OHio ~ Come on Buckeyes, let me know your out there!

[KeeperOfTheZoo]

I love my Marans and their dark eggs! I now have Blue, Splash and Blue Copper Marans, and one Wheaten, only four hens and a rooster, but enjoy having them. My rooster ("Big Sexy...aka..Big George...aka King George") is wonderful, great temperament and good to all his ladies (I have 16 hens with him)...and bonus, experimented with my broody Silkie in March by throwing one EE blue egg and four Marans eggs under her...successful experiment. She hatched and raised four chicks, so I have one Olive Egger and three BBS chicks, one cockerel (who needs a new home...hint, hint!).
You are right to be concerned about them and the cold winter though. George lost all of his pointy comb tips due to the polar vortex, despite repeated applications of vaseline. Since I don't show it's purely cosmetic and he recovered without incident, but I did have to euthanize my older Black Copper Marans hen this spring, due to frostbitten feet. I'm afraid it was indirectly my fault, I think the waterer leaked (it's on bricks that are in a plastic lid to prevent flooding coop floor if it leaked...) and she must have stepped int the water at some point, with the feathered feet it held the moisture and the sub zero temps arrived. That's what I surmise--didn't see any puddles but think it's the most likely possibility. Was hoping she'd recover but she was not improving, moving as little as possible and losing weight...sooo, that is a possibility although I plan to make sure it doesn't happen again if within my power. I would not hesitate to have more Marans, just take care with wet and feathered feet...and all other feet too, in the worst winter weather!

That is really helpful - thank you! I don't know that I will have any roos - we live in a rural area, but have a couple of semi-close, very nice neighbors who would never complain, but might silently dislike it - but that is good to know about the feathered feet. My son spilled the chickens' water all over their coop this morning, so that made me realize I need to find a way to prevent that come winter and cold weather. I may need to put some sort of grate under the waterer to catch any that spills. I will be interested to see how my coop is in the winter this year. The person we bought this house from built the coop for meat birds. He had maybe 20 or so chickens for just a couple of months each summer, so he didn't have to worry about keeping them year-round. He also never let them out of the coop. So, the coop is built for ventilation - and it is excellent for that. However, I worry that it will be too cold or drafty in the winter. I will have to see how the air flow is when the cold weather comes and make adjustments as needed.

 

[blessedchick]

Hi, I'm located between Cleveland and Columbus. I'm wondering if anyone near me has a SQ splash Silkie roo they would like to rehome? I lost my old guy last winter and neither of his cockerels turned out very nice.

Hi Dustytrail! I'm located in the Marengo area (just North of Columbus). I have a beautiful Splash cockerel available - he is from a January 2014 hatch. This photo was taken of him in late May...PM me if you are interested

 

[cabinchicky]

Thank you Big Medicine!!!

 

[cabinchicky]

Well , Peach is now Pugsley. Hubby is saying no,pullet. we have a bet for him to crow or lay. This one chatters nonstop! the saddle feathers just appeared this week, 12 weeks old. So now I have two handsome twin banty fellers and then my Fester. May have another sleeper male I am still watching. I hope they continue to get along, I worry on the bantys though 2 males and 4 females so far. Lil buggars are fast and don't hold still for nothing.

 

[sew0913]

Hello from Medina, Ohio!! New to the BYC community and new to BYCing. LOVIN' IT!!

I may have an Evan instead of an Evie. A VERY developed Buff Orpington at 12 1/2 weeks. <sigh> The hatchery still says she can be a hen... but she's crowing, for goodness sakes!

Anyhow... nice to be here.

 

[DelcoChix]

Hello from Medina, Ohio!! New to the BYC community and new to BYCing. LOVIN' IT!!

I may have an Evan instead of an Evie. A VERY developed Buff Orpington at 12 1/2 weeks. <sigh> The hatchery still says she can be a hen... but she's crowing, for goodness sakes!

Anyhow... nice to be here.

Welcome sew0913!
Sorry to hear of your Evie/Evan dilemma...hatcheries are pretty good with accurate sexing of the chicks, but definitely not perfect! Hopefully he/she will turn out to be a great bird regardless I had a couple of Buff Orps from Meyer Hatchery when we purchased our first batch of chicks, about 6 years ago. Thank goodness both were pullets as I'd ordered, they were really great girls, pretty, great temperaments and good egg layers. They have since passed on to the great chicken coop on the other side of the Rainbow Bridge, but I now have both Chocolate and Lavender Orpingtons---kind of hooked on the breed!

 

[ShayBaby]

@minihorse927 I know you keep your guineas with your chickens. Do you have any problems with them getting along..picking at each other..etc? I ask because I have two bratty teenaged guineas that I had with some turkey poults and a couple of young Tetra Tint pullets, and yesterday I found one of the TTs dead with the top of it's beak picked at badly and bloody, and today lost one of the poults with the same injury, and noticed that the other poults had a bit of picking done to their beaks, too. The guineas don't have any injury, so I assume it's them picking at the others. Ever seen that before? I separated them by themselves for now, of course. I'm working on getting a big flock of them to turn loose around here to be tick-vacuums, but for now just have the two and wonder if I need to keep them separated permanently.

 

[sew0913]

Thank you! Yeah, I don't blame the hatchery... they've been wonderful through this and I know it's not an exact science! My 13 year old isn't as accepting... he's so dang attached to all six of them. This is rough on him. She/he's a sweetie and is absolutely gorgeous! I do have a home lined up but it's several hours away... I'm hoping to still find a home for the Buff that closer... so we can keep in touch. Probably sounds silly, huh?

I understand your attachment to the Orpington breed. Having 6 different breeds (soon to be 9), I'm getting to understand each breed's personality... will make future choices based on that knowledge. LOVIN' THE CHICKENS though! OMG... they're so full of personality.

I'm babbling... thanks for your response!

Sue

 

[minihorse927]

@minihorse927
 I know you keep your guineas with your chickens. Do you have any problems with them getting along..picking at each other..etc? I ask because I have two bratty teenaged guineas that I had with some turkey poults and a couple of young Tetra Tint pullets, and yesterday I found one of the TTs dead with the top of it's beak picked at badly and bloody, and today lost one of the poults with the same injury, and noticed that the other poults had a bit of picking done to their beaks, too. The guineas don't have any injury, so I assume it's them picking at the others. Ever seen that before? I separated them by themselves for now, of course. I'm working on getting a big flock of them to turn loose around here to be tick-vacuums, but for now just have the two and wonder if I need to keep them separated permanently.

.mine teens to leave everyone alone. There's a pack on the back or shoulders every so often to the calls or the roosters mainly but there's feed involved when that happens and is a quick peck. Heck, ive got one hen who runs with a specific group of hens and 1 rooster. She sleeps with them and everything.


In your case, I would separate and see if it stops. Sometimes they just don't get along. I think mine did so well because they are severely out numbered.

 

[minihorse927]

I'm starting to accumulate to many chicks, any interest in porcelain d'uccle, chocolate english (75-100%) orpingtons, black english (75-100%) orpingtons? I MIGHT sell some snowy call ducklings that hatched over the weekend. I've got 8 +of them.