer, lost one to prolapsed vent, and 6 are being sold today. Husband will start on second coop next weekend. Yay!!! Again welcome!!

 

[Cass]

thank you all for your wisdom

much appreciated...I already am thinking of a second coop.....and the original plan was four to six....but the best plans of women and chickens...lol

Okay so here it is, I am building a coop that is 8x10 (I should really say my husband is) I already built a run we planned to attach that is 8x3 ....I also planned to let my birds free range in the back yard and have some fenced off sections of garden for them to work in as well. So I ordered eight birds already thinking they need 10 feet each....
so far this is my order that is placed with mypetchicken ...(I thought they were close being in CT only to find out they are actually shipped from ohio...mistake one I guess...but I hope they all arrive well).
2 Easter Eggers
1 Australorp
1 Ancona
1 Golden laced wyandotte
1 jersey giant
1 barred plymouth rock
1 rhode island red

So here is where the problems began....I looked at the silkies and didn't want them...thought they kind of looked like poodles (no offense) ...but now I hear everyone talking about them...and I keep looking at the cute little puffs ....and the mille fleur duccles....are looking really pretty now too....and when I placed the order I wanted a maran for those beautiful eggs...and now I like the cute little bantam sizes and figure you get more chickens for small space..
and now I feel like I should keep the 3 by 8 run as a bantam run and attach a mini coop to it and maybe get three or four of these cute little chickens....and the hamburgs on my pet chicken are so adorable..... so can someone tell me that the bantam sizes dont do well in new york and I should just stop looking because it will be cruel to keep little birds like that outside....

PS I already have been stalking the Brinsea website and facebook page for an incubator.its just a little one..but shhh that is for next year (hope my husband doesn't read this

especially since I have him reading on here too...I am praying he catches chicken too). Although I like the idea of letting a hen do the work I don't mind...I am home all day already and am looking forward to the chicks for the winter....This weekend I plan to sterilize a bathroom for the brooder to go into....in the basement....

So if you all had to do it all over again, would you skip certain birds and jump to others? I guess I might wait for more chicks til the first are set in their home...but I thought it would be easier to get them acclimated together....maybe just two more....do any of you guys do mystery boxes? I like that idea....and now I see you guys all talking about auctions and shows....are there any down here? I am in rockland....so jersey is almost closer....

As you can see everyone has different favorites. What works for them and me might not work for you.

Don't be fooled, chickens are a lot of work. They need clean water every day. Even in the winter. And the water freezes, so you need a way to keep that from happening. Their coop needs to be cleaned regularly to prevent diseases. They get sick, they die. And then there is the expense of predator proofing when some wild animal decides you have a buffet out in your yard. They poop in their feeders and that is yucky to clean out.

You have a nice assortment of birds ordered. Try them and see which ones work for you. Chickens start laying around 20 - 22 weeks of age. (That's an average, so each chicken is different) So you have 4 - 6 months worth of work before you see your first egg.

You stated that you couldn't have a rooster. If you get an incubator you are going to have roosters. About 50% of the hatch will be male. What will you be doing with all those roosters? And hatching eggs are wicked expensive, at least for my blood. Some people have paid over $20 a dozen (plus shipping) to only have one or two birds hatch with them turning out to be roosters. Some people have paid a whole lot more than $20 and got NOTHING to hatch....so think long and hard about adding an incubator to your supplies, since you won't be able to hatch your own eggs. In the long run, it might be cheaper to buy birds from local breeders/chicken folk. (My favorite birds were given to me by a local chicken person, cuz she had more chicks than she wanted and I ate the roosters, kept the hens)

Don't get me wrong, I love my birds. They are my pets, even if they aren't cuddly. I just wish someone had encouraged me to exercise restraint until I had a handle on how much work and expense these pet birds would be before I outgrew my coop with my enthusiasm for the fuzzy butts and wound up with more chickens than I know what to do with. (and right now only 4 of them are laying, so I can't even sell enough eggs to cover feed costs, much less wood chips, wormer, antibiotic that I only used ONCE and is now going to expire and BluKote for the peeking injuries)

So now I am looking at either building another coop or getting rid of birds. And I don't want to do either. Maybe I'll just hibernate and see how many survive the winter without food or water.

 

[Sallysec]

ok, first off. full size chickens only need 4 sq feet per chicken and bantam chickens need 1 1/2 sq feet per chicken and bantams do just fine in the NY winters.

