Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[MamaManda]

Has anyone had success hiding the fact that they have the rooster while living in the city?
My mom says roosters only crow at dusk and dawn, i'm not sure how true that is as I swear every I'd show up at her house her rooster was crowing.
My only surviving polish chick is of course turning out to be a cockeral. never fails does it? Well I do not have the heart to give him up. I've always wanted a polish I am not going to be ordering more. I figure i'll keep him breed him to my hens.
I have a great dane sized dog crate (3ft tall, 4 ft long and 3 ft wide) i figure he can live in that and go outside for a few hours a day under my watchful eye to make sure he's not being to loud when neighbors aren't around.
I figure if they hear crowing from within my house they'll think i'm blaring the rooster noises from my computer again as i do almost daily to get my hens looking at me with their heads cocked slightly to the side.

I just really don't want to give him up at all and honestly a rooster cannot possibly be any louder then my hens who think that when they lay an egg that people 5 miles away need to know about it. and only seem to lay eggs at 5 am

Nope. I was in the exact same boat 2 years ago. We live in city limits, and I accidentally got a BR Roo, which happened to be the favorite from my first chicks. I thought I may be able to keep him quiet or hidden some of the time, but I was wrong. We were reported to our local Compliance Dept within 5 days of him crowing, and that was probably because he crowed all hours of the day AND night...and he was loud. Much louder than I thought he'd be...even from inside the coop in the back of our yard.
I was told I had 24 hours to get rid of him, but I didn't want to just hand him over to the feed store. One of my neighbors gets real cranky, real fast, when it comes to chickens, (she's sandwiched between 2 suburban chicken houses) and I was afraid of her finding something else to complain about if I couldn't keep him quiet, so we brought him inside, and put him in one of our unused fireplaces for a few hours until his new owners came for him.


Just having him inside part of the day, I knew he would be MUCH happier somewhere with a flock of hens to protect.

 

[adrianapost]

...

Just emailed cory from baxter barn. He said sorry. He said barnevelders and americaunas come in all different colors. Then he said all his chicks are mixed and theres a TON so he doesnt even know his chicks apart! Unless you dont care what kind of chickens you want, dont go there! He asked how he could make it up lol. I dont even know how to respond. Im going to keep her because shes so sweet but darn I wanted a barnie lol.

 

[fikeyismybaby]

Hello! I ordered 2 African and 2 Pilgrim geese from Murray McMurray. I don't have a coop yet and wanted to get some ideas. How large should the goose door be so they don't have to duck? Thank you in advance.

 

[DeltaBluezTess]

Heres a pic of my lav orpington amd barnevelder. I went to the guys property and saw his birds. Hes the real deal. I just texted him and he said they are a brown egg layer but a very rare bunch will lay green eggs. So I got a very rare lavender orp? Lol. Sorry shes not too pretty... I came outside a few months ago and found my dog chewing on her. I thought she was gonna die but shes my survivor and healing great!

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Well, it's not a Lav Orp....either a mix or another breed. If it is the same guy in Kent, I got some Birchen Marans and the hen has gold hackles....she should have silver hackles....sent text to him but no response...

 

[pips&peeps]

FYI - about the lavender orpingtons. There is a person that said they imported lavender orps several years ago to start their line. Well, that seems to be untrue.

There was another person who started lavender orpingtons, araucanas and ameraucanas using a bird that came from a sale that was lavender in color, had an orpington body type but was an easter egger. This seems to be where the other breeder got their lavender orpingtons from, they were not imported.

So this is why the blue egg gene is popping up occasionally.

 

[Sweetlilbaby]

Nope. I was in the exact same boat 2 years ago. We live in city limits, and I accidentally got a BR Roo, which happened to be the favorite from my first chicks. I thought I may be able to keep him quiet or hidden some of the time, but I was wrong. We were reported to our local Compliance Dept within 5 days of him crowing, and that was probably because he crowed all hours of the day AND night...and he was loud. Much louder than I thought he'd be...even from inside the coop in the back of our yard.
I was told I had 24 hours to get rid of him, but I didn't want to just hand him over to the feed store. One of my neighbors gets real cranky, real fast, when it comes to chickens, (she's sandwiched between 2 suburban chicken houses) and I was afraid of her finding something else to complain about if I couldn't keep him quiet, so we brought him inside, and put him in one of our unused fireplaces for a few hours until his new owners came for him.


Just having him inside part of the day, I knew he would be MUCH happier somewhere with a flock of hens to protect.

yeah, I want to give it a try anyway. Someone said bricks works great to muffle sounds. Actually my next door neighbor. Who doesn't "give a flying ****" her words, about me owning a rooster or not. She said keep it in my garage her garage who cares. She has kids who play drums and so on at all times of the day and night and i haven't turned them in. Pound on their door at 4 am yes. but never involved the cops.
My other neighbor is what i worry about becuase they turned me in claiming i fight dogs because one of my dogs is pit mix, However i had a hen that crowed for 2 months with no complaints. yes a Hen. she hatched eggs and once hatched she began crowing, not sure what that was about. Gender confusion?
Hens i know don't crow as loud as roosters. If my house was more sound proof i'd buy chicken diapers and let him stay in the house being a house bird.

He wouldn't be able to live at my moms because he's a little ******* already, he's not even a pound and he attacks me every chance he gets and i love it! I want a roo that doesn't fear my dogs. my dogs need put in there place time to time by my ducks.
At my parents it's my 3 year old nephew who gets the eggs and feeds (with my dad watching him) But because of that giving a rooster i know will attack wont work, and i wont be able to butcher this one to much emotional attachment this time. This is so unlike me, normally i can cuddle a chick then once it crows butcher it without a second thought.

 

[Chickielady]

That is awesome thanks! A lot of that information is widely posted but the part about carrier status was not as readily available.

You know how many journal articles I had to read just to find out whether or not chickens could be carriers? More than I would care to admit.

This part is interesting:

"Backyard owners and people who show poultry should avoid purchasing chickens that had a history of diarrhea before 10 weeks of age."

So even though they state they cannot carry the virus they still recommend never buying a bird that may have had history of it, not that I disagree of course. Being cautious when going to the show seems like a good idea though, considering animals without a bursa of fabricius can carry and transmit the virus for a short period of time I imagine adult chickens wouldn't be any better than they are.

Bad part is you will never know if a bird you are purchasing has had diarreah while growing up....unless you purchase chicks.

 

[Chickielady]

Roosters crow at any time. Some of mine have tried to be heard in the next county. None of my hens is quite that loud and I have a few that yell all day.

Mine go 24/7.
Even at night:
For hours it is so silent you'd swear yourself is on the moon, then one cock will crow, and followed by another in a different coop, and then 2 more crow from the other coops, and then it is a chaos of crowing for 20 minutes and you realize you are surrounded !
And then deadly silent again.

 

[Chickielady]

I found out today that its my lavender orpington laying blue green eggs. So weird.

She is not a lavender orp then, no way.
SEE POST BELOW

 

[Chickielady]

FYI - about the lavender orpingtons. There is a person that said they imported lavender orps several years ago to start their line. Well, that seems to be untrue.

There was another person who started lavender orpingtons, araucanas and ameraucanas using a bird that came from a sale that was lavender in color, had an orpington body type but was an easter egger. This seems to be where the other breeder got their lavender orpingtons from, they were not imported.

So this is why the blue egg gene is popping up occasionally.

It is VERY VERY blue !
Bluer than alot of Cream Legbars or Ams I have seen lately !
Beautiful egg !