Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[dheltzel]

28 chickens sounds like a lot, but i have a feeling i will be approaching that number come spring...

I agree with Dheltzel, raising them yourself seems to have more of an impact than the individual breed generally. They all do have different personalities though. With my first batch of chickens, my one Barred Rock was the sweet one, even coming when called. Another one, my SLW, was always afraid of people, even though she was raised the same as the others. I have been surprised that the Cali Grays I received from Dheltzel are becoming very friendly, even though I did not hand raise them. The one is proving to be an excellent layer as well. I see reddening wattles today on some of my other girls... Should be getting some more eggs soon!

Too bad you already have a flock too, or I'd give you a Lavender Ameraucana, then the white eggs from the Cali Greys would produce blue egg black sexlinks that carry the lavender gene.

 

[LnKsMaMa]

Thanks for the great advice! We're going to start small....maybe 6 for now. We thought we'd get a few different breeds, so I will research your suggestions. I definitely agree that the more they're handled, the friendlier they should be. I won't have to worry about that department, my girls will definitely love that part! Should we wait til spring to get them, or can we get them soon since they will be indoors for awhile anyways? Word on the street is Santa's bringing us a pretty sweet coop

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

28 chickens sounds like a lot, but i have a feeling i will be approaching that number come spring...

I agree with Dheltzel, raising them yourself seems to have more of an impact than the individual breed generally. They all do have different personalities though. With my first batch of chickens, my one Barred Rock was the sweet one, even coming when called. Another one, my SLW, was always afraid of people, even though she was raised the same as the others. I have been surprised that the Cali Grays I received from Dheltzel are becoming very friendly, even though I did not hand raise them. The one is proving to be an excellent layer as well. I see reddening wattles today on some of my other girls... Should be getting some more eggs soon!

Too bad you already have a flock too, or I'd give you a Lavender Ameraucana, then the white eggs from the Cali Greys would produce blue egg black sexlinks that carry the lavender gene.

Still waiting to see if Rusty is going to be a good boy. Hope so, he;s so gorgeous, I'd hate to make him dinner... I figure we should see his true colors by February or March.

 

[TillyPeeps]

28 chickens sounds like a lot, but i have a feeling i will be approaching that number come spring...

I agree with Dheltzel, raising them yourself seems to have more of an impact than the individual breed generally. They all do have different personalities though. With my first batch of chickens, my one Barred Rock was the sweet one, even coming when called. Another one, my SLW, was always afraid of people, even though she was raised the same as the others. I have been surprised that the Cali Grays I received from Dheltzel are becoming very friendly, even though I did not hand raise them. The one is proving to be an excellent layer as well. I see reddening wattles today on some of my other girls... Should be getting some more eggs soon!

Don't you already have 20+ birds?

Yes, individual chickens have very different personalities for sure. Somehow I feel those "flighty" ones are always turns out to be friendly if handled a lot. And interesting enough, some are more kid friendly, some are more adult friendly. I understand some (including me) don't want nothing to do with creaming toddlers, but I don't know why Brownie prefers them than me (without mealworms in hand).

Can a chicken tell that they are cuter than me?

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

28 chickens sounds like a lot, but i have a feeling i will be approaching that number come spring...

I agree with Dheltzel, raising them yourself seems to have more of an impact than the individual breed generally. They all do have different personalities though. With my first batch of chickens, my one Barred Rock was the sweet one, even coming when called. Another one, my SLW, was always afraid of people, even though she was raised the same as the others. I have been surprised that the Cali Grays I received from Dheltzel are becoming very friendly, even though I did not hand raise them. The one is proving to be an excellent layer as well. I see reddening wattles today on some of my other girls... Should be getting some more eggs soon!

Don't you already have 20+ birds? 

Yes, individual chickens have very different personalities for sure. Somehow I feel those "flighty" ones are always turns out to be friendly if handled a lot. And interesting enough, some are more kid friendly, some are more adult friendly. I understand some (including me) don't want nothing to do with creaming toddlers, but I don't know why Brownie prefers them than me (without mealworms in hand). Can a chicken tell that they are cuter than me? 

Chicken Math time!! I have technically 16 chickens. However, I have one rooster, and two girls who are two old to lay, so that means I only have 13, right? I did have more initially, but I had a couple of predator attacks before I had their coop done.

 

[dheltzel]

Thanks for the great advice! We're going to start small....maybe 6 for now. We thought we'd get a few different breeds, so I will research your suggestions. I definitely agree that the more they're handled, the friendlier they should be. I won't have to worry about that department, my girls will definitely love that part! Should we wait til spring to get them, or can we get them soon since they will be indoors for awhile anyways? Word on the street is Santa's bringing us a pretty sweet coop

IMO, keeping them inside for too long makes their welcome run a little thin. The bigger they are, the more they smell and need to be cleaned. Moving them outside in the middle of winter can be tricky, and it's always worrysome for us. So I figure the earliest I would get chicks would be mid-January. At 2 months they are going to be well feathered and spring will be well underway (I hope).

 

[TillyPeeps]

Chicken Math time!! I have technically 16 chickens. However, I have one rooster, and two girls who are two old to lay, so that means I only have 13, right? I did have more initially, but I had a couple of predator attacks before I had their coop done.

Dear, you forgot turkeys. Wait, any of them survived Thanksgiving?

 

[TillyPeeps]

Thanks for the great advice! We're going to start small....maybe 6 for now. We thought we'd get a few different breeds, so I will research your suggestions. I definitely agree that the more they're handled, the friendlier they should be. I won't have to worry about that department, my girls will definitely love that part! Should we wait til spring to get them, or can we get them soon since they will be indoors for awhile anyways? Word on the street is Santa's bringing us a pretty sweet coop

Make sure Santa knows that you want a BIG coop, or a shed instead.

 

[stake]

Thanks for the great advice! We're going to start small....maybe 6 for now. We thought we'd get a few different breeds, so I will research your suggestions. I definitely agree that the more they're handled, the friendlier they should be. I won't have to worry about that department, my girls will definitely love that part! Should we wait til spring to get them, or can we get them soon since they will be indoors for awhile anyways? Word on the street is Santa's bringing us a pretty sweet coop

lnks:

for my two cents....don't do the TSC thing.....better chooks can be had....many of us have small breeding programs that can get you nice chooks (and there's the chicken train)....so, research your likes....I think a good start is LFs....Dorking, Opringtons, Wyandottes, Cochins, Langhshens, Marans, CCLs, and Americunas......there's a hundred others.....and what you think you want will change...welcome to the club.......

 

[stake]

Still waiting to see if Rusty is going to be a good boy. Hope so, he;s so gorgeous, I'd hate to make him dinner... I figure we should see his true colors by February or March.

Hey:

I'm betting on Rusty.....OE...You will probably want to replace him with a Full breed Roo sometime in the future...but his dad is really good about taking care of the girls....give him another few months to fill out, he's still growing....