Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[dheltzel]

The Legbar roos are so gorgeous! Unfortunately, I cannot have any roo, or I'll be in big trouble. Your Legbar pullets are cute too. Oh no, I need self-control.

I never knew that Rees line CCLs look so different. I definitely love their looks much more than the "regular" CCLs (sorry girls). I seriously need to learn to vaccinate chickens myself.

The Reese line birds are much more uniform in appearance. They are show birds and some people have found they lay greenish eggs instead of blue. I am putting some of the cocks over my other CCL pullets to try to enhance the looks of the offspring, while keeping the better egg color and production I expect the old lines lay. Mostly, I'd like more crests, and the Reese have that in spades.

I'm keeping my main cock in reserve in case the Reese cockerels prove to be less desirable breeders for some reason. I think I need a "bachelor pen" for next year.

 

[enola]

The Reese line birds are much more uniform in appearance. They are show birds and some people have found they lay greenish eggs instead of blue. I am putting some of the cocks over my other CCL pullets to try to enhance the looks of the offspring, while keeping the better egg color and production I expect the old lines lay. Mostly, I'd like more crests, and the Reese have that in spades.

I'm keeping my main cock in reserve in case the Reese cockerels prove to be less desirable breeders for some reason. I think I need a "bachelor pen" for next year.

My hens are Reese bloodlines, they lay green eggs! I was soooooo disappointed.......

 

[duckies1230]

Guys, I am so upset. After all the losses we had with our bunnies this year (first litter in March lost to 'polar vortex' when too much bedding fell through the wire; 2nd litter we lost 4 when we were on vacation and two more to heat so only had one survive), I was really looking forward to her fall litter. I thought she was due on Thursday or Friday so I wanted to put the next box in the cage yesterday but I haven't been on the computer all weekend/week which is where I keep my calendar so I forgot to do it yesterday. I go out this morning to feed everyone and I see fur in her cage... I immediately run to get the nest box thinking she just started pulling fur, but when I get back with it I see that she already had her babies last night and they were on the ground under the cage (must have gone through the bigger openings in the side walls). Another litter lost and it is completely my fault.

I'm so sorry!

 

[TillyPeeps]

The Reese line birds are much more uniform in appearance. They are show birds and some people have found they lay greenish eggs instead of blue. I am putting some of the cocks over my other CCL pullets to try to enhance the looks of the offspring, while keeping the better egg color and production I expect the old lines lay. Mostly, I'd like more crests, and the Reese have that in spades.

I'm keeping my main cock in reserve in case the Reese cockerels prove to be less desirable breeders for some reason. I think I need a "bachelor pen" for next year.

I love their crests too. They also have rounder body shape that I like. I actually don't mind if they lay green eggs, because the kids are big fans of "green eggs and ham".

It's a good idea to keep your other roo, in case the rees line have some problem you don't like (green egg, less production, etc).

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

Guys, I am so upset. After all the losses we had with our bunnies this year (first litter in March lost to 'polar vortex' when too much bedding fell through the wire; 2nd litter we lost 4 when we were on vacation and two more to heat so only had one survive), I was really looking forward to her fall litter. I thought she was due on Thursday or Friday so I wanted to put the next box in the cage yesterday but I haven't been on the computer all weekend/week which is where I keep my calendar so I forgot to do it yesterday. I go out this morning to feed everyone and I see fur in her cage... I immediately run to get the nest box thinking she just started pulling fur, but when I get back with it I see that she already had her babies last night and they were on the ground under the cage (must have gone through the bigger openings in the side walls). Another litter lost and it is completely my fault.

So sorry...

I need to make a roof on my run this year, so the girls aren't constantly on my porch for the winter. I am hoping to pick up some bamboo soon to creat a base for the roof. Will post pics when I am done.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

Cookie's babies are just aboutt as big as she is now. They have a hard time getting up under her wings lol. They tend to wander off a lot too but they know what they're doing now and where top go on the evenings. @Fisherlady, what do you think, girls? I know the pixies aren't great but they didn't want to stand still for me to take pictures and my tablet camera is awful!

