Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[TacomaFarms]

I don't know what she is, but I would definitely quarantine her for 30-45 days before putting her in with your pullets. You don't want her to pass any illnesses on to your pullets.

I agree... I'm just not sure where to keep her until then. Can she transmit anything by free ranging in my yard? If so, then they've already been, potentially, contaminated because she's been trying to get in their coop for a few days now. Should I put her on a dose of antibiotics?

Also, in response to a question previously posed to the death of two of my new pullets:
I purchased 6 BA pullets from a guy on CL, only to have two of them dead the next morning. I have no idea what the cause of death would have been, the only thing I can think of is stress, but the birds I received didn't look all that healthy to begin with (i.e. one of the birds had no feathers on her head, is significantly smaller than the other ones, and she is, to put it nicely, downright ugly, and one of the ones that didn't make it also had significant feather loss on its head. Frankly I don't entirely trust this CL guy's initial statement that a few of the birds started losing feathers and he's not sure why. He brought them to me so I didn't see where/how he kept them, and I'm not sure they were taken care of very well. I have them on a dose of antibiotics to clear up any possible infections they may carry, and they appear to be much healthier just after the first dose. I had also bought day old chicks the day before I received the BA pullets and the guy I bought my chicks from suggested using the antibiotics he gave me for the pullets at a full dose so they are healthy by the time my chicks are ready to go out in the coop. Any advice/suggestions regarding any of that? (I have 4 BA pullets (12 wks old), and 3 BR & 2 BO (10 days old)). P.S. Why do pullets "lose" their feathers? Is it pecking or illness?

Yellow beak. Looks like an EE. She's quite pretty.

I agree, she is very beautiful and I'm leaning more and more to EE. If she lays, will I be able to tell then? From what I've read Amer & EE's egg coloring are similar...

I also have rabbit questions, does anyone have any suggestions to finding good answers for those? lol...

 

[Dearth o Gallus]

Thanks again everyone!

I guess I need to provide more information about why I want chickens so that you all can help me out more. I know I'm asking for a lot of help, but I prefer to get it right (as I can) the first time.

I really am looking for reliable egg layers first and pets second. Personality is key though, mellow chickens that are relatively friendly with other chickens.
BR are my number one right now, but I'm definitely looking into others now (thanks for all the suggestions).

I heard that hens' egg production tapers off after their second year, so that's why I thought that having a dual purpose chicken (like a BR) would be best. I can also refresh the flock fairly regularly and not have to worry about as many illnesses that are more prevalent with chickens of older ages.

I was going to start with three chicks (AAA), then add two the next year (BB). That way I would have five chickens at most (which I think is all I could have).
The next spring I would butcher 2-3 of the A group after get two more chicks (CC). I may keep at most one depending on egg production. So at most my flock would look like this; ABBCC. This cycle would continue on and on.

Someone said that hens get too tough by that time to eat. Anyone else concur?

Thanks again everyone! I promise that once I become a full fledged (hah!) chicken owner I would will definitely contribute what knowledge I can!

 

[itsren]

Quote: Latte is a fudgelett right??? IF so there IS NO WAY !!!

Yes, Latte is a fudgelett. But we thought maybe Fudge did a midnight sneak-in and rustled himself some bantams. Of course, now knowing how little bantams are... not a chance.

 

[itsren]

Quote:
Hopefully the chicken experts on here can help you answer your first question. I don't know, but I highlighted it to make sure someone who may know will see it.

As for your other comment - that's why we hatched. It's hard to take in someone else's animal if you don't know how it has been treated, what it's living conditions are, what it's been fed, how much it's been medicated, etc. For us, hatching seemed to be the safest way to maintain a healthy flock, since, other than medicated chick feed, we would prefer our chickens not be medicated. If we had to medicate, we would, but we would prefer to maintain a healthy flock without it.

We almost bought a dog from a "breeder". The lady was selling the dogs out of someone else's home. I told her there was no way I was going to hand her $500 without seeing how the dog was raised. She didn't want us to come over, but she ended up letting us come over in hopes to make the sale. It was a puppy mill, and many, many of the dogs had terrible defects. The conditions the dogs lived in was not safe for them. Both my husband and I were speechless. It was a sad day for us to see that many puppies that were so sick. She must have had at least 50 puppies living in an outbuilding smaller than my back yard shed, which is pretty small. We figured since the defects were so pronounced, there must have been a lot of inbreeding, too. It opened our eyes to be wary of purchased pets, unless you know they are coming from someone reputable.

 

[Hinotori]

Well Mongo the brahma cockerel is back OUT of the main pen since he's decide to start maturing in the last week. Even Fabio my Rooster isn't able to watch him at all times and chase him off the girls.

My poor girls can't take him. He grabs on to their head and puts one foot on their back. He's so big that he doesn't go off balance doing this. Then he starts shoving them down no matter how much they yell and protest. So many girls have lost feathers trying to get away. Mongo just is oblivious. I was smacking him trying to get him off one of the girls yesterday and he didn't even notice until I put my hand on his head to grab him. He doesn't know what he's doing and is just hurting them. So he's out of there for a while until his hormones calm down some.

