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LP Painted Chix
paintponylvr:
Well, since you asked...
I did get some pics the other day. I have to jump thru hoops to get them to appear here, but at least I can go back to sharing...
I've never had Speckled Sussex before - we'll see how we do with these girls. I actually have 7 of them. The last is in my 3rd "brooder" box - with the White Leghorns.
I LOVE EEs (Easter Eggers) and purebred Ameracauna (especially blue & silver). I want to get some more in Bantam size - but they were the first ones that I lost in June in the original heat wave we had... 11 of 12 succumbed! These girls are the full size ones. Will be interesting to see what color(s) they end up being... Wish I had paid more attention in the feed store - while all of these girls will mature with slate colored shanks and beaks, not all will have good beards & muffs - what I find particularly cool on these girls and of course part of the breed for the purebred ones. I started with 7 of these girls and 1 didn't make it when I brought her home. So now I have 6. I have 5 in the brooder w/ the last being in with the White Leghorns. I decided to leave the 2 "colored" birds in with the whites, so that when I mix them together again later, they should be more accepting (I should & may this weekend mix at least 1 white in with the other 2 brooders).
I've had Ameracauna/leghorn Xs before (called Super Blue Layers) and they were great - especially the Roo... The batch of white leghorn pullets I got last time (beginning July, i think?) are doing AWESOME, so I got 3 more pullets and a roo. That will give us a total of 7 layers (white eggs, YEAH!) and the fella. We shall see how it we do with these guys as well.
The next two weeks or so they will be in the large brooder crates they are in. Then, I will move the older chicks out of the dog Xpen nursery (to the 3rd coop) and put these guys in the "nursery" all together. Right now, their "brooders" are strapped down to the roosts above the "nursery". Can take more pics later, plus will get pics tomorrow of the birds in the "nursery" and the birds (hatched in late April) that I've moved out to the other coop.
Currently using shredded paper in all 3 brooder boxes and some in the "nursery" as well. The brooders get emptied into the sand between the round pen and the water pump - hoping to get some decent amendments going eventually and grow grass where theres - o - maybe 6" deep in sand (or more???)... Then GRASS, maybe???? Slow but steady will do it right?
Ryan:
Very cute Paula , hoping they give you plenty of eggs :)
paintponylvr:
Everyone I've read and studied "under", say that you should always get birds (especially if breeding or wanting to become a sustainable homestead) from breeders rather than large hatcheries. But I've spent much more money on birds from breeders that didn't make it or had BAD genetic faults that developed over time and had to be culled (after I spent quite a bit of money on the original chicks) in the past two years, then on the birds I've gotten from TSC or our feed store (called Carolina Town & Country) or even from other "breeders" who had hatchery stock rather than pedigreed stock...
All of these girls are from Privett Hatchery and we will just need to wait and see how they do. I've lost a lot of birds this year so far - some from private owners/breeders; some from Privett Hatchery stock and some that we had from various other sources. Most were lost due to getting out of the coop(s - dug out them selves) and some were lost to predators. A good number of chicks just "keeled over" in the heat between June and now - but in June when we got a couple of bad storms - the temps were not just hot but then turned cold again, too.
Hopefully, with some changes we've made to the coops (working on putting hardware cloth all around the lower 1/2 of these hoop coops - w/ the edges flanged out like wings to be pinned down about 1 1/2' out on the ground, too) - we'll be able to get these girls to laying ages and maybe next spring see some chicks of our own, too!
paintponylvr:
This actually makes my 3rd "batch" of chicks since May.
The ones from May Day purchase that are still with us (11 - 2 BA pullets; 2 pullets & 1 cockerel - Russian Orloffs; 3 PRs; 3 Buckeyes) will hit laying age around October and of those 2 are supposed to be good winter layers so maybe we will get some eggs over the winter... Otherwise, it will be March or so next spring before we will consistently see eggs.
The "2nd" batch (actually more than 1) was gotten in Mid/late June & early July (I think?? - I was so discouraged from other things going on that I took no pics!!). But of those - I have 2 Delawares, 4 White Leghorns, 1 EE Bantam, 2 EEs & 3 RIRs. I had purchased 1 whole batch of 12 Bantam EE's and only the 1 made it. Funny thing is - most died between 3 & 4 weeks of age and were already just about "feathered in" - I was devastated as I was so excited about my "mini EEs"!
OK, getting too depressing thinking of how many we lost! So onward. Here are some pics of the original purchase of May Day chix.
and some pics of the girls holding chix!
Grace helped me move them from the "nursery" to the other coop on Saturday last week (I knew I was going to get chicks on Sunday - just hadn't planned on getting 18)... That went ok - after each mini "freak out" she had. I will take pics of them tomorrow in their coop. They were actually trying to roost tonight! It was awesome seeing them. I will be putting a solid 2x4 in their coop tomorrow for them to roost on instead of the little bars they currently have.
paintponylvr:
Thank you, Ryan, we are hoping so too.
I miss having our own eggs!! We eat a LOT of eggs and getting them in the store is ... not so nice.
I am hoping by next spring to do better at having the chickens "work for us" by having them in garden spots and then moving them. Not sure exactly how we are going to work all that out yet... First - just want to get these chicks to laying age!
Then I'd like to get some broiler chix and also cockerels of heritage breeds that we can grow out for meat. We'll see how they taste and how difficult it is to raise them here. With the shorter times on the broiler chicks, I'm thinking they may be the better bet at them moment - we'll see.
In the past, I'd heard lots of bad things about the broilers - especially time frames they need to be processed by - which could be problematic for us... But I've done a lot of studying on it and really looking hard at doing some broilers - having a freezer full of chicken in just 2 months growing time - hmmm!!! Our oldest daughter, SIL & 2 grand daughters are looking at moving back in with us for a while (knew we shouldn't have gotten the bigger house!!) and we will have the extra folk around to do chores and we all need to eat. Like I said, we shall see how it goes.
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