New here 2

Hi everyone, I am also new here. Your forum is very interesting, lots of good people and information. Just thought I'd introduce myself to the rest of you chicken fans. I live in Iowa and have 2 flocks of heritage and rare breed chickens, free range. Total aprox. 500. I also raise Emus. We have 2 goats, 2 dogs, 14 cats, 17 turkey poults, pair of black shouldered peafowl, 8 geese and 75 broilers will be here on the 5th of May. Glad to find some other people with the same interests (or should I say "disease"-lol).

oh, i thought having chickens was a 'dis-order' ^_^

welcome to Dave's!!!

would love to hear more about your flock, i am a heritage fanatic! are you an Albc MEMBER? IS YOUR FLOCK "CLOSED"? sorry bout those caps, typing with fussy baaby in one hand...

i am shocked you don't have guineas too! cute pic, let's see more!

LOL - Total disorder! Yes I am a member of ALBC. We specialize in delaware, blue andalusian, cubalaya. Yes it is a closed flock. I have about 30 different breeds of chickens. We had 30 guineas last year . Hubby said they were too Noisey! I love them but my husband said they had to go or the chickens. Chickens in the majority ruled.

shhh! don't tell the guinea folk that chickens rule.... SHHHHH! ~ di dyou eat any of them or just relocate them?

I started with 75 Buckeyes and Rose Combed Brown Leghorns. I would have been breeding from a closed flock last year, but the neighbor poisoned them and threatened to shoot them, so what was left found new homes. Just got them back last fall, all 15 of them LOL. they are not doing well, but one is going broody so I am sharing eggs with her ;-)

We also sold eggs. So I had to find another breed here locally that i could justify breeding and would get along with the others. I got some good Black Australorps and some Black Jersey Giants. But needed more pullets to go with the one JG roo. So privett sent "Black Australrops" they turned out to be Plymouth Barred Rocks! for a while i thought they were sex links, so i was really ticked off!!! but the BRs are dears, so sweet natured. too bad we will eat most of them, only 3 pullets out of 20 straight run. not ordering from that hatchery again LOL...

So now i have the Blue/Black/Splash JGs ordered from Maria in Tennessee. Not eating ANY of them! Will show and breed and sell extra roos... and they are great egg producers.

meanwhile, while waiting on incubating eggs from our own flock, i have generally failed the temptation test and come home with new chicks from the feed store, same age as whatever we just hatched out. Always asstd bantams, but i am getting better at IDing them, so hope to stick with cochins and OEG! ~ we love our little blue wheatens and self blues!

We have only successfully hatched four Buckeye chicks from our flock. I am picky which hens eggs i use since IMHO only three of them are x-l-ent reps of the breed. Have to give credit to our Muscovy Duck for hatching out the first last fall LOL... i hope to close my flock again soon. I have looked at Buckeyes available now and haven't found a bloodline that i like...

so now please tell me more about your breeds! yes, ALL of them!

^_^
tf

We ate some (4)--yummy. and relocated the rest. Some neighbor you have there. .
Think I would consider treating him the same way he treated your chicks. Glad I'm out in the boonies.Sounds like you have some beauties! wheaten and self blues! nice. I too in the past ALWAYS failed the baby chick test at the tractor supply store. Husband goes there on his way home from work now so I don't have to go see them and take them all home! rats.
Guess we will be chatting for some time if you want to know all of the breeds i got. Where to begin. Have blue standard cochins, white stand cochins, Partridge rocks, cubalayas, a few partridge canticleres, some wellsummers, trio of Iowa blues (of course), a dozWhite JG, (lost our 2white jg roos last month) 8+Black JG, rosecomb brown leghorns, silver phoenix, white orpies, buff orpies, barred rocks, black australorps, new hamps, rirs, a few blk sexlink hens, bbr old english games, light brahmas, delawares, blue andalusians, 1 wf blk spanish from an egg i got on ebay about 3 years ago, and tons of bantam cochins.I incubated their eggs when i first got them several years ago and they were about 99%-so we got lots of em. bantam pbrs, 30+ ameraucanas for pretty eggs that I sell at our farmers market. right now i have 6 bantam cochins that are broody. I set them on goose eggs. they hatched out all of them they sat on last year. The eggs are about half the size of the hens! lol makes them look really tall in the nest. More breeds--blue hamburgs, silver laced wyandottes, blue laced red wyandottes (really big birds), gold spitzhauben, javas,sl polish, white cr blk polish, crevecoeurs, and la fleches, there are more, but I kind of lose track sometimes--lots of + old brain = crs. Taking some emus to butcher this month. Have to go all the way to Missouri to get USDA. nobody here does ratites. I think you need some emus?? I am looking for rumpless auracanas for a friend of mine. Know anybody that has and sells? I am glad to have found Daves. :-)

someone on here either has or knows a lot about Aracaunas...

i am planting lots of TALL things between that neighbor and us! DH put up a fence over 200 ft., but our property borders for 800 feet!

you have quite a lot of chicks there! i thought i would focus on just one or two breeds. but when i saw ho quickly an entire flcok can be wiped out, i sorta started expanding...

