The Old Folks Home

[microchick]

That is the one reason to hatch chicks and have a rooster!

I worked for several years with a local breeder that was determined to use Broodies.

She finally gave up and bought an incubator

Agreed. I used to say that I was a better broody than my broodies...Until I installed the manual turner in my Brinsea mini eco and didn't find out that it had a flaw in it until I tried to move it last year when I was putting eggs into lock down and the lid flew off killing three out of 6 embryos with only 3 days left of incubation.

I told my husband that now I'm officially as bad of a broody as my broodies are! Actually I think I'm still ahead of them when you compare my mishaps with theirs.

@CSolis, you need to get some little OEGB hens. I have about 6 right now that are a third of the size of my barnyard cross hens and those little gals rule the roosts. If one of the big gals get in their faces they make them move and do it with style. It's pretty funny to see one stand up on it's toes or jump up in the air in order to peck a much larger hen on the head. Even funnier to see the much bigger hen squawk and run for her life.

 

[microchick]

I wanna see a picture of the 'amish crosses' pleaseeeeeeeeeee. And what breeds in particular make up that cross, if you know.

I'll see if I can't get some pictures of them. Some of them have a bit of bantam in them. Others are anyone's guess. I know some of the roosters have Cochin in them but the girls? When I get the pics I'll post them and y'all can guess.

Mini Mouser, my flock queen is brown and white mottled but she has a blue spot in the middle of her back. I'm still trying to figure out what she is.

 

[microchick]

Okay, got pictures. Pardon the greeb. I don't do spring cleaning until well, spring and it ain't here yet.

This is Mini Mouser, Ruler of all she perceives and killer of all rodents which is how she got the name. She is the one that in the right sunlight has blue splashes on her back feathers.

This is Pumpkin. When she hatched she was the most brilliant orange which is how she got her name. Now she has some black and white in her wing and tail feathers.

An Amish Barnyard cross with Pumpkin

This is Pepper. He is a Fayoumi OEGB silver duck wing cross and nope, no idea how they managed it. Very pretty very sweet and he had enough common sense to keep his waddles out of the water. The little guys are Amish crosses with my BBR OEGB hens.

This is Old Man who is almost 5 years old and has the cochin gene. You can barely see the feather stubble on his right leg. It comes and goes. There is also BBR in him along with Black Game Bird and who knows what else. He is my longest survivor of Marek's disease and was hatched under a very infected Buff O hen before I knew what I was dealing with. The fact that he has made it to 5 is a miracle and yes, he has good resistant genes.

This is Bear. His sire was one of Old Man's sons and a Fayoumi hen. In the back ground is Skeeter on the left. I have no idea what he came out of although he is half Fayoumi, very fast and very pretty.

Another Amish Barnyard cross hen. All the girls are very sweet natured, good layers and are so far surviving MD.

This is Trouble. Poor guy came through the deep freeze with frostbite to his big dangly waddles from dunking them in his water bowl. I don't use nipples. My chickens are too stupid to figure them out and I finally gave up trying. He is Fayoumi crossed with an Amish Barnyard hen. Very sweet natured. Very handsome. I had to pull him from the main coop because he had usurped his old man Tut as flock leader. Since I want pure Fayoumi eggs to hatch, the only way I was going to get them was to pull Trouble from the main flock and let Tut take over again.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Think you have it figured out there Micro .. We did toenails on Pugsly he was not happy even less so he tried to bite so masking tape lots of good boys ..Most will not bite masking tape is better than a muzzle

 

[CSolis]

Another Amish Barnyard cross hen.

She sure has the appearance of having Beilefelder in her, which of course is a German breed.. I would suppose Amish would include those in their breeding program.

Lady, as a young pullet is a Beilefelder.. She's the one on the left.

 

[microchick]

Yep, there is a resemblance isn't there? The Amish farmer that I bought the eggs from implied that people he knew gave him chickens. I don't think in all honesty he even knew what they were. One day while driving by I swear I saw a Red Pyle OEGB rooster strutting around with a couple of hens following him. I slowed down to watch them and thought to myself. I gots to get me some more eggs from him. When I told him about the feathered legs on Old Man and asked if he ever had a feathered legged Cochin he said 'Sure! Is that what that was? Somebody gave us a bird with feathers on it's legs. We butchered that little rooster and y'know he didn't have any meat on him at all!' I explained that they weren't meat birds per se but the bantams were popular as pets and if he had any more given to him let me know and I'd buy them from him.

So I don't think he had a breeding program. Just a lot of potential Sunday dinners roaming around the farm. That and about a gazillion ducks.

 

[Beer can]

If your really bored, found a old vid on YouTube of a guy my dad stopped by and bought a rooster from him for $5.
About the same time the vid was made, maybe yr or two earlier I was just a teenager. Guy had at least a hundred birds, don't see them all in this vid. Heard he lived with them. Place doesn't look quite the same so I'm thinking must have been few yrs earlier.
Took awhile before he found one he would let go of (and he never stopped talking so that took awhile) , had all tail feathers missing he wasn't going to let us have one of his good one's Lol.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Quite the video Beer not many like that now

 

[Beer can]

Pretty funny. Dad liked what he called fighting banties, and had some and mostly rose comb rhode island reds. Lost his rooster and almost all his flock that yr to a weasel. The rooster that guy sold him looked like a rir. Dad I remember thought it was awesome the chicks it threw had five toes.
Why I know it was around same time was I moved out on my own, graduated '94 so maybe around '95, dad stopped by gave me a bunch of processed birds said they couldn't eat them something wrong with them wanted to know if I wanted them....
Heck yeah starving young dude, I didn't care they had black legs and black marbling in their breasts. Never heard of it back then, now I know he prob had a silkie running around in there somewhere at sometime Lol!

 

[sourland]

Good morning, OF.