 

[fisherlady]

Cookie's babies are just aboutt as big as she is now. They have a hard time getting up under her wings lol. They tend to wander off a lot too but they know what they're doing now and where top go on the evenings. @Fisherlady, what do you think, girls? I know the pixies aren't great but they didn't want to stand still for me to take pictures and my tablet camera is awful!

I am thinking a pair, the one with the Silvery cream head and chest is looking like a little cockrel from what I can tell. You will know pretty soon. If you need another female let me know. The good news is that the cockrels grow out pretty nice for butchering.... definitely better meat than leghorns or most EEs.

 

[TillyPeeps]

Is Cookie a bantam? Or the babies are huge? They are adorable anyway.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

I am thinking a pair, the one with the Silvery cream head and chest is looking like a little cockrel from what I can tell. You will know pretty soon. If you need another female let me know. The good news is that the cockrels grow out pretty nice for butchering.... definitely better meat than leghorns or most EEs.

Awesome, thanks we'll see in a couple more weeks for sure.

Is Cookie a bantam? Or the babies are huge? They are adorable anyway.

Yes, Cookie is a bantam. She's actualy the only bantam I have at the moment (she my daughter's) and doesn't even come up to the knees of my big roo lol. She holds her own though and is far from the bottom of the pecking order. She's actually one of my highest ranked hens. Her babies are large fowl silver penciled rocks so at 5 weeks old, they're almost the same size she is.



Cookie is molting now. I noticed that half of her tail was missing yesterday. Looked like someone just stole all the feathers off the one side. I had to pick her up and make sure she had new ones growing in lol.

I've had the turkeys confined now for a week so far. I weighed my boys for thanksgiving on Saturday and they were only 10 lbs! I've upped their protien from 18% to 24% and added cracked corn as a small a few times a day. I need to pack some more weight on them over the next month. They look bigger already but it could be my imagination. The bad news is, my girls are probably going to get fattened up on the process too. They won't like going on a diet after butchering day.

I started working on building my breeding pens yesterday too. I think I finally got my husband talked into leaving the turkeys in the shed and letting me build these pens. There's going to be 4 of them, all under a pavilion type roof with the individual coops built into the side of it. Each coop will be 4' x 5' with a 8' x 5' run they'll be able to get up above the coops too. I'll probably put roosts there or something eventually. I need to finish getting the footers on the ground before the ground freezes though :/

 

[fisherlady]

Awesome, thanks we'll see in a couple more weeks for sure.
Yes, Cookie is a bantam. She's actualy the only bantam I have at the moment (she my daughter's) and doesn't even come up to the knees of my big roo lol. She holds her own though and is far from the bottom of the pecking order. She's actually one of my highest ranked hens. Her babies are large fowl silver penciled rocks so at 5 weeks old, they're almost the same size she is.



Cookie is molting now. I noticed that half of her tail was missing yesterday. Looked like someone just stole all the feathers off the one side. I had to pick her up and make sure she had new ones growing in lol.

I've had the turkeys confined now for a week so far. I weighed my boys for thanksgiving on Saturday and they were only 10 lbs! I've upped their protien from 18% to 24% and added cracked corn as a small a few times a day. I need to pack some more weight on them over the next month. They look bigger already but it could be my imagination. The bad news is, my girls are probably going to get fattened up on the process too. They won't like going on a diet after butchering day.

I started working on building my breeding pens yesterday too. I think I finally got my husband talked into leaving the turkeys in the shed and letting me build these pens. There's going to be 4 of them, all under a pavilion type roof with the individual coops built into the side of it. Each coop will be 4' x 5' with a 8' x 5' run they'll be able to get up above the coops too. I'll probably put roosts there or something eventually. I need to finish getting the footers on the ground before the ground freezes though :/

You have some work cut out for you! Not easy to do in your terrain.
Hard to believe that the chicks are 5 weeks already! Jo has their 5 sibs and she isn't much bigger than cookie, though she is fluffier. I think they are keeping her warm sometimes instead of the other way around! LOL