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I would like to have a few miniature chickens for the eggs. They have to be cold hardy, but I do worry that a rough winter might be too rough. Also, after they have become aged and stop laying eggs, they would have to become pets, because I would not want to eat them. Any ideas?
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Dec 16, 2013 23:09
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Cyn Greythorne posted:I would like to have a few miniature chickens for the eggs. They have to be cold hardy, but I do worry that a rough winter might be too rough. Also, after they have become aged and stop laying eggs, they would have to become pets, because I would not want to eat them. Most birds are a lot cold hardier than we give credit for. I know a gentleman that has been raising Modern Game bantams (one of the supposed not cold tolerant breeds) outdoors in upstate New York for 40+ years with no extra heat. As far as what breeds, most of your typical "heritage" breeds have bantam versions that are just as productive for their size as their larger counterparts. There's also bantam only breeds that were bred for production. Dutch bantams were bred by the peasants for eggs, since all large eggs were collected for tithe. Bantam Leghorns lay just as much as their famous standard size version too.
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Dec 16, 2013 23:24
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Aww poor Sugar. That was like one of our bunnies we lost last month. She slowed down and just started fading out so we held for a few hours then put her back in her favorite box to sleep. She was still in the same place when we found her gone. Sorry for all your losses this year VS.
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Dec 16, 2013 23:32
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I guess I dont take enough pictures of my non Cochin birds so heres my large fowl layers with some bantam mutts ive taken in from people as well. Some of the bantams are oopsie babies though.     
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Dec 17, 2013 00:02
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God I fucking love Diablo 3 gold, it even paid for this shitty title
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Cyn Greythorne posted:I would like to have a few miniature chickens for the eggs. They have to be cold hardy, but I do worry that a rough winter might be too rough. Also, after they have become aged and stop laying eggs, they would have to become pets, because I would not want to eat them.
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Dec 17, 2013 00:11
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Cyn Greythorne posted:I would like to have a few miniature chickens for the eggs. They have to be cold hardy, but I do worry that a rough winter might be too rough. Also, after they have become aged and stop laying eggs, they would have to become pets, because I would not want to eat them. What country do you live in? You are more likely to find certain breeds that are more common to your area than others. Gonna push my personal favs though, bantam Cochins. Round, calm, affectionate fluffballs that make great moms. Do you want just hens, or a rooster also? Bantam Cochin hens tend to have smallish combs, the rooboys a bit bigger and more upright. How cold do your winters get? If we're talkin' vicious winds and subzero temps for months, look for birds with small combs to reduce the chance of frostbite. Old English bantams are tough little buggers but aren't as friendly and can be skittish and easily excitable. Both bantam Cochins and Old English should be pretty readily available. Bantam Brahmas would be a good choice as well, but may be harder to find. Tim, that golden rooster practically glows, he's so bright & shiney. Is he a white Sultan mix? Velvet Sparrow fucked around with this message at 00:53 on Dec 17, 2013 |
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Dec 17, 2013 00:51
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VS, what did you do to your Old English to make them fliVelvet Sparrow posted:What country do you live in? You are more likely to find certain breeds that are more common to your area than others. Gonna push my personal favs though, bantam Cochins. Round, calm, affectionate fluffballs that make great moms. Do you want just hens, or a rooster also? Bantam Cochin hens tend to have smallish combs, the rooboys a bit bigger and more upright. How cold do your winters get? If we're talkin' vicious winds and subzero temps for months, look for birds with small combs to reduce the chance of frostbite. Old English bantams are tough little buggers but aren't as friendly and can be skittish and easily excitable. Both bantam Cochins and Old English should be pretty readily available. Bantam Brahmas would be a good choice as well, but may be harder to find. Seconding the Old English Game recommendation. I've never had a skittish one though. I've had maybe three ornery males out of a couple thousand over the years though. Plus they come in every color under the sun (last count there were 38 recognized varieties and at least 10 that aren't recognized yet)
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Dec 17, 2013 00:57
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Thats Sherbert,hes a cross between a Lemon Blue Cochin and a buff Polish. His Polish mom was getting into the LB run during the day for a while and I accidentally hatched one of her eggs,so he was one of the oopsie babies,he got pretty large too.
