Utah!

[sideWing]

I'm thinking I'd really like to get a trio of some breed and start a project but I don't want to step on any toes, especially those of my fellow Cache Valley dwellers. Any ideas? I do have a beautiful Cream Legbar pullet that was shipped from a very active Cream Legbar Club member in TX. The mom was part of her show team and all of the breeder's chicks come out as very definite boys or girls. No guessing on these. What do you all think? How is the market for CL? Anything else that you wish was easier to get local?

I agree with Lisa. It wouldn't be stepping on any toes. The more people working on a breed the better they get. Even if you end up competing against your own stock in someone else's hands it will drive you to improve your line. There are some projects that could use more folks working on them to combine efforts. Some of them are a game of numbers like Marans.

I was chatting with a big Marans breeder and he said he only keeps 10% of his Marans and has to hatch a lot to get SOP leaning birds.

I would love to see some (or more) really nice Cream Legbars, real Ameraucanas, Silver Laced Wyandotte, Gold Laced Wyandotte, Blue Laced Wyandotte, Marans of all colors, Auracanas and a few others.

I have limited experience, but it seems to me that if you want to get a premium for really nice stock you will need to ship eggs and/or chicks anyway. You may sell some locally, but you can also sell hatchery grade started pullets all day long for $15-$20. I just don't think most folks know the difference between hatchery birds and SQ birds, but there are some. Heck, it took me 6 months to realize the "breeder" SLW I got are not much better than hatchery stock. Starting over late in the season.

 

[RJSorensen]

Just a quick nod to iPick… keep and breed that which you like. Everyone is entitled to any style/type of bird they wish to keep or own. I would like some Cream Leg in my large fowl flock at some point. Not the super fancy ones, but just ones I could free range around my place here. I enjoy trying different breeds and would enjoy having some closer to the Cache Valley area and even better yet from folks we know here in the Utah thread.

Am I the only OEGB fancier in Cache Valley here on the thread? I would like to find a way to tap into much better stock for my BB Reds and or Silver Duckwings. Perhaps other breeds if someone has good stock to start from. I have really enjoyed my Banty flock this past year, now they are 13 months old and all grown up, it is pretty cool to see how they developed.

I have some large fowl (LF) hens that are just starting their second season of laying that I would like to rehome, if someone is interested in bumping their egg production or other such. Please PM me if anyone is interested in some birds.

Best to all and your birds,

RJ

 

[iPickYupik]

Just a quick nod to iPick… keep and breed that which you like. Everyone is entitled to any style/type of bird they wish to keep or own. I would like some Cream Leg in my large fowl flock at some point. Not the super fancy ones, but just ones I could free range around my place here. I enjoy trying different breeds and would enjoy having some closer to the Cache Valley area and even better yet from folks we know here in the Utah thread.

Am I the only OEGB fancier in Cache Valley here on the thread? I would like to find a way to tap into much better stock for my BB Reds and or Silver Duckwings. Perhaps other breeds if someone has good stock to start from. I have really enjoyed my Banty flock this past year, now they are 13 months old and all grown up, it is pretty cool to see how they developed. 

I have some large fowl (LF) hens that are just starting their second season of laying that I would like to rehome, if someone is interested in bumping their egg production or other such. Please PM me if anyone is interested in some birds.

Best to all and your birds,

RJ

RJ, did you have some banties at the Cache County fair? We fell in love with those little ones there. They were so cute! My daughter kept hoping to catch an egg in their cages so she could throw it in her incubator just for fun.

 

[RJSorensen]

iPick,

Nope, no birds in the Cache county fair for me this year. I do have banty eggs you could hatch however if you wished some. Can't guarantee they will be anything more than barnyard mix however. I suppose there is a 33.3% chance they will be straight BBReds though. In my free range flock one can never tell who the daddy is. I am wanting to work on breeding pens for my next chicken project. I would like to have the opportunity to selectively breed some of my flock. I don't think I would be a threat as a geneticist, but might be fun to try nonetheless.

AND all of this has got me to thinking it might be fun for those whom wish to take part, to have the kind folks here on the Utah BYC thread each take a few lines and state which breeds you have, and which breeds you would like to work on. Sort of a refresher for some and perhaps an idea starter for others. I would like for you to use both the name i.e. Silver Laced Wyandotte and the abbreviation (SLW) for people like me whom are jargon challenged a bit by some of you. Perhaps I am the only one?

Anyway think it over and pitch in if you should so wish.