Duke the ameraucana is still out there with the girls. The most he does is grab their heads, they squawk, he freaks and lets go, the girl turns around and pecks him and he runs off screaming. Such a manly boy. LMAO. Eight months old and I'm just hoping he matures fully by spring so he can father some chicks for my replacements for next year since I'll be getting rid of quite a few of the EE hens.

 

[LaughingFeather]

Well, we are using duck because we have so much of it. BUT, having said that, my Dr. has seen a drop in my cholesterol (mine was a wee bit high) since switching. I have also reduced egg intake to only about 2-3 a week; it used to be 2 a day for breakfast.

If you have a source for duck, you might try it. But make sure it's a lean breed, like muscovy or it won't make much difference.

See how lean this is? And it you take the skin off, there's barely any fat.

Yes, it does look lean. I have not had duck before. I guess I should try it at a restaurant first.

 

[FlyRobinFly]

Whew, was way behind and finally caught up. Welcome to all the new peeps, and hope everyone else is doing well.

 

[Nikki99]

That was hilarious!!!


Hi everyone!! Welcome to the newbies!! Hope all is well!!

 

[VelvettFog]

Thanks again everyone!

I guess I need to provide more information about why I want chickens so that you all can help me out more. I know I'm asking for a lot of help, but I prefer to get it right (as I can) the first time.

I really am looking for reliable egg layers first and pets second. Personality is key though, mellow chickens that are relatively friendly with other chickens.
BR are my number one right now, but I'm definitely looking into others now (thanks for all the suggestions).

I heard that hens' egg production tapers off after their second year, so that's why I thought that having a dual purpose chicken (like a BR) would be best. I can also refresh the flock fairly regularly and not have to worry about as many illnesses that are more prevalent with chickens of older ages.

I was going to start with three chicks (AAA), then add two the next year (BB). That way I would have five chickens at most (which I think is all I could have).
The next spring I would butcher 2-3 of the A group after get two more chicks (CC). I may keep at most one depending on egg production. So at most my flock would look like this; ABBCC. This cycle would continue on and on.

Someone said that hens get too tough by that time to eat. Anyone else concur?

Thanks again everyone! I promise that once I become a full fledged (hah!) chicken owner I would will definitely contribute what knowledge I can!

That sounds like a great plan to me.

 

[CarolynF]

Thanks again everyone!

I guess I need to provide more information about why I want chickens so that you all can help me out more. I know I'm asking for a lot of help, but I prefer to get it right (as I can) the first time.

I really am looking for reliable egg layers first and pets second. Personality is key though, mellow chickens that are relatively friendly with other chickens.
BR are my number one right now, but I'm definitely looking into others now (thanks for all the suggestions).

I heard that hens' egg production tapers off after their second year, so that's why I thought that having a dual purpose chicken (like a BR) would be best. I can also refresh the flock fairly regularly and not have to worry about as many illnesses that are more prevalent with chickens of older ages.

I was going to start with three chicks (AAA), then add two the next year (BB). That way I would have five chickens at most (which I think is all I could have).
The next spring I would butcher 2-3 of the A group after get two more chicks (CC). I may keep at most one depending on egg production. So at most my flock would look like this; ABBCC. This cycle would continue on and on.

Someone said that hens get too tough by that time to eat. Anyone else concur?

Thanks again everyone! I promise that once I become a full fledged (hah!) chicken owner I would will definitely contribute what knowledge I can!

Hi again, glad to see you back and talking through your ideas. First, a hen that's been laying for a year or two would traditionally be called a "stewing hen" and for some recipes is the only chicken that is considered suitable such as Coq au Vin. It is my mother's favorite bird for making chicken and noodles because it's age gives it much more flavor. She would cook it in a pressure cooker, but a slow cooker would achieve the same thing. If you try to buy a stewing chicken now days you will pay a big premium for it. Another use would be for stock. If you're expecting it to be anything like a fryer, you'll be very disappointed. I think that the term dual purpose is meant to convey that the bird can be raised for either a meat bird or a layer. If you choose to raise it as a meat bird you would feed it accordingly and butcher it at a young age so it's tender. (Others... please correct me if I'm wrong about this.) Our grandparents and great grandparents were far less picky, I believe, and would never waste the meat. Thus they butchered and ate the older hens when they no longer layed well. My grandmother, born 1875, certainly did, and all 9 of her children followed suit during the depression.

The flock rotation makes sense to me, and there are several breeds that will do well for you. Your plan will certainly stagger the effects of age, molting, etc. If you're less interested in eating the old hens you might consider red, gold, and black sex links (also called Stars or Comets). Generally speaking, they are slightly smaller (thus less meaty), eat less, mild mannered, and very good layers. Again, I would recommend good breeders rather than feed store birds. There are many breeds that can be crossed to produce sex link birds and the parentage will have an effect on the quality of the offspring. Large commercial breeders that supply feed stores aren't always that concerned about the finer points. It's more important to them to be able to simply sex the chicks accurately. Some people have gone so far as to say that the big breeders use poorer quality stock so the customers will have to buy new chicks more often. I have no idea if that's true.