sorry i should have specified i ment pics of Patchouli78's polish. would love to see pics of them!!
Chicken Raising 101 - The How To Thread
Yes I do have the white crested blue polish! If I ever get another camera I'll be sure to post pics, lol. I currently have three blue polish; one roo and two pullets. One of the pullets is entirely blue, crest and all. She is my favorite.
yes, i want to see them too!
At what age would one start to free range chicks? It might be a possibility for me to free range during the day while I am at home.
i start mine when they are feathered then let them free range with the main group when the can defend themselves or they can get away
That's about what I did with mine, Lucky. They seem to want out then & are very curious. Right now, just let the broody hen take it all the way. Only lost one batch of 4 so far. Hen had chicks hidden & too far from water. Trying to watch where she goes when she disappears at night to keep it from happening again. Not setting now.
PFA hope u dont lose her
Is there a book that I can get that has alot of breeds that is in the USA that would show pictures of chicks to adult birds. Mainly chickens. I run in the house look up a breed and say yes yes I have that one then run back outside and look for the next one. That is alot of running. I would like to sit in the shade with a cold drink and look at pictures and read about behavior and such and then write down what I think I have. I would probably want to buy it online.
Is this possibly what you are looking for?
http://www.cutlersupply.com/store/item.91114.html
Cutlers has quite a few other books......you may be able to find through Barnes & Noble too; although my experience has been they are generally out of the fowl books I am looking for..........
One for standards:
http://www.cutlersupply.com/store/item.0080.html
And one for bantums:
http://www.cutlersupply.com/store/item.0081.html
I do not own any of these books, so can not say if they are any good or not.
thanks I will look and see.
Yes that is what i think i am looking for, a bit pricey but I will order next week. CF took all my $$$$$$ this week.
l2g2, check on-line. You may find it cheaper. Good Luck!
www.alibris.com is a great place to look...
is CF the chickenFairy, or ChickenFeed???
you be the judge
both
LOL
Ok its official I have 1 roo that thinks his man stuff is ready, we was raping one of my hens. He is only almost 4 weeks old. the lil devil.
Cheeky monkey!
He was strutting around all cockey, I told him NO, you dont even have what it takes yet. He was still strutting.
Heck, bet he doesn't even know he's not old enough. Much like some of the human teens. Think they can handle anything!
What a little show-off!
Yea it was funny, his wings kinda out and got this walk and looking at me after i hollered at him to stop that. Pure comic.
yea.. I know that walk.. then Nemo will grab a hen and rip about a dozen feathers out of her.. of course she runs screaming.. yesterday I picked up the poor hens feathers and showed them to him and asked him sternly "DOES THIS LOOK LIKE LOVE TO YOU?" He just strutted away.. but I heard my teen cackling for hours afterward when talking to her friends on the phone telling them what "love" looks like.
Yep, and the clucking and sideways walk towards the hens? That is just what all of them do except the teenagers who don't know sublety yet.
GG
Ok breeding of chickens, well say like a heavy rooster breed with maybe a bantam. I guess what I am asking is will the bigger roosters breed a much smaller bird. AND if so is it a bad thing. And is it possible that a smaller roo breed with a bigger hen.
Yes and yes. The only problem I've noted is that the smaller roos tend to pull out more feathers from the larger hens in order to get a good "position".
Ok I have the crested, which will be about 4 lbs or so, i have bantams that at most will be 2 lbs and I have a surprise group that I am thinking the large(as in the bird) brown egg layers. Then I have pullets that are right close to a week old so not sure to what they are going to be when they grown up. I was hoping they all could be in the same coop until I was ready to make separate pens for the layers (no rooster at all) and then one pen for the hens and rooster I want to breed. then one for the broodies.( these gals may go into a small space by them selves) Am I going over my head here. I will only want to breed the real good egg layers, and any roos from this will be for meat. DID I bite off more than I can chew.
