NY chicken lover!!!!

[vmdanielsen]

I'm thinking my boys may need to go sooner rather than later. Harry shows potential as a good roo, he was trying to round up everyone and show them where I tossed some fridge leftovers tonight. But the rest of the flock is hiding and cowering from him. The other EE roo follows around as his buddy. When Harry gets done with the NH, the other roo steps in to take a turn at the poor girl. I'm not sure what I should be looking for in the 'who should stay, who should go' game. But too much drama for them all to stay, not to mention the hen:roo ratio.
Hubby liked the 2 GLW boys for their looks, but they were the bullies and the matching hen is non-standard anyways with the straight comb. They can go as I'm not particularly attatched, and they look meaty.
Harry the EE has a beard, has potential as a good roo as he has started trying to show the flock where to eat, but right now is a pest. Undecided.
Mahogany the EE has a beard, is Harry's sidekick, the 4am crower, and has crooked toes. The toes say he has to go (along with the crowing).
Fezz the EE has no beard/muffs/tufts. Undecided.
Ron the Black Orp, pretty boy came from HappyHens Annie with the 2 girls, so far he just eats. Undecided, because he is related to the 2 girls.
The 2 Ancona boys, they blend in with the flock, so are 'just there' for now. Too little to eat anyways, so they can stay unless someone is looking for one. My buddy gets to stay.
Well, that is the 8 roo lineup. Any advice would be appreciated. And if anyone wants one, you can have them!
ETA: They are all March chicks.

I am trying to establish a good flock of buckeyes but hatch eggs from different breeds to keep an assortment of eggs in the carton, just for fun. So when I hatch out roosters of a different variety into the stewpot they go. It is just that these two EE's are just gorgeous! (previously posted pictures). If someone had wanted them I would give them away. However, I can not keep them all.

I can not offer any advice as to who to keep, just do the best you can. It is hard!!

 

[AQHAchick22]

I have a roo issue too, not as big as everyone else's but I have 3 for 14 hens...I have two that were raised together and right now there is no issue, but I have a 3rd now that I need to figure out what to do with...

The one roo (the dominant one) is going up to one of my hens and constantly grabbing onto the feathers on the back of her neck. This is a almost 4 month hen, and her comb is starting to turn very red compared to the other comets. Does this mean she is going to be laying soon?

It's almost funny when he does it though, he is a golden sebright and is hilarious. Except he tried to attack me for the first time the other day...jerk.

 

[vmdanielsen]

Lapeerian--seems we both have the same roo decisions to make! I have 7 roos in with 19 hens. Hatched out April 1. The boys are getting randy and the most mature two are trying to mate with the girls who are too young and not ready yet. Needless to say screams of rape are heard every once in a while from their run. I am currently running a Survivor--Chicken Style reality show in which only 2 roos will survive to win the flock. I have a potential winner picked out but its too early in the game yet to tell. They are all still filling out and maturing. Good luck picking out your winners!

Ginny--did you ever get your eprinex?

Today 3 silkie kids go to their new home. Paring down to my breeding stock I want and I am putting the money towards a new incubator. I am hoping that with a new bator and all the advice I got from Rancher that I will be able to successfully hatch eggs in the spring. My silkie girls are back to laying and I have seen Little Man paying lots of attention to them. However, I am done hatching for now. I still have the lone chick downstairs and am hoping its a pullet.

Have a good day everyone!

Amy, I did get eprinex at TSC. Paid a lot more for it than when I purchased from you. I should have bought more when I got it from you. Oh well. Saturday afterwork I will be moving pen and pasture and Sunday early I will be treating everyone in that pen with the eprinex, then cleaning the coop. What Fun!! Gotta' be done.

On a sad note, we had to dispatch a hen from the first group of hens that started this whole chicken adventure. This was her second time with prolapsed vent. It would not stay in. Poor girl. She was a giant white from Mc Murry. She was named Betty White. Hatching is such fun, but this dispatching, is not.

 

[vmdanielsen]

I have a roo issue too, not as big as everyone else's but I have 3 for 14 hens...I have two that were raised together and right now there is no issue, but I have a 3rd now that I need to figure out what to do with...
The one roo (the dominant one) is going up to one of my hens and constantly grabbing onto the feathers on the back of her neck. This is a almost 4 month hen, and her comb is starting to turn very red compared to the other comets. Does this mean she is going to be laying soon?
It's almost funny when he does it though, he is a golden sebright and is hilarious. Except he tried to attack me for the first time the other day...jerk.

A chickens comb and wattles will turn red as they become sexually mature. They will turn pinker when they go out of lay(for winter or molt) and turn red again as the days get longer and they come back into lay. Unless of course, you light them in winter.

 

[Tab's chicken obsession]

Amy, I did get eprinex at TSC. Paid a lot more for it than when I purchased from you. I should have bought more when I got it from you. Oh well. Saturday afterwork I will be moving pen and pasture and Sunday early I will be treating everyone in that pen with the eprinex, then cleaning the coop. What Fun!! Gotta' be done.

