I did happen to get a nice message this morning from the girl who took my Lavender Orpington cockerel in the fall, and he is apparently growing up to be big and handsome and is enjoying being the only rooster in the flock, so I was really happy to see that.
@Auroradream26 and @dheltzel , thanks for the additional info on the silkied lavender Ameraucanas! They are really something special and different. You are probably right, even the roosters should be relatively easy to rehome. I mentioned it to my husband yesterday, and he didn't immediately nix it, so we'll see....
I had a lot of silkies as a teen and got the bright idea to build them an outdoor run. I worked great until a summer thunder storm happened and they looked so pathetic afterward. It would have likely been fatal if it was not so hot outside. Perhaps if it was cold they would have had the sense to go inside, but after having silkies for years, I think it would be hard to underestimate their intelligence. After that, the silkies remained indoors and I learned an important lesson.@dheltzel , that's very helpful to know, thank you! I was wondering about how they would do in rain, and if it was harder for them to keep clean than other chickens. I've never had a silkie, but I've seen people who did and had them running around free range with their other chickens, so I assumed that somehow the silkies managed to weather the elements ok. Now that I think about it, maybe I just didn't visit them on rainy days....
I'm sorry about your duck, @yoopergirl1211 ! That is so hard.
@Blarneyeggs , that's an adorable Pyr puppy! He looks huge, even by Pyr standards!
@AnneInTheBurbs , those are really cool videos of your turkeys. I wonder if they are big enough to stand up to big hawks, as well. Although the city has an ordinance against roosters, I don't think it occurred to them to ban turkeys! I'd have to check, could come in handy... Also, regarding your question of what to charge for turkey poults, I just noticed a local farm here is selling broad breasted tom poults for $8. I know this farm gets a lot of chicks from Meyer hatchery and resells them for the local market, and the turkeys are likely hatchery birds as well. Their profit margin must be slim, because Meyer has sexed male broad breasted white poults priced between $8.41 and $6.59, depending on how many you order. Not sure if that's helpful, just another data point for you.
We had at least 4 hawks circling the property on Saturday while the hens were out and we were putting the finishing touches on the covered run. I'm so glad to have it done, so they have a little more protected space to hang out until these hawks move on. We think they may be looking for nesting sites at the moment. My dogs bark at them in the trees, so I'm hoping the hawks will decide to build a nest someplace where they aren't harassed as much. :/
@Auroradream26 and @dheltzel , thanks for the additional info on the silkied lavender Ameraucanas! They are really something special and different. You are probably right, even the roosters should be relatively easy to rehome. I mentioned it to my husband yesterday, and he didn't immediately nix it, so we'll see....
@dheltzel. Regarding the turkeys pulling security duty. The turkey vultures were hanging around the yard today because it was raining and their wings were wet. Wheezy chases them off, and Tom gobbled at the noise.
