I don't know too much about roosters except what I remember from way back as a kid. Guess what? I looked it up cause curiosity got the best of me. They mature between 16-24 weeks and some breeds sooner depending on the breed.
Backyard Chickens?
- Thread starter Dragonborn
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I don't know too much about roosters except what I remember from way back as a kid. Guess what? I looked it up cause curiosity got the best of me. They mature between 16-24 weeks and some breeds sooner depending on the breed.
Rits
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5 week update. All are accounted for and doing great. I added in some rooster booster multi vitamin and electrolytes to help a few that were delayed with their feathers and for any stress with the extreme heat we have had lately. Its helped a ton and they have almost all of their feathers in except on their heads. I managed to not take any pics of the B. Australorp hens so I'll have to do that but here are some pics!
Biggie the Roo
Drumstick the other roo
And Cornbread, our mystery Chick. Thinking Leghorn or Cornish cross. Hoping for Leghorn since the Cornish breeds are meat birds they usually can't walk past a certain age.
Y'arr!
Cornbread and Biggie (Biggie is leaning and laying flat so he looks smaller but isn't)
Biggie the Roo
Drumstick the other roo
And Cornbread, our mystery Chick. Thinking Leghorn or Cornish cross. Hoping for Leghorn since the Cornish breeds are meat birds they usually can't walk past a certain age.
Y'arr!
Cornbread and Biggie (Biggie is leaning and laying flat so he looks smaller but isn't)
It's just amazing to me how fast they change and grow. Love the names you picked out! Lots of people told me not to name my hens. I had to because it's too confusing to call them all 'that one' when talking about them.
have you started collecting egg cartons yet? Especially next year, I can't imagine how many eggs you are going to have.
Speaking of eggs, I went out yesterday to get the first couple of eggs.My girls are on a pretty regular schedule of laying. I have been grabbing eggs pretty quick to preventing the one from roosting. Anyway Rumor goes with me pretty much everywhere as part of her training. My hands are pretty much numb so I didn't notice when Rumor stole a quick snack right out of my hand! Obviously she still still needs some work before her test.
Rits
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Its hard not to name them! Especially the ones that are unique and purposely stick out. So far we've managed to name half of them. Uh-oh. Hard to not get attached...! Still on the fence about eating any for any reason... I think I'll stick with eggs for this first experience and simply enjoy the animal husbandry that comes with raising chickens for the first time. My mindset may change later (especially if any of the roosters become aggressive).
Been saving egg cartons, yep! Even have people wanting to buy eggs when they are ready! A few guys at my husbands work are excited to have some local eggs.
Well, chicks were moved into the coop this past Sunday! They'll be 7 weeks tomorrow. No official pics of the coop because, its not done yet! We have been working our butts off for the past 8 weeks with jobs, heat, and rain to make sure they could at least move in before they outgrew their brooder kennel and we managed to do that! Now we get to put the finishing touches on it over the next few weeks
They absolutely love the coop though. We spent probably an hour just watching them RUN and fly and play in there.Went out this morning and we were treated with this sound for the first time...
Biggie is definitely a rooster!
I wish I can remember the names my friend gave her chickens. They were things like Kentucky Fried! But, like you, she is not even thinking about anything but eggs! She loves those chickens! I am getting a kick out of it too! I have to live through her but thankfully she's only three houses down.
I took her in my pickup truck to pick up one more large panel of fencing and she made the area bigger! Now it encloses the coop. Making the open area L shape. It's hard from a picture to see depth but this is what it looks like after she put up the extra panel.
So now they can go in the big open door to the coop along with the side hole with the ramp. And I had to laugh when we came back from the store... it was already getting dark and all of the chickens were in the coop already. She said they do that every night all by themselves. At first she had to put them in there every night but after a while they just went in by themselves as soon as it got dark. And then she would close the door. We opened the door to see them and all the little cooing was so cute! They're all like, What do you want?? Close the door ! LOL And like you, she got a recording of one of her roosters crowing! Really cute.
She was incubating 8 more eggs and told me over the weekend that it looked like only four made it.
Its hard not to name them! Especially the ones that are unique and purposely stick out. So far we've managed to name half of them. Uh-oh. Hard to not get attached...! Still on the fence about eating any for any reason... I think I'll stick with eggs for this first experience and simply enjoy the animal husbandry that comes with raising chickens for the first time. My mindset may change later (especially if any of the roosters become aggressive).