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Dec 17, 2013 01:04
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Tim Jong-un posted:Thats Sherbert,hes a cross between a Lemon Blue Cochin and a buff Polish. His Polish mom was getting into the LB run during the day for a while and I accidentally hatched one of her eggs,so he was one of the oopsie babies,he got pretty large too. Tim, how many varieties of gallus domesticus do you have? You have Cochins, Brahmas, Silkies that I can identify, what are the others?
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Dec 17, 2013 02:38
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Hixalot posted:VS, what did you do to your Old English to make them fli Huh? Did you mean 'flighty'? I don't chase them with sticks or anything...the ones I've had were just typical excitable banties, kinda high-strung. One of our OEG girls, Silver, was a Chicken Hell feed store rescue we got years ago. She was thoroughly wild and has only calmed down and now fully trusts us in the last three years (we've had her 8 years). This last year she suddenly decided to allow us to reach down and pet her. Nice enough birds, just usually not the type to jump into your lap. As for OE roos,we had one years ago, a tiny little guy, who decided it was his life's work to sucker me in and then flog my hands. I loved him to death and he was the cutest damned thing...but to this day I have scars criss-crossing the backs of my hands from him.
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Dec 17, 2013 03:28
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Velvet Sparrow posted:Huh? I started a reply thought I deleted all of it and then made my regular reply. But yeah that was the general question. I've always Old English Game Bantams that would just come right up and eat out of hand and just in general be chill. Until a couple bantam Polish this year they were the most chill and friendliest birds I've ever raised (now that title goes to the bantam Polish, only kept one but she's borderline suicidal about being under foot, and if I let her will ride around on my shoulder while I care for other birds.)
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Dec 17, 2013 03:44
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I keep forgetting to mention, but these were on Dave Barry's 2013 Gift Guide:Dave Barry posted:CHICKEN DIAPERS Dave Barry posted:CHICKEN BRASSIERE So, gotta ask. How much use in reality will they have for people with chickens? Vaga42Bond fucked around with this message at 04:25 on Dec 18, 2013 |
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Dec 18, 2013 04:22
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Can you get a package deal as a chicken bikini?
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Dec 18, 2013 04:26
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SynthOrange posted:Can you get a package deal as a chicken bikini? Add a chicken saddle to that and then you'd have chicken body armor! Humorous video of chickens' reactions to wearing chicken diapers for the first time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0T-8-KJ9QxA However, Chido's video of her hen first wearing a chicken saddle was much funnier.  I think Chido needs to get a chicken bikini and put it on one of the henhos (and post photos/video). 
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Dec 18, 2013 04:48
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^^^ This is how you break a chicken's brain  
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Dec 18, 2013 07:11
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Please forgive the juvenile molt going on in these photos that makes her tail look like trash. This is one of my keeper White Langshan pullets for the year. She's roughly 5 months old. I like you can see the cock lurking in the background. He is their sire. 
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Dec 20, 2013 02:11
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Velvet Sparrow posted:Lovely girls! We had a Polish before that did all right up until a fox got her. So far this one is surprisingly friendly and adventurous. The other three new hens have been timidly staying around the coop area, but the Polish has been out exploring everything. She even lets me pick her up with almost no fuss. For everyone's amusement, here's how Tet's crow has come along as of today. (The other vid I linked was when he had first started crowing.) http://smg.photobucket.com/user/rupert42/media/chickens/tet2.mp4.html
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Dec 20, 2013 17:58
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The Rat posted:We had a Polish before that did all right up until a fox got her. So far this one is surprisingly friendly and adventurous. The other three new hens have been timidly staying around the coop area, but the Polish has been out exploring everything. She even lets me pick her up with almost no fuss. Sounds like he is getting better with practice! Is that a laughter effect at the end of his crow?