I have two kids i homeschool, so not much chatting time right now. but i will have LOTS of Q'a for you. the first one being...

WHAT IS AN IOWA BLUE? PICTURE PLEASE!

I will be happy to sho off pictures of my adult flcok later!
glad you made it to Dave's, what took you so long LOL
tf

So glad you found us, Chopper. Even better, you have
lots to talk about! aka lots of chickens! How do you
store your eggs when you take them to market? I want
to sell eggs, and want to find what works best for
transporting and storing them for sale.
Hope you can find some rumpless.

Why would anyone shoot or poison a chicken??

Makshi- TF had a terrible problem with a neighbor
who seemed to think that chickens can damage an
irrigation system. I just think this person was attacked
and eaten by a chicken in another life-

Tai - welcome to DG! Love your variety of breeds. How do you like the BLRW's? Where did you get yours from? Are your Wyandottes in the hatching egg business? I have eggs coming tomorrow from some really good looking BLR's and I was looking for some Silver laced hatching eggs and more BLR eggs also....Scott

I want chickens :(

Makshi they're awesome! I have a chicken in almost every breed and color. (Just can't decide),LOL! Next are guineas, shh, don't tell my significant other : )

I remember guineas with much happiness because my dear sweet Grandmother had several of them.

Tai, wish i could come for a visit. it sounds heavenly to me...

Thnx for all the welcomes. We've been planting about 300 acres of corn and soybeans and our veg garden been busy. Where to start. I'd plant a concrete fence about 12' high between you and the "neighbor". Or just get some denzili long crowers lol! I will include a pic of Herkey our Iowa blue roo. He is gorgeous, but a mean lil bugger. Will get a pic of Ia. blue hens. Wish you could have chickens too makshi! I'd be happy to help you out with that.lol. I love the BLRWs they are a big beautiful bird. Got a few from McMurray and some locally. They are really large birds, hardy; although the ones from McMurray were a little mean tempered. Nice eggs too. I could probably get you some hatching eggs in the late summer- will have to pen those breeds off separately as they are in the general population right now. Selling eggs-- we sell eggs at two farmers markets, directly at the farm and I am in the process of getting my "egg handlers License". You have to get tested on egg sanitization, candeling, cold storage, etc.Then we can sell to grocers. We take the eggs to farm markets in a small chest refridgerator that we plug in at the market. Have to keep them at or below 45degrees. We just put the chest in the back of the pick up and use egg trays then carton them at market. It works pretty good. Coolers work too with ice in plastic bags. Get a refrig. thermometer. Wish you all could visit ;) Here's Herkeys pic.

Hershey is a doll, i am sure he thinks he needs to be mean to protect his gals... My keen eye spotted a Buckeye in the background LOL...

you sure have been busy. we all get like that at times, but my corn patch will be MUCH smaller LOL. haven't decided where to grow the soybeans...

glad you stopped in, looking forward to pics of the Blue hens...

tf

I just started some wood oats grass seed. Hope to
have a good patch somewhere for the chickies. I
read that guineas like them. My soil is just not deep
enough for corn, and I have some cute little burgundy
ornamental. Anyone want some seeds? They grow to
about 3", great for fall farmer's markets.

LOL. you spotted the Buckeye! I think that is the BE if not then it is one of the Partridge Canticleers. I didn't think I had BE's left.Maybe I should pay more attention. Also forgot we have Norwegian Jaerhons and 4 little white silkies. Homeschooling? That is a lot of work! I think that is great. If I had younger children I would love to do it. My son is 20 now . I had to work fulltime when he was growing up. No time for homeschooling or chickens either. Life is good now. Another pic of assorted chickens. Sorry it is sideways>>>

truest " cute little burgundy
ornamental" WHAT? corn? whatever it is i'll pay the shippijgn for it unless it is hybrid or GMO...


OK Tai, what is a BE? i am sure i see a Buckeye hen...

she is not in the second picture.

BE--my poor translation of buckeye. Sorry. LOL. Is the hen in question's brown back, behind the rooster to the right or the brown hen in the back with the face showing? Face showing is red ameraucana, one to the right with it's back showing is partridge canticleer.

I am a Buckeye fanatic, just ask anyone! It is the girl at the very back, behind the black hen, with just her face showing. Red head, yellow eyes....

I started some of this little corn to make sure it
would go- yes! I'm sending you some..Anything else
you need deary? Are you in the addy exchange?

yes'm...

be sure and include enough info that i know days to maturity... [i almost said incubation LOL] since i am platning a long season sweet sorn, i wan to be sure they can't cross...

thanks and hugs
tf

It's very nice to meet you chopper. I'm sorry to say I bounce all over the place and don't spend as much time on this forum as I'd like to.

I'm mom to six human girls and 40 something chickens. :)

Oh, TF. I'm sorry, I didn't have any info on days to
maturity. I sent it out pronto- and I haven't tried it
yet, so I don't know.