Been saving egg cartons, yep! Even have people wanting to buy eggs when they are ready! A few guys at my husbands work are excited to have some local eggs.
Well, chicks were moved into the coop this past Sunday! They'll be 7 weeks tomorrow. No official pics of the coop because, its not done yet! We have been working our butts off for the past 8 weeks with jobs, heat, and rain to make sure they could at least move in before they outgrew their brooder kennel and we managed to do that! Now we get to put the finishing touches on it over the next few weeks
Went out this morning and we were treated with this sound for the first time...
Biggie is definitely a rooster!
It sounds like you are having lots of fun with them.
Love it cause I think they are a blast to have around. Oh the noises they make.
Even the hens are pretty noisy especially when laying.
Rits
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Haha I love it!! We have some similar names like that too.
Lets see
Biggie the roo (the one crowing), simply because he was a monster in size since day 1.
Drumstick - the other roo!
Extra Crispy (Crispy for short) - one of the more affectionate hens and she had the most yellow on her. Almost looked like a duckling.
Indy - for Indiana Jones. She always liked to come out of the kennel on her own, and was on a mission every time to climb the ladder we had stationed to hold up the heat lamp. She'd climb all the way to the top and either hang out up there, content as can be...or FLY from there onto my head or shoulder, lol!
Nemo - she has a toe that bends the wrong way. Doesn't affect her at all, with walking nor roosting, but we did try to fix it with no luck.
and finally, Cornbread - the cute yellow chick
She's so sweet too. She's super happy to roost on you on her own and hang out.
So early this morning the girls were LOUD! Making noises I never heard from them before. Didn't think too much about it at first. But then they didn't stop. I think hmmm.......what's going on out there? Like a damn fool I went out to see. It was still dark, just beginning to get light. Don't know what I was thinking.......I went out there was nothing. no light. no weapon of any sort and no shoes! I get to the coop and I'm saying what in the world is going? The girls were very happy to see me and came running to the door. Still not thinking. I open the door to walk in and see what the problem is. Just enough light to see a huge snake climbing up the ramp to the nesting boxes. I can't run so I just let out a scream that probably woke the whole neighborhood. I know it woke hubby cause he came out naked. Didn't think to grab any clothes. I couldn't believe it, he just grabbed the snake and put it in a box and went back to bed.
I have a new project today. I have to figure out how this guy got in there and try to fix it. This snake must possess some kind of magical powers because we were very careful to make the coop critter proof.
As of now, Houdini is on his way to be set free by a lake that hubby takes care of. I just hope he doesn't have friends around here.
I have a new project today. I have to figure out how this guy got in there and try to fix it. This snake must possess some kind of magical powers because we were very careful to make the coop critter proof.
As of now, Houdini is on his way to be set free by a lake that hubby takes care of. I just hope he doesn't have friends around here.
Rits
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Men
Just a normal day for them, lol!My husband always said if someone broke in then they better be ready for a naked 6'3 man with a gun.
Might be an effective deterrent.Hope you figure out how the stinker got in!
Yay! I finally figured it out!
Took a couple of days but I did it. Yesterday while cleaning the coop I noticed it. We made windows (actually just plexiglass) so the girls could have some light in the inside part where the nesting boxes are. Above one and below the window on the other side we have like 1 inch slits the length of the window cut out and cover with hardware cloth for ventilation. Well I guess the hens had worked the hardware cloth enough to get it over the screw head so the corner was loose. The snake found it. All fixed now. I put the hardware cloth on the outside and put some wood trim around the edges.
Rits
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I realized that I haven't posted in over a month! So...lots of pics from then til now. Woops! Sorry they are so huge...they are directly from my phone because its easier. I left some out as attachments so I don't flood you guys tooooo much.
We are still working on the coop so no official pics yet. Chip seal starts at the end of July so my husband has been busy with that. Long hours of 5am to anywhere between 4pm or 8. We squeeze in a little work on the coop about each day since then. Everything has been on time though and we are fortunate for that. The nesting boxes will soon be done. They turned 14 weeks yesterday.
