What have you done about the dog?
Thoughts on flock possibility?
- Thread starter Ladybug2001
- Start date
- Thread starter
- #12
I have heard that golden comets and red sex links are the same thing? I have to RSL, when I call them they come running but aren't fond of being picked up. I've never had any issues with Tractor Supply. I've had more issues with Atwoods then TSC.
As for the dog, we have constantly told his owners about it, they know he is because he comes home with blood all over his face. They refuse to keep him in their yard. Call the police they tell you to protect your livestock and shoot the dog. There is two .22s at our back door. The fact that this dog is bold enough to get one of them right up against our house is disgusting. I mean it is honestly sad that they are not allowed out of their run to roam their own yard unless someone opens all the windows in the house and constantly checks on them. They are scared from this dog. They slowly come out of their coop while they use to run to the gate and bok until you let them out. Once you let them out they would run out and start pecking grass, scratching dirt and sand. When we move we will have maybe one dog who runs that neighbor hood named Lucy, she is a nice dog but you never know. Though my chickens will also have the protection of four horses and two miniature horses. The miniature horses hate dogs and cats, they chase my dogs out of the yard and chase my cats up trees.
As for the dog, we have constantly told his owners about it, they know he is because he comes home with blood all over his face. They refuse to keep him in their yard. Call the police they tell you to protect your livestock and shoot the dog. There is two .22s at our back door. The fact that this dog is bold enough to get one of them right up against our house is disgusting. I mean it is honestly sad that they are not allowed out of their run to roam their own yard unless someone opens all the windows in the house and constantly checks on them. They are scared from this dog. They slowly come out of their coop while they use to run to the gate and bok until you let them out. Once you let them out they would run out and start pecking grass, scratching dirt and sand. When we move we will have maybe one dog who runs that neighbor hood named Lucy, she is a nice dog but you never know. Though my chickens will also have the protection of four horses and two miniature horses. The miniature horses hate dogs and cats, they chase my dogs out of the yard and chase my cats up trees.
I am just now getting into bantam breeds. Had a mixed flock - Dark Cornish Game pair and rooster of the flock, New Hampshire, Jersey Giant, Rock x Cornish hen, and varied meat poultry. I currently have Welsummer rooster, that from predatory aspect has lived through 3 flocks of hens. He must be living up to his name (a big chicken) to have survived while hens perished. No experience with Cochins; Wyandottes I had were assertive even bullying (to other fowl), Austalorp was first to be taken out by marauder, large enough doesn't have a lot to worry as for pecking order, but can be separatists. My advice is so long as they have plenty of room, I don't think you'll have a problem as they are free to get away from any 'problematic' birds
As far as size and mellow attitude Rock Cornish X ; often sold as meat birds to be ready for kitchen at 6 weeks, but be prepared for a LARGE bird, stood upright could look a Lab x in the eye. quiet and seemingly self assured not much wants to tangle with them, but the hens do get egg bound and rooster too heavy for mixed flock, especially if smaller like Wyandotte, Cochin, Leghorn even some RIR. I had mixed in with (above) birds DCG did not attempt to pick a fight with him, x did not seem intent on killing any competition.
Rose combs fair better in freezing weather, as their combs are less likely to freeze and wattles generally are not as prominent.
As to "My Pet Chicken" I ordered some hatching eggs from them, completely unimpressed, None hatched and through my less than perfect candling skills would swear the rooster was 'shooting blanks' because they didn't even form membrane. I blame it on the distance as AZ order delivered faster and at least 1/2 hatched.
Was thinking of ordering chicks from them, but Ideal and other hatcheries North and East are closer to me.
Best of Luck, I'm following your thread, even though a bit jealous as the thought of 5 acres to let them roam, that is a Lot of land to look after.
As far as size and mellow attitude Rock Cornish X ; often sold as meat birds to be ready for kitchen at 6 weeks, but be prepared for a LARGE bird, stood upright could look a Lab x in the eye. quiet and seemingly self assured not much wants to tangle with them, but the hens do get egg bound and rooster too heavy for mixed flock, especially if smaller like Wyandotte, Cochin, Leghorn even some RIR. I had mixed in with (above) birds DCG did not attempt to pick a fight with him, x did not seem intent on killing any competition.
