Peeps in Europe!

[abpatchy]

oh no!!! @Erba and @BDutch I am so sorry!!!
Erba, hatching at this time is not a good idea. Wait until spring. The chicks grow better and show a better development then. Shipping is always a risk, no matter what time of the year. Of course it sucks. You lost money again.
I believe you candled them before you put them in the incubator, right? Did they look scrambled then? When I tried out my incubator, I put in store bought eggs, bio eggs... so there might have been a chance. After 5 days nothing. I opened each of them to see... and a lot of them looked scrambled... I believe the warmth of the incubator does something to the egg yolks to where they break easily.

BDutch, I hope she'll come back!!

 

[Erba]

Yes I candled before they went in but couldn't actually see the scrambled yolks. Wouldn't have made much difference though.

 

[abpatchy]

Yes I candled before they went in but couldn't actually see the scrambled yolks. Wouldn't have made much difference though.

I agree....

 

[BDutch]

I like to hatch chicks in spring only. The best time to make a good start in life for chicks in a more natural setting.

Next spring I want to buy fertile eggs too. But reading about scrambled eggs and cracked shells I am going to look for an adres where I can pick up the eggs.

I have been gathering info about bantam breeds and made a scheme to make up my mind for the best possible choice. Taking in account a number of wishes : small breed, not often broody, laying eggs in winter, friendly and easy to tame, fitting in with the flock I have now, etc.

Looking at the +’s and -‘s . I think it will be bantam Vorwerk or Rhode Island Red. Other bantam options are: Groninger meeuw (Groninger gull? I don’t know the English or German name ) , Amrock, Rhinelander, New Hampshire, Easter eggers or more Dutch.

If any of you like to comment on one of these choices please do.

 

[abpatchy]

Well... a guy in my breeding club has bantam New Hampshire... they are so adorable... he says they lay well.
I believe Easter Eggers are a little bigger than bantams.. they are a regular sized bird.
Bantam Barnevelder are nice too... and I believe they are supposed to lay well in winter. Plus you get nice dark brown eggs. And they come in exciting colors like double striped.

I have seen bantam Amrocks they are nice too... Amrock have such a crisp striping. Mixed with the yellow legs and the red comb and wattles... very beautiful breed.

This list could have been written by me when I had to decite what breed to pick... that is exactly what I did...looked at everything from broodyness to how many eggs to weight.

The other breeds I don't know anything about other than pictures or seeing them at a show. And it's hard to judge a breed by that. Maybe you should include how hard it is to find eggs... or how close the next breeder is who is willing to sell eggs. It might make deciting easier for you.

 

[chickengr]

I like to hatch chicks in spring only. The best time to make a good start in life for chicks in a more natural setting.

Next spring I want to buy fertile eggs too. But reading about scrambled eggs and cracked shells I am going to look for an adres where I can pick up the eggs.

I have been gathering info about bantam breeds and made a scheme to make up my mind for the best possible choice. Taking in account a number of wishes : small breed, not often broody, laying eggs in winter, friendly and easy to tame, fitting in with the flock I have now, etc.

View attachment 2348902
Looking at the +’s and -‘s . I think it will be bantam Vorwerk or Rhode Island Red. Other bantam options are: Groninger meeuw (Groninger gull? I don’t know the English or German name ) , Amrock, Rhinelander, New Hampshire, Easter eggers or more Dutch.

If any of you like to comment on one of these choices please do.

I vote:

1) Easter eggers (colourful eggs)
2) Groninger gull (for their looks, I prefer silver)
3) Vorwerk (for their looks, too)
4) Rhinelander (elegant)


whatever you choose I wish you a good luck.

 

[abpatchy]

I vote:

1) Easter eggers (colourful eggs)
2) Groninger gull (for their looks, I prefer silver)
3) Vorwerk (for their looks, too)
4) Rhinelander (elegant)


whatever you choose I wish you a good luck.

the gulls are really nice! I prefer the silver ones myself. In Germany they go by east fresian gull... and I do admit they do kinda look like a seagull.

Here is the problem: There are too many pretty breeds out there!! How is one to make a decision???

 

[chickengr]

the gulls are really nice! I prefer the silver ones myself. In Germany they go by east fresian gull... and I do admit they do kinda look like a seagull.

Here is the problem: There are too many pretty breeds out there!! How is one to make a decision???

it was easy for me. I sold a house I didn't need and bought land in the country. some day I will finish the new house and move there and start a farm.

 

[BDutch]

@abpatchy in the Netherlands you can buy bantam Auracana (approx 700g for hens) . For size these EE/Auracana would fit in perfect. They lay tiny eggs with small yolks.
I believe they are not pure bred because they come with and without tail and lay mostly green but also other greenish eggs. Another Dutch visitor in this thread called them EE. And explained yo me why. The breeders never say/sell easter egger (or paaseierenlegger) in the Netherlands.

You are right about looking for a breeder in the ‘neighbourhood’. . But I don’t mind if its 50 km away. In the Netherlands, its quit common to buy and sell on marktplaats.nl and it has proven to be easy go find a breeder or give away a rooster surplus to someone not too far away. I don’t mind if the eggs are not from purebred chickens. I don’t want them for shows.

For roosters sake I was even thinking about buying Sebrights. I like the golden type and they say the roosters don’t make a lot of noise. But they lay just a few eggs. Less then half the amount of eggs as a the RIR/ gull, Amrock and NewHmp.

Special about the gull is that they have brown eyes and they say they lay very well. The size is perfect too. But I wonder about their character. Some say they need lots of space and are skittish, not tame and other say they are friendly easy to tame? There are a few breeders in my province so buying eggs probably is no problem.

@chickengr a house with land in the country sounds great. Where is it? Do you still have family over there?

We only have a house with a garden that is certainly not big enough for farming. And veggies don’t grow wel with all the chickens, wild pigeons, other birds and wild animals. Charming though. Yesterday evening I saw a hedgehog just outside the run.

My husband and I are thinking of buying a small family house/ ruïne with land too. But not in NL. Land and houses are way too expensive here. No more then 500 km from here. To grow trees and for holidays.
The searching stopped when Corona started. And now we even think (dream) about immigrating to New Zealand . But this probably will never happen.

 

[BDutch]

In search for more information I found that there are 2 kind of Gull breeds;

https://dier-en-natuur.infonu.nl/di...nger-meeuw-en-oost-friese-meeuw.html#karakter

Important (translated with google):
The Groninger gull and the East Frisian gull are two breeds of fowl that are very similar to each other. In fact, the similarities are so great that in fact only the eye color, tail range and weight differ between the two breeds. Descriptions are provided for both breeds throughout this article. Where there are differences, this will be discussed per topic in a separate sub-heading.

ps. This info is about the large breed.