New babies!

[tyty333]

Is it bad of me to wish Kevin gets broody? I'm so selfish ...I just so much enjoy this thread! I want more babies and more pictures!!!

 

[canuk-gal]

Is it bad of me to wish Kevin gets broody? I'm so selfish ...I just so much enjoy this thread! I want more babies and more pictures!!!

WOT she said!

 

[minousbijoux]

WOT she said!

Thritto! Hard to believe that Kevin is an egg Grandma already!

 

[soxfan]

I'm hoping she goes broody too! She's my best setter. And if I get fertilized eggs instead of chicks, I will need her to be as good as she was the first time. BUT if I just get chicks, that will be easier. I really want some more colored egg layers. If I go with the lavender orpingtons, the eggs are expensive and I'm not guaranteed hens. I could end up with 12 roosters. LOL!

 

[lissyflo]

I can’t be the only PSer who’s wondering if there’s a breed you can get with ever so slightly more blue eggs - those green ones are getting towards Tiffany-blue, but a little way off. Personally, seeing any kind of coloured shell would make me happy in the morning, but Tiffany blue ones moreso!

 

[soxfan]

I can’t be the only PSer who’s wondering if there’s a breed you can get with ever so slightly more blue eggs - those green ones are getting towards Tiffany-blue, but a little way off. Personally, seeing any kind of coloured shell would make me happy in the morning, but Tiffany blue ones moreso!

Cream leg bars, true ameracaunas, aracaunas, and SOME easter eggers all lay the tiffany blue eggs.

 

[missy]

Gosh I love this thread so much. @soxfan you are living a dream! LOVE your babies. All of them.

I can’t be the only PSer who’s wondering if there’s a breed you can get with ever so slightly more blue eggs - those green ones are getting towards Tiffany-blue, but a little way off. Personally, seeing any kind of coloured shell would make me happy in the morning, but Tiffany blue ones moreso!

lissyflo this is interesting info:
(just saw that soxfan has responded but thought this might be an interesting link to read too)

https://www.hobbyfarms.com/7-chickens-to-raise-for-colorful-eggs-3/

1. Araucanas
If a chicken lays blue eggs, it’s safe to assume they have Araucana in their genetics. The breed is reputed to have originated in Chile, though its origin is still unclear. What is clear is that Araucanas are rumpless (without a tail head), are often tufted (tufts of feathers hang by fine, elastic skin threads on each side of the head) and lay blue eggs. “A true Araucana is always rumpless,” says Lanae Cash, who breeds, shows and sells Araucanas, at Cash’s Blue Eggs. “They are not always tufted, but rumpless is a must.” These chickens are body type B. “The Araucana is a very self-assured bird with a mild temperament,” Cash adds.

2. Ameraucanas
Hatcheries might advertise Araucanas for sale, but beware: If the birds have tails, they are not Araucanas. However, they might be Ameraucanas. “Ameraucanas are less rare than Araucanas, and hatcheries do sell true Ameraucanas,” says Traci Torres, co-author of My Pet Chicken Handbook(Rodale, 2014) and founder of MyPetChicken.com. Careful breeding of Araucanas with other breeds produces certain feather patterns. “There is a wild variety of colors, and each will have a different parentage,” Torres says. “Ameraucanas are easygoing birds, and they should all lay a blue egg.” With Araucana genetics, they tend toward body and temperament type B.

3. Easter Eggers
Note the spelling of Ameraucana. “If a hatchery is selling chicks under the label of Araucana/Americana, what it really is is an Easter Egger,” Torres says. “There’s no breed standard. An Easter Egger is literally just a mutt, but they’re fabulous birds.” Friendly, smart, cold- and heat-hardy, they lay well in the winter, with eggs that range in color from blue, green, rose or brown to sage, olive or cream. “Their eggs tend to be ginormous,” Torres says. “Much more a type B, they’re not a huge bird, but they’re just an all-around wonderful pet, and of course, everyone loves the egg colors.”

4. Cream Legbar
Another blue-egg layer is the Cream Legbar, developed in Great Britain by crossing Barred Plymouth Rocks, Golden Leghorns and Araucanas. Leghorn genetics introduce type-A body and temperament traits. “People are all about the Cream Legbar,” Torres says. “They’re not flighty, but they’re active, and they make fabulous foragers.”

5. Marans
Common brown eggs pale in comparison to the deep-brown eggs laid by the French breed, Marans. Marans are calm, easygoing birds of medium size and type-B build. According to Debi Stuhr, who breeds and sells Black Copper Marans at Heaven Sent Ranch, “Marans also come in a blue, blue copper, splash, solid black, wheaten, and a couple other colors still being developed.”

