get me some side views of the browns in the first pic and i will tell you for sure...
More temptation!
ok I will. do you know that some of these little ones already have started getting wing feathers. At 2 days old?
yep, some bre3eds you could feather sex at 2-3 days...
Ok thesr are yellow and they have white tips on their wing feathers? I figured they were the white leghorns?
It was so funny, dont know which thread it was to how I was going to explain the new chicks to him but here goes, I told him last night I needed to talk to him and he didnt get home till me and grandson was already asleep so I called him today told him same thing, told him about rescueing the puppies couldnt find the kittens and then we went to look at the chicks, I gulped, he said.................wow some are still small and alot are really getting bigger. He didnt even notice 80 chicks went to 140 chicks. I just smiled. He is so proud of me, he calls me the chicken killer.
oooh! I am definitely tempted now! those are soooo cute!! I dont want just two... I want a hundred!
Oh gosh arnt they i fell in love with them when I opened the box.
I wonder how many of them I can get away with here in the city ....with out the neighbors complaining?! lol!
Just get some of the quieter breeds--no Leghorns!
hmmm... which is the quietest? tee hee :o)
Australorps, of course:0)
googling now! lol!
you would lik australorps they are an easy breed to look after and i nthink they would fit in well in the city
gee... its 12:30 AM here and I am still doing research! LOL! funny, I google stuff on chickens and most of my searches bring me right back to DG! LOL! been going in circles all night!
australorps are full size right?
yep and thats how i stumbled on this site in decenber of 2006 my first chook went broody and i was researching and i found a thread on this site and i have been here ever since
Yes, Australorps are mostly quiet. They are also the most docile chicken I have ever had. Even tho I now have six that have gone broody, I am able to just lift them up and take the eggs out from under them. I have only one that even looks like it would like to peck me when I do that. The other five, just set there and even when they aren't broody, will let me pick them up from the next box and take the eggs out. I have never had that luck with chickens before. Size wise, they are a medium hen, they remind me of a leghorn.
GG
Angl, they are very addictive. All the new ones are doing just fine out in the brooder.
Oh boy, now I'm going to have to look into the Australorps. Might be awhile before I can get any though. People around here seem to really want the Barred Rock......but we still need good brown egg layers, right? Are the Australorps good eggs layers in the winter?
Christy
I do have a bit of a problem now, the 12 day old crested I have can FLY. I am going to have to move them to the coop this weekend. I just can not believe how big they are getting, they are almost all feathered out now. I looked at the Australorps chick picks from Hendersons Chicken Breed Chart and I sont think I got any. Shucky dern.
Developed in 20th century in Australia, primarily from the Orpington. Gained notoriety when one hen in the 1920s laid a record 364 eggs in 365 days. That performance has never been matched by subsequent Australorps. This is what hendersons says about them.
I think supplementary lighting helps with the winter egg-laying with all breeds, although some are better about it than others. They do need a break too--egg laying is serious business metabolically.
True Lodi, but doesn't their body make them molt and then they wont lay then.
Yes--and the molt is really stressful for them. I think it takes all they have to replace the feathers.
I forgot about the extra lighting somehow. Is there a certain exact time that I can expect a molt? Will they all do it at once?
Christy
Mine haven't molted yet--I understand they usually molt for the first time after the first year--so about 18 months. Then yearly, I think, in the fall--but Granny's molted in the early spring didn't they? But it may have been their first molt. Naked Australorp--very, very funny!
I just remembered---how quickly a chicken molts is very indicative of what a good layer she will be--some drag the molt out. There is some way of looking at the primary feathers and figuring out if they are doing a fast or draggy molt. You are suppose to cull the draggy ones. Right!
This message was edited Jul 11, 2008 10:24 AM
Mine haven't molted yet either but we are getting close. Over half of my girls are just at a year old. I think I better remind DH about it so we will be able to warn customers again. I think we'll just be getting over the broody thing right in time for the molt. Any idea how long a molt lasts and they start laying eggs again? A naked Australorp, now that would be a sight!
Christy
if htey are poor layers or not well nutritionally, they won't grow their feathers back, and will walk around with naked patches. you can force the moult i understand too. o ryou can help them along with higher protien food, maybe even a protien bucket LOL. i got no problem my hens taking breaks from laying, i am looking at longevity becasue most of the money time and effort is spent when they are young...
Yea I have heard you can force them into molting but I can remember how. And wont the ones that are not molting attack the ones that are. We had one that was just about pecked to death, we finally seperated her from the others and she did great. She was to the point of blood.
i think you close them in without sun or food for 5 days, but plenty of water... ALL OF THEM...
have five with five toes!!! they are the tiniest ones, & whitish looking, hoping for silikies. the fifth toe was right next to the fourth toe, at the back. but one had a funny bedy look to his beak, maybe sultan for him?
Is this on the crested ones? Mine are in the stage of cute but crossing the line. Some is still fluffy with new feathers. Some are looking a green shade.
R UR green ones tiny? check and see if htey have darker skin, those could be silkies i think... yes, crested ones. i guess as silkies get older they are still fluffy, dunno, anyone tell us about silkies?
ok.. here is a pic of hailey at a few days old.. shes a red silkie, and from what I have learned.. not a great speciman.. but normal from a hatchery.. and just might be a he.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=4781607
and here she is just a few days ago
Nope my greenish ones are from the crested. Black yellow greenish.
Here is the bantams I got today
2
3
oops
4
Fran I have a few of them. Oh how cute.