NY chicken lover!!!!

[rancher hicks]

Mother Earth News had an article on Icelandics. Has anyone raised them? I am thinking of getting a dozen hatching eggs from two different breeders and trying to raise some.

I didn't but I did have Swedish Flower hens. They didn't lay a very big egg so I sold them in favor of Lav Orps.

Keep us posted if you get them. Where would you get them? Are eggs expensive?

 

[demp4]

I didn't but I did have Swedish Flower hens. They didn't lay a very big egg so I sold them in favor of Lav Orps.

Keep us posted if you get them. Where would you get them? Are eggs expensive?

There are a couple people online who sell eggs and chicks (that is the only breed they have). One charges $50 a dozen plus shipping the other is $25 plus shipping. The chicks are straight run for $8 a piece min of 25. I would get eggs and have one of my broody hens raise them.

From what I read online they are a rare breed but do well foraging and laying.

I may wait until spring and do an easter hatch with them.

 

[Cass]

I would worry more about the possibility of ending up with a mean rooster (of ANY breed) rather than a certain breed itself. I've never heard any one suggest that some breeds are more aggressive over others. A chicken is a chicken - Ooops maybe I shouldn't have said that. ;-) I think it's more in how they are raised that depends on how friendly they will be with you and by friendly I really mean how less skittish they will be around you. For example, the more they are held as chicks, the less likely they are to run from you in the yard. At least that's my experience with chickens the last couple of years.

No mean roosters in my flock. They get the axe the very first time they come after me. Literally. Agressive roos yeild agressive offspring.

ALL Roosters will protect their flock if they see you as a threat. So don't threaten their girls and lock him away when you do have to handle his girls.

 

[Gramma Chick]

Quote:

They are pretty ! a pic from Canada - smaller chickens ...they fly well like sumatras

 

[ke5hde]

I don't know where the original post is but why not cochins? The LF cochins are good layers and gentle. Roosters will get around 10-11lbs, plenty large. Hens will be around the 8-9lb range. I don't have any mean cochins here, I can go out to the pens and snatch up any one of them with no issues. Bantams are always another option. They lay just as well, the egg is smaller but it's still an egg.
All chickens can have a mean streak in them, you just need to call the mean ones out. RIR's are no different than any other bird. Good luck.

Sam, I have 4 eggs for you and should have a 5th later today.

 

[LuvMyChicks1491]

I don't know where the original post is but why not cochins? The LF cochins are good layers and gentle. Roosters will get around 10-11lbs, plenty large. Hens will be around the 8-9lb range. I don't have any mean cochins here, I can go out to the pens and snatch up any one of them with no issues. Bantams are always another option. They lay just as well, the egg is smaller but it's still an egg.
All chickens can have a mean streak in them, you just need to call the mean ones out. RIR's are no different than any other bird. Good luck.

Sam, I have 4 eggs for you and should have a 5th later today.

Thanks!!

Your the best! I'll see you after 4..shooting for 4:15-4:30...just a grab and go. I have to make sure that I get home to cook dinner on time or the natives will get restless!

= what I will come home to if I'm late

Good Luck at the show this weekend...if I forget to tell you when I'm there

 

[wny egger]

Oh my, so many replies!! Thank you! I believe the thought was that the Rhode Islands may harm the baby, who will be toddling by the time I finally get this project going! And yes, he will grow up around them because when we are outside, they will be free to roam the yards. I don't think the person meant that they are particularly evil, just a more aggressive and maybe protective breed? Anyway, I have just been looking at many breeds and hope to find some lovely ones with nice eggs. I eventually would like to brood some of my better hens. I would absolutely love to get pointers from you locals, maybe even visit your coops so you could show me some of your tricks of the trade?

i no my production birds[4 hens] are real friendly ..one day i let my granddaughter go in the pen with me and walk around ..she had handled the birds alot as babys and has been around my birds just about every day i have had them ..but that one day she went in the run they went crazy and started to bite her fingers ..needless to say she doesnt care to much about going in to see the birds anymore ....what i am saying it doesnt really matter what breed you get ..even friendly birds can be a bit mean ..not on purpose but more out of curriosity...i think they seen her as a new bird entering the pecking order or they just thought her fingers looked like worms ..so any breed can be nasty ..

 

[AQHAchick22]

But have you ever noticed a difference in aggressive behavior in hens? I agree all roosters are different - I started out with a Lavender Orpington roo that I had to get rid of because he was so mean. Thought I would never again be able to have another roo until I found my Splash Orp rooster that was so laid back and gentle with the hens. If someone is going to raise just hens are there breeds out there that really are more aggressive than others?

I found my leghorn hens not very nice...not aggressive though, so you're right. I was thinking personality in general, I do have hens that I need to wear gloves to pick up because they will bite while others are very friendly.

 

[Glasshen]

Do raccoons eat sunflowers? I had a lot, like 8 rows, of sunflowers, and this morning all the heads were torn off of them. I had planned to cut them this weekend and hang them to give to the chickens. Someone beat me to it. I suspect raccoons, squirrels it seems to me would just eat the seeds out, these are beheaded, ad some that have been eaten are on the ground. They were there yesterday.

 

[rancher hicks]

They are pretty ! a pic from Canada - smaller chickens ...they fly well like sumatras

that my be why I didn't get any. I'd have to keep the penned up and I didn't want to do that to them. I'm a worrier and I'd be worrying all the time about them being okay.