According to Torres, “Black Copper Marans are the friendly chickens with the feathered feet that lay the really dark chocolate-brown eggs.” Brown eggs are graded on a scale of zero to nine, zero being white, and nine a deep, dark brown. Stuhr says, “You want your Marans egg color to be five to nine,” Stuhr says. “A Marans is not a true Marans unless it lays at least a four or five.”

6. Welsummer
Lissa Lucas, head writer and marketing communications specialist at MyPetChicken.com and co-author of My Pet Chicken Handbook, lists the Welsummer as her pick for best all-around chicken. With a type-B build, Welsummers are great foragers that lay large chocolate-brown eggs with darker speckles and do well in both heat and cold. Lucas considers these friendly, intelligent brown-egg layers among the sweetest-tempered birds in her flock.

7. Penedesenca
Penedesencas originated in Spain and are noted for laying some of the darkest brown eggs of any breeds. “Their eggs are beautiful,” Torres says. “A dark, dark, reddish brown.” Being of type-A body build, Penedesencas are alert and wary of their surroundings. “Though they won’t be the first ones to approach you, if you go out every day and give them treats, and you don’t move too quickly, they will become more docile,” Torres says. Penedesencas have what is called a “king’s comb,” also called a cresta en clavell or carnation comb, which begins as a single lobe at the front, parting into several lobes in the back.



Feeding for Egg Quality
Nutritional requirements for hens vary depending on whether they’re laying or molting. A protein level around 20 percent works well for laying season, with an average portion of 1/4 pound of feed per bird per day—less if they are out foraging in summer and more during cold weather. Because eggshells are predominantly calcium carbonate, hens also should have access to calcium.

“We sometimes get thin eggshells in the summer when birds are foraging a lot and might need a supplement,” Torres says. “Offer free-choice oyster shells. If they need it, they’ll take it. If they don’t, they won’t.

“Hens eating their own eggs can be indicative of a lack of protein in their diet or it can just be habit,” Torres says. This habit can be hard to break, so she recommends collecting eggs as soon as they’re laid. Stuhr often isolates the offending hen, giving it a higher protein feed to correct a possible dietary imbalance.

Brown, blue, speckled and shades in between—colored eggs make a splash at market.

About the Author: Leslie J. Wyatt is a freelance writer with more than 200 stories and articles in publications like Children’s Writer and Cat Fancy. She lives on a micro hobby farm in northern California and can be found online at www.journeywithhonor.blogspot.com and www.lesliejwyatt.com.

 

[lissyflo]

I’ll have to try a farmers’ market to see if I can find some of those eggs! Sadly chickens themselves are a no-go for us, much as I’d love fresh eggs - I don’t think our dog or cats would play nicely!

 

[december-fire]

So...if Kevin goes broody again this summer, I am going to set some fertilized lavender orpington eggs under her. LOOK at these beauties!!!

The eggs are beautiful and these guys - wow!
If I'd seen these photos anywhere else I'd suspect they were photoshopped! That lavender colouring is gorgeous!

Love the updates!

 

[MonkeysInk]

Just came across this thread and talk about eye candy! I’m down to four girls and I’m ready to get some more - I’ve not ever really wanted lavender orps until I saw your beauties and now I think I must have some.

My blue egg layer died over the winter, so a replacement for her is in order - my egg basket is just not the same without her.

 

[soxfan]

Just came across this thread and talk about eye candy! I’m down to four girls and I’m ready to get some more - I’ve not ever really wanted lavender orps until I saw your beauties and now I think I must have some.

My blue egg layer died over the winter, so a replacement for her is in order - my egg basket is just not the same without her.

So sorry about your girl

 

[MonkeysInk]

It was a rough winter. We had a bobcat visit.

 

[december-fire]

It was a rough winter. We had a bobcat visit.

Oh, I'm so sorry to hear this.

 

[soxfan]

Last night I counted 12 chickens in the coop. We have 13. It was almost dark and I realized it was one of Kevin's babies that was missing. We have 2 feet of snow on the ground here and Kevin's babies are the only ones who brave it. I searched everywhere and finally hear a noise. She was wedged between my house and my rhododendrons. I picked her up and carried her back to the coop. She bit the shit out of me the entire way. She is LIGHT! I've never got to hold one, they are so skittish and flighty. Very pretty chickens and they lay an egg a day, though, so I'll overlook the biting...

 

[missy]

Last night I counted 12 chickens in the coop. We have 13. It was almost dark and I realized it was one of Kevin's babies that was missing. We have 2 feet of snow on the ground here and Kevin's babies are the only ones who brave it. I searched everywhere and finally hear a noise. She was wedged between my house and my rhododendrons. I picked her up and carried her back to the coop. She bit the shit out of me the entire way. She is LIGHT! I've never got to hold one, they are so skittish and flighty. Very pretty chickens and they lay an egg a day, though, so I'll overlook the biting...

