YO GEORGIANS! :)

[valleychicks]

It depends on the breed of chicken. Some grow faster than others. But when they are fully feathered and at least a third the size of the adults, we'll move them into the big pen. But we watch them to make sure everyone is going to be ok. You just have to figure out the difference between establishing pecking order and true aggression with intent to harm.

Good to know. Thank you!

 

[RoswellOrganic]

CHICKEN MATH!

HELP ME RESIST!

Was goofing around on CL and of course, I saw one of Anne's ads. She has Wyandottes now! They're on my "want" list. She also has black sex links (another on my "want" list)

I have 4 laying hens in a 55 square foot coop, the 3 pullets in a 16 square foot coop. In another two weeks, I plan on letting everyone free-range together (supervised until I know they're okay) and then let them decide when they all want to roost together in the large coop.

I don't have a place to set up a 3rd small coop that I can closely supervise. My current coops are right outside the back door so the dogs can hear and notify me if anything bad is going on. I also don't feel comfortable putting 10 girls (I buy chicks at least 3 at a time for company) in a 55 square foot coop. I'd like to wait until I have the larger coop built.

But the chickens are so pretty........

Hi, can't help you with any logic, been fighting the chicken math myself There are so many breeds and they are all so pretty!
I am building a small tractor for my very first chickens, and will have only 3 ... or at least that is the plan. I have been thinking well, they may not all make it, maybe I could get 5 or 6...
What breeds do you have or want? My list so far has : 1 Ameraucana for sure, orpingtons, wyandottes and barred rocks. A blue orpington would be my first choice if I can find one.

 

[Flowerbh]

Hi,  can't help you with any logic, been fighting the chicken math myself There are so many breeds and they are all so pretty!
I am building a small tractor for my very first chickens, and will have only 3 ... or at least that is the plan. I have been thinking well, they may not all make it, maybe I could get 5 or 6...
What breeds do you have or want? My list so far has : 1 Ameraucana for sure, orpingtons, wyandottes and barred rocks.     A blue orpington would be my first choice if I can find one.

Google 'different colored chicken eggs'. If you like different colored eggs you may want chickens like an Isbar for green eggs, Legbars for blue eggs, Marans for dark chocolate eggs, Polish for white eggs, and the Easter eggers for surprise colors. Olive eggers are fun, too.

 

[carcar80]

@carcar80
 , how did the bumblefoot surgery go?

I'll let ya know when the sun comes up and I can see if he's still alive. LOL! Nah, it went pretty good actually. We soaked the foot in Epsom salt first, then scrubbed with a brush and used a sterile swab to clean/dig in all the nooks and crannies. Then used betadine swabs.. Then with a blade we cut a core around the scab.

We didn't have to go too very deep before we hit good bloody flesh, so I was glad. The scab was pretty thick though and smelly. We dressed it like we found on a video and put him in a kennel with deep shavings inside the run with his friends, and he seemed fine. He was making rooster trills and conversing and walking fine in no time.

 

[valleychicks]

I'll let ya know when the sun comes up and I can see if he's still alive. LOL! Nah, it went pretty good actually. We soaked the foot in Epsom salt first, then scrubbed with a brush and used a sterile swab to clean/dig in all the nooks and crannies. Then used betadine swabs.. Then with a blade we cut a core around the scab.

We didn't have to go too very deep before we hit good bloody flesh, so I was glad. The scab was pretty thick though and smelly. We dressed it like we found on a video and put him in a kennel with deep shavings inside the run with his friends, and he seemed fine. He was making rooster trills and conversing and walking fine in no time.

Good! I think he will do fine. Which rooster was it? Oh, did you ever get to Dremel the spurs? I need to Dremel our roosters again. Maybe after all this stinking rain is over...Not looking forward to seeing what the rain is doing to the coop runs today.

 

[GAchickennewbie]

Quote:
Right now, I have a Red Star, a Delaware, a Barred Rock, a black australorp, an Easter Egger, and olive egger, and an aracauna. The "eggers" and aracauna are still chicks. My Red Star is who I'm closest to. My australorp is probably the most predator savy. My "want list" consists of Legbar, Wyandotte, black sex link, possibly a white leghorn, minorca, austra white, and california white. I'm also researching sussex, but haven't decided yet about them. I would advise getting 5 or 6. No matter how much we try to protect our flock, we're bound to lose one from time to time and it's easier to get more at the beginning then to add in more later.

 

[carcar80]

Good! I think he will do fine. Which rooster was it? Oh, did you ever get to Dremel the spurs? I need to Dremel our roosters again. Maybe after all this stinking rain is over...Not looking forward to seeing what the rain is doing to the coop runs today. 

I think he will do well too. It's my main Brahma roo. I have a young blue cockerel who I just can't seem to let go of, but I know I don't need two! He's so friendly and aggravating though, lol.

Did not Dremel. That was the plan but I meant to do it first. By the time we finished the blood-letting, I decided not to stress him further with the noise. I'll do that this weekend.

 

[carcar80]

I need help guys. I have a $10 gift on ebay and so, obviously, have to order some eggs.

But I CANNOT decide.

Ameraucana?
Faverolles?
Legbar?.. Rhodebar??
Something else?

 

[carcar80]

And Valley- so weird about the bird killing!! Can't say I've seen/heard of that..

 

[valleychicks]

We love our Red Star! We had two but the other one died not long ago. She was an internal layer. I hope to get a couple more Red Star hens sometime soon. We have many chickens but there are still a few breeds or types I would like to get. I would love to have an Australorp hen and a French Black Copper Maran hen. We have two Black Sex link hens and they lay big beautiful eggs. We have about 5 Easter Egger hens 4 of them lay blue/green eggs and the 5th lays a tan egg. We are getting 2 Olive Eggers along with some more Silkies in the summer.

I went outside to the barn coop this morning to give 3 week old chicks scrambled eggs to warm them up a bit. The mamas were ready to tell them to eat. They are all in their own area of the barn coop. Gave the adult chickens in the barn coop and our other coops some scratch with dry meal worms and sunflower seed (chicken trail mix). When I got to the Game/EE run I noticed rain build up on 3 sunk-in areas of the tarps so I "hopefully" fixed that problem. I will be so glad when we can build the permanent coop for the Game/EE group. Anyway, I heard screeching so I looked across the road where the noise was and saw a adult hawk up in the very top of a tree screeching it's head off. Kind of glad it's raining now because I don't let the chickens out in the rain so Mr or Mrs hawk will have to look elsewhere for breakfast. Need to get up more netting and soon...