Rose combs fair better in freezing weather, as their combs are less likely to freeze and wattles generally are not as prominent.
As to "My Pet Chicken" I ordered some hatching eggs from them, completely unimpressed, None hatched and through my less than perfect candling skills would swear the rooster was 'shooting blanks' because they didn't even form membrane. I blame it on the distance as AZ order delivered faster and at least 1/2 hatched.
Was thinking of ordering chicks from them, but Ideal and other hatcheries North and East are closer to me.
Best of Luck, I'm following your thread, even though a bit jealous as the thought of 5 acres to let them roam, that is a Lot of land to look after.
- Thread starter
- #14
I actually think my orpington rooster is a little to big for my hens. He stands way over them.
My rooster, whom was named Foghorn by my mom. Then my two remaining hens..... Pebbles who is closest to the camera, she is the last of flock I had last year. Diamond who is snacking on some bread crumbs. Both Diamond and Foghorn I had from this years flock. It is sad to think I started the year off with 10 chickens and these are the only ones to survive. I guess my Uncle, who is the Sheriff of my county said if I shoot the dog it has to be endangering my chickens. I say if he is in my yard, he is an immediate threat to my chickens.... Everyday when I go to let them out of their coop (when I am going to be home), I practice shoot a barrel at the end of our property.... Both to scare any dogs that might be thinking of coming in our yard and to keep my aim up. When my most recent hen was killed, my dad had been here and they were all accounted for, he left. My mom passed him on her way in maybe five minutes and the dog had already killed the chicken and was fleeing the scene.
I can't wait to move. I am trying to talk my dad into running and electric wire along the bottom of our new fence to keep anything from coming in or doing chicken wire around the bottom. My dad is determined my chickens would just fly over the fence, but I doubt it. With five acres of grass and a whole lot of bugs, plus manure to scratch in, they will be to busy. Though I will be a whole lot happier when my minis will be able to protect them again. If there is one thing those two are good for it is scaring away dogs and chasing my cats up trees.
My rooster, whom was named Foghorn by my mom. Then my two remaining hens..... Pebbles who is closest to the camera, she is the last of flock I had last year. Diamond who is snacking on some bread crumbs. Both Diamond and Foghorn I had from this years flock. It is sad to think I started the year off with 10 chickens and these are the only ones to survive. I guess my Uncle, who is the Sheriff of my county said if I shoot the dog it has to be endangering my chickens. I say if he is in my yard, he is an immediate threat to my chickens.... Everyday when I go to let them out of their coop (when I am going to be home), I practice shoot a barrel at the end of our property.... Both to scare any dogs that might be thinking of coming in our yard and to keep my aim up. When my most recent hen was killed, my dad had been here and they were all accounted for, he left. My mom passed him on her way in maybe five minutes and the dog had already killed the chicken and was fleeing the scene.
I can't wait to move. I am trying to talk my dad into running and electric wire along the bottom of our new fence to keep anything from coming in or doing chicken wire around the bottom. My dad is determined my chickens would just fly over the fence, but I doubt it. With five acres of grass and a whole lot of bugs, plus manure to scratch in, they will be to busy. Though I will be a whole lot happier when my minis will be able to protect them again. If there is one thing those two are good for it is scaring away dogs and chasing my cats up trees.
I unfortunately would have to make the assumption that Foghorn is not 100% Buff Orpington. His legs are yellow and that's a sign of cross breeding. May be a little bit of Rhode Island Red in him He is beautiful though. Just my thoughts.I actually think my orpington rooster is a little to big for my hens. He stands way over them.
If you are looking for friendly "pets" I would nix the RIR (unless you can find a heritage breeder) and the Hamburg. My hatchery RIR are extremely flighty and god forbid you get a roo, they were vicious! I love my Hamburg pair but mostly have them as an "alert bird" for the flock, they are impossible to handle . I have a colorful and mixed flock as well and am glad I made the decision to have a diverse flock.
