We have 8 lovely Buff Orpintons. They are one month today. Wanted to get all hens but not sure now.
Trying to figure out if we accidently got a rooster. He looks a little smaller and the comb looks a little bigger and tends to be a little bossy. Is there some other way to figure out if it's a rooster?
They are so relaxing to watch outside playing and scratchin.
If its a rooster and he's too noisey and mean he'll ended up in some soup.
Posted by Liz D (Member # 16739) on :
I would love to have a couple of chick and ducks. Now I just have to get hubby to build their pens. Years ago we had baby chickens, ducks and geese and they were always known as the peeps, the cheeps and the honks. Dont know about the rooster issue whilst they are young, I am sure it will become apparent as they get older. Are you 'mummy' to them and cuddle them??
Posted by TS96 (Member # 14048) on :
I think they're cute.
I also think they like my hubby and kids better. They really listen when he talks, and the kids make all sorts of contraptions for the chicks to play with so they are use to all the attention.
Very docile.
Right now the chicks are in a dog crate which sits inside a homemade "hoop house".
Hubby is still working on the coup. Hopefully will be done before winter. LOL.
Posted by Liz D (Member # 16739) on :
when we got the ducklings they learned to swim in the bathtub. I was wonderous watching them learn to swin and dive and scooting from end to end. they then had to go thro the torment of me drying them with a fluffy towel!. The chicks were friendly and would sit on my lap if I had treats for them. Hope you continue to enjoy yours TS96.
Posted by emla999/Lyme (Member # 12606) on :
I have a few chickens. As of right now, I have around 20 laying hens.....raised in a sort of a free range kind of way. I have some Rhode Island Red's,Dominque's and the breed that lays the bluish/ greenish colored eggs (I forget what they are called).
As for how to tell the sex of your chicks. Well, that appears to be a rather difficult task.
Yes I do hope we have a couple years to enjoy them. These lay brown eggs and we are raising them organically but not free range, yet they have 100sq feet to roam around. Alot more room than those factory farm chickens. That's plenty of room for 8 hens.
We have fox, cyotes, weasels, hawks and roaming pets that come around and they would not live long if they were free range.
Emla the blue/green eggs are Amercaunas right? I think those are the ones, or is it Aeraconas?
We really wanted Ancaunas but they fly too much and we didn't want to clip their wings, so we went with a more docile bird.
I really think we have a rooster, it's always sizing up everyone else and is the smallest of the chicks. It's funny to watch.
I'd love to get some guineas like you told me a year or so ago Emla. They would really eat those ticks up.
Have a good day and thanks for the links Emla.
[ 06-17-2010, 02:16 PM: Message edited by: TS96 ]
Posted by emla999/Lyme (Member # 12606) on :
Yeah, guineas are tick/insect eating machines and they won't tear up your garden/yard nearly as much as chicken will either. Plus they are great "guard dogs". If a guinea sees anything strange or out of the ordinary they will immediately start hollering "Buckwheat, Buckwheat, Buckwheat" as loudly as they can..... some people find that annoying but I don't.
And yeah the hawks and other varmits can make it difficult to raise free range chickens. Just recently a raccoon killed a few of our chickens. So, now we have to close the chickens up at night in the coop and let them out in the morning. So, far so good.
Oh, and by the way I used to use a portable coop and electric netting for the chickens and that system virtually eliminated the four legged predator problem.... still a little problem with the hawks every now and then though.
We used to clip the wing feathers back but when they grew back the chickens didn't bother to fly out of the electric netting so I didn't clip their wings any more..... the breed might have had something to do with that though.
I stopped using the netting and portable coop because you have to be in fairly good shape healthwise to move all that stuff around and unfortunately due to my joints and back I can't use the netting any more.
And yes, you are correct, the colored egg layers are called Araucanas.... for the life of me I couldn't think of what they were called. And yes they are a little bit more flighty than some other breeds..... not to much though.
They do spice up things in the chicken yard and kitchen though. I mean, how many people can say they have eaten green eggs and ham for breakfast????
Posted by TS96 (Member # 14048) on :
Sorry to hear that coon got a few of the chickens. I thought they just go for the little ones.
We plan on putting up some bird netting but again the coup is still not done so they are still in a rubbermaid box in our garage at night and then I put them out in the chicken hoop house in the a.m
So what do you do when your hens stop laying? Do you let them get old or do you eat them.
Our Buffs are suppose to be a dual bird. Good for laying and eatin.
I'm not sure if I'll be able to eat them... better not get attached.
Posted by emla999/Lyme (Member # 12606) on :
Coons can kill an adult chicken easily!!!! We found out the hard way. Opossums can too.
As for what we do with the chickens when they stop laying, well, we usually eat them. Although, if you get attached to the chicks I can see how butchering them would be a bit difficult.
I grew up on a farm and both my parents and grandparents always raised chickens. So, I was always around that sort of thing.