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Dec 20, 2013 19:39
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I'm sorry Tet, it STILL sounds like someone is shaking you at the end of your crow. Never change. 
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Dec 20, 2013 20:57
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The Rat posted:We had a Polish before that did all right up until a fox got her. So far this one is surprisingly friendly and adventurous. The other three new hens have been timidly staying around the coop area, but the Polish has been out exploring everything. She even lets me pick her up with almost no fuss. I wanna squeeze that fat chicken, he looks very fluffy.
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Dec 21, 2013 00:45
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I really love this particular chicken "silhouette." The lines of the body and tail are so graceful. (Or would be, if the tail wasn't half-molted off.) The Rat: Tet is so adorably fat and fluffy! His crow is so funny.
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Dec 21, 2013 02:27
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Hixalot posted:Please forgive the juvenile molt going on in these photos that makes her tail look like trash. This is one of my keeper White Langshan pullets for the year. She's roughly 5 months old. I like you can see the cock lurking in the background. He is their sire. Langshans are one of my absolute favorite breeds, black or white. They have great personalities and an interesting history. I love the wineglass silhouette.
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Dec 21, 2013 16:44
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Hixalot posted:Please forgive the juvenile molt going on in these photos that makes her tail look like trash. This is one of my keeper White Langshan pullets for the year. She's roughly 5 months old. I like you can see the cock lurking in the background. He is their sire. I have a question for anyone really. Do the roosters seem to know who their offspring are? Hixalot, Tim or Velvet Sparrow, do your roosters seem to know who their babies are or do they care at all? I know, stupid question.
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Dec 21, 2013 17:20
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piscesbobbie posted:Tim, how many varieties of gallus domesticus do you have? You have Cochins, Brahmas, Silkies that I can identify, what are the others? Bantam and Large Fowl Cochins, LF Brahmas, bantam Silkies, couple of Americaunas and a bunch of mutt birds people have given me. I only intentionally breed the bantam Cochins,anything else just gets to roam with the production birds for eggs. piscesbobbie posted:I have a question for anyone really. Do the roosters seem to know who their offspring are? Hixalot, Tim or Velvet Sparrow, do your roosters seem to know who their babies are or do they care at all? I know, stupid question. I dont think they know who their babies are but Cochin roosters are usually very friendly to any baby. Seeing a big fluffy rooster waddling around with a gaggle of chicks in tow is always cute.
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Dec 21, 2013 18:01
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Bonster posted:Langshans are one of my absolute favorite breeds, black or white. They have great personalities and an interesting history. I love the wineglass silhouette. No question. They're such an ancient breed, and quite possibly one of the few "pure" breeds. They're my favorite by a large margin. I love all three colors but if I had to choose one I'd probably go with Blue. As far as the birds knowing their own. I guess it's possible, more likely if you have hens raising the babies, I use incubators and brooders so no idea if letting the hens do it would make a difference.
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Dec 21, 2013 18:42
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My roos don't know 'their' babies, but usually adult roos (2-3 years old and up) will recognize chicks and youngsters as birds they be need to be especially tolerant of and they will act pretty benign towards them. Once the youngsters get old enough to be point-of-lay hens or crowing rooboys, the adult roo attitude changes and they treat them as adults--they're fair game. Young chickens--rooboys and hens that are inexperienced 2 year olds and under--tend to be meaner towards young birds and be more eager to educate them in the ways of the pecking order, chase them off food, etc. Old roos are the coolest. This is Jack (at age 5 or so, we got him as a young roo), my old Head Roo, with 2 month old Ping perched on his back while they slept one night. I'd gone out after dark to make sure the young chicks were roosting properly and this is what I found.  What you don't see clearly is the other 3-4 youngsters that have stuffed themselves under him, although you can see a few tails sticking out. He couldn't sit down properly because of them.
Velvet Sparrow fucked around with this message at 07:40 on Dec 22, 2013 |
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Dec 21, 2013 20:12
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Hey Velvet Sparrow... http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3417601&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=64#post410898164
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Dec 21, 2013 22:20
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I demand photos of Meeko or Fred with a bow on them! Or any chicken, really.