My first set of chicks came from My Pet Chicken, the others from my hatching and BYC members close to me. They have all done well for me, and were from late June to early July. We had to get rid of all the cockerels we hatched, but other than a run in with a neighbors cat when they were about 6 weeks old, we've had no issues at all. We have a very mixed flock as well, including several on your list. 1 Barred Plymoth Rock, 2 Salmon Faverolles, 1 Columbian Wyandotte, 1 EE, 1 Cream Legbar, 3 GL Brahmas. They do just fine together, a couple of them are better at keeping an eye to the sky, others better at finding food, etc. Together the flock does well, and have free ranged pretty well in our yard despite cats, hawks, eagles, owls, and foxes. While not the heaviest layers on all the breeds, I went for a mix that would offset each other in the seasonal changes. EE's, Legbars, and other light breeds don't lay as well in winter. Best of luck with your new birds in the spring!
We have a mixed flock of the following
1 Buff Orpington
1 Gold Comet/Red Sex link/Gold Buff (I believe they are all different names for the same cross breed)
1 Barred Plymouth Rock
1 White Plymouth Rock
1 Partridge Plymouth Rock
2 Speckled Sussex
1 Silver Laced Wyandotte
1 Black Australorp
I wanted to have an Easter Egger and a Welsumer but they didn't have any available on the hatch day I ordered from.
This mix has worked out really well for us.....they seem very happy together and I do see that some are more dominant than others and some more timid but no one seems to be a bully and no one gets picked on.
I live in Upper Michigan, it gets really cold here and I picked the breeds based on cold hardiness, docile temperament, and egg production....plus we wanted a lot of different colored chickens lol.
As for the other breeds you listed I don't have any experience with Acona, Hamburg, Chantecler, Cochins or Faverolles at all.
I would agree with the person who said Rhode Island Reds seem to be top of the pecking order. The two I used to have were definitely the biggest bullies I have ever had and they were relentless in their bullying. Followed by the Delaware I had. My experience with Leghorns was that they were not always good in the cold as other breeds and can be prone to frost bite on their larger combs.
1 Buff Orpington
1 Gold Comet/Red Sex link/Gold Buff (I believe they are all different names for the same cross breed)
1 Barred Plymouth Rock
1 White Plymouth Rock
1 Partridge Plymouth Rock
2 Speckled Sussex
1 Silver Laced Wyandotte
1 Black Australorp
I wanted to have an Easter Egger and a Welsumer but they didn't have any available on the hatch day I ordered from.
This mix has worked out really well for us.....they seem very happy together and I do see that some are more dominant than others and some more timid but no one seems to be a bully and no one gets picked on.
I live in Upper Michigan, it gets really cold here and I picked the breeds based on cold hardiness, docile temperament, and egg production....plus we wanted a lot of different colored chickens lol.
As for the other breeds you listed I don't have any experience with Acona, Hamburg, Chantecler, Cochins or Faverolles at all.
I would agree with the person who said Rhode Island Reds seem to be top of the pecking order. The two I used to have were definitely the biggest bullies I have ever had and they were relentless in their bullying. Followed by the Delaware I had. My experience with Leghorns was that they were not always good in the cold as other breeds and can be prone to frost bite on their larger combs.
- Thread starter
- #19
Its possible he isn't pure bred... he came from TSC, what do you expect? I don't handle my chickens all that much. If they come up and get treats, perfectly fine. My hens and roo now don't want anything to do with me, unless it means an apple or some bread.
Anytime you have a mixed flock there will be winners and losers. The winners will be the larger or more athletic breeds, like farnorth's RIRs. The losers are the hens who are naturally smaller like bantam breeds or those hens who are incapable of staying out of the alpha birds' way. A good example of this is when the entire flock is confined to the coop for communal safety. During these times there will be no rest for the weary or safe heaven for the smaller persecuted birds. This is one reason why hens are so often keen to be let out of their coop or run to free range. When free ranging they have the opportunity to escape their tormentors or to at least stay out of range.
This in no way means that there will not be alpha hens in a single breed flock but that the level of persecution will overall be less.
This in no way means that there will not be alpha hens in a single breed flock but that the level of persecution will overall be less.
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