Utah!

[auntie hattie]

I'm getting behind again! Cynthia I would love to have your little splash Faverolle but I can't see getting it from you for quite some time. I have just realized I will have quests staying at my house from Oct.16 until Nov. 10th. Three different sets of family at different times. Sheesh! Then with the holidays coming...... I think we will be going on the 12th of Dec. to pick my daughter up in Idaho possibly. I don't want you to wait that long for me so thank you so much for the offer. If I get the courage up to talk with one of my family members about picking it up I will let you know.

Sundance cute story about your hens. Red you make me laugh. A lot!

Sasha I love your Cochins! I need to take a picture of mine and post it. I'm pretty sure it is a she. :/ 8 weeks I should know by now don't you think? When are the little wheatens going to get their cheek fuzz? Do you still think you have a roo? I couldn't tell from your picture. They are going to be pretty. I'm very excited for you.

Sphinx awhile back you posted a picture of some blue eggs of yours. You said one was Legbar and one was a Ameraucana. I didn't know you had a Legbar. Which blue egg do you like the best? Just wondering if you like one over the other.

Whittni love your picture. Isn't she one of the ones you won some ribbons at the fair?

 

[Cynthia12]

My chickens are so funny. Ed was working on the motorhome to make sure everything is running. We use it for a guest house when we have a lot of company. He was going from the back yard to the motorhome and left both doors open. He comes out of the motorhome just in time to see two hens walk thru the front yard into the coop I have on my front lawn. Its on KSL so we put it in front for easier viewing. then both went right into the nest box. He came and got me. I went out just in time to hear the egg song. I put the doors in so they could finish. When I heard the other egg song I opened the nest box and both escapes were put back in the yard. Little darlings. They knew that coop and exactly what to do when they saw it. After all it use to be their home.

And then there was Red's comment! I chuckled again!

 

[SashaT]

Whitney as in Whittni? Well they are the same name...

This is a head shot of my Coronation Sussex.

Sorry Whittni, I meant Red. She's Whitney. (if I'm spelling it right!)
Beautiful Coronation Sussex, btw!

 

[SashaT]

THanks for all the comments, everyone. I won't panic over the little cockerel's wings. I think he's going to be soooo handsome. He's getting more and more specs of color in his white, and the little pullet is getting more and more specks of white in her color.

I will be breeding/raising Mille Fleur/Calico cochins, so all of you who have them on your list, I'll be tempting you later next year.

Jill, yeah, the Ameraucanas have lost their muffs, but they'll get them back. I feel like they are feathering kinda slowly, especially the one whose sex I'm totally on the fence over. The first 2 pics of Amers I believe is a boy.

 

[Sphinx]

Legbar vs. lav ameraucana. Well, my ameracauna's eggs are still itty bitty, more like bantam sized. She's pretty small herself. Her eggs are only around 30 grams at most. She's been laying a couple months. My legbar also seems very small. Her eggs are marginally bigger, around 40 grams. Color wise, they're pretty much identical. If I had limited number for laying hens, the size would be an issue for me, but since I don't, I don't care.

Lisa, there's a thread on impossibly fertilized eggs that maybe you should go check out: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/712688/photo-attached-please-advise/30 She's posted pictures of all of her birds, and they're all very obviously female, but the egg pictures she posted definitely look fertilized. No suggestions or resolutions, except some people trying to say her EE with female only coloring (and who has since laid an egg) is a boy.

 

[La Casa de Pollo]

Sphinx, I just read through that thread, isn't that so weird? I do not know what to think about mine. Still seeing fertile looking eggs, still not seeing a boy out there.

Just noticed this today.....My Elvis (golden laced Polish female) is getting WHITE feathers in her crest. How funny! She looks silly. There are three or four solid white feathers in there. Nice breeding at the hatchery lol

 

[RedIII]

"Whitney" as in Red's true identity !
Nice sussex!!

Gasp! I have been exposed!!............Ah well. Not like I have anything to hide, anyway

Soo, Roosters. I know most of you don't have them, but I'm trying to get a handle on normal behavior. When I visit Suzie's farm, she has a bunch of roosters, and they all seem to be totally calm, and never, ever are aggressive. My first rooster was very aggressive. My current bcm rooster is still being really sweet. But yesterday, my Legbar rooster came after me when my back was turned. I chased him around the coop and basically scared the living daylights out of him. Today he didn't attack at all. In fact, he ran away and made alarmed noises when I came into the run. But, I don't want a rooster around that's going to attack me or my kids. Do you think he's doomed?

My mystery layer laid again today, and this time she made it into the henhouse, but not the box. It's a lot closer though. Hopefully we'll get her in the box soon.

Sphinx, some roosters are just mean. I have found that a lot of the time, it depends on the individual (bird) Breed can play a role in it, but that's not a deal-breaker. ANYway

You need to assert yourself as alpha and make sure he knows it. But I wouldn't let your kids around him without you near them

Some roosters can be aggressive if they don't recognize you or they feel you are threatening their ladies. I won't lie, some are just jerks, too. With my EE roo, I am not always out to Tooele on a regular basis, so it got to a point where he started attacking me because he saw me as a stranger. Well, me being the sweet, patient person I am (har har) I grabbed him, flipped him upside down and paraded him around for the horses and hens to see, then tossed him and chased him. There were a few times after that that I would walk toward him in a menacing way when I saw him, and he got the point that I was alpha. Now he remembers me when I come into sight, and he won't get more than five feet from me. I believe he still tries to jump my BF and flog him, though. The BF is much nicer about it than I am. So, I guess just keep an eye on him. If he makes alarmed or warning noises when your kids come into sight, be very careful. I will try and get video of my roo doing this some time, but the best way I know how to describe these noises are a "skaaaaaaa skaaa skaw" (think raptors from Jurassic Park) or a very loud "Buuh-WAAAAGK!"

Now I'd better go read the rest of the posts.

 

[RedIII]

Hattie, I'm glad I could make you laugh

I like it when I can add a little humor to someone else's day. Had you noticed?

And I forgot to say - Whittni, beautiful Sussex! You make me wish my SS was still around. And that OEG rooster.............what a handsome guy. Love how he holds himself.

Alright, yet another sign you're a chicken nerd: You get kitchen scale envy over those people who can weigh their chicken eggs.

 

[Sphinx]

We bought the kitchen scale years ago to make it easier to get correct portion size. They're not at all spendy. You should get one.

Red, he makes that warning sound with me. Not quite on the kids yet, but nobody goes into the run without me, so it's not an issue. Yet. My 7 year old loves the chickens though, so I've got to make sure he learns that she's over him in pecking order.

Update on the water: They've figured it out!!!! I finally realized that if I squeeze the bottle hard enough, water drips out. I did that and they saw it dripping out and have now all cottoned on to the fact that water comes from the silver shiny thing and not my finger.

 

[Sphinx]

My BCM started laying today!!!!! Bad news is when I went out this morning, I found the BCM in the time out corner, a green egg, and no little chick. Chick was outside. I was really confused/concerned because the BCM should NOT be laying a light green egg. So, I was wondering if maybe she was checking out that corner since an egg was there. I was completely expecting to find a dark brown egg later today, and I did!!!! Now I'll have to put fake eggs in their nest boxes so the girls get the idea that they should lay THERE. Not in the yard. Not in the time out corner. Not in the coop at large.