San Diego Chicken meetup and Chat thread

[Aumlet]

Picture spam!
I got a pullet egg! She must have laid it yesterday, because she laid another egg 15 min after I found the first one:





Daenerys telling me about her egg:



Daenerys again




Mo (short for Mohawk) the silkie mystery pullet:






Duster, the Tolbent Polish/Silkie cross:






Our little roo Peep:

 

[All-American-Chick]

they dont need to be papered,at least the 4h here in ramona dont.if they are not purebreeds they wont have much of a chance for best looking/standard.they can do showmanship on any bunny they wish though since judge is looking at how the kid handles the animal.The animal needs to be a regonized breed but does not need to be papered just purebreed,if you join the ARBA and compete in their shows then yes they need to be papered so they can trace linage.If under 9 they are in primary and everyone gets a ribbon anyways regardles of what bunny you have.
renee

Hey!

Who here had bunnies that they were re-homing?? My kids have narrowed their eyes down to rabbits for 4H this year and so I am looking for one that will qualify. It has to be papered, I know that, but not sure on anything else!!

Can you message me if you have some available??

Thanks!

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

Duster, the Tolbent Polish/Silkie cross:

Perfect name!!

. . . . and don't ask what this thing is. . . Closest thing I could find to a dust mop!

 

[Aumlet]

Yes, she's named after a dust mop/ feather duster

, The picture doesn't even do her justice. She's beautiful in an inanimate object kind of way.

 

[mrsbrcant]

they dont need to be papered,at least the 4h here in ramona dont.if they are not purebreeds they wont have much of a chance for best looking/standard.they can do showmanship on any bunny they wish though since judge is looking at how the kid handles the animal.The animal needs to be a regonized breed but does not need to be papered just purebreed,if you join the ARBA and compete in their shows then yes they need to be papered so they can trace linage.If under 9 they are in primary and everyone gets a ribbon anyways regardles of what bunny you have.
renee

4H rabbits don't need papers and they don't need to be purebred and they don't need to be show quality especially if the child is a primary. To be in a rabbit project the kids don't even need to have a rabbit. The kids are not required to participate in shows but most of them want to. Kids can be in the project to learn how to better care for their animal, they can participate in community service with their animals or they might be interested in rabbit rescue. Our club is starting a pet therapy project this year and one of our members is going to train her rabbit to be a certified therapy animal.

There are two kid fairs, the Eastern San Diego County Fair and the Ramona Junior Fair that are for youth only. They are ARBA sanctioned youth shows and kids can earn grand champion legs but for showmanship it's about knowledge and skill handling a rabbit. In our group, we had a boy with a rescued rabbit from the House Rabbit Society take second place in junior showmanship in his very first show. His rabbit was a spayed mixed breed with a torn ear and a missing tail. They require you to enter as a breed which sometimes takes some creative guessing to figure out what the rabbit is, but you do not need have your rabbit judged if you know it know it's going to be disqualified. It would be nice if they had a pet category for these rabbits so the kids wouldn't have to enter breed but they don't at this time. The animal does not need to be a recognized breed but it is easier if it is. We have a girl that got a mix off of Craig's List and nobody could tell what is was but last year the judge in Ramona declared it a satin and gave her best of breed (there was no other satin) and she got a nice ribbon. Ramona is a really nice kid friendly fair. So now she enters her rabbit as a satin and its just considered a really bad satin. In showmanship she needs to know the standard for satins and be able to state where her rabbit falls short of the standard.

 

[Fraunie]

Wow, thank you guys for the rabbit info!!! I felt it kind of odd that they needed to be purebred, and hoped we could get a good rescue or re-home situation. Our info meeting is on Tuesday but I can't go due to a back to school conflict and the group leader, so far, hasn't been super diligent on getting back to my questions. We are not 100% sold on getting rabbits. Dad is pretty much against it, but the kids have wanted a small pet for a long time and this would be a good opportunity for them to take charge and gain some knowledge and responsibility. i like the idea of showmanship too as a confidence building exercise! Dad had a rabbit for a while as a kid and thought it boring and lame.....but since moving to the country, the kids have been really excited about getting animals....and a rabbit is MUCH better than a horse!!!!

I really appreciate the info...on a chicken forum! you guys rock!!!!

 

[mrsbrcant]

Another good small animal for kids are cavies (guinea pigs) The kids can also raise and show these in 4H. What club are you joining? I wouldn't get any animal until you are really sure what you want and what the kids want. They can learn about different breeds and the pros and cons of each breed, rescue vs getting a baby etc before they get any animal. On a side note, the bunnies that RHRanch has are really nice. We got a mini rex from her and it has so far been a good pet and a good show rabbit. The sable mini rex she has would be a good rabbit for breed but depending on the experience and age of the child and the temperament of the rabbit it may or may not be a good fit for showmanship.

 

[perchie.girl]

Another good small animal for kids are cavies (guinea pigs) The kids can also raise and show these in 4H. What club are you joining? I wouldn't get any animal until you are really sure what you want and what the kids want. They can learn about different breeds and the pros and cons of each breed, rescue vs getting a baby etc before they get any animal. On a side note, the bunnies that RHRanch has are really nice. We got a mini rex from her and it has so far been a good pet and a good show rabbit. The sable mini rex she has would be a good rabbit for breed but depending on the experience and age of the child and the temperament of the rabbit it may or may not be a good fit for showmanship.

I loved my Guinea pigs. My mom decided my son needed a pet and told him that.... without my permission. She wanted to get him a rabbit. Sorry to say my personal experiences with rabbits involved lots of scratching. (other peoples rabbits). So from experience working in a pet store I knew Guinea pigs were an excellent choice.

Their only defense is running. Oh they can bite but they don't unless they feel they are going to die. I used to set my four year old son down in a childrens hard sided swimming pool with his guinea pig (dry of course). When the guinea pig got away from him the piggie couldnt get out. They just run around and around the pool walls. Guinea pigs are not equipped to jump either. If they cant get their front paws on top of the obstacle they pretty much cant hop out.

I even lined my chainlink fenced yard with chicken wire about a foot tall and set up the guinea pig pens out in the yard. They are wonderful at eating the grass out of the shrubry..... Id look out and see the Eureops Daisy bushes with tall sprigs of grass growing up through them. A guinea pig would go in.... and the grass would wiggle wiggle then dissappear down into the bush. I would also lay 6 inch drain pipe cut int four foot lenghts out in the yard. When the piggies got spooked they would all cram into the pipe. Made it easy to catch the wilder ones. LOL.

They make cute noises too..... Kind of like the Tribbles on Startrek.

deb "Whos a guinea pig fan"

 

[Aumlet]

Thanks! I'll let her know. I'm sure she'd like a couple of the girls to add to her color basket. She may prefer one of your boys too.

First person flaked, second person decided she didn't want to mix the 5 with her older chickens. (80 6 month olds!)

So, if your friend is interested she now is at the top of the list. Let me know if she wants any of my BCM's. I don't need to move them immediately but I'd like to know so I can try and find a home for the ones she doesn't want.

They're nice looking birds. I can't wait for them to get old enough to lay. (I checked, and they are 2 months old at the moment.)

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

First person flaked, second person decided she didn't want to mix the 5 with her older chickens. (80 6 month olds!)

So, if your friend is interested she now is at the top of the list. Let me know if she wants any of my BCM's. I don't need to move them immediately but I'd like to know so I can try and find a home for the ones she doesn't want.

They're nice looking birds. I can't wait for them to get old enough to lay. (I checked, and they are 2 months old at the moment.)

Super!! Just sent you a PM with my phone number.