Surviving Minnesota!

[lvie]

Quote:
WHAT!? MY SS and BA! LOL.

 

[duluthralphie]

WHAT!? MY SS and BA! LOL.

Yep your BA and SS are not show quality, but they are still good birds and look good. The tail on the rooster is a little high. Two of my three hens have too large of petticoats as I understand what the judges want.


I got the SS from Aussiegal and she said they were hatchery stock, but to me they look pretty dang good. SO I am bowing to her knowledge on them.

 

[Rhetts]

Although research on this site says buy from a breeder for docile temperment...we may end up with hatchery for first group of chicks. I am "uber" interested in the first aid kit for poultry as my only experience with chickens is with meaty birds. As far as egg color is concerned.....as long as the yolk is yellow and egg is edible works for us.

How well do Barred Plymouth Rock and Buff Orpingtons get along? These are the top 2 choices from the kids for 4H? Any recommendations on docile rooster?

I started out not knowing what breeds to get. I have only ordered chickens from Murray Mcmurray hatchery so I can only speak for them. The first time I ordered the brown egg laying combo where mcmurray picks out the breeds but gives 5 different ones in a group of 15. I really liked it!!

Last spring, I wanted to 'try' out breeds to see what I thought of them. We ordered darn near every breed they had I think!!! We also have gotten many different roosters when ordering straight run breeds and freebies they toss in and of course some we wanted to try. Some breeds were good some not at all. Any rooster that goes after the kids is culled here at my house. I don't tolerate it. Like Ralphie said environment probably has a lot to do with their demeanor but some of them are just plain mean. So far the nicest roos I have had are Partridge Rock, Langshan and Blue Cochin. The best look out for the hens were Lakenvelder (freebie) and New Hampshire.

Everyone will have their own opinion on things, this is just mine.

The best layers I have had are Black Star, Austrolorp, and the Rhode Island Reds. I have other breeds that compare in laying but over all these lay most of the time. I have White Rocks give nice dark eggs. Beautiful! I am a sucker for egg color in the carton so I have Easter Eggers too. My DDs have Polish so there is some white in there too!!

I do not know anything about showing or the requirements so I can't say anything about that. Sorry. As far as getting along, if they are raised up as chicks together the birds get along great. Anytime you add different age groups together there is some scuffling but they eventually sort things out.

Sorry this got long!!! Hope I answered any questions.

 

[NathanZee]

So is this a toad egg .

Where did you find a toad this time of year?

 

[Rhetts]

Oh and I forgot to say there is always the exception to the breed. If breed is known to be kind, docile and overall gentle there will be the bellybutton ones that terrorize the flock or humans. And vice versa.

 

[lvie]

MNChickMom - IF it is the eggs you are going for, I think you indicated that you were, look for the good egg layers, dual breeds (because they are heavier and therefore - go through our winters easier [I think]) and like some of the chickie people have said on this thread - the wattles and the comb are important because of frost bit and freezing.

 

[duluthralphie]

Beings we are talking about roosters. I am amazed how Blackie has stepped up into the head rooster spot in Ed's incarceration at the breeding camp.

He is acting so much more protective, is acting like he finds the treats and kitchen scraps I bring them, even though every hens knows I am feeding them. He lurks outside the Henhouse door and as soon as an egg song is heard he is in there. Yesterday he ran Chauncey out as Chauncey thought the egg song was his call to arms.


I am a little nervous about what will happen when I get all the rooster back together after breeding season is over. I assume we will have some minor squabbles over pecking order again.

 

[jerryse]

Where did you find a toad this time of year?

I copied that off the French frog thread .

 

[lvie]

NOW that I KNOW about adding new birds to an existing flock I would definitely separate any newbies by quite a few feet to make sure they are healthy when they are pullets. NOW that I KNOW about adding new birds to an existing flock I will build a smaller enclosure for the new chicks, to adjust to being outside, with a small coop to roost in but no egg nests as they are just not needed. This enclosure will butt up against the current run and is just for chicks; so that the existing flock can get used to them. There will be a way to let the chicks access the main run but not the existing flock to access the chick run. SO much that I wondered about or worried about last year - no big deal this year. That is the learning curve. Chickens are easy and EVERYONE should have at least two. The eggs are fantastic and they are so fun to watch for hours at a time.

 

[NathanZee]

I copied that off the French frog thread .

French FROG?