On a sad note, we had to dispatch a hen from the first group of hens that started this whole chicken adventure. This was her second time with prolapsed vent. It would not stay in. Poor girl. She was a giant white from Mc Murry. She was named Betty White. Hatching is such fun, but this dispatching, is not.

I just bought 250ml of eprinex on monday for $37 at a small local farm store. How is that in comparison to TSC?

 

[rancher hicks]

My secret............... ................wait for it........................................................, Sumatra's

Mama left one behind as well that was pipped. I stuck it in the bator and hatched it, gave it to her. It couldn't keep up with her and the others, so I put it in a box with a light. Bottom line, Mama knew best, it died. She knew it wouldn't make it and let it be. Seen it before many many times.

If the nest is in the main coop you don't keep others from laying in it. Or the broody's from stealing eggs. You just mark them and pull out the new eggs daily.

This is my largest broody hatch ever. one of Mama's broods last year was 9, so this is her new record. Most of my girls hatch out 5 or 6 at most. I wouldn't trust any of my other hens to care for this many chicks. But Mama knows what she is doing, so I don't worry about her.

I've got a BR hen sitting on nearly a dozen and did mark them. They were saved up and given to her all at once but of course will not hatch at the same time as this last hatch didn't. I do check for new egg daily but with so many it is hard.

 

[rancher hicks]

Can you put something in the crook of the tree? Big enough that she can't get in there?

I will try. These are the marans and the bugger of a roo is leading them right around the front of the house to the neighbors yard! They were in the fenced in part of the yard but it's getting crowded. They have plenty of room where they are but apparently he's not happy and insist on trying my patience.


Ya'll , I got rid of two chicks I had , one being a frizzle, and believe it or not he and his did not know about BYC? Well of course I told him and expect we might see her here soon. They've got the Itus. At least she does but he seemed susceptible to it. You know? Chickenitus.

 

[vmdanielsen]

I just bought 250ml of eprinex on monday for $37 at a small local farm store. How is that in comparison to TSC?

250 ml for $37.99 "bout the same.

 

[Henicillin]

On a sad note, we had to dispatch a hen from the first group of hens that started this whole chicken adventure. This was her second time with prolapsed vent. It would not stay in. Poor girl. She was a giant white from Mc Murry. She was named Betty White. Hatching is such fun, but this dispatching, is not.

Poor thing.

My BLRW broody and her chicks came to visit me while I was sitting in the coop today absorbing the good chickeny vibes out there (my car needs an extremely expensive repair, and I'm annoyed about it, so I was engaging in some chicken therapy). As Daphne is my lap hen, she promptly got up into my lap, rubbed her beak on me, then settled down for a neck scratch. Her peeps were confused, and started crying for her, at which point she began trying to call them up onto me. They didn't get the idea, though, so she hopped down, gathered them up, then got back up on me and started calling to them again. The goofy babies still didn't listen, though, and began peeping even more loudly, so she reluctantly got down and settled down in the shavings to calm them down. It was adorable.

 

[Cass]

Are all men this dumb? Ray comes in the house, after walking through the yard around the chicken coop and says "they are all singing the chicken song". So I figure oh oh ,an egg and put on my coop shoes and go down there. And EVERY SINGLE CHICKEN in the yard is singing the egg song. Even the chicks were trying to. I get to the coop and there is a racoon chewing on the head of my broody D'uccle. NOW, if he had stopped at the coop on his way by to find out what the noise was all about he could have gotten his gun and shot the darn thing. Noooooooooooo, he goes in the house, goes upstairs to change and doesn't come out for 15 minutes ....the whole 15 minutes I had been screaming my head off for him to bring a gun. "Oh, I didn't hear you" OMG the air traffic controllers in Albany heard me, cuz they were rerouting planes away from my yard. (anyone who knows me, knows I am NOT a quiet person and when I want to be I can be VERY loud)

Now this broody is one DETERMINED momma. There are feathers from the attack in THREE places and she STILL got back to the nest and her (now smashed) eggs. She is VERY traumatized and will probably lose the sight in one eye, if she survives. Personally, I hope she doesn't make it, cuz she will be picked on by the other chickens, but if she does she will have her own nest box in the small coop, where the roosters can't get to her for a loooong time. For now she is locked in her broody cage so NOTHING can get to her. Poor baby.

And I am not destined to hatch ANY of the breed of chicks I want. She was sitting on 2 of my ameruacana eggs. They were smashed and the third one (a mutt egg) she has rolled out of the nest and is just sitting there on the shavings. (Right now I don't care about the eggs, but this is a heck of a way to break a hen of broodiness)

Edited to add: All the sumantras fled the area and have not been seen since. I swear if that coon goes after those birds tonight it is going to die a slow and painful death. (And mostly I think coons are cute, but this one is on my last nerve)