NY chicken lover!!!!

[Gramma Chick]

Quote:
So Lets all Drive to PA ...

 

[AmberKnits]

Strange chicken in my backyard. Looks to be a rooster and I'm pretty sure he's not mine. It's been a long winter but I'm sure I'd have noticed him/it in my youngsters. I only had five chicks kept from last year. Too he/it's in the yard and only the Amer/EE is the black rooster who is out in the yard. 

Anyone have a similar incident?  

Not me, but my chicken keeping neighbor had a rooster dumped on her. He was a nice rooster, so she eventually let him into the coop. She felt bad for him.

 

[AmberKnits]

If someone dumped a rooster on me I'd be furious. Not only does it saddle me with a rooster that I would now have to either try to find a home for or kill, they also just ruined my biosecurity and could have introduced a disease that would require I cull my entire flock to get rid of. Not to mention parasites like lice and mites and worms that could also have been introduced.

And since some diseases pass right through the egg I wouldn't even feel comfortable selling any birds, chicks, or eggs until I verified my flock was disease free.

Not a chicken....but we had a barn cat dumped on us. I fed him for a while, got his rabies shots and had him neutered and didn't think much else of him. Never even named him. He was friendly, and got along with our cats. A few years later my very much loved cat started to get sick (he was 15...I had him longer than I had my first husband, the one pet I refused to rehome when I had some financial troubles as a single mom of 3 under 4, he was really special to me). He had feline leukemia, and at 15 there wasn't much I could do. I got our other cats tested, vaccinated...except barn cat. He tested positive, was the carrier who brought it to our house, he was much younger so the disease didn't take him as quickly. He lived about 6 more months before I took him in to be put down.

So yeah. Dumping stray animals can have some serious effects on the animals already there. I wouldn't keep another animal dumped on me - someone's stray dog, I'll find a home for. But I won't feed or take in a stray cat, and a chicken would be off to the family that takes our rooters.

 

[FishMtFarm]

So Lets all Drive to PA ...

Wish I had known that! I was just in Pa over the weekend picking up goats. Dang it!

 

[Chicken girl 15]

So Lets all Drive to PA ...

its only a 45 minute drive to a pa tsc for me

so dont tempt me, i just may.

 

[rancher hicks]

So if you don't bring in new birds, how do you prevent inbreeding?

Because I have more than a few hens new chicks aren't that closely related. Some breeds are hard to come by. Generally you 'll only get half brothers and sisters, sons and mother, father daughter, etc.etc.

Since I keep some roosters from matings that also helps to keep them sound.

With the EE's I have traded out my Lavender Amer roo for an Lavender Araucana roo and I've kept a son from the group. I keep new daughters born from the group too.

If I were to show birds it's been said that you have to hatch hundreds of chicks and cull 90% of those. I don't do that.

Right now I have about 13 Del hens to two roosters. I have 7 Lavender hens to one rooster ( I do have a son from the group too but haven't decided whether to keep him) , BUT I also have some splits. My Birchen Marans started with only three hens and one rooster. I got them as chicks from an auction site but the roosters had crooked toes and there was clearly copper mixed in there so I'm working to get that out.

As a rule I don't take birds from folks I don't trust.

My C. Rocks are from eggs I bought from a breeder in GA who I trust. Always keep more than one rooster if you intend to hatch your own line. This way if a rooster kicks the bucket as my Original Marans did , you'll have a spare.

 

[rancher hicks]

So I've got one chick that hatched and while I expected more to come none has. So I have the chick by itself. All TSC has is straight run Silkies!!!!

 

[FishMtFarm]

Ah makes sense! Good planning on your part. I eventually want a closed flock and wasn't sure how to achieve that without inbreeding.

 

[kbowman123]

I live in ny but close to pa border- I've been in 2 pa tcs and both of them had a 6 chick min or a 2 duck minimum

 

[tao chick]

I'm going to tsc now. I need some brooder supplies for next week's hatch. Wish me luck. I don't need chicks or ducklings. I don't need chicks or ducklings. I don't need chicks or ducklings. Repeat....