Should I buy eggs or wait it out?

[lazy gardener]

Lol are your polish as mad as the ones I have had in the past? I had one who decided that she didn't like the coop so roosted on top of a fence or on top of a ten foot bush, it was a nightmare getting her down.

I am leaning towards getting a Wyandotte, what kind of eggs does yours lay? If I decided on a Wyandotte though, I would then have to pick between Blue laced red wyandottes, gold laced and silver laced.

I have hijacked a couple of threads asking about which breeds I should get and the overall consensus is to get more chickens, eight is simply not enough!

I think you should get one of each, just for comparison sake. But, you might have one die, so perhaps you should get 2 of each. I really like my SLW. She makes nice chicks. And if I could figure out which ones are hers, they'd all be sex linked.

 

[XxMingirlxX]

Hijacking again, I am really struggling to decide but chicken math is too strong and you are all enablers lol!

So I'm going to post a list of possible breeds and can you please tell me about you experience with that breed if you have had it.

Thanks for helping!

Welsummer
Cream Legbar
Orpington
Wheaten Marans
Polish
Wyandotte
Silkie
Salmon Faverolle
Barnevelder

I can only have 4-5 of them, I WANT THEM ALL!

 

[Wishing4Wings]

Min, it really depends on your source for the breeds. Birds carefully bred to the standard can be very different than ones coming from a large hatchery.

I have a hatchery Welsummer. She's very timid, moderate layer, never broody, and lays pretty speckled dark brown eggs.

My black Marans was from a breeder project. She is friendly, fairly calm and a good layer so far in her first season. Not broody so far.

Grumpus, the silver laced Wyandotte, is the worst example of a hatchery bird. Terrible disposition. Good layer the first 2 seasons, but no eggs since last year's molt ended with disastrous results. (I will post a pic later) Never broody,

Hatchery buff Orpington is a sweetheart of a bird, my son's favorite, but she only laid moderately well the first season, infrequently the second, and not at all since then. Never broody. Cuckoo Orpy from breeder is huge, as they should be, good tempered, and lays fairly well in her first season, but the eggs are relatively small for such a monster bird. Jubilee project Orpy (emphasis on project!) looks more like a large hatchery bird, decent layer, but again, small eggs. Both the breeder Orps went broody by 7 months.

I had a hatchery Silkie. Great bird, smart, very broody. They're a small breed in US.



Haven't had any of the others, but have heard not good things about hatchery Favorelles. Also, they tend to be a timid breed and will get picked on if mixed with more aggressive breeds (which is just about all of them!) Can have same issues with Polish (they can't always see well enough to interact in socially acceptable poultry way).
Another note about Favorelles, feathered legs are not great in the mud.


I would get just about any of them, especially Wellies, Marans, and Legbars because of the colored eggs. Barnvelders are beautiful! Orpintons are great, especially if you like little feathered dogs. And any Wyandotte will be better than Grumpus, and they are very pretty (most of the time

).


Terrible to have so many choices!

I would try to get breeds that fit with my existing flock. What do you have again?

 

[cheeka]

it's still raining. I got soaked ripping up about 10 gallons worth of grasses and clover. it was worth it. each pen got 2 gallons, the Dome got 4.

Min, I like my EE's, so friendly, hardy and their eggs are so gorgeous. I also love Orpington's, or as Mylee calls them "Hugging Chickens". excellent personalities, and good broody's. then I love Cochins, pretty much for the same reasons as the Orp's... it's a tough choice, I have never been able to say no to any breed. and there really isn't one that I don't like. I'm not as fond of D'Uccle's as I would hope, but that's because I have Mean Max (and Terrible Tommy, RIP) Portia is my little Porcelain hen and even she isn't as sweet as she could be. she doesn't particularly like little Neffy - wish I knew what she is! she's a living doll! I will put her with Brutus. their offspring will be a whole new breed of pet.

 

[XxMingirlxX]

@W4W They are not hatchery birds - it is actually more difficult to find hatchery birds than well bred ones because there are very few poultry keepers. I'll link the website : http://www.peartreepoultry.co.uk We have been to the place to check it out and the birds look good.

They also do a package where you rent an incubator and pick 7 of their eggs and you hatch them yourself. Then you can keep the chicks or return them. I spoke to them about just keeping two or three and returning the rest because I have limited space and they were fine with it. So I might do that.

My existing to hens : my exbattery Babs who is very sweet but is always near the top of the pecking order (I think due to her age but idk), and Selma who is very sweet but timid and was at the bottom.

 

[Debby27]

it's still raining. I got soaked ripping up about 10 gallons worth of grasses and clover. it was worth it. each pen got 2 gallons, the Dome got 4.

Min, I like my EE's, so friendly, hardy and their eggs are so gorgeous. I also love Orpington's, or as Mylee calls them "Hugging Chickens". excellent personalities, and good broody's. then I love Cochins, pretty much for the same reasons as the Orp's... it's a tough choice, I have never been able to say no to any breed. and there really isn't one that I don't like. I'm not as fond of D'Uccle's as I would hope, but that's because I have Mean Max (and Terrible Tommy, RIP) Portia is my little Porcelain hen and even she isn't as sweet as she could be. she doesn't particularly like little Neffy - wish I knew what she is! she's a living doll! I will put her with Brutus. their offspring will be a whole new breed of pet.

the things we do for our girls! LOL they look happy & healthy cheeka....we are very cloudy and it looks like rain here....ughhh! one day of sunshine and then back to this

 

[Debby27]

Shame your hens into laying....LOL

 

[Debby27]

Or you could paint this on the side of the coop:

 

[savannahm0m]

Help! I've got a broody Marans that I have been unable to break. She's been broody for a month now, so in desperation, I finally gave her some eggs. I hope that according to Murphy's law, that will cause her to break. So what if they hatch? The nesting boxes are high. Will I have to get them down? It's a steep jump to even get in the coop. I don't really need the babies. I'll give them to my friend. I've just never tried it and now that I put the eggs under, I'm not sure what I've gotten myself into!

 

[BullChick]

If you can get her to brood in a crate or another coop, go for it. Otherwise, they will jump/fall/flutter to the floor. If you knew what hatcheries do to chicks, you would see it isn't such a horrible thing. Your coop offers a safe landing! Of course, a ramp works too.