If I had to do it all over again, first off I would have stayed away from any hatchery birds

and go with JAVAS AND COCHIN'S!!!!!! I LOVE BOTH BREEDS!!!!!!

and I am getting rid of of my hatchery birds to make room for my new breeder birds! I have other breeds but over the years I have found out that the Javas and Cochin's are what I want to work with more then any other breed, I am still working on other breeds tho.

both the Cochin's and the Javas are GREAT MOMS AND DADS!!!!

when I first started out with the chickens, the bantam splash Cochin's were one of the first breeds I got and they have hatched out more chicks for me than any other breed I have had put together.

but the Javas are starting to catch up! With The bantam splash Cochin line I have, they are hatchery but they are the only hatchery birds I have been happy with and I can sex chicks at 2-3 weeks of age. they are also the MOST friendly birds I have, both the roos and the hens will have a fit as soon as I come in the barn and all of them at an early age and in the old age will fly up to me on my arms/shoulders/back and head to be with me!

My cochin girls will go broody 2-4 weeks after they lay the first egg, so they are great to hatch out chicks and you don't need a heat lamp even in the winter, they take very good care of the chicks and the roosters help the hens out too! so you don't have to buy a incubater!!! I am trying to find breeder Cochin's but it takes time. oh, and the Javas I can sex at 3-6 weeks of age. Javas are also very friendly birds and will do the same as the Cochin's and they also as soon as they see me take off running to me and will follow me EVERYWHERE!!!!!! They are GREAT for free ranging as they can free range and still give you almost the same amount of eggs as if they are by a feeder all the time, the other breeds I had, if I tried to free range them. the egg count drops. so if you like, I can ship eggs or chicks in the spring to you! I can hopefully do small orders like a hatchery but I am not a hatchery, just a backyard breeder!

You are an enabler lol....thank you....I will totally take you up on your offer come spring if you have chicks...I figure I need to control myself and take care of the first eight...once spring comes I can't wait to get more!

Pyxis, I love the brahma look....I feel like they have lil sweaters on. Do you just keep a few of each kind? I feel like that is what I will end up with....one or two max of each kind just for variety...fun egg baskets...


Henicillin thanks for the correct ailment term...morehens is exactly what I caught....now with java's explanation on chicken math, I am going to have to explain all this to my husband in simple terms...Last night I was showing him pictures from the book free range chicken gardens over facetime to show him what I want our backyard to look like.. I am starting to dream of chicken areas with tractors and gardens. Its also big trash day and I am looking at peoples garbage and thinking "could that be used for chickens?"

 

[featherz]

Don't get me wrong, I love my birds. They are my pets, even if they aren't cuddly. I just wish someone had encouraged me to exercise restraint until I had a handle on how much work and expense these pet birds would be before I outgrew my coop with my enthusiasm for the fuzzy butts and wound up with more chickens than I know what to do with. (and right now only 4 of them are laying, so I can't even sell enough eggs to cover feed costs, much less wood chips, wormer, antibiotic that I only used ONCE and is now going to expire and BluKote for the peeking injuries)

So now I am looking at either building another coop or getting rid of birds. And I don't want to do either. Maybe I'll just hibernate and see how many survive the winter without food or water.

LOL!! And X2. I went overboard and now it's hard to get rid of them when they all have names and personalities LOL.

There's always the poultry auctions for those seeking a way to get rid of extra roos -but honestly I hate sending my chickens there, it's a last resort. I'd rather send them to someone who will hopefully treat them well before they become dinner, as I don't eat my birds (or any birds for that matter).

I do have hens I'd rehome, but i'm particular about where those go and I'm beyond frustrated with craigslist. Some people are nice, some are a little worrisome and some just stand me up. grr!!

I actually do have room in all my coops - all my birds have at least 4SF of space in the coop, plus they free range, but I still have to feed/clean/water/etc.

Speaking of broodies - here's princess deciding to be a CO-broody with my much larger easter egger. I gave her her own box and her own egg but she insists on squishing in with my other broody! /sigh. That coop is at maximum so they just have three eggs between them. This is my third group this year of 'co-broodies'.

 

[Adoravachick]

Oh my! My new roo just went after my little girl! One thing I will not tolerate is a mean rooster!

She was no where near him or any hens, he literally walked over to her and acted aggresively. Grrr!