Backyard Chickens?

[Ddski5]

With looking and researching further on these hatchery sites, I have narrowed down the final possibilities for my new flock:

*Black Copper Maran- dark egg
*Welsummer- dark egg
?Golden Comet- brown egg
?Buckeye- brown egg
*Spec Sussex- cream egg
*Blue laced Wyandotte- cream egg
*Golden laced Wyandotte- cream
*Silver laced Wyandotte- cream
?Prairie blue Egger- blue egg
?Cream Legbar- blue egg
?Starlight green Egger-green egg
?White Leghorn- white egg
?California White- white egg
?Blue Andalusian- white egg

* signifies definitely getting
? signifies not really for sure which on with this egg color but want to get one of these- brown, green/blue, white egg layer. Want to get 1 brown, 2- green/blue, 1- white egg layer.

As you can see, the entire flock will be multi egg colored as well as multi color appearance.

I just have not narrowed down the 1-brown, 2- green/blue, and 1- white egg layers. And yes temperament has a lot to do with it also. I would like a friendly flock.

I would like 8 but looks like I will push to getting 10 hens.

Thanks for your help!!

I ran into a problem when looking at the hatchery sites, you can’t just order chicks and get them all on same day. They may all have different hatch dates, therefore only be shipped certain days/months.

I think I will pay a little extra $1-2 per chick and I believe I can get all the ones I request from a local feed/poultry store in one big order. They order from the big hatcheries. I think she quoted me $6 a chick.

 

[Ravenbird]

I would like 8 but looks like I will push to getting 10 hens.

That's called Chicken Math. You're going to be a chicken math genus if you can do this well before your first purchase!

*Golden laced Wyandotte- cream
*Silver laced Wyandotte- cream

I had from 5 - 10 of these in the last 6 years, Gold & Silvers. They all laid plain brown eggs, no cream color ever. Just so you know.
The Buckeye is listed a brown egg layer, I have one and she lays a plain brown egg, can't tell it apart from the Wyandottes.
I have a Cockcoo Marans (not the darkest egg like the Blk Copper) - she only laid about 2 x week the first year or two, now at age 3 (almost 4) she has quit laying. Beautiful dark egg, but few & far between.
Other breeds you list I don't have any experience with.

I ran into a problem when looking at the hatchery sites, you can’t just order chicks and get them all on same day. They may all have different hatch dates, therefore only be shipped certain days/months.

If you have a date that you will be completing your coop you can look at hatch dates around then. I think they change constantly throughout the season. So what you are looking at today might not be the same as in July. Speaking of July, They also sometimes restrict shipping in hot weather. Is the coop ground breaking happening? You also know you have to raise the littles under a heat lamp until they get feathers?

 

[MyBuddy]

Just my, "naive about chickens" two cents!

These are the three breeds that my friend has.

ISA browns
Rhode Island Reds
Orpingtons

And these are the brown eggs they all produce.


Now my own question.

I see that some of the breeds that @Ddski5 listed do produce white eggs. But I always found it interesting that all the store bought eggs are always white. Anything organic or ones that you get from the neighbor are colored. I know that's not always the case but the majority of times it's true. What is with commercial grown chickens that they are always a white egg? There's got to be a reason.

 

[Ravenbird]

What is with commercial grown chickens that they are always a white egg? There's got to be a reason.

Most commercial breeders use Leghorns. 300+ eggs a year, one of the best layers for a large egg.

 

[Ddski5]

I am very tempted to order the chicks now but I am only 30% completed with my perimeter fence and have not started with the coop. I feel like I am too far out to order chicks right now.

I want to get the perimeter fence done and at least be 75% complete with the coop before I order chicks. I most definitely want to be prepared for when the chicks arrive-don’t want to get caught with chicks here and not be prepared even though they will need to be in the brooder for a couple of weeks.

Just don’t like to idea of not having everything ready.

 

[JanS]

I always found it interesting that all the store bought eggs are always white.

Really? There are tons of brown ones in the stores here but they do cost more since people think the color of the shell makes them better. Whether they're white or brown they're raised in the same conditions with the same feed. Farm fresh are totally different but you don't see those in stores. Our trainer was surprised that we would take duck eggs since no one else likes them.

 

[Ravenbird]

I want to get the perimeter fence done and at least be 75% complete with the coop before I order chicks. I most definitely want to be prepared for when the chicks arrive-don’t want to get caught with chicks here and not be prepared even though they will need to be in the brooder for a couple of weeks.

Very wise of you!

 

[Ddski5]

I had from 5 - 10 of these in the last 6 years, Gold & Silvers. They all laid plain brown eggs, no cream color ever. Just so you know.
The Buckeye is listed a brown egg layer, I have one and she lays a plain brown egg, can't tell it apart from the Wyandottes.
I have a Cockcoo Marans (not the darkest egg like the Blk Copper) - she only laid about 2 x week the first year or two, now at age 3 (almost 4) she has quit laying. Beautiful dark egg, but few & far between.
Other breeds you list I don't have any experience with.

Great to know!!

Thx!

 

[Ddski5]

Am in the planning phase of my coop and run. I know I want a 8x8 coop with prob a 10x20 run. I have been doing a lot of reading and research and just trying to figure it out.

I saw this idea and think it is very practical. Looks very easy to set up too. I would use this for the run only.

What do you think are the pros and cons with this??

 

[Ravenbird]

I saw this idea and think it is very practical. Looks very easy to set up too. I would use this for the run only.

What do you think are the pros and cons with this??