OMG! Thank goodness you found her safe and sound!!! What a scary experience. So RELIEVED for you both! ((((HUGS)))) to the little chicken. What a frisky mischievous sweetheart.

 

[stracci2000]

Last night I counted 12 chickens in the coop. We have 13. It was almost dark and I realized it was one of Kevin's babies that was missing. We have 2 feet of snow on the ground here and Kevin's babies are the only ones who brave it. I searched everywhere and finally hear a noise. She was wedged between my house and my rhododendrons. I picked her up and carried her back to the coop. She bit the shit out of me the entire way. She is LIGHT! I've never got to hold one, they are so skittish and flighty. Very pretty chickens and they lay an egg a day, though, so I'll overlook the biting...

Ouch! But it's amazing what we put up with for our fur and feather babies.......!
Thanks Soxfan for the always entertaining updates!

 

[soxfan]

Taking a dust bath last week.

 

[Tekate]

Just found this thread.. it's so interesting and I love all these chicks... thank you so much for sharing soxfan.. it's a happy thread.. even with foxes and bobcats

 

[soxfan]

Goldie is broody. Picking up three chicks Wednesday. They will be these breeds: Light brahma, 2 easter eggers, and a cuckoo maran.

 

[tyty333]

Yippy!!! Thank you Goldie!! You too Soxfan! I'm so excited for new babies!

 

[minousbijoux]

And if Kevin goes broody? I can see your flock becoming gigantic!

 

[soxfan]

The new chicks are here! I was only going to get 2 but got five because I *think* I might have snagged a couple of lavender orpingtons!!! Whatever, I was never really going to get 2 because I'm a chicken hoarder. This is Goldie. Goldie has been stealing eggs and sitting her fat ass on them for about a month now, only coming out to bark at other chickens, take enormous poops, and eat and drink enough to keep from starving.



These are the new chicks!



Tonight I will slip these loud-ass annoying little peepers under Goldie and let her do all the work. Aren't they adorable though????? With any luck, this is what they will grow into:

 

[stracci2000]

Adorable!
I would want them to stay cute little babies forever!
Looking forward to more updates.
Soxfan, your chicken postings give me sweet relief from all the crappy current events!

 

[lissyflo]

Yay, more chick pictures this year! Let’s hope Goldie does her work well.

And this made me chortle - you’re a PSer through and through!:

Whatever, I was never really going to get 2 because I'm a chicken hoarder.

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

Oh my hilarious goodness. They are freaking cute! Hope it works out!!!!!

cheers--Sharon

 

[junebug17]

Adorbs, as my daughter would say!!!

 

[soxfan]

So Goldie is sitting in the nest box, no sign of chicks so that's great! (It means they are under her and staying warm.) I put chick starter and water at the entrance of her nest box for them if they decide to eat or drink today. That stupid white leghorn was in there laying an egg next to her.

I have five nest boxes. FIVE. they all lay in the same damn one.

 

[tyty333]

So excited for Goldie and the new chicks! I really like that white one with the feathers on its legs...so cute. I hope you get at least one of each...
cant wait to see what they eventually grow into!

 

[soxfan]

So excited for Goldie and the new chicks! I really like that white one with the feathers on its legs...so cute. I hope you get at least one of each...
cant wait to see what they eventually grow into!

I got two of those! Light brahmas. They are the breed in that giant chicken video.

 

[missy]

So Goldie is sitting in the nest box, no sign of chicks so that's great! (It means they are under her and staying warm.) I put chick starter and water at the entrance of her nest box for them if they decide to eat or drink today. That stupid white leghorn was in there laying an egg next to her.

I have five nest boxes. FIVE. they all lay in the same damn one.

Hahaha it's just like all fur babies. We have many comfy cute cat beds all over the house for our kitties. But the overwhelming majority of the time if one cat is in a bed the other cat wants *that* bed even though the others are empty and it is hysterical. What goes on in their brains? Course maybe they want the already warm bed/nest and they dont want to warm it up for themselves...hmmm.

The new chicks are here! I was only going to get 2 but got five because I *think* I might have snagged a couple of lavender orpingtons!!! Whatever, I was never really going to get 2 because I'm a chicken hoarder. This is Goldie. Goldie has been stealing eggs and sitting her fat ass on them for about a month now, only coming out to bark at other chickens, take enormous poops, and eat and drink enough to keep from starving.



These are the new chicks!



Tonight I will slip these loud-ass annoying little peepers under Goldie and let her do all the work. Aren't they adorable though????? With any luck, this is what they will grow into:

So freaking precious!