On a side note, i might breed some of them crested, especially them ones that are rare. Them swiss birds.
oh luvs... you got chicks with holes in em??? Iv'e never seen those before.. bet they are rare..
whewwwwwwwwwwww went right over my head there. Where is my typo at. Chicks with holes? DUHHHHHHHHHHHHH got it. Swiss cheese. You nut. I cant spell their breed let alone pronounce it.
ROFLMBO!!!
hey i like it... call em holy moley, holey guacamoley, holy cow.... etc lol!
I have an off the wall question can guinea roos breed with silkie hens cause I will have the 2 together in the same pen.
Okay...so we built this beautiful coop complete with 2 nests, roost and window. Now the rooster has taken over one of the nests! Not in my plan! haha Can I break him of this habit??? PS The roo is a Barred Rock and I have 2 RIR hens not laying eggs just yet but almost ready.
Just a thought, but can you put him elsewhere for awhile -- maybe in a portable hand carry dog kennel for a few nights? In own small yard during the days, so he 'forgets' about it? And it gives the girls a chance to check it out..... I have a pecked on roo free ranging outside the coop during the days & in a dog carrier at night while he heals. Kinda messes them up, not knowing where to go & all. Just be sure to get him in before the normal 'bed' time, or you may never figure out where he went......experience speaking :-)
Pea, that is a great idea. I have a large dog crate I can put him in for a couple of days. Should I cover it at dusk or just leave it open? I can't put them out yet cause my DH hasn't finished the run yet and our dogs will chase them. :-( Also, how do they handle heat? Temps here have been ranging in the mid 90's with index in the low 100's. I'm really concerned they will over heat in the coop even though its well ventilated. Sorry for all the questions but I'm a city gal turned country (moved to 5 acres in March from a subdivision). Oh... I hear my roo crowing...so cool!!! Thanks!
I keep my "unincorporated" juvenile birds in an extra-large dog crate under an arbor at night and my big "are you going to be roosters?" 16 week olds in a raised bed covered with shade cloth. I cover the dog crate with a heavy paint tarp on four sides to keep out the drafts. I worried about the 16 week olds when the temp got into the 100s--the shade cloth is not very heavy- but they seem fine. They are black birds so sensitive to heat--the beds do get some shade late in the day--but at noon they are right out in the sun except for the shade cloth. It also cools down a lot at night which may help.
The crate is the wire, not plastic, kind; and the raised bed structure is sided with chicken wire so there is excellent ventilation. I think as long as they aren't too tightly confined and there is plenty of shade and air movement your roo should do fine while you "re-educate" him.
I wish 3 of my pullets would go back to their nest box!
Just a warning (learned the hard way) -Dog crates hold water so you need to keep rain away!
Not a problem in drought-stricken CA--but a good point for those "blessed" with summer rains.
lol catscan... it sure has been dry here this spring and summer huh?!
Rain...what rain? We need a tropical storm! (I'll be sorry I said that I'm sure) :-0
Thanks all for the advice. Our dog crate is metal and won't hold water unless I put in the bottom pan.
I tried something today and it worked great! I've been so worried that the birds have been cooped up in their coop (haha) for too long ( 5 days) that they weren't getting enough bugs and stuff. SO... I put the dog crate up to the chicken door and let them go in and out. I put a HUGE piece of plywood leaning up against it to give them shade and to weigh it down so the dogs couldn't move it. The chicks and roo seemed to love it! Amazing how we can improvise! I can't wait til we can get the run up. I want to be able to play with my new pets! I just have to wait til DH sets his mind to it and finds the time.
Great idea Ascholz! Hope you don't mind my saying 'I are redneck'. I love ANY idea that works & don't really care what it looks like - long as it does the job! Glad it worked out for you. ^_^
I live in quite a different climate (lots of rain, except not now) than SC & CA. My re-couperating roo is in one of those plastic dog kennels. And yes, surprise rain got him wet - but not near as bad as the night he decided to go it on is own! Got drenched sleeping in the briars! Have no idea why he didn't roost in a tree with more cover!
Since in plastic, I don't cover him at all, but he is 1yr old now. I only need to watch out for wind, rain, snow & the few days of heat we do get. Oh yea, the coons, weasels, skunks, minks, hawks, etc........