I keep about 50 birds, split into half large foul (LF) and the other half Bantys. For LF I have Barred Rocks (BR's), Rhode Island Reds (RIR's), a Leghorn or two and some others. For my Banties I have Black Breasted Red (BBR's) Silver Duckwing (SDW's) Ginger Red (GR's) and some Silver Seabright (SS). I am wanting to work on my Banty lines and reduce the number of LF in my flock. At least for the time being. I would like to try some Icelandic's and Cream Legear's (CL). Perhaps other Banty breeds. I know my dear wife (DW) once asked me how many chickens would be enough, I asked her, how many chickens are there? I could stand to have a lot…

I think I have a link to my member page that has a running count of my birds and coops, I see others here have one as well, always fun to see and read. Ideas come from everywhere, so I like to look at as many members pages and posts as I can.

I love pictures of setups and birds, my thanks to all whom post them. The group here has been of value to me and mine… thanks.

As always, best to all and your birds,

RJ



Henny Penny with Max(ine).

 

[sideWing]

Just a quick nod to iPick… keep and breed that which you like. Everyone is entitled to any style/type of bird they wish to keep or own. I would like some Cream Leg in my large fowl flock at some point. Not the super fancy ones, but just ones I could free range around my place here. I enjoy trying different breeds and would enjoy having some closer to the Cache Valley area and even better yet from folks we know here in the Utah thread.

Am I the only OEGB fancier in Cache Valley here on the thread? I would like to find a way to tap into much better stock for my BB Reds and or Silver Duckwings. Perhaps other breeds if someone has good stock to start from. I have really enjoyed my Banty flock this past year, now they are 13 months old and all grown up, it is pretty cool to see how they developed.

I have some large fowl (LF) hens that are just starting their second season of laying that I would like to rehome, if someone is interested in bumping their egg production or other such. Please PM me if anyone is interested in some birds.

Best to all and your birds,

RJ

Of the LF you would like to rehome, do you have any Barred Rock? My boys sure want a few of those ladies around the yard.

Someone here had some Icelandics, I think a trio.

I love the idea of listing our stock and dreams. I will chime in after my next meeting.

 

[iPickYupik]

Good idea, RJ. I need to get a webpage running.

This is my first year with chickens. Right now I have quite an assortment.

Large Fowl Roosters
1 Easter Egger (EE)
1 Wheaten Ameraucana (not mature yet)

Large Fowl Hens (recent layers)
1 Buff Orpington (BO)
1 Barred Rock (BR)
1 Welsummer
1 Blue Orpington
2 Easter Eggers (EE)

Large Fowl Pullets
1 Cream Legbar (CL)
1 Welsummer
1 Cream Legbar x Marans
1 Cream Legbar x Bielefelder
1 Cream Legbar x Ameraucana
1 Black Ameraucana
1 EE

Large Fowl chicks
1 French Blue Copper Marans
4 French Black Copper Marans (FBCM)

Bantams (not certain if I have roos yet)
1 Sultan (pullet)
1 Sizzle
2 Silkies
1 Smooth Showgirl
1 Silkied Showgirl

I'm hoping to get started on a Cream Legbar next year if I successfully hatch some chicks this fall from mailed eggs. My daughter would also love to start a Sultan project if we can get our hands on some of those.

 

[iPickYupik]

Yikes! I didn't know how many chicks I had until I wrote all that out! Lol! I've been trying hard to NOT count all of them! It's so hard for us to part with them once they are here. I need to figure out who all is hanging around and who is going so I have room to start projects.

 

[RedIII]

In response to RJ's invitation:

This is our current lineup:
-Icelandics (Icee) (5 roosters, 1 cockerel, ?? hens)
-1 blue Wyandotte hen
-1 black Wyandotte hen
-1 Barred Rock (BR) Dominique cross hen
-1 Easter Egger (EE) hen
-4? Cornish Cross (Cornish X) pullets
-1 Cornish Cross cockerel

I am looking to possibly get out of the Icelandics because of frustrations with my birds disappearing while trying to maintain a preservation flock of a rare breed. If we have a breeder flock, it will likely be a very run-of-the-mill breed, such as hatchery BR's that are easily replaced when whatever cosmic forces kick in and we lose birds. It's harsh, but it's honest. I have also considered just getting rid of all but three or four laying hens because I'm sick over how many birds I've lost of all breeds, to date. If this wasn't an issue, there are plenty of breeds I would still try.

 

[iPickYupik]

What is it that gets all your birds, Red? Animal predators?

 

[turnipsmom]

This is Leland the Blue Langshan and he's 5 months old, stands 2 feet, very gentle with his hens, kids and adults. He lives with 9 hens, 2 German shorthairs and 1 cats so he's not afraid of much. We can't keep him as his voice makes a neighbor irritated. He's actually pretty quiet, not crowing until around 8am if he crows at all. He's pretty special to us so if you or anyone you know is interested please PM me. His adoption is free. Thank you.