NY chicken lover!!!!

[Gramma Chick]

Quote:

thanks ..
.I like the feed... except I have to add calcium to it ..maybe I will end up going to AVA again

 

[Chicken girl 15]

Thanks for the info, I did read that the meat chickens don't live long and have trouble getting around. I need to get my son mentally prepared for that. I have decided, since getting this chicken, that I would like to have more. Dual purpose birds, maybe a few just for eggs. Does anyone have any suggestions about breeds? I read that Rhode Island reds and brahmas are good dual purpose birds. Do they get along well with each other? Will they fly? Do they need a lot of room??

I have rir astrolorp and white leghorn. For me it's astrolorp as a favorite. They are big, sweet, lay good even though they were the last to start, happy in the run or free ranging. I am a first year chicken owner though. The astrolorp are also oddly enough nor big eaters for their size. Plus they have the great blue green tint in the sun.

 

[tao chick]

Thanks for the info, I did read that the meat chickens don't live long and have trouble getting around. I need to get my son mentally prepared for that. I have decided, since getting this chicken, that I would like to have more. Dual purpose birds, maybe a few just for eggs. Does anyone have any suggestions about breeds? I read that Rhode Island reds and brahmas are good dual purpose birds. Do they get along well with each other? Will they fly? Do they need a lot of room??

I have a Buff Laced Brahma that is the friendliest and most mellow chicken I've ever seen. He is also HUGE! His brother was not as friendly so I think a lot is individual to each bird. I've never had RIR. I would also recommend a production mixed bird. I've found my mixed hens to be very reliable in egg laying and very healthy. My Brahma will not fly. He's the only one that doesn't.

 

[tao chick]

Thanks! I would like to buy almost laying pullets. Any source recommendations?

I forgot to add that a good dual purpose bird is pretty big and could easily use 8-10 square feet per bird, but could fit in 5 sqft. If you go with egg production birds they are sometimes built smaller. The best source up here is craigslist. In the spring a lot of chicks are hatched, so extra pullets would be listed mid summer to late summer. I'm hatching eggs in February and March and if you make the long trek to the mini chicken stock, someone could bring you pullets.

 

[tao chick]

Broke open five eggs today, all fertile. Looks like I'll have some Mille, Mille/Cochin and Mille/American game mix eggs going into the incubator when it gets here. Good job Billie Boy! (Yes my bantams are mixed for my viewing pleasure)

Yay!

 

[rancher hicks]

Thanks for the info, I did read that the meat chickens don't live long and have trouble getting around. I need to get my son mentally prepared for that. I have decided, since getting this chicken, that I would like to have more. Dual purpose birds, maybe a few just for eggs. Does anyone have any suggestions about breeds? I read that Rhode Island reds and brahmas are good dual purpose birds. Do they get along well with each other? Will they fly? Do they need a lot of room??

In my experience? Delawares are good layers but not meaty enough and a work in progress.

Barred Rocks are the usually Dual purpose breed. Since they've been worked on. I had some nice one but they didn't lay well nor were the eggs large.

RIR's are good but I'm not sure how meaty they are.

EE's can be large and for me mine are good egg layers though generally medium in size. Ameraucana crossed to a large Marans are good. Mine lay a larger olive egg.

Marans lay well and some are large so I'd say more dual purpose.

Brahmas are large but I've heard not good layers. Nice cold and dry area birds.

My C.Rocks are large though the daughters have not been as big as the mothers. I'm not sure why it might be due to when I hatched them.

Roosters of most breeds are the larger if you're going to eat them. If you don't intend to eat your birds, I wouldn't be to concerned about dual purpose quality.

I think all breeds will be friendly if you handle them enough from the start, so start with chicks.

My Dominiques were nice but loud biddies. In the coop early and squawking for the others to come in. Mean broody hens too.

If you don't intend to hatch I'd try to find a line that is less likely to go broody or have a set up to break them right away or you'll waste time feeding a hen that isn't laying any eggs.

 

[rancher hicks]

Now allow me to vent some.

Does anyone else find that BYC site makes your computer "rev". Mine only seems to "rev" when I'm on BYC and it hesitates. I type a bit but it doesn't print to the screen right away.

Also it hesitates pulling up the screen.

How can I eliminate these blasted advertisements. I think that's why it only happens on BYC. Because it's got to pull up these stupid video and other advertisements.

I have to close all other windows and reboot, but eventually my computer starts "reving".

I do intend up pull everything and redo all the cords, Open the case and dust that. I have a "cleaning site" but have yet to run it because I'm afraid I'll lose all the pictures. I'll be checking that out before I do that.

I watch CBS this morning with not trouble. My grandson watches videos with not trouble. It just seems it's the BYC site that this happens too.

 

[boskelli1571]

Thanks for the info, I did read that the meat chickens don't live long and have trouble getting around. I need to get my son mentally prepared for that. I have decided, since getting this chicken, that I would like to have more. Dual purpose birds, maybe a few just for eggs. Does anyone have any suggestions about breeds? I read that Rhode Island reds and brahmas are good dual purpose birds. Do they get along well with each other? Will they fly? Do they need a lot of room??

I have heard that Brahmas' are gentle giants - RIRs' are a bit pushy and bossy, so not sure on that combo. RIRs' lay well. How about sex links if you want eggs?
As a source - look at mypetchicken.com.

 

[Aria]

Where are you located? We have 6 and want to
increase our Silkie Flock. We already have a
blue rooster (from Pharm) ...do not want a Rooster.

Hens only. Regards, Aria

 

[akaruby]

Where are you located?  We have 6 and want to
increase our Silkie Flock.  We already have a
blue rooster (from Pharm) ...do not want a Rooster.

Hens only.  Regards, Aria

Well it would be a bit before I could tell which would be pullets, so I can keep you updated. I'm close to Elmira/horseheads