The Old Folks Home

[Beer can]

I loved my welsummers, even the roo, was my first avatar loved that pretty roo, , super dark spotted eggs, roo was super cool, then all down hill...bad roo, hens sucked at laying...(great at first)
I blame it on the hatchery. Firm believer now that meanness is genetic, and more likely from hatchery stock, breeders cull for meanness, hatcheries don't see, don't care, just fertile eggs and hatch chicks to sell. I don't recommend buying from a hatchery at all anymore, just too many good breeders out there, pay more for better.
Eight Acres Farm in Gainsville FL has some awesome Welsummers, lay as dark as Marans, and lay a lot more. If I was to ever try them again, I'd try her stock.
http://eightacresfarm.weebly.com/index.html

 

[Alaskan]

This and the Maine state thread are the only ones I'm on. I got upset a few years ago and took my toys and went home. Wisher cajoled me into this thread (you have her to blame) and I'm glad I found this little community. Couldn't have made it through the last year without y'all. 

Toys? What toys? Are they good toys?


As to roosters and them messing up the ladies....

It does NOT matter as to your roo to hen ratio. (1 to 1, 1 to 2, etc)

I very much like my hens to look perfect. So, when I started keeping chickens as an adult I started asking some old time big breeders about the "my hen looks ragged" problem.

Several of them said it can be the rooster's fault, but it is often the fault of the hen. A hen with soft feathers simply will not stand up to any even normal amount of mounting by a rooster. They also said than many production breeds have been bred with feathers that are too soft.

I have now had a few years where I have penned up different numbers and combinations of birds. And I have found the old timers to be correct.

I can pen up pairs of a breed for months, and the girl looks great. Or two girls to one roo, and again they all look great. I have never yet found a single male to whatever number of females to result in a problem...unless the female has very soft feathers (or feather mites).

The exception comes if you have way too many males to females.

However, this spring I penned up two males with two females for a few months. The one girl looked great even at the end. The other female had lost all of the feathers on the back of her head, but none from her back. Strong feathers.

I am very picky about the temperament of my males..my youngest child is now about to be 8... But that is sill young enough to loose an eye and get all kinds of cut up (just ask latestarter ) so roosters only get to stay if they are stellar. That might help.

Anyway, my 2 cents. So much is due to breeding.

 

[Alaskan]

I loved my welsummers, even the roo, was my first avatar loved that pretty roo, , super dark spotted eggs, roo was super cool, then all down hill...bad roo, hens sucked at laying...(great at first)
I blame it on the hatchery. Firm believer now that meanness is genetic, and more likely from hatchery stock, breeders cull for meanness, hatcheries don't see, don't care, just fertile eggs and hatch chicks to sell. I don't recommend buying from a hatchery at all anymore, just too many good breeders out there, pay more for better.
Eight Acres Farm in Gainsville FL has some awesome Welsummers, lay as dark as Marans, and lay a lot more. If I was to ever try them again, I'd try her stock.
http://eightacresfarm.weebly.com/index.html

We once had a nasty rooster, we tried to get a son from him.... It didn't work, his sons were all as bad as he was. We scrapped that breed, and ate the nasty roos.

 

[Beer can]

@Beer can

Have you seen Bounty Killers on Netflix?

It is my kind if movie...uh, not for kids.

I was laughing so hard through that. I loved the line "you cut me so deep woman, you cut me so deep!"

Lots of beer makes it better. And watch it late enough at night so the little kids don't accidentally see any.

But yeah @drumstick diva the selection on Netflix is going downhill.

Sad. All the good old blockbusters have been taken off.

Off to check it out....everybody is asleep right now, think I'm safe....

 

[Ravynscroft]

We once had a nasty rooster, we tried to get a son from him.... It didn't work, his sons were all as bad as he was. We scrapped that breed, and ate the nasty roos.

I agree, mostly... lol... there are exceptions to every rule... I had a bad, mean roo once... didn't want to keep any of his sons and didn't... ended up getting one of his sons back and he is a stellar example of what a rooster should be like... no aggression whatsoever, but absolutely protective of the hens when needed... super sweet, really...

 

[Alaskan]

Off to check it out....everybody is asleep right now, think I'm safe....

Can't wait to hear what you think.

Best bad movie.

 

[gpeters3]

Off to check it out....everybody is asleep right now, think I'm safe....

I liked Hulu a lot better but the bandwidth was too much for my rural 6mb service, even on the lowest resolution, so im stuck with netflix. Ive seen all the good scifi's and they took off Mickey mouse clubhouse so im bored with it but thats all we have. Not sure why hulu has to use so much resource. I cant even watch one device without buffering where netflix will work well on 2 devices. I dont understand the big deal with hd and high resolution, they all look the same to me but i cant even watch hd on dish without losing signal. Starting to believe its the tv. Next one will be a Sony. Vizio may be best next to Samsung but my Sony's have all been good.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
I dont subscribe to any of those but I watch YouTube alot.... Is there a choice on your set up to opt for a lower resolution?

deb

 

[chickadoodles]

Quote: My Sr. Wellie rooster will eat out of our hands and take food to give to his hens.
I have 2 in with my hens one is the son of my Sr. rooster and Sr. treats him pretty good but makes him keep his distance.

I forgot to mention my Buckeye roosters my goodness they were the best! Gentle giants. They would let you pick them up and pet them or eat out of your hands. They were so sweet! I think everyone should have one!
Here is a pic of my Buckeye and Chanteclair roosters they were both huge!

They were over 9 lbs and solid as rocks!

 

[chickadoodles]

I can't stream anything on our limited satalite internet. We get 17gigs per month.
I was renting some movies but for some reason our surround sound does not work with the dvd or stereo right now. Dh has to tear it out and try to find which wires are not connected. That is going to be a nightmare! We have so many wires back there that it could be a commercial for one of those do not do this!