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If you have chickens, what kind do you have?


mommyoffive
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Rhode Island Reds â¤ï¸

I want some Plymouth rocks and Americauna (spelling? the ones with the blue eggs). Would like to order some online but shipping is prohibitive. So we will try to hatch from eggs. I'm told I can buy specific eggs from eBay (!!)

Edited by madteaparty
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We get them at the local feed store. We currently have:

1 buff orpington rooster (accidental, might eat him soon)

2 barnevelders

1 salmon faverolle (ugliest bird but calm and sweet)

1 Cinnamon Queen (very pretty)

1 Speckled Sussex (love her unique feathers)

2 White Leghorns (our old leghorns were prolific layers!)

2 Rhode Island Reds

2 Americanas (these will lay blue eggs)

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Rhode Island Reds â¤ï¸

I want some Plymouth rocks and Americauna (spelling? the ones with the blue eggs). Would like to order some online but shipping is prohibitive. So we will try to hatch from eggs. I'm told I can buy specific eggs from eBay (!!)

 

 

Really about Ebay?  

 

Do you know who sells them?

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We get them at the local feed store. We currently have:

1 buff orpington rooster (accidental, might eat him soon)

2 barnevelders

1 salmon faverolle (ugliest bird but calm and sweet)

1 Cinnamon Queen (very pretty)

1 Speckled Sussex (love her unique feathers)

2 White Leghorns (our old leghorns were prolific layers!)

2 Rhode Island Reds

2 Americanas (these will lay blue eggs)

 

 

Hmmm

I haven't thought to look at a feed store.  I don't even know where those are.  Hmm

 

Do they sell them as chicks?

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Buff Orpingtons.  They're the only breed I ever wanted and we're perfectly happy with them.  I love the color, their personality, their durability, and of course, their eggs.

 

When we need to replace ours we get some peeps in the spring from Agway.  We used to raise our own, but don't anymore.  Our original peeps came from mail order except we went to VA to buy a rooster separately (from show stock).  We no longer have any roosters though - fox - and no more desire to raise our own as our farming lives wind down.  Now we just have the ladies.

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Rhode Island Reds

Cochins

Americauna

White Leghorns

Buff, light, and dark brahmas

Silver and gold lace wynadottes (hoping to get some red blue laced ones this spring from tractor store)

Cuckoo Marans

Jersey giant

 

Some we got at tractor store and some we raised last year. We are hoping to hatch a few here at home this year as well grab some different breeds from the store.

We â¤ï¸ ðŸ“ðŸ“ðŸ“!

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We have an assortment. My kids love Easter Eggers. Speckled Sussex are pretty roosters, but I prefer the Buff Orpingtons. This year I am selling off my whole flock and starting over. I'm really considering going to all Tetras this year - they are a hybrid and heavy layers for the feed input. I would like to get to a point where I add 12-18 of only one kind each year so that I know how old each is. (I don't want to band them.) That said? That said, I am a sucker for multi-colored chicks and various breeds, lol. So my resolution may last only until our local feedstore gets in their chicks. :D

 

 

ETA:

http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1154984/what-is-a-tetra-brown

 

http://www.centurionpoultry.com/guides/tetra/TETRA%20BROWN%20management%20guide%20NA%202012%20edition%20(230312bs).pdf

 

The idea of a hen laying 310 eggs a year is attractive to me considering I pay pretty much the same amount for all of them (including my useless roosters) to eat.  KWIM?

Edited by BlsdMama
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We've alway had Rhode Island Red bantams. Most were from an eccentric poultry exhibitor who always seemed paranoid that we wanted baby chicks instead of his culls, fearing we'd be his "chicken show" competition (which was neve going to happen). He passed and we've ordered from other sources online.

 

I like the bantam Reds. They are way smaller than standard chickens, but the eggs are not all that much smaller.

 

Sadly, we are currently chicken-less due to predation.

 

Bill

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We also get them from our local feed store.

 

2 buff Orpington

2 black sex links

2 barred rock

2 Rhode Island Reds

3 Easter eggers

3 golden laced Wyandotte

 

Personality wise, the buffs and RI reds are my least favorite but both varieties are excellent layers. Love the green/blue eggs from the Easter Eggers.

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Isa Brown is one that we have and they lay so many eggs plus they do a great job at policing everyone, keeping the peace and making sure everyone (including the humans) are doing their jobs properly.

 

Easter Eggers--a bit skittish but love the blue eggs and the personalities.

 

Australorp--big chickens but again lots of personality.

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We have 2 Buff Orpington, 2 Americauna, 2 Black Australorps, 2 Barred Rock, and 2 Partridge Rocks.

