Utah!

[RedIII]

Okay, time for a for funsies pole! I'll be getting a few chicks this coming Winter/Spring for new layers in my flock, as my girls are all 3 1/2 now and slowing down. I'm definitely getting one Rhode Island Red and one Barred Rock, and I am debating on which breed for the third chick. Tell me your vote from the breeds below, if you want to play

1. Speckled Sussex
2. Gold laced Wyandotte
3. Marans
4. Olive egger

I've also considered Buff Orpington and Bielefelder, but I'm not as sure on those.

 

[sideWing]

Okay, time for a for funsies pole! I'll be getting a few chicks this coming Winter/Spring for new layers in my flock, as my girls are all 3 1/2 now and slowing down. I'm definitely getting one Rhode Island Red and one Barred Rock, and I am debating on which breed for the third chick. Tell me your vote from the breeds below, if you want to play

1. Speckled Sussex
2. Gold laced Wyandotte
3. Marans
4. Olive egger

I've also considered Buff Orpington and Bielefelder, but I'm not as sure on those.

I would vote for GLW, or OE. Marans eggs are awesome, but they can be spotty on egg production. I have heard the darker the egg, the less eggs per week. That being said, I love Marans and I'm raising a group of them to go along with the two I already have.

I may have posted this yesterday, but I love it. My second egg from our Golden Cuckoo Marans. It's about a #5 on the color chart. I'm hoping they get darker.



ETA: Lisa, let me know when you are ready to incubate a few of these and I will save them up.

 

[Cynthia12]

I love love the Red Sex Link. Can't beat em for eggs, besides a leghorn. To those that don't look close, they look a lot like a RIR..to some I say..to some. I can see the difference..now.
I've had problems with the black sex link. Not my first one, was a sweetheart, but the other two I've tried since, were stinkers, not sure why, same goes for my Barred Rocks. Not sure. I know a lot of folks love the Barred Rocks for sure.
SS...lovers. Those chickens will talk your ear off. I have a friend that still has one that came from me. She is 4 yrs. old, and still lays 4 or 5 eggs a week.
If you want a LF broody, go with a Wyondotte..that's how I got started with my incubation, this girl freaked out, and thankfully I had that back up incubator people told me to have, just in case. As soon as they started peeping, she left that nest not to go back, as many times as I tried putting her back on. She was a sweet bird though.
OE's can go broody too, but oh those eggs!
I haven't had a Marans hen..yet. But that rooster I had for a while was a sweetheart. Will be getting some chicks from the guy that I got those eggs from during a hatch a long..pullets, blues, blacks, and splash, and he is going to put a boy in there for me. For free! Because I had a bad hatch. Wow. His birds and eggs win shows often. I'm excited. Eggs will be hatching in about a week and a half now.

 

[RedIII]

Thanks sideWing! That is a lovely egg basket you have there

Thanks Cynthia I can't believe I forgot about those SL's! I love seeing your RSL's. Both the BSL's I've had were sociable, but they weren't keen on being handled. Still love their eggs, though. And chatty chickens is a bonus for me. I love chatty girls I miss my RIR because she was so talkative and friendly. She almost shared Grandma's sandwich once.....ahem.....:/ Brazen girl.

How exciting that you're getting stock from that guy gain! (I feel a bit silly calling him "that guy".....even though I know who you mean)

 

[the-bird-man]

Okay, time for a for funsies pole! I'll be getting a few chicks this coming Winter/Spring for new layers in my flock, as my girls are all 3 1/2 now and slowing down. I'm definitely getting one Rhode Island Red and one Barred Rock, and I am debating on which breed for the third chick. Tell me your vote from the breeds below, if you want to play

1. Speckled Sussex
2. Gold laced Wyandotte
3. Marans
4. Olive egger

I've also considered Buff Orpington and Bielefelder, but I'm not as sure on those.

i dont have personal experience with those breeds so far so i dont know. the bielefelders sure are interesting tho. i think for your situation i would go with the wyandotte as they are winter hardy and their coloring helps them blend in so they dont stand out to predators so much and they are fair layers i am told and i guess they are sweet birds. seems to have a lot of qualities that could be good with your situation

 

[RJSorensen]

Red, Speckled Sussex for my vote.
Bitsy, the bokeh in that photo of yours is quite nice, I can see that you are going to enjoy your new camera. It was a fine fall day… hope to enjoy many more before facing old man winter.

Best to all and your birds,

RJ

 

[RedIII]

i dont have personal experience with those breeds so far so i dont know. the bielefelders sure are interesting tho. i think for your situation i would go with the wyandotte as they are winter hardy and their coloring helps them blend in so they dont stand out to predators so much and they are fair layers i am told and i guess they are sweet birds. seems to have a lot of qualities that could be good with your situation

They are I have two, and they are actually very sweet. i used to be able to hold the one before they all got kind of wild.

Thanks RJ!

 

[the-bird-man]

so i was reading about the plans being put into place to combat the avian flu this year. they think there will be massive losses. but when they find it they are going to do mass culls of flocks and the method they are planning to do that by is very sad so fair warning. but they plan on shutting the ventilation systems down and essentially cooking them to death. this is for the commercial flocks where you see 50k plus birds. its so sad makes me happy i am doing what i can to not support those massive operations at least egg wise for now. i wish i had more land to do more to raise my own for meat

 

[newmarch2014]

so i was reading about the plans being put into place to combat the avian flu this year. they think there will be massive losses. but when they find it they are going to do mass culls of flocks and the method they are planning to do that by is very sad so fair warning. but they plan on shutting the ventilation systems down and essentially cooking them to death. this is for the commercial flocks where you see 50k plus birds. its so sad

makes me happy i am doing what i can to not support those massive operations at least egg wise for now. i wish i had more land to do more to raise my own for meat

I try not to be an alarmist over things like this but I am being overun by finches. I know that they are less likely to carry it than say a wild duck but it still scares me. We are hopefully going to get around to putting bird netting over the run this weekend to stop them.

 

[La Casa de Pollo]

Okay, time for a for funsies pole! I'll be getting a few chicks this coming Winter/Spring for new layers in my flock, as my girls are all 3 1/2 now and slowing down. I'm definitely getting one Rhode Island Red and one Barred Rock, and I am debating on which breed for the third chick. Tell me your vote from the breeds below, if you want to play

1. Speckled Sussex
2. Gold laced Wyandotte
3. Marans
4. Olive egger

I've also considered Buff Orpington and Bielefelder, but I'm not as sure on those.

My vote would for an OE due to good production. Or an SBEL
I love the marans but MAN they make me crazy with the sporadic egg laying and hard to hatch eggs. This is why I am bonkers. I blame them