And by the way, after the chickens are grown and they get into your garden/yard and pretty much demolish everything in site the butchering part won't seem so bad after all. Posted by 17hens (Member # 23747) on :
Hi TS96, thanks for the invite! I never come to Off Topic (don't know why) so I didn't know you had a chicken thread - how exciting!!!
I have 17 hens, did you guess? I have 3 Buff Orpingtons, 1 Black Australorp, 1 Silver Laced Wyandotte, 1 Light Brahma, 1 Black Star and 1 Red Star, and 9 Easter Eggers (lay blue eggs but they're not a pure breed. I think most blue egg layers are not unless you buy them from a specialized breeder).
And don't think for a minute I remembered all those breeds off the top of my head! No way, I had to look them up!
We turned an old wood shop into a chicken coop, but most days we let them out in the yard. They love to dust themselves, peck and dig and they come running when we call them.
For some reason they stay mostly in our yard although it's not fenced, although they do wander over to our neighbor's yard sometimes. She doesn' mind though which we're thankful for.
I just love chicken - they are so much fun to watch, so funny and dumb!
We have 2 huge Flemish Giant rabbits too that we let out into a fenced run. Last week I watched one of the hens fly over the rabbit fence and walk around ignoring the rabbit. When the rabbit jumped into his cage to eat pellets, the hen jumped in too and stood right next to him drinking his water! Too funny!!
TS96, we had a BO rooster 2 years ago and he was great! Very, very big and a good rooster doing rooster things very well, but not aggressive toward us at all.
We don't eat our chickens when they stop laying. I sell them on craigslist, get a few dollars for them (helps pay for the feed) and let someone else eat them if they want to. I just picture them living in chicken heaven while I grill chicken breast from Costco Posted by TS96 (Member # 14048) on :
Hi 17Hens. With those varieties you can tell who's laying and who's not, well... except for those buffs and Easter eggers.
Good to know the BO rooster was nice. We heard they are one of the most docile of the breeds.
If it's not too cool and does not rain tonight will be their first overnight in the big dog crate. They are just about 5 weeks old and outgrowing their Rubbermaid box.
I pray they are safe tonight.
Posted by 17hens (Member # 23747) on :
I can pretty much tell who's laying. And you know, I get a lot more brown eggs then blue. Although I really like the easter egger personality, they aren't very consistant egg layers compared to the others.
You know, one way you can tell pretty early on (although I think you'd have to wait until they're 2 or 3 mo.) if you have a hen or a rooster is by the tail feathers.
A hen's tail feathers, if you look at them from the back, are in an upside down U shape with a litle bit of space in the middle. A rooster's tail feathers are in a straight line pointing upward.
Posted by TS96 (Member # 14048) on :
Thanks for the tip 17hens.
The links Emla gave are good as well and I have enjoyed reading them.
I also read some the The Chicken Whisperer. I find him very interesting and look at the videos he has.
Out to check the tail feathers!
Mr. Rooster doesn't really have tail feathers yet, but his comb is sure bigger and redder.
Posted by TS96 (Member # 14048) on :
The girls did fine last night. Only got down to 65.
They chirped quite a bit at first but quieted down.
And yes!!!! the one buff's little tail feathers stick up what there is of it.
The rest as you said 1 7hens feathers form an upside down U.
Posted by 17hens (Member # 23747) on :
One thing I forgot to mention about the BO rooster we had, TS96, was... he was LOUD!
Posted by 17hens (Member # 23747) on :
I read an article in Mother Earth magazine yesterday about chickens and predators.
It said to let turkeys run with the chickens as turkeys are much more alert. Chickens will be under cover by the time the hawk closes in...
Posted by TS96 (Member # 14048) on :
interesting... 17hens
Our little roo (we think) got a gash on his neck yesterday sometime. Not sure it one of the others were aggressive or if he got his head got stuck on the cage and somehow cut it open.
Anyways brought him inside put some H2O2 on it then a diluted betadine solution on it and lastly put some neosporin on it.
We have him inside till he heals up some otherwise the other hens will peck at it and flys could lay eggs in the wound and that would be bad news.
I hope he is accepted back in the group without being beat up.
Posted by TS96 (Member # 14048) on :
ohhh... Mother Earth News has some good stuff, we use to get that but now just get Backwoods Home. THey do a good job with chickens too. FYI
Posted by 17hens (Member # 23747) on :
Hey Guys, maybe this info will help one of you...
I just got off the phone with my neighbor who has chickens and guineas. She has been losing chickens and especially guineas to an owl recently. Her guineas went from 14 down to 2 - how sad!
She was talking to another "chicken" friend who told her about a product that really works to keep predators away.
It's a box (works on solar) that you put on a post by your hen house or wherever they are roosting (guineas often roost in a tree) and it shines a red light all night.
The owl, or whatever other bad guy, thinks it's being watched and stays away.
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