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Auroradream26 said:
Wow that is a good deal. I would say grab me one or two but you're WAY over there lol. If you get to pick your own, watch for white toe tips and toe nails (avoid that). I have 3 little ones growing out now but they're still little and only about 5-6 weeks old. They seem to grow slow like the legbars.
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Yeah, I thought so too! Thanks for the advice. I just want a few females for fun. If I need a Roo in the future, I'm sure one will be easy to find. We shall see what I find when I get there, you never know! Than you for the offer of some chicks next spring, but I should be in good shape now. Until I see another pretty bird I have to add to my flock.

A friend of mine's hatched out some silkies, and he promised me two of those when they are older. Looks like they will be some kind of brown/buff color. My SIL always calls them "sweatpants" with their fuzzy legs and feet. I'll be glad to have a couple more. :D


dheltzel said:
You are right that that is a good deal, as long as they are not roosters, and by that age you can easily sex them. That is about the going rate for common sexlink pullets that are near POL.
This is "proof" of my theory that the market for AC's is really rather small and that they are poor investment birds. I figured the price would drop like a rock once the people that wanted them for their looks all had them. People who paid $200 a chick this year, and are expecting to cash in when they start hatching chicks next spring are going to be in for some bad news. I expect them to sell for about the same price as a Legbar or Lavender Orpington next year.
I'm not saying they are bad in any way, just over-hyped, in my opinion. We have the internet and various news agencies to thank for that. At least it's better than focusing on the threat of bird flu.
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Yes, I figured at that age I could sex them, and I have not had to invest the time or cost of feed also. I'm sure the market for AC's is small, although when I talked to this gentleman, he said they have been pretty good layers and that is why he ended up with so many eggs.

AC's were on my "chicken list", but I certainly wasn't going to pay hundreds of dollars for a novelty. But at this price, how could I not? Hopefully they are decent stock.
 
AnneInTheBurbs said:
Yeah, I thought so too! Thanks for the advice. I just want a few females for fun. If I need a Roo in the future, I'm sure one will be easy to find. We shall see what I find when I get there, you never know! Than you for the offer of some chicks next spring, but I should be in good shape now. Until I see another pretty bird I have to add to my flock.

A friend of mine's hatched out some silkies, and he promised me two of those when they are older. Looks like they will be some kind of brown/buff color. My SIL always calls them "sweatpants" with their fuzzy legs and feet. I'll be glad to have a couple more. :D




Yes, I figured at that age I could sex them, and I have not had to invest the time or cost of feed also. I'm sure the market for AC's is small, although when I talked to this gentleman, he said they have been pretty good layers and that is why he ended up with so many eggs.

AC's were on my "chicken list", but I certainly wasn't going to pay hundreds of dollars for a novelty. But at this price, how could I not? Hopefully they are decent stock.
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Our AC is the black sheep of the flock, she is the only hen that goes out of her way to peck other hens, she started laying about 3 eggs a week in January when she was 6 months old, and hasn't laid a single egg since May. I've checked her over and she is in fine health. I'm wondering if she might start laying again after a fall molt?

Here are my stats for the past week. All my other layers have laid 6 out of 7 days so the food and oyster shell are fine. My two feeloaders are "Tino" the AC and "Ohagi" the CCL.

IMG_6317.PNG
 
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kie4 said:
Our AC is the black sheep of the flock, she is the only hen that goes out of her way to peck other hens, she started laying about 3 eggs a week in January when she was 6 months old, and hasn't laid a single egg since May. I've checked her over and she is in fine health. I'm wondering if she might start laying again after a fall molt?

Here are my stats for the past week. All my other layers have laid 6 out of 7 days so the food and oyster shell are fine. My two feeloaders are "Tino" the AC and "Ohagi" the CCL.

View attachment 1135411
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From what I understand, AC go through cycles of laying. They'll lay for a couple weeks then stop for a few weeks. At least that's what I've read. Seems to hold true with my girls.
 
Blarneyeggs said:
Nice. What is their temperament?
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So far, not very nice as pets, more like I expect from game breeds. They are hard-feathered and my only adult roo is mean to people, but good with his hens. I expect them to be great at free ranging, but they won't be replacing Legbars, Ameraucanas or Orpingtons as backyard chickens for most people.
I'm hoping to find some better tempered roos amongst the young ones I'm raising, and I'm also experimenting with crossing them to Legbars and Welbars. The only thing that would improve on a Legbar would be if the males chicks were valuable for their feathers, and if the females were a bit more "predator savvy". Not sure if it will work as I hope, but it's fun to try and see.
 
