You have a sweet setup there. I was thinking you had brown egg layers but that looks like a white leghorn in the last pic.
Your girls should do fine as long as they can huddle together and are not roosting on metal roosts. One of my free range roos froze to death roosting on a metal pipe gate. Poor old beggar. Chickens are not intelligent animals as a whole.
Home made Brooder
the Chickens are a brown egg layer, called Hyline brown, --it is a cross from Rhode Island Red, and Leghorn, Types.
---it is 16 deg, right now-[ I supose not covering my Olive Trees was a mistake]--but--- The Brooder is well insulated, -- as long as the equip works the birds will be fine, --
Wow! I didn't think you guys got those kind of temps in Fla. It was 14* here this morning.
Your chickens sound like a red sex link. They are good brown egg layers and are a cross between RIR and WL if I am not mistaken. I have 9 pullets that should start laying in the spring. I also have 2 BSL that had started laying just before winter. I have 1 red comet that started just before the BSL and she lays a HUGE egg. I'd like to get some more of them. The rest of mine are a mixture of big stock layers and a few games.
Cajun it was 22 here earlier this morning and I am on the Gulf Coast of MS
according to my fancy thermometer, the low was 15.9 deg this am, -- The Mission Olive has the bark split and leaves look burnt --I supose it is done, -- the Arbiquina is looking bad but not as bad as the Mission, -- Chickens seem to be OK after getting cold yesterday, - [didn't find any dead] so I guess we survived that one--
Are you near Ocala? So sorry about your trees. I know that is heartbreaking.
I live out in the swamp between Ocala and Gainsville, [and a little east] it is 18 deg here this am, -- better than yesterday, --
We went to Ocala once. We toured Siver Springs. I enjoyed it. I like that area. I am not big on sand so a lot of the state does not appeal to me but I sure liked the rolling hills and horse farms around Ocala. Where are ht "mountains" in Fla?
Florida has mountains?
That was my first thought too. I read about it somewhere. It was a realestate ( that does not look right) add. I figured it must be far NE fla but I don't know.
the only thing close to Mountains I know of it on the N.state line, -- and it is not mountains in my judgement
There are some nice hills and small valleys here, -- in the NW Marion Co. area, - and some nice soils also, -- but most of the state is sugar sand, or lime rock, --
The Olive tree I tried to save with a sprinkler got too heavy, -- broke off the tree stake and the tree, -
- OH-WELL
It made me do a double take when I read it. LOL
I moved the chickens out of the Brooder, -- to the greenhouse pen, -- Still have 200, -- amazing, --
they like the new home--
I delivered in Ocala when I was drivin truck.. Then we went to a little place in the middle of nowhere.. Truck Stop and biker bar type thing.. it was awesome! I can't remember the name of it.. First time I ever tried Curry Goat.
Michaelp, they are precious. They look so healthy and I love the color. Obviously they are having a great time too.
Your doing something right not to have lost one,good job!
They look great. Are they Red Sex Links?
they are a sex link, -- [because you can tell the males from the females by color, -- the males are white] they are called Hy-line brown -- that is their trade name for them -- they are advertized as the most efficient brown egg layer in the world, -- but they are a very nice looking bird, --they were very healthy from the begining, -- best luck I have ever had with chicks, I usually count on loosing about 5%
Do you know what breeds they were developed from?
Where did you get them?
I supose they are a cross, [crosses?] between Rhode Island Red, and Leg Horn, -- as they look like [mostly] the other birds being sold as such, -- I got them through the Hy-Line sales rep. they [my 200] came piggy back on an order for another grower, of 50,000. -- I drove to the highway and met the rep with my birds, on the way back from his big order, paid him and took my birds home, --
-- if you want to find some-- call Hy-Line, and ask for a local sales Rep. The Birds I recieved were only about 8 hrs old when I got them, -- I think that had a lot to do with the livability, --most mail order birds are 3 days old when I get them, and starting to fade, --so it is harder to get them off to a good start.
Hy-line has been the target of animal rights groups, [ as the largest comercial hatchery] and is a little harder to buy from now, -- maybe when the [so called] animal rights groups find another target, it will be easier for them to deal with the non-comercial public again. I have to say --these were/ are the best quality birds I have ever raised.
I have raised a lot, --I used to do feed testing for a feed Co. -and had hundreds delivered every week, of all breeds and suppliers, -- I have never had as good a survival rate, or more uniform grow-out, --
Sounds like the same bird. Also called Golden Comets.
I have raised golden comets for the past three years and from what I have read they are a cross between white rock mother and new hampshire red father,and they are tough never lost a chick and the best large brown egg layer and everyday to.They don`t eat much.You can`t beat the sex-link for egg laying.I have a lot of bo`s now and really like them but they eat a lot and only lay every other day and their eggs are not big like the golden comet and black sex-link
genetics has a lot to do with egg size, -- but another factor is the hens age/body size when she starts laying, -- hens that start early , from early maturity [heat and increasing light at maturity like Florida summers] will have a smaller egg than those that start laying a few weeks later, -- the egg size at start of laying will cary through for their productive life, [a hen that starts early has smaller eggs for her life time] and hens that start a little later will have a larger egg for their whole life time. Both early and late maturity hens will lay the same amount of eggs, -- but the life time weight of the eggs is greatly different.
I did not know that,we learn something new everyday.
That must be with one breed, cause I haven't seen that to be true with multiple breeds for sure! It's been a crap shoot.. Interesting though.
I have always heard that eggs get bigger as the hens get older. Golden Comets do lay a big honkin egg right from the get go. At least my one GC did.
My accidental Minorcas were very late starting to lay (despite being an "early maturing" breed) and they are laying really big eggs even as pullets. Older hens do lay bigger and bigger eggs, but I wonder if there is a practical way to delay laying to get pullets starting out laying bigger eggs? Or is it strictly predetermined by breed?
commercialy they delay maturity, with lighting controls, -- by keeping the light the same or even reducing it little by little as they reach laying age, --
--it is my understanding, --[may be wrong] that Golden comets are not used much as a commercial layer, esp. for caged flocks, because the feathers are brittle, and easily damaged in confinement systems, so canabalism becoms a problem, as the feathers are broken off. I have known some to be used in flocks that are not caged, they are a great bird and excelent layer. They are great in a pasture system also, -
--In most breeds the egg size increases with age, [my Rhode Island Whites , eggs,did not get bigger and they are 8 years old]
interesting thread an informative..
I did not know there was a RIWhite!!
I added another 40 lb hanging feeder today, [now there are 3] it was getting crowded around the feeder, -- and put an aged ameracana rooster in with them to teach them some manors, and show them how to roost on the roosts, -- he is doing a good job, --
That's a neat idea. I'd love to see that!
Who would have thought?
here is a pict of the old rooster, --on the roosts with those that have followed him so far, --
and another
Nice. What is all the greenery? Are they outside now? I replaced my metal roosts with wooden ones when it got cold. Didn't want them to freeze the way the roo did who roosted on the pipe gate. Your chicks are really growing. Mine all went straight for the roost.
the green is a tropical wild Yam, -- Dioscorea alata, -[ my daughter and I canned 21 qts of them after I removed some that were in the way for making the chicken fence]- they are in the greenhouse, -- it is frozen outside here, -
Most of my chicks are still clustering on the ground, -- only about 50 are roosting up where I want them, --
What a cute picture
That yam sounds interesting.