UK Member Please Say HI

[KirstieJG]

Hi, thank you for welcoming us and letting us make a corner of your US site a little piece of Old England!

 

[hikaribug]

Peach and Rosa, my Amber Star and Columbian Blacktail, are now laying reliably almost every day. Rosa had a few shell-less and jelly eggs when she first started, but she's a pro now. Peach had no egg issues and just started laying perfect little eggs straight off

Daisy, the Light Sussex, is still being a freeloader, although her comb and wattle are nice and red and she's doing the "rooster squat" when you touch her... if she lets you! Hopefully she'll be giving me some nice tasty eggs soon

 

[rebrascora]

Hi KirstieJG and welcome. No, I don't sell any so my flock just keeps getting bigger! I thought I had a couple of friends talked into having some of them but they seem to have backed down for now. At some point soon I am going to have to down scale or at least level out. Of course there are 10 cockerels waiting for me to find time and the "mindset" to process them and 3 more 7 weeks old youngsters that need to follow in due course and 10 eggs a week and a half into incubation under a broody, but I lost my black copper marans a couple of weeks ago (a sudden death), so that's one I'm down and of course, none of the eggs might hatch!

What are you planning on doing with the surplus males?

Hi Hikaribug

Congratulations on your girls coming of age. Those first eggs are such a thrill aren't they! It sounds like Daisy needs the "chicken curry" bedtime story to make her buck her ideas up!

 

[KirstieJG]

The excess males are no problem for me as we are a grow-ya-own kind of family and with four teenagers to feed, the extra protein is welcome. I think only one of the bantams is male, they are only six weeks so its difficult to tell. I thought I would take them all to the fete and tell people they are welcome to come back to me and swap them for one of my others if they turn out to be males.

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Hi everyone Welcome to all new members on the thread.

Hope all is well with you all? Some nice weather for a change and hasn't it been great

Congrats on the eggs Hikaribug!! I still love collecting them everyday!

Barbara, glad to hear Rascal and co suffered no ill effects from their escapades. I've been naughty and not ridden for a week or so. Had to have a wisdom tooth out and boy was it agony!! Could hardly bare moving never mind riding so he's had an easy week or so.
Still not done the boys then? I've got 4 chicks left from my last batch of eggs. I'm quite sure 3 are boys so they are going to have to have the chop. One is a frizzle so hoping someone will fancy adding a frizzle to their flock? Anyone fancy it just let me know. Only 4 weeks at the moment but I may have an older frizzle boy too if my Mum can't get on with having one. They are polish cross Amber hen.

More eggs cooking right now on day 13. Have 27 in there and hoping no quitters when I candle tomorrow. Can't wait once again for more chicks

 

[KirstieJG]

Hi Yorkshire coop,

Good luck with the candling. I have been hatching this year for the first time. I love it!

Do you sell yours online only or do you go to fetes and shows at all? I love the hatching but I cant keep them all :-(

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

HI there KirstieJG!

I sell them online as straight runs so they are unsexed. Any that I have left and to be quite it's not been bad at all for selling are kept untill I know they are female or male for sure. Definite females are better as you can ask £20 per pullet for them. The males get 2 weeks of advertising and if they don't find new homes they are culled. It's the part of incubating and hatching I don't like but is all part of it. I'm not sure how far away you are but if you want some for meat you can gladly have any males I have got for your pot. They are polish though so not very meaty I'm afraid. The cross ones may be better as in meaty.

Sound like you have the incubating bug!! It's very addictive, I just can't stop myself

 

[hensanity]

I was really enjoying the warm weather, reminded me of home but without the heat stroke lol! Although I did miss two days due to my severe migraines, I got a lot of planting done and we've been working like crazy on the addition to our runs. My Brahmas are getting way too big for their brooder!
In addition to that we're ready to test some eggs for fertility, so we can start selling the hatching eggs and raise up the next batch of chicks. My cream legbars are growing fast and I just found out that the black rocks we bought as chicks were crossed with black copper marans, so we should get some lovely dark eggs from them. It's turned a bit cool today and I can smell the rain coming, but hopefully we'll have a bit more of that nice weather soon.

Oh yeah! I just found out my mom is coming for a long visit in October!! e

 

[KirstieJG]

Thats really very kind of you Yorkshire coop but here on the sussex/surrey border is probably too far south. Any that i dont sell at the fete tomorrow, i will put online then. I was thinking preloved???

Hi Hensanity, where is home originally? I love the hot weather too, it cant get warm enough for me

I have two Black copper marans, they are great birds, really friendly and very reliable for eggs, not as dark as i thought they would be but its the luck of the draw I guess...

 

[hensanity]

Thats really very kind of you Yorkshire coop but here on the sussex/surrey border is probably too far south. Any that i dont sell at the fete tomorrow, i will put online then. I was thinking preloved??? Hi Hensanity, where is home originally? I love the hot weather too, it cant get warm enough for me I have two Black copper marans, they are great birds, really friendly and very reliable for eggs, not as dark as i thought they would be but its the luck of the draw I guess...

Home is Texas, I've only been in the UK for three years so far, but I'm loving it! Our black coppers lay fairly dark eggs, but I've seen some that are even darker than normal.