Texas

[Belott]

It's literally freezing here today. I think we will be frozen again tomorrow. But ONLY because I have fresh plants in the ground fresh out of the green house ( not because I failed to check this weeks weather before transplanting... )

My girls are not enjoying this. I've also got some four week olds huddled under a heat lamp, and I'm praying this doesn't cause a power outage. There's enough of them ( over 50 ) they would survive it but they're so used to the heat I wouldn't want to risk it....

Hey Neighbor!!!
How you been doing girl? It's a regular heat wave today in Belott!!

Finally got moved to Almosta in November and been busier than a one legged man!! Got my open air coop finished and got 16 chicks moved in. I chose to get Welsummer, Barred Rock and Black Australorp. Got a welsummer and a BA male so will see how that goes.

Hope all is well with you and yours!!

David

 

[chickieluver26]

Anyone who gets into chickens need to have a plan with what to do with roosters.   Not trying to sound harsh but many backyard chicken keepers need to start looking at this issue more closely.  If you cannot keep roosters, and you cannot butcher them, then you need to have a plan in place to get rid of the roosters you aren't keeping.  Or you ONLY need to buy verified females and not chicks, because chick sexing is still not accurate and the only way you can be assured of getting only females it to get older birds.

Roosters are a dime a dozen and most of us that raise chickens on a farm don't want to buy roosters that we are going to eat - we have enough of our own roosters to butcher.  But some people may be willing to take a rooster off your hands if you give it to them and allow them to butcher it instead of demanding that they treat that rooster like a member of the family and put diapers on it and let it come in the house to watch television. 

Everybody wants their rooster to go to *a good home*.  We don't have enough *good homes* to go around for cats, dogs, horses, rabbits, etc. - there is even less *good homes* available for roosters.  I encourage everyone to be responsible.  Buying chicks and hatching eggs is fun, but it also means you will have unwanted roosters and you need to have a plan in place before you get to the point of desperation and  your HOA threatens to kick you out of the neighborhood because you have roosters. 

I have had a plan and all the roosters would get sent to our family ranch or to my friend betty's place however; both now have too many roosters and can't take anymore

so I am struggling to find a new place!

 

[orumpoultry]

Hey Neighbor!!!
How you been doing girl? It's a regular heat wave today in Belott!!

Finally got moved to Almosta in November and been busier than a one legged man!! Got my open air coop finished and got 16 chicks moved in. I chose to get Welsummer, Barred Rock and Black Australorp. Got a welsummer and a BA male so will see how that goes.

Hope all is well with you and yours!!

David

David!!! Good to hear you are well,neighbor. You should check out my page where I've posted pictures and updates on how far we've come with the property.

We're breaking up waterers here this week as well. Can't wait for some sunshine!

 

[Belott]

David!!! Good to hear you are well,neighbor. You should check out my page where I've posted pictures and updates on how far we've come with the property.

We're breaking up waterers here this week as well. Can't wait for some sunshine!

You have been busy girl. I got your page bookmarked and am sure we will meet in person one day!!! You should do well where you are located, and with those breeds!!!

David

 

[cheepcheep riri]

My dad came home last night with some more chicks. They were Buff Orpingtons and White Giant Stars. Anybody heard of this breed before? Do you have any?

 

[RoosterCogburn7]

Anyone who gets into chickens need to have a plan with what to do with roosters. Not trying to sound harsh but many backyard chicken keepers need to start looking at this issue more closely. If you cannot keep roosters, and you cannot butcher them, then you need to have a plan in place to get rid of the roosters you aren't keeping. Or you ONLY need to buy verified females and not chicks, because chick sexing is still not accurate and the only way you can be assured of getting only females it to get older birds.

Roosters are a dime a dozen and most of us that raise chickens on a farm don't want to buy roosters that we are going to eat - we have enough of our own roosters to butcher. But some people may be willing to take a rooster off your hands if you give it to them and allow them to butcher it instead of demanding that they treat that rooster like a member of the family and put diapers on it and let it come in the house to watch television.

Everybody wants their rooster to go to *a good home*. We don't have enough *good homes* to go around for cats, dogs, horses, rabbits, etc. - there is even less *good homes* available for roosters. I encourage everyone to be responsible. Buying chicks and hatching eggs is fun, but it also means you will have unwanted roosters and you need to have a plan in place before you get to the point of desperation and your HOA threatens to kick you out of the neighborhood because you have roosters.

I am getting a straight run in May. I only plan on keeping on rooster of each variety for reproduction. Frankly, that is what they are there for. If the other roosters don't go to others who want to breed the same type, then they will become winner-winner-chicken dinner.

 

[bnjrob]

My dad came home last night with some more chicks. They were Buff Orpingtons and White Giant Stars. Anybody heard of this breed before? Do you have any?

White Giant Star is the name someone gave some mutt chickens they made by crossbreeding.

 

[cheepcheep riri]

Well I guess they're selling them as chicks in feed stores now.

 

[wday]

Well I got a peek into the hive tonight there is still a small cluster of bee's I could see huddled together.....fingers crossed they make it to sunday

 

[bnjrob]

Well I guess they're selling them as chicks in feed stores now.

LOL - it's like the black and red sexlinks, those *Cinnamon Queens*, and *Red Rangers* - they are mutt chickens that someone bred for a particular trait/s, and gave them a name in order make money off of them.

It isn't necessarily bad, it's just that there are so many chickens out there that already have the similar production traits already, that it's almost redundant that people keep making these *new* breeds up. It's why you will not find these *breeds* in the American Poultry Association's Standard of Perfection - because a lot of these new birds are simply redundancies created to make make their creators money. And some of the creators of these newer breeds will not let anyone know what birds they crossbred to make their new creation - that way they can keep people who like the birds, dependent on them to replenish their flock, rather than being able to reproduce their own flock indefinitely. Because a lot of these new mutts (aka hybrids), just can't breed true to the same appareance/production traits for very long.

It's the same thing with your vegetable seeds - people make all these new hybrid tomatoes and corn - touting them as better, tastier, more resistant to a particular disease, but if you save some seeds to plant next year, there is no guarantee that the vegetables you grow are going to come out looking or growing like the original plants did.

You just have to know what you're buying, what your expectations are, and then go from there. I was on a forum a few months ago and a poor lady couldn't figure out why her birds were very ill. Turned out she had bought a bunch of *meat mutts* from the hatchery, thinking she was going to have a flock of farm chickens that she could butcher whenever she wanted to eat chicken, and that they would perpetuate themselves and she would not have to buy new chickens every so often. The problem is that those were birds meant to be butchered no later than 16 weeks of age, and they were all experiencing organ failure because she didn't butcher them soon enough.

You just need to be aware of things when you're buying chickens.