Washingtonians

[justbugged]

Quote: It looks like she has the frizzle gene happening. Has she started laying yet?

 

[Rainwolf]

Are the chicks at Reber Ranch good ones? I see people post about the difference in quality between hatchery (production?) chicks and the ones from local breeders. I would like nice looking, well tempered birds, so should I skip places like Reber and the feed store in Monroe?

I apologize if this opens a can of worms! I might actually have a coop in a couple of weeks, so I'm starting to look for chicks.

Jennifer

Most of my chickens have come from feed stores.  In terms of looks, I believe that my girls have all been quite attractive, but maybe that's just because I love(d) them so much!  It's true that you're going to find that better-quality birds come from breeders.  In the temperament department, I've only ever had one feed store bird that was truly bad.  My current young ones are the sweetest little things; I got them from DeYoung's in Woodinville.  Then again, maybe they're the sweetest little buggers because I sat in a small room with them for over a month...

I'd suggest keeping an open mind.

Honestly evaluate what you want in a chicken.
If you are not going to show then you have the choice between hatchery and breeders.
If you want the body/color/looks/temperament to be the breed standard then go with a breeder (hatchery stock is hit/miss and by the time you figure that out your attached to the bird)
If you will be happy with what ever the looks etc then hatchery is a great place to get a variety just understand not all hatchery stock is quality..... you might get a great bird you might get a soso bird.
If you go to a breeder you can evaluate the parent stock and a good breeder will always be willing to answer questions about their breeds.
Also understand you may not be able to visit the pens or may provided muck boots to visit the pens, this is solely for bio security.
I only allow some people in my yard to see my birds.... otherwise they can just look over the fence

unless the black bug comes a visiting the front yard... the little booger has figured out that if she hops on the coop, then to my garage roof, walks across the roof, then to the fence top, then to the stairs, then to the driveway she can find a ton of bugs all to herself..... and digs up my moms plants....... if she hops on the roof and sees us she hops right back in the back... if we come out and she is in front... its the boogie dance to get back into the backyard.... she knows better!

 

[Hinotori]

The cockerels were hatched on Christmas day. In person there it looks like they have some white in their feathering. The eggs were Blue, and Splash. I would be willing to take them back if Shyla can't find another home for them.

Were all the blues, boys? The blue one I got from you turned into a very pretty thing when he molted into his adult feathers about a month ago and figured out he was a boy. Two of the splash are girls and laying, one is broody. The darker splash I still am not sure on. We'll find out eventually.

Here he is a few weeks ago. I need a new one of him. He's almost black up front now and slowly working on the saddle and tail. And he has a ton more feathers making him look thicker. I love him he's so sweet.

 

[RainyDayChicken]

I was afraid of that. And how do you tell silver from gold when they are very young, is it obvious? I was just looking through pics of Monroe Farm & Feed's chicken room, and they showed a bunch of chicks labeled "assorted Polish." I would prefer a silver laced, so how would I go about picking one out?

Jennifer

i agree if you know the breed you want i would go to a well known breeder for your birds. you will love the birds whichever way you go, but the breeder's birds will be closer to standards which will be closer to the birds you want.

 

[justbugged]

Quote: The differences between Silver and Gold is fairly obvious with most chicks. The silver are paler and may have some black fluff, and golden lace chicks fluff tends to be yellows, and brown. I tend to prefer the silver lace over the gold lace. You should be able to custom order hatchery birds from most feed stores. Another option is to split a hatchery order with another BYC member or neighbor. There isn't anything wrong with having hatchery birds, if all a person wants is a backyard flock. While most hatchery birds are less than a perfect match to the ideal, there are some that are very nice quality. I have mostly hatchery birds at this point. I am planning on replacing most of my flock with blue egg layers. For me it isn't going to matter what the birds look like, as long as they lay blue eggs.

 

[justbugged]

Quote:

The cockerels were hatched on Christmas day. In person there it looks like they have some white in their feathering. The eggs were Blue, and Splash. I would be willing to take them back if Shyla can't find another home for them.

Were all the blues, boys? The blue one I got from you turned into a very pretty thing when he molted into his adult feathers about a month ago and figured out he was a boy. Two of the splash are girls and laying, one is broody. The darker splash I still am not sure on. We'll find out eventually.

Here he is a few weeks ago. I need a new one of him. He's almost black up front now and slowly working on the saddle and tail. And he has a ton more feathers making him look thicker. I love him he's so sweet.

Wow he is handsome. I had hoped that the Silkies would have had better combs. The eggs came from a BYC member in Virginia. I think at this point that most of the chicks were boys. I know that I was only able to tell for sure about one of the boys that had been hatched on Dec 11th. I am beginning to think that maybe all the chicks were cockerels. I didn't have a great hatch rate. I am wondering if the bator temp makes a difference on whether or not a person gets boys or girls.

 

[TerrorBird]

Quote: It looks like she has the frizzle gene happening. Has she started laying yet?

She was laying for years! She looked completely normal. I thought she was molting oddly until I noticed that her new feathers were very curious. The spurs came in a bit after that. They're so tiny! I was told that her ovary must have shut down, so she went into an interesting gender state.

 

[JennS]

Thank you, everyone, for the very helpful posts! I will take my time and think about it, but I will probably look for breeders to get specific birds. I'd better not set foot in a feed store though. I can feed the urge to run out and get something to put in a brooder. I even showed a pic of a brooder set up to my husband and he was fine with putting one in the garage. Must... be... patient!

Jennifer

 

[Hinotori]

Yeah, he has a sort of wonky comb. My half silkie cockerel has a better one. The silkies are just pets for me because I like them. DH doesn't care for them.

He's been doting on the ameraucana and brahma cockerels. Even for hatchery brahmas, they are already good sized birds. The hatchery hen I've had has to much black on her back and a single comb instead of a pea comb. The other one I got with her looked nice and correct. These chicks look pretty good except for the one that tried to commit suicide and can't lift her head all the way. She's been stunted a bit since, but is doing ok.

 

[JennS]

She was laying for years! She looked completely normal. I thought she was molting oddly until I noticed that her new feathers were very curious. The spurs came in a bit after that. They're so tiny! I was told that her ovary must have shut down, so she went into an interesting gender state.

Wow! How fascinating. Does this sort of thing happen often? I had no ideas chickens could "change" genders. I'll have to bring this up next time I see one of my exotics veterinarians. (A lot of them are board certified avian vets as well, so it's nice that I can take my chickens to my reptile vets!)

Jennifer