The only thing I'm seeing is that it doesn't look tall enough. If you're taller than 6', even the dog chainlink panels will drive you nuts being hunched over. If you keep your chickens up the majority of the day you will be cleaning on a regular basis. That's enough of a chore as it is, don't add aggravation to it. Ahem, also, if other family members have to do chores you want it to be as easy as possible so they don't complain.

I suppose you could get longer panels to bend over like that and that would make it taller. Also there's a lot of wood work involved there. The 10 x 20 run I have was just 5 dog pen chainlink panels, one had the gate built in. The sixth side is the coop wall. I just had to add hardware cloth. I only added it on the bottom 2 feet, and I've been lucky not needing to encase the whole thing. I used chicken wire on the top. This wouldn't be good enough if you have raccoons and weasels. I'm knocking on wood, but I've never had a predator except the bobcat, and it just took one at a time at dawn or dusk when they were out of the coop/pen.

 

[Ddski5]

Know anything about solar energy??

As soon as fence is built, I am going to build the chicken coop and get some chickens.

May be smart to use a solar fan, etc....

I always wanted to learn about solar panels and solar energy.

 

[JanS]

Know anything about solar energy??

It can be great and here in the summer with the long days it works very well. In the winter when we only have about 8 hours of daylight it doesn't work well at all. Our weather station has a solar panel with battery backup so it chews into the batteries pretty fast in the winter.

 

[Ravenbird]

May be smart to use a solar fan, etc....

I got a light from Northern Tool. Tiny little solar panel about 12" square with a low watt light, string-pull on/off. It lasted about 5 - 7 years, but since it's just a built in battery I guess it wore out. Didn't put out a ton of light, but was perfect for what I got it for which was a different home and the horses hay/feed room didn't have electricity to it. Fine except in winter when it would be dark when I fed a.m. or p.m. but that little light worked in the little room just enough to see the cans of feed & buckets and stuff.

Northern Tool has lots and lots of handy things and although I haven't looked lately, they use to have a lot of solar powered items. A fan would especially be helpful to you in your climate, and if you lost power due to storms in the sweltering heat of late summer your chickens would be grateful to have a fan. Obviously without a battery backup days of clouds and rain it wouldn't work, so you'd have to choose the right type.

 

[Rits]

Know anything about solar energy??

I'll have to see if I can get my husband to reply to this. We have solar panels on the coop, light, and fans. The fans he needs to still tweak... just not a lot of time in day anymore. But the light works great and it's on a timer or can manually be turned on.

 

[jazzies mum]

I use solar power for just about everything and would recommend investing in a deep cycle battery so you have some days grace if it is cloudy. A bit expensive initially but a lot less bother in the long run. Of course the bigger the battery the more expensive it is but anything over 100Ah would do the trick.

 

[Ravenbird]

This was one of those FB memories things popped up and I thought I'd share it here. From 2018 this was the broody hen that I let sit on fake eggs for over 21 days and traded live chicks for the eggs in the middle of the night - it was a cat-fight trying to put my hand under her to get the eggs, this hen was vicious! But she accepted the littles as her own and raised them better than I could. We're overdue for a cute chicken picture or two, are we not?

I'm sure she was gob-smacked by things that weren't "normal". Like the chicks, now 3 days old from mail-order, needing to drink water and start eating. Normally they get out of their shell and live on the nutrients from that and rest up for 24 hours before getting out & about. These kiddos were rocking and rolling the next morning and Black Caviar (the hen) was like WTF? This was also the variety pack I ordered: 8 chicks of 8 different breeds.

 

[Rits]

This was one of those FB memories things popped up and I thought I'd share it here. From 2018 this was the broody hen that I let sit on fake eggs for over 21 days and traded live chicks for the eggs in the middle of the night - it was a cat-fight trying to put my hand under her to get the eggs, this hen was vicious! But she accepted the littles as her own and raised them better than I could. We're overdue for a cute chicken picture or two, are we not?

I'm sure she was gob-smacked by things that weren't "normal". Like the chicks, now 3 days old from mail-order, needing to drink water and start eating. Normally they get out of their shell and live on the nutrients from that and rest up for 24 hours before getting out & about. These kiddos were rocking and rolling the next morning and Black Caviar (the hen) was like WTF? This was also the variety pack I ordered: 8 chicks of 8 different breeds.


View attachment 135497View attachment 135498

what a rude awakening for her, like skipping the newborn phase and going straight into terrible toddler twos

 

[Ravenbird]

what a rude awakening for her, like skipping the newborn phase and going straight into terrible toddler twos

I felt a bit sorry for her, but all our chickens that were raised by a hen seem to work things out more peacefully. The first batch that we got from the hatchery and raised under a heat lamp with no adult chickens on the property seemed to fight and fuss for years.

 

[Rits]

I felt a bit sorry for her, but all our chickens that were raised by a hen seem to work things out more peacefully. The first batch that we got from the hatchery and raised under a heat lamp with no adult chickens on the property seemed to fight and fuss for years.

Oh she's fine! I have a broody right now that hasn't been broody in years prior but seems to be staying broody this time so I gave her eggs from my Ameraucana. I have one Ameraucana hen and one rooster Ameraucana so I wouldn't mind a few more. They are my sweetest chickens. I tried to incubate a few of my own and only one hatched ...so I had an excuse to buy 4 chicks from TSC. Of course this was like two weeks before said hen went broody

 

[Ravenbird]

ncubate a few of my own and only one hatched ...so I had an excuse to buy 4 chicks from TSC.

chicken math...