So little even just 6 weeks ago! (Temporary roost)
Miss Cornbread
Cooling off lol
They are so funny lookin up close
Whatcha doin?
They soooo wanna come out. There's sweet clover right below them.
Still babies. Still make baby chick noises here.
Poor cornbread shows just how dirty they get dustbathing.
Early on we had a few days of them sleeping on the ground. Did some research and found we had to teach them how to roost all over again. Went out there every night and individually put each one up. Sat and waited for their roosting coos. Took 3 or so nights of this and then they got it and did it all on their own! We were so proud
My 2 fav pics...my mom was giggling like a school girl as Cornbread inspected her hair. She climbed up there on her own.
"What?"
Growing in some pretty iridescent blue green feathers. Super hard to capture how pretty they are!
They love the jungle gym of stuff to play on while we are working on the coop lol
Nothing like happy grazing chickens
My husband is obsessed with this girl.
"Here chick chick chick!" *Stampede*
Biggie getting some attention from me. His first selfie lol.
Biggie being surrounded by his ladies
And this evening, the art of chicken dance
Sorry they are so huge...they are directly from my phone because its easier. I left some out as attachments so I don't flood you guys tooooo much. We are still working on the coop so no official pics yet. Chip seal starts at the end of July so my husband has been busy with that. Long hours of 5am to anywhere between 4pm or 8. We squeeze in a little work on the coop about each day since then. Everything has been on time though and we are fortunate for that. The nesting boxes will soon be done. They turned 14 weeks yesterday.
So little even just 6 weeks ago! (Temporary roost)
Miss Cornbread
Cooling off lol
They are so funny lookin up close
Whatcha doin?
They soooo wanna come out. There's sweet clover right below them.
Still babies. Still make baby chick noises here.
Poor cornbread shows just how dirty they get dustbathing.
Early on we had a few days of them sleeping on the ground. Did some research and found we had to teach them how to roost all over again. Went out there every night and individually put each one up. Sat and waited for their roosting coos. Took 3 or so nights of this and then they got it and did it all on their own! We were so proud
My 2 fav pics...my mom was giggling like a school girl as Cornbread inspected her hair. She climbed up there on her own.
"What?"
Growing in some pretty iridescent blue green feathers. Super hard to capture how pretty they are!
They love the jungle gym of stuff to play on while we are working on the coop lol
Nothing like happy grazing chickens
My husband is obsessed with this girl.
"Here chick chick chick!" *Stampede*
Biggie getting some attention from me. His first selfie lol.
Biggie being surrounded by his ladies
And this evening, the art of chicken dance
Attachments
I love the chicken dance!!
Awesome photos!!
Awesome photos!!
OMG, I SOOOOOOO enjoyed all of those!!!! Funny, gorgeous and so interesting!!! Aren't they fun!? I can definitely see the beautiful colors in their feathers!
My friend says that too! And gets the same *stampede!* I love your freckles!! I have freckles too!
Omg how cute is that!!
I have to get my 'hit' from my friend down the road! lol I was down there recently when her mom had cataract surgery and had to stay out of the horse barn and chicken coup for a few days. I fed the horses and let the chickens out of the coup for the day and I'll tell ya, it put a big smile on my face the whole time! I loved listening to their cooing and 'talking'! lol It was so cute.
By the time she had her second cataract done, she had a surprise for me!
They're getting eggs!!!
Some chicken recall!
At our house recall is very important. My girls get let out of the coop at varying times, usually a couple of times a day. It's really nice to just go out and call them to go back to the coop so the dogs can come out. I'm sure it will come in handy for you too.
Oh, that is hysterical and so adorable! I love it!Some chicken recall!
My friend with the chickens got a duck! I can't remember now if she hatched it or just got in very young. But he is adorable! or she? We don't know yet, I guess. I just meet it today and, damn, forgot to take a picture! But he looks like a Paint horse LOL He's black and white. Very cute! She introduced him to the chicken coop group and within a day or so he was accepted and doing fine. When she walked him out from the house he followed her the whole way! She had let the chickens out and when she was ready to put them back in she could not find the duck! She put all the chickens away and looked and looked and finally found him sitting by the back door by the house! He's like, Okay I've had enough. Isn't this the way back?
I got another dozen eggs too.
I got another dozen eggs too.
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