San Diego Chicken meetup and Chat thread

[flower]

Carri I like LF also but until I move out of this town my space is limited. I would love LF Ameraucanas some day and I think that you are correct in saying that there are not many folks around her with them. At least none that talk about them on BYC/So Ca sites. It looks like you have a good incubator so you chances are pretty good So I guess that they are due to pip around the 20th right ?

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

Yep, due on the 22nd actually.

I even went and looked on the Ameraucana breeders site (not to say that some aren't listed) but there were only like 3 listed in all of California, and NONE that had these colors!

Did you see the recent auction for 6+ eggs was OVER $60 dollars!

I guess they are "in the need" but no one has them, so I am going to try and fill that niche, although I do know they take a little longer to mature than some breeds, but it's worth it!

I hope I get a good hatch from these ones, if I like them enough and *if* I can't bf into letting me have ANOTHER pen then I *might* replace the Wyandottes, as those are just hatchery birds anyway... who knows!

I know I'll want to get more from other breeders to diversify bloodlines.

I'm so excited! PLEASE HATCH EGGIES!!!

 

[luvanimals2]

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When I read this I knew I had to respond. When I had my last batch of chickens so many years ago. I had the nest in the coop and I ended up w/ a hen that would eat their eggs. I am very sensitive to smells so when the heat + the egg yolks = me wanting to vomit. I would not eat eggs for at least a year. I could eat it in cakes but I could not eat soft boiled or over easy. Now I am fine w/ it. Just really strange.

I hope you get over it.

Nancy

 

[luvanimals2]

Speaking of Ameracuanas, my Lavenders are hatching as I type.

More awesome is that they are shipped eggs and I only pulled one at lockdown. It was porous. Not to jinx myself but I see pips in all but 1 right now.

The first 2 were black and the 3rd hatched out LAVENDER.

Nancy

 

[crazy huhn]

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You are so very welcome.

Thank You for the nice compliment. Yes, I really love my flock and have even bigger future plans - everything started "just temporary...." and now we have a good size flock. I need a bigger house, yard and more chickens. One day......

I was sure that your chickies would love the mealworms.

BTW: I do not eat any other eggs than the ones of my girls. That way I know the eggs cannot get any better and healthier. Organic feed, fruits and veggies out of my own veggie garden. As you have seen today, there is not much grass at this time of the year, but at least my girls free range. The egg yolk is beautiful orange and so delicious compared to these yucky pale ones people buy at the supermarket. There is a huge scandal in Germany right now about dioxin contaminated eggs because the chickens were fed contaminated food. Certainly that will not happen with my eggs and chickens. I do know exactly what they eat and that their eggs are safe and delicious.
Have you ever tried to compare one of your chickens eggs right next to a supermarket egg? Color, taste? Supermarket eggs =

, my girls eggs =

I really liked your space. Not too big, but manageable! I'm so impressed with you raising the worms! It makes me feel like I could do it (not that I really want too!!) but it could be possible! So glad that you are so close, for help and support.

I have left the boys (worms) on the brick inside (it's cool) is that ok for now?

It was so much fun to meet you this afternoon. If you need any help or advice in regards of your chickens I will be more than happy to help to the best of my abilities.
Yes, the worms will be fine with the cool bricks. It does not have to be cool (they just go dormant in a refrigerator), but let them just warm up a bit before feeding and they will start to squirm and wiggle a lot more.

Cari: I wished I would have known you earlier! I do have some really nice LF Ameraucana, the "real deal", not the feed store ones, with APA winner blood lines. Where I live I cannot have roosters, so I gave mine to 4-H kids and they won several So-Cal shows with them. Are you planning to stick to these colors? I have pure white and pure black Ameraucana as well as Silver. Mine have just started to lay, the blue eggs are so pretty. Good luck with your hatch!!!

 

[LALASD4]

I do know someone who has them but does not want to sell any.

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[wwmicasa1]

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Soooooo glad you found her~!

They can be such escape artists.

I've had the same experience & your heart is just in your throat til you find them. So happy for the both of you

 

[SunnyCalifornia]

Love the eggs Cari! Maybe by the time you have some extra eggs/chicks, I'll be in the position to buy some from you.

Flower- that really sux about your neighbor causing that much trouble. Maybe they'll move out of state this year

I thought you lived in kind of a remote location? Maybe I just got that impression because you said you had a long drive.

new2thebrood: Funny about the egg thing. My kids won't eat chicken anymore, but they will eat the eggs. In fact they have become little egg snobs too, and give yucky faces anytime they eat an egg NOT from our chickens. I really enjoy the eggs, but I have a thing about having to wash them in soap and water first. My chickens don't poop in their nests, but it gets on their feet elsewhere, then they step in the nest, then the lay the eggs on the shavings they've stepped on....

dfdesigns: I tuck mine in too. My big girls go upstairs (in their coop) to their roost on their own, and we make sure all 3 of them are there. The younger group in my new coop, we have to physically pick them up, and put them inside their little cabin for the night, and close the door. Otherwise, they just huddle on the roof of their cabin and get scared. My new OEGB pullets are the same way. You'd think after two weeks of putting them inside their cabins each night, they'd figure out that's where they are supposed to go at nighttime, but nope. Maybe in the summer, when its warmer, they can sleep on roost in the aviary, but I figure they need something more enclosed right now, to conserve their body heat, especially those bantams.

Enzo- What a scary thing to happen!! I'm so glad you found her! When my pullets were a lot younger, I used to put them in the same kind of cage, and they were able to squeeze through the bars, when they got really scared about something. It didn't look possible, but they did it!

Crazy- I may have to make an appt to pick up mealworms from you, so I can see that pretty flock! Sounds magnificient!

Cara- you are right! Seramas don't count in chicken math, so Michelle could keep her Australorps. Good point.

Nancy- are you getting frost where you live? I have my fingers crossed that I'll get enough chill for my Lapins Cherry to bloom this year! My Nectaplum is loaded with fat buds, ready to start popping! So is my Arctic Star, and Mid Pride. I didn't dormant spray again this year (bad me), so fingers crossed that peach leaf curl isn't too bad. I just hate spraying. Not because I'm opposed, only because I'm too lazy. This is my apricot's last chance to do something. Its an enormous tree, but I don't need a shade tree in my orchard, I need a FRUIT tree. And CONGRATS on those babies hatching!! You've got to be very excited!! Post some pics when they get all fuzzy and cute.

15 RSVPs so far for our Meet Up.

 

[enzolove]

Okay, I think I'm getting the hang of chicken math (and even without that chicken calculator thing!). So I started with 4, then got 2 bantams which count as only 1 - that makes 5. A serama doesn't count at all, even if you get 2, so still at 5. Two Ameraucana chicks, one blue wheaten & one lavendar of course, wouldn't count for a few months at least. Since I can legally own 25, it's just a matter of coop expansion after that. And (shhhhhhhhh) illegal chickens over the limit are like negative numbers . . .

 

[SunnyCalifornia]

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And I don't think roosters count, 'cause they don't lay eggs.