Utah!

[PacsMan]

Happy New Year!!

So, I just put my chickens away for the night. Guess what I heard? Ducky (of lucky and ducky fame....) try to crow.
I guess October 15th puts him just about 10 weeks and time to start crowing...

So, I have a question. I've got Lucky, Ducky, and Mightnight (momma) all in a small part of the coop. I'd say Lucky is about 3/4 the size of Midnight, and Ducky is about 7/8 the size.

Have any of you introduced chickens together before?

Midnight used to be the top of the pecking order before she went broody, now when I let her in with the rest of the hens, they all jump her and start pecking.

What's the best way to introduce the 'baby chicks' and re-introduce Midnight?

2nd question; I'll need to get rid of ducky before he starts crowing for real, or my neighbors won't like me any more! Anyone want a good looking 10 week old Buff Orpington Roo for cheap?

Marty

 

[PacsMan]

Oh yeah, and I keep getting emails from the hatcheries... evil business they are...

I think I might like to try mail order this year, instead of going to the lady in Sandy.
Minimum order is 25. I'd like to keep maybe 18 for my 2nd year flock, then sell the ones I have now when my new chicks start laying. Anyone wanna buy 6 or more baby chicks at the end of Feb, or middle of March? I'm in Sandy.

Marty

 

[Stands With A Fiddle]

Marty - my friend has been talking about mail order (she lurks but does not post on here). Do you have a link for the hatchery you will be using? I'll show it to her, and I may be wanting to add a few (probably 3) more chickies as well.

Jenn

 

[darkroo]

PacsMan how long have you been getting your birds from the lady in sandy? Late this summer I got two birds from her and am glad I isolated them for a month I ended up having to put them on meds before putting them with the rest of my girls. I still may have an issue but I haven't had time to address it yet. I've been procrastinating I have pic's and started to post them recently but ran into some problems getting them uploaded. I've heard rumors down at the IFA that I'm not the only person to have problems with birds from her. How has your luck with her been working?

 

[Stands With A Fiddle]

Daysiechicks had the hens from the lady in Sandy get sick as well.

 

[kimbobim]

Quote:
I got two birds from her back in mid-April, they were about six weeks old when we got them. I personally haven't had any problems with them - they've been healthy as can be. We did keep them isolated in our small tractor coop for about eight weeks - but after the first 30 days, it was just because they were too small to mix with the older gals. They are both great layers now - one is a Black Australorp, the other is a Barred Rock. Other than the fact that the BR likes to lay her eggs in weird places (DH's woodpile is her current favorite spot - she walks 100 feet through the snow to get to it. weirdo.), they have both been great birds - healthy, great layers, great foragers. However, I have heard rumors on here that other people have had problems with birds from her. Maybe it depends on the source of the chicks? I know she orders some in from hatcheries, but hatches others herself from her own stock.

I personally don't have anything negative to say about her chickens on here (she was incredibly helpful when I picked out my birds and spent quite a bit of time with me explaining different breeds, feeds, etc., and even sent me an email making sure they were OK, answered more questions). She does have a couple breeds I'm interested in getting eventually - sooooo... would it be helpful if people said what breeds they got from her and whether they've had problems with them, and when they got them? Maybe the breed, or the time of year are part of it. Like I said, my Barred Rock and Black Australorp that were hatched in February have been completely healthy, great layers.

Also, would people mind telling where they've had GOOD experiences getting chicks/eggs/birds, especially local sellers? Now that Christmas is over I'm starting to plan my garden and thinking about getting a few more chickens in a couple of months. I'd like to add a Buff Orpington or two. Never had them - are they good layers?

If people are looking for local birds that aren't day-old chicks, I got three RIRs from a seller named Justin on KSL.com in late February that are egg laying champs! They were hatched the very end of October, so they were about 4 months old when I got them. They all started laying the first week of May. Great big brown eggs that my neighbors drool over. They've been our best producers, healthy as can be, friendly, love to free range and forage, and did I mention the great eggs? Great eggs, and tons of them. From those three birds, we've gotten 16 to 18 eggs a week, even in the cold we're getting 15 a week (we do have light on in the coop for a couple hours in the morning). I may try to get a couple more from him in late February again. I'm trying to remember where he was - Syracuse maybe? He had an 801 area code. West Haven... Can't remember - somewhere up there.

If I remember right, he doesn't list on KSL.com all the time - he hatches a lot of birds in late fall for early Spring sale (he had more than 70 RIR's left when I contacted him), and then has more in the Fall. He had RIRs, White Leghorns, and Red Sex Links, and a few other breeds, of various ages. They were really reasonably priced, too. I've got old emails from him, so if anyone wants his contact info, just let me know. He was great to deal with.

Happy New Year everyone! With this glorious weather today, I'm going to go hang out with the ladies and clean out the coop a little.

 

[Stands With A Fiddle]

I think Kimbobim is right about the time of year....

Daysiechicks got hers in August, I think. Darkroo said, "late last summer". So, maybe she just had some bad luck with illnesses right around that time. I'd be interested to know if the rumor mill at the IFA store had experiences right around that time as well.

I will say that when Daysiechicks complained about her on here a while back, it seemed like a few people got on her case about it. I'm not going to go back and look through all the posts, but I do think it was in this thread. So, it seems like a few people out there have had GOOD experiences with her.

 

[PacsMan]

Quote:
Nope, haven't picked out a hatchery yet. I'll let you know when I do. (Oh, BTW, I checked on-line. 18+6 isn't 25 anymore... I gotta remember that next time I post! d'oh!!)

Quote:
I just started last year, and she was the first place I tried. I bought the first day of February and found her really helpful. I bought more from her a few weeks later. No problems with sickness at all. I've seen the "don't buy from Sunnybrook farms" posts, but haven't had any real problems at all, so I didn't put too much stock in that.

I just wanted to try a hatchery and maybe save a few bucks. (Plus the thrill of going to the P.O. and seeing the look on the face of the post office workers!) If I remember correctly, Kristi charges $3.50/Buff Orpington. I ~think~ the hatcheries charge ~$2.50 plus shipping. Something to look into.

Marty

 

[gcst]

It's a good thing I haven't room for more chickens. This is very addicting..

Gail

 

[darkroo]

Isn't August 1 towards the end of summer?

I got a red sex link (sniffles) and a EE mutt (mango) from her and she said they were 10 weeks old. She was great we talked a long time and she even offered to take the birds back several days later but I was already in for a dime. She had me put them on antibiotics for two weeks and then I got something else from the lady at IFA. And that seemed to take care of it. Only one of them seemed to get sick although the recent cold spell seems to have stirred up the problem again with one of my banties. I haven't isolated her yet and I've put some of the same stuff in the water but I don't know how much of it she is getting.

The whole thing got me concerned be cause she is breeding some silkies as well as some BLRW that I wanted to get this summer.

Well thank goodness the weather finely warmed up some, the news said this December was the coldest since 1937. I'm certainly tired of it and hope we move into February weather.