NY chicken lover!!!!

[Glasshen]

Oh, I can second the recommendation on SS! My roo is SS, and I have two hens, they are lovely. Excellent foragers, and the first ones there if you are weeding. They do need to examine each thing you pull up and the hole it came from...they don't help in the speed weeding category. There is a bit of the blue green sheen on the black bits of their feathers, and the roo has lot of it.

 

[pharmchickrnmom]

Morning all. I miss two days and you blow up the thread! LOL. Just posted my cockerals on craigslist. Hoping someone buys the lot of them. Worth a shot anyhow. Figuring out who stays and who goes. I have 7 pullets to replace my older hens. Have to get a good look at vents to see who isnt laying. My barred rocks are still laying but are 3 years old now. Im thinking of replacing them come spring. Been squirreling away my sales money so I can get chicks from a breeder.

Welcome to the newbies! Always nice to see new people getting into chickens!

Sorry to hear of losses. Its always hard, especially when you put in so much time and effort.

Rancher--the princess is beautiful!

Off to the pharm again today. Later all.

 

[rancher hicks]

Couple of things,

One: Have you seen my post "you need to know this"? You do and should read it.

B. There was a Yahoo post about Australia offering place to rent for $1 a month. There are catches of course. These are country houses that might be good for Homestead minded folks.

And so it goes,

Rancher

 

[boskelli1571]

Mom is a smooth sizzle and if the dad was one of the frizzled it should be fine. Only get a frazzle when you breed frizzle to frizzle

I've got to ask - what problems do they get??

 

[boskelli1571]

I'm feeling a little nervous. I just made the plans for incubating eggs. I pick up the incubator tomorrow and will get it all set up. I pick up eggs on Friday (from several sources- Welsummers, Partridge Rocks, Brahmas, Ameraucanas, Black Copper Marans, and some barnyards to fill the bator). I will set them all Friday night (up to 40). This is a learning experience for me and for my children. After bothering to go through all this trouble and spending money on hatching eggs, I'm very worried that it will be a poor hatch. Any advice is welcome. My sister in law probably needs a break from my incessant questions. Do you have any way you keep track of the hatch? I'm going to have my oldest son journal about it, and I found some online resources for the learning aspect. I don't expect 100%, but I am worried about a complete failure. ((Don't ask me how I survived becoming a mom 3 times- it probably was equally nerve-wracking))

I think part of my anxiety is coming from the fact that my nearly 11-year-old boxer is not doing well. He probably won't survive the weekend. :-(

Sorry for the boxer - prayers going up. Sorry - can't help with the hatch thing, but I know a few here who will pitch in!

 

[rancher hicks]

I think part of my anxiety is coming from the fact that my nearly 11-year-old boxer is not doing well. He probably won't survive the weekend. :-(

I'm sorry to hear about your boxer. Find comfort in that he/she? would have chosen their life with you than spent in the pound waiting for you to come and get him.

 

[LuvMyChicks1491]

I've got to ask - what problems do they get??

I'm not an expert, but I will try to explain..First any bird can be a frizzle. Frizzle is just a term given to a bird with the curly feather genes. When you breed 2 frizzled birds you can get a bird that is called a "Frazzle" it is a lethal gene. If it survives it has VERY brittle feathers and they can break very easy. They will end up naked because of the broken feathers. Genetics are crazy and I still am learning about the frizzle genes and the crested genes..To make it simple, it is not a good idea to breed 2 curly frizzles together, but you can breed a curly frizzled to a smooth frizzle or a regular feathered bird then you have a chance of getting a curly or a smooth. I have been very careful to make sure that I don't hatch any eggs from my curly girls because I have 2 frizzled roosters. Don't want to take the chance of hatching a frazzle
Here are a few pictures of a frazzle hen that I found on the internet.



There are a bunch of different types of "izzle" birds and the genetics drive me nuts trying to figure it out...

...Like this little guy I hatched, I'm trying to figure out if he is a sizzle or a frizzled silkie, or a what ever he is called. He has the feathers like a silkie, but they are frizzled

 

[Pyxis]

Luv, I think they are calling frizzled silkies frilkies. I don't think there's such a thing as a smooth frizzle. Frizzle is a dominant gene, so if any bird gets it it is frizzled, so if a bird comes from a parent that is frizzled but is smooth, technically it is not a frizzle at all since it doesn't have the gene. They call sizzles either smooth or frizzled because sizzle is the 'breed' not the description of the feather type, or at least that's what I've come to understand. I have three frizzled silkies or 'frilkies' myself. I dunno, the way people name things is confusing sometimes.

 

[LuvMyChicks1491]

Luv, I think they are calling frizzled silkies frilkies. I don't think there's such a thing as a smooth frizzle. Frizzle is a dominant gene, so if any bird gets it it is frizzled, so if a bird comes from a parent that is frizzled but is smooth, technically it is not a frizzle at all since it doesn't have the gene. They call sizzles either smooth or frizzled because sizzle is the 'breed' not the description of the feather type, or at least that's what I've come to understand. I have three frizzled silkies or 'frilkies' myself. I dunno, the way people name things is confusing sometimes.

I agree it is confusing.

 

[rancher hicks]

Know that Soft feathered birds make the best Frizzles. Cochin have soft feathers.

I googled "hard feather breeds" but the pictures included some soft feathered breeds too.

OE and I think Leghorns would make bad crosses.

Orpingtons and Cochin and perhaps Brahmas would be good. Silkies do too.

My Buckwheat is a cross between Frenchy and a Cuckoo Maran. I also have Buckwheats daughter who is a cross with a Delaware. Not a great cross really but she's okay.

Buckwheat. She's gotten swollen again but seem fine otherwise.