 

All of ours are brown egg layers except the Americaunas who lay blue-green eggs. The buffs are the sweetest. I love the coloring of the australorps. Their black feathers look beautiful in the sunlight and they are fairly nice. The partridge rocks are very skittish and not friendly at all.

 

We had a little Phoenix chicken who I loved best. She was beautiful and made the sweetest noises but unfortunately she was not a heavy breed and was our only chicken attacked by something (we think a hawk or bald eagle) and killed.

 

We got ours from MacMurray Hatchery. 

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We have: Buff Orpingtons (one of which is our favorite chicken who is more a pet than anything now), Dominiques, Rhode Island Reds, Barred Rocks, Silver Laced Wyandottes, one crazy Blue Andalusian who rules the flock since the roosters were killed by the bobcats, and then a mix of those breeds' offspring from our Barred Rock and Dominique Roosters (RIP) that we hatched out last fall. They are all gorgeous and unique looking and apparently are all amazing layers. We have eggs coming out of our ears- I can't give them away fast enough right now! 

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We have an assortment. My kids love Easter Eggers. Speckled Sussex are pretty roosters, but I prefer the Buff Orpingtons. This year I am selling off my whole flock and starting over. I'm really considering going to all Tetras this year - they are a hybrid and heavy layers for the feed input. I would like to get to a point where I add 12-18 of only one kind each year so that I know how old each is. (I don't want to band them.) That said? That said, I am a sucker for multi-colored chicks and various breeds, lol. So my resolution may last only until our local feedstore gets in their chicks. :D

 

 

ETA:

http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1154984/what-is-a-tetra-brown

 

http://www.centurionpoultry.com/guides/tetra/TETRA%20BROWN%20management%20guide%20NA%202012%20edition%20(230312bs).pdf

 

The idea of a hen laying 310 eggs a year is attractive to me considering I pay pretty much the same amount for all of them (including my useless roosters) to eat. KWIM?

My Rhode Island reds lay pretty much daily, year round. We put a lamp in the coop but use it only when it's extremely cold (so they're not laying because of the light).
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Sadly, we are currently chicken-less due to predation.

 

Bill

I had this trauma earlier this year with the chickens I ordered online. We had separated these from the old chickens as they were still growing. DH must not have built a very secure second coop as I walked into a massacre in the morning 😢, all 5 chickens destroyed.

I expect some "natural" loss as my chickens free range all day, but this was another situation entirely. I blame the fact that I named them greek tragedy names.

Edited by madteaparty
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There's a feed/farm store called IFA in our area and lots of chicks are sold through there.  You can also search for other chicken people on Facebook and sometimes they have hatching eggs or extra chicks. 

 

We currently have:

2 Easter Eggers

1 SBEL

1 Rhode Island Red

1 Red sex link

1 Barred Rock

1 Leghorn

2 Buff Orpingtons

1 Black Australorp

and two others that I can't for the life of me remember what they are.  Oh, yeah.  A silver laced Wyandotte and a gold laced Wyandotte.

Edited by Kristenaty
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I have two old lady Red Stars and two Silver Laced Wyandotts that are mean as snakes. I'm getting rid of those two mean birds and bringing in a new flock of pullets this year. They will be Red Stars from the feed store. I love the Reds. They are docile and easy; they lay extremely well and their eggs are big and delicious.

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We have a long list of various breeds -- chickens are like potato chips and ya can't have just one!  Some of our chickens are truly for egg-laying and some are pets. A few have been dinners. We've also raised ducks, turkeys (to sell for Thanksgiving), and we keep a flock of guinea fowl for tick control.

 

Breeds we have or have had:

Ameraucanas, Red Stars, Black Stars, Rhode Island Reds, Australorps, Cornish, Jersey Giants, Orpingtons, New Hampshires, Marans, Rocks, Turkens, Welsummers, Wyandottes, Buttercups, Hamburgs, various polishes, Silkie bantams, Sebright bantams, Mille Fleur bantams, and Belgian D'uccle bantams

 

We've also hatched out chicks that were cross-bred, with some very interesting combinations, here on our farm.

 

We've gotten them from Murray McMurray Hatchery, Tractor Supply, local feed store "chick days," from a breeder (specific breed), from other 4H kids (kid-to-kid trades), and gifted to us from other homeschoolers who couldn't keep theirs for one reason or another.

