Surviving Minnesota!

[MNChickMom]

Good morning all you early risers.

 

[BantyChooks]

Good morning all you early risers.

Morning...

 

[jerryse]

Morning . We had rain during the night .

 

[ejb3810]

As relates to various breeds temperament. I am a self proclaimed expert on this subject.
Contrary to what Ralphie has written many times, I do not and have never coddled a chicken and certainly would not cuddle one. I believe they are useful livestock and not pets. I have over the years kept many different varieties of chickens and kept many in a cage to facilitate some prep for showing or related to evaluation.
I would rate Chanteclers as a relatively docile breed. I have kept all three commonly recognized color varieties as well as a group of black project birds. These have all been large fowl.
Buckeyes are also docile and possibly to a fault. They do not want to be handled any more than other docile breeds but are constantly underfoot looking for some hand out.
Welsummers are not so docile.
Spitzhaubens in my limited experience with them are not flighty, but they prefer not to be disturbed too much.
Marans are relatively docile in my experience. I have a flock of Wheatens and have had Black Copper in the past.
I like Ameraucanas, but find them to have a more varied temperament relating to source of origin than many breeds.
For a bantam breed that is generally very docile I would personally recommend Brahmas.
The large fowl are also very docile.
I would not recommend Wyandottes or Orpingtons for a variety of reasons not all related to temperament. If a person was insistent upon having a breed with a single comb in the bantam size I would suggest the Dutch bantams. In Minnesota they must be kept in a heated coop, as their small size is not conducive to good health in below zero weather.
I could go on and on (perhaps I already have) but must end this drivel somewhere.

 

[ejb3810]

I think erlibird is to be commended for being first in spite a power outage.

 

[MNChickMom]

Ejb can you expand more why you would not keep buff orps? They are tricky to keep cool in the summer.

 

[memphis]

MNChickMom...not sure what Ejb's reasoning is regarding Orps...but here is my two cents...

I love their temperament but not their size. They eat like horses and found their dust bath areas looked like crators plus they took up so much room in my smallish coop ...so I went for the bred down version....the Austrolorp. Developed in Australia as a bred down more efficient bird.

 

[BantyChooks]

MNChickMom...not sure what Ejb's reasoning is regarding Orps...but here is my two cents...

I love their temperament but not their size. They eat like horses and found their dust bath areas looked like crators plus they took up so much room in my smallish coop ...so I went for the bred down version....the Austrolorp. Developed in Australia as a bred down more efficient bird.

Did you get breeder stock? How are they?

I went for hatchery bred and they're mean as snakes. Nearly worse than hatchery Wyandottes.

 

[memphis]

Local breeder. My "lorps" are really sweet! One in particular would like to be a lapper, but my turkey Daisy won't allow it.

 

[lvie]

Good Morning Chickeners . . . . Good reading this morning. Caught up from yesterday morning. I have two BO - not laying because they are free loaders. Gonna get the worming junk Holm's way today. Since they are not laying (and haven't for a couple of months) I will not have to worry about any eggs. I did pick up two GLW this past spring. They are beautiful. Because I did not handle them very much they are leary, but coming around to being friendlier. They are still acclimating to being in the main flock. Sure is taking them a long time.