BlueRoosterFarm
Hatching
- Jun 12, 2015
- 2
- 0
- 7
Hello, my husband and I are horticulturists with a dream of one day starting our own CSA (community sponsored agriculture) farm in Alabama. This past winter we decided it was now or never time. My husband quit his full time job and I kept my landscaping business going until we get more on our feet with the farm. Chickens were always part of my husband's dream so I went along with him. Now I love them and their personalities. To make a LONG story short, we ordered 31 chicks from a hatchery in Iowa in late February not knowing they would send them when the temps were below zero throughout most of the US. They sent the chicks 2nd day air on a Saturday which really means they arrived at our post office Tuesday - routed through Minneapolis at -11 and sat outside all day in Atlanta at 18 and Birmingham at 12 degrees. The chicks arrived with an innocent stamp "extra chicks sent for warmth". Well those 7 roosters survived but 16 of the hens did not. Not willing to go through the trauma of that again we picked up 11 more straight run at TSC hoping some of them were the same varieties we ordered. So now we have 2 sets of everything instead of one. One for hens and one for roosters. We know we have at least 3 more roosters by the crowing) in addition to the 7 that came for warmth and are unsure about a few more. We processed 4 of the roosters the other day and are planning on doing a few more next week. I want to keep the Americana rooster though since it is so pretty and docile (in comparison to the New Hampshire or Rhode Island red roosters we have that are getting aggressive)
We currently have 28 hens and 5 more waiting to be processed. We just ordered 16 more chicks from the same hatchery- now I am worried they will get too hot on the way here.
Plus we have no idea what breed/variety/ combinations of varieties we have on a few of them.
So Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Here is one Americana we think. It looks EXACTLY like the American rooster we know we have by the crowing but this one has never crowed. It clucks just like the other hens.
I think this is an Americana too
I can not tell the difference between the Barred Rock and the Dominique. We order 4 of each but only 3 3 of the 8 survived.
This one we just call Big Mama because she is HUGE!
This is the one we have really no idea about ... Gender? Breed?
We currently have 28 hens and 5 more waiting to be processed. We just ordered 16 more chicks from the same hatchery- now I am worried they will get too hot on the way here.
Plus we have no idea what breed/variety/ combinations of varieties we have on a few of them.
So Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Here is one Americana we think. It looks EXACTLY like the American rooster we know we have by the crowing but this one has never crowed. It clucks just like the other hens.
I think this is an Americana too
I can not tell the difference between the Barred Rock and the Dominique. We order 4 of each but only 3 3 of the 8 survived.
This one we just call Big Mama because she is HUGE!
This is the one we have really no idea about ... Gender? Breed?
welcome to BYC !!