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Dec 21, 2013 22:31
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Velvet Sparrow posted:My roos don't know 'their' babies, but usually adult roos (2-3 years old and up) will recognize chicks and youngsters as birds they be need to be especially tolerant of and they will act pretty benign towards them. Once the youngsters get old enough to be point-of-lay hens or crowing rooboys, the adult roo attitude changes and they treat them as adults--they're fair game. Young chickens--rooboys and hens that are inexperienced 2 year olds and under--tend to be meaner towards young birds and be more eager to educate them in the ways of the pecking order, chase them off food, etc. Holy loving
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Dec 22, 2013 02:47
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Mean Bean posted:Hey Velvet Sparrow... http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3417601&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=64#post410898164 Oh yeah, the fortune thing...Boots and a few of the others pulled that duty last year, I wonder who should this year?
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Dec 22, 2013 07:04
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Velvet Sparrow posted:Oh yeah, the fortune thing...Boots and a few of the others pulled that duty last year, I wonder who should this year? I vote for the Roos.
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Dec 22, 2013 10:18
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More goofy chickens pics from the past... Zevon the Frizzle hen, now 10 years old, back when she was a wide-eyed, two month old youngster. She has since gotten much fluffier.  And Houdini, a mutt bantam hen, who went broody once and hatched two chicks. She was a first-time mom though and didn't quite get the whole, 'Don't squish the babies' thing when she went into Zen Power Brood mode.  'Guurrrgghhh, mom, yer on my head!' Velvet Sparrow fucked around with this message at 22:10 on Dec 23, 2013 |
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Dec 23, 2013 21:24
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Velvet Sparrow posted:And Houdini, a mutt bantam hen, who went broody once and hatched two chicks. She was a first-time mom though and didn't quite get the whole, 'Don't squish the babies' thing when she went into Zen Power Brood mode. That is some intense chicken broody concentration.
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Dec 23, 2013 21:49
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Velvet Sparrow posted:
Ahhh-HAHAHAHAHAHAAAA! That thousand-yard broody stare! And the baby going "HALP! Mom! GET OFF ME!" That's such a wonderful photo! Also, Zevon is super adorable. Post an updated photo of her please!
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Dec 23, 2013 22:43
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Merry Christmas Eve! Don't forget to decorate your tree... Be good and eat all of your dinner, Santa's watching!  ...and go to bed early. No peeking!  Merry Christmas, everyone. 
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Dec 25, 2013 00:05
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Merry Christmas VS!
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Dec 25, 2013 02:10
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I love y'all, Merry Christmas! Thanks for making PI a place that's fun to look at. 
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Dec 25, 2013 06:42
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Merry Christmas to my fellow feather brained goons. Hope it's worth crowing about!
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Dec 25, 2013 07:11
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Dumpling and Tetrazzini have been fighting a bunch this morning for no apparent reason. They seem to be going at it for real, at least enough that they both have some blood drawn on their faces. I separated them by putting Tet in the large cage we have for chicks. Gonna let him out after lunch. Hopefully they both will have settled down by then. Not sure what triggered this, because they both grew up together and have gotten along fine up to this point. 
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Dec 26, 2013 18:26
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I've had two chickens that have suddenly decided that THEY HATE EACH OTHER AND THE HATED ONE MUST DIE, NOW. It's usually hens that have lived together without even LOOKING at each other for years that suddenly fight constantly for 1-3 days, then go back to ignoring each other again. It's gotten so bad that I had to take the worst injured of the combatants and isolate her for a few days to heal. I have no idea what triggers this but it's a pain in the rear end when it happens. Watch them when you return Tet to the yard, he's going to lose some status being isolated while Dumpling roams free with the hens. I always had to decide which roo I wanted as Head Roo and would take away the Beta Roo & isolate if they were fighting too much, it was easier than trying to reintegrate a Head Roo back into the flock.
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Dec 26, 2013 20:13
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