Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[fisherlady]

Proud chicken mum moment - went out to go put the girls in the coop, only to be surprised to find them all in their coop waiting by the door as if to say goodnight

yaaaaay they finally got the hang of going "home" at night

Yaayyy!!!! Happy yours have gotten it figured out. Most of ours do, but we still have some juvenile Jersey Giants (16 wks now) who insist on hanging out in the yard till the last possible moment of light. Our older hens are in at the first sign of dusk though.

Anybody seeing a drop in egg production with all this heat? Also, anyone seeing their birds start to molt?

Thankfully we haven't, we are just getting back to normal egg production finally since we had 3 broody hens who were off the count for the past 8 wks. I'm not looking forward to them dropping back off for a molt now! We have a group of JGs who are hopefully going to get into the laying mood in the next 4 to 6 wks, once they do start to lay then the older ones molting won't be a big deal.

 

[barbiegirl]

Anybody seeing a drop in egg production with all this heat?  Also, anyone seeing their birds start to molt?

I didn't get any eggs today and only 1 yesterday.

 

[troyer]

Anybody seeing a drop in egg production with all this heat? Also, anyone seeing their birds start to molt?

Our layers are consistent laying 10 eggs out of 10 hens. My fancy breeds are in the molt.

 

[stake]

Proud chicken mum moment - went out to go put the girls in the coop, only to be surprised to find them all in their coop waiting by the door as if to say goodnight

yaaaaay they finally got the hang of going "home" at night

Yep tweetr: I go out every night to watch them circle back to the coop...and watch my new young roo...negotiate the process...kinda funny sometimes the girls push him around and sometimes he pushes them....but he always is watching ...pretty kewl.....

 

[Blarneyeggs]

For all:

A question about Marans....I know there is no formal APA standards, but should Marans have feathered feet? I have a lead on some pullets and when I checked the UK standard says this is a defect....the folks selling the birds cited it as a (+)....I dunno....

Black Copper Marans are recognized by the American Poultry Association, they were admitted 2010? 2011? I'm not sure, but it was too late to make the printing of the latest Standard of Perfection. The Standard for Black Coppers can be found on the Marans of America website. The American Standard calls for feathered shanks. You want foot feathering, but not on the middle toe which would be a fault.

http://maransofamericaclub.com/maranstandards.php

 

[LisaYolkUm]

The other day, Heatherscooby77 posted that she has some easter eggers. I've got a couple BC marans pullets. Mine are a few months old and already outdoors. I think Heather mentioned that hers are too.

You can probably find most of what you want from the members here.

do pullets have to have lived together and come from the same location to be on the safe side? I can find a nice mix but they come from different sources and somehow I have this idea that they should come from the same breeding flock to prevent disease?

 

[stake]

Black Copper Marans are recognized by the American Poultry Association, they were admitted 2010? 2011? I'm not sure, but it was too late to make the printing of the latest Standard of Perfection. The Standard for Black Coppers can be found on the Marans of America website. The American Standard calls for feathered shanks. You want foot feathering, but not on the middle toe which would be a fault.

http://maransofamericaclub.com/maranstandards.php

Thanks B, the middle toe....sorry thats a tad anal...imho.....geez....

 

[BorderBrigade]

Anybody seeing a drop in egg production with all this heat? Also, anyone seeing their birds start to molt?

Egg laying is slowing in my LF Cochin pens. They are just laying around panting constantly even with the fans on and ice water. I dunked them in a muck bucket full of cool water today up to their necks to cool them off. As much as they protested once they were in they floated like ducks lol Not good birds for the heat.

 

[heatherscooby77]

For all:

A question about Marans....I know there is no formal APA standards, but should Marans have feathered feet? I have a lead on some pullets and when I checked the UK standard says this is a defect....the folks selling the birds cited it as a (+)....I dunno....

There are breed standards for black copper marans. They were excepted 2 years ago I think. I have no idea where you would find those standards.

 

[heatherscooby77]

Anybody seeing a drop in egg production with all this heat? Also, anyone seeing their birds start to molt?

Yes to both!!! I am up to19 broodies! and it seems like the rest are molting! So not to many eggs around here!