AnneInTheBurbs said:
Hey everybody! It's been so quiet on here lately. I know I've been busy with projects around the house.

With the weather getting so cool so quick, it's a good reminder to start prepping our coops and runs for the winter. I really need to get a roof on my run this year. Last year was just tarps and didn't last well, of course. I will have a better system from now on.

In my large coop, I cut out two "windows" and that has worked very well for some extra air circulation during the summer months. I will be replacing the panels when the temperatures start to drop more.

Are everyone's chickens starting to molt? I'm seeing tons of feathers all over at our place. I've started to put them back on the Nutrena Feather Fixer also. It does seem to be a very high quality feed.

My egg count has also dropped, and at first I thought it was primarily from the molting starting. But I'm pretty sure it has more to do with having my coop open up late in the morning. Oh well, guess I'll have to deal for now. The girl need a rest anyways, I figure.
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I haven't been on as often as I would like because things are pretty calm with my chickens right now. Also because of the weather changing and the fall projects we have going on. We have our chicken coop under our upper deck so I think we will tarp the sides of the deck to give the chickens some wind and snow break in the winter. I'll have to take a picture of our setup someday to show off as I love it. I also put an add-on to the side of the coop for nesting boxes so the girls have more room. And there are a few other projects in the house as well. Love to stay busy.

gonehencrazy said:
I heard a coon chatter yesterday morning! I took my hound out to the pen and let him in. He didn't catch scent around he coop so it hasn't been in the pen yet. I want to finish the run ASAP. Traps will go back out too! It's getting dark too early and I don't want to lose any when I don't get the door closed at dark.
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We have a lot of raccoons and skunks around here but they have left the chickens alone. They generally come to eat the cat food we leave out for the wild cats. We just make sure we lock the chickens up good and tight at night. We are having more problems with a dang hawk than anything else right now.
 
I've been very busy the past couple days with chicken chores. 2 days ago, I competely emptied the coop, pulled all the old shavings out, scraped the poop boards, and knocked down all the cobwebs (there were plenty!). There was a lot more in there than I thought and it seemed to take forever to do but I finished it up. Yesterday, I processed 3 CX including the 2 oldest ones (7 months old) and 1 extra cockerel. 4 more cockerels to go but I need more zip lock bags and more room in the fridge first. Then, at bedtime, I dusted everyone with Permethin since I found a couple lice on a few of them. That was a job and a half! For the first time in months, I actualy got a rough count of how many I have...too many, about 65 (not counting anyone in brooders). I had thought that I'd already narrowed down the flock but it looks like I'm going to have to make some more difficult choices. Someday when I have more room, this many won't be an issue lol.

@dheltzel, that little shamo that you brought for me has become very sweet. I blame the turkey poults that she shares a pen with. Anymore, when I open the pen to feed them in the morning, she jumps up to be held, lays her head on my chest and just closes her eyes lol
 
Auroradream26 said:
I've been very busy the past couple days with chicken chores. 2 days ago, I competely emptied the coop, pulled all the old shavings out, scraped the poop boards, and knocked down all the cobwebs (there were plenty!). There was a lot more in there than I thought and it seemed to take forever to do but I finished it up. Yesterday, I processed 3 CX including the 2 oldest ones (7 months old) and 1 extra cockerel. 4 more cockerels to go but I need more zip lock bags and more room in the fridge first. Then, at bedtime, I dusted everyone with Permethin since I found a couple lice on a few of them. That was a job and a half! For the first time in months, I actualy got a rough count of how many I have...too many, about 65 (not counting anyone in brooders). I had thought that I'd already narrowed down the flock but it looks like I'm going to have to make some more difficult choices. Someday when I have more room, this many won't be an issue lol.

@dheltzel, that little shamo that you brought for me has become very sweet. I blame the turkey poults that she shares a pen with. Anymore, when I open the pen to feed them in the morning, she jumps up to be held, lays her head on my chest and just closes her eyes lol
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A good fall cleaning is in order here also, will be getting to in in the next couple of weeks.
Do you have a vacuum sealer? We have one and love it for chicken and fish, among other things.... we cut the bags bigger than needed the first time and wash them and reuse them for slightly smaller amounts the second time. We have kept fish filets for 2 years with no decline noticeable when used. As long as the vacuum seal stays good they keep for ages. We do use zippy bags for short term stuff, but always seems something gets overlooked and ends up freezer burnt.
 

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