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Thanks for the input!
I may have to hang onto the orpingtons until I know for sure what they are. I'd love to have hens, and they are beautiful birds, very calm. The lavender orps have much smaller combs, but it may just be because they are different birds.
The Barnies are calm too, at least so far. They are supposed to be a mellow bird.
You should have seen my runs before we built the new coop! No matter how deep I'd bark them, the mud would come right through, even with the covered run. In a couple of days, the birds would be to their knees in mud! And I'd have to kneel in it to change out their food and water
The kids playground never got muddy, so we ripped out the swingset and had someone build these covered runs for us. I think the playground retaining wall keeps the water from flowing through and the ground cloth under the bark keeps the mud from seeping up. My dogs had their kennel on here for a while, and the dogs stayed clean, and bet of all, Shasta can't dig through the groundcloth! since it contained her, I knew it'd be good.
It's interesting that your Barnies are calm, since I think you and I both got our Barnies from CGG. Yours were chicks when you got them though, right? Mine was a pullet and even though I've had her for a few weeks, everytime I enter the run and the other three girls are eating snacks from my hand, she runs back and forth and back and forth trying to stay far away. For her the sky is
always falling. That's why we named her (Screaming) Mimi. Poor girl. She's pretty like your Barnies though! I'm happy with CGG's birds. The light sussex is a perfect doll.
Mine used to be terrified of me, but then at 4 weeks I moved them to the empty pen next to my layer hens, they have only chickenwire separating them. Well, my hens love people! I'm not sure if it is for the snacks we bring them or the back rub they get when they squat (they have no clue what a rooster is and what he is supposed to do, I rub their backs under their wings). If they are free-ranging, there is a chicken stampede toward whomever opens the gate! The barnies see that all the hens run toward me, and pretty soon they were doing it too; not squatting, but they flock around my feet and then scatter when I reach down. Most of the barnies don't like to be picked up. A couple of the roos don't seem to mind. They fuss a bit, but don't make much of an effort to escape when I reach for them. If I take a chair in there and sit for a while, they don't mind being pet and will eat from your hand. I think once they start laying, they will be fine, like my older hens.