 

ETA: corrected spelling and forgot to add the ducks ;)

Edited by zaichiki
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We have an assortment. My kids love Easter Eggers. Speckled Sussex are pretty roosters, but I prefer the Buff Orpingtons. This year I am selling off my whole flock and starting over. I'm really considering going to all Tetras this year - they are a hybrid and heavy layers for the feed input. I would like to get to a point where I add 12-18 of only one kind each year so that I know how old each is. (I don't want to band them.) That said? That said, I am a sucker for multi-colored chicks and various breeds, lol. So my resolution may last only until our local feedstore gets in their chicks. :D

 

 

ETA:

http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1154984/what-is-a-tetra-brown

 

http://www.centurionpoultry.com/guides/tetra/TETRA%20BROWN%20management%20guide%20NA%202012%20edition%20(230312bs).pdf

 

The idea of a hen laying 310 eggs a year is attractive to me considering I pay pretty much the same amount for all of them (including my useless roosters) to eat.  KWIM?

We tried banding once.  Oh, it was horrible! Even though the chickens were already fully-grown, several of them had their legs grow quite a bit thicker and the bands got stuck in their skin/into the legs!  We had to cut them out.  (shiver)  Chickens were fine.  *I* was traumatized - heh.

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We got our original flick from the local feed store. Then my FIL gave us the last of his flock.

 

Right now we have:

1 Buff Orp Roo - we love him. He is beautiful and sweet

1 leg horn roo - He has to go soon. Mean and crazy

1 buff orp mixed hen

1 Americauna hen

1 Cochin hen

1 duckwing bantam hen - she's a sweet tiny little chicken

 

It's a crazy mix. We have had many other breeds in the past. My favorites have been Seabrights, Buff Orpingtons, and Barred Rocks. I won't have Wyandottes again. The heat is too much for them here. And I didn't like Leghorns. Way to skittish

 

I want to get rid of this whole flock and start over with one kind of chicken. We need to do some renovations on their coop and runs before we get more though. We love having chickens.

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We've had many different kinds.  However we found, for us in the frozen north, the best layers were the white leghorns.  As long as we provided them with 14 hrs. of "daylight" in the form of a lightbulb and timer in the winter, they provided copious eggs throughout the year.

 

Since chickens only lay prolifically for about only 2 to 2 1/2 years, we get new chicks every other year.  Once they mature and start laying, we do in the older hens because,by that time, most of them have stopped producing. (We will keep any older ones still laying. It's usually one or two.) 

 

Last April it was time to get new chicks. We had planned to stay with the white leghorns, but typically, when we find something we really like, they disappear from our area. Right now we have a mixture of Barred Rocks, Rhode Island Reds, & Comets.  I must say, since we kept a timed bulb in their coop, they've kept right up with egg production throughout this winter.  The only time they dropped off slightly was during our deep freeze in the negative digits.

 

Our chickens free range.

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Laying hens:

4 Ameracauna

2 Wyandotte

2 RI Reds

(Free range in an unfenced yard...sometimes they go and meet the neighbors).

 

Ornamental hens (chicks) arriving in April:

3 White Polish Crested

3 Egyptian Fayoumis

3 Sumatras

3 Modern Game Birds

3 White-face Black Spanish

 

I got the RI Reds from the local feed store, Wyandottes from a girl on craigslist who was moving, and the Ameracaunas were from a hatchery about 4 hours from me.  The ornamental hens are from McMurray Hatchery in Iowa.  I don't know what I was thinking since none of them really lay and aren't particularly good in cold weather; I'm blaming the worst head cold ever and my newly received tax-return.

 

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Dumb question

 

I would love to try and hatch eggs, but we live in the city so we can't have boys. Is there a way to get only eggs that will be female?

That's actually a great question- 😄

 

I know chicks can be sexed to a high degree of accuracy, however I don't know about eggs. I do know that if you came up with a rooster or two, you can very easily get rid of them through craigslist.

No help for your original question though....

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Speckled Sussex (the most personable and beautiful, and my favorite)

Silver Polish (my daughter's favorite, the most susceptible to predators in our flock, probably because all the head feathers keep them from seeing "death coming from above")

Partridge Cochin (big heavy ladies, boring)

Buff Orpington (very good at surviving, we have all  but one of the originals, they seem to like to sit on eggs too so would probably be good mothers, mean to the Speckled Sussex and so not my favorite at all)

Plymouth Rock (Super survivors. All originals have survived. Also very mean to the Sussex, Polish, and Cochin. Grrr.)

 

Got them all as chicks from Murray McMurray mail order Hatchery.

Edited by Kalmia
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frozen dead ones, some whole, some cut into parts...various configurations

Ditto! Though I admit I am dying to have chickens when we build. I'd have done it here but my husband requested I wait due to yard space and this being a 'temporary' house. Ha.

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