bloody chicken butt

[bonbean01]

Remuda...sorry you lost chickens Did you find out what kind of predator? Today we installed extra motion lights in the night sheep area...a skunk somehow missed the the two electric outside wires and squeezed it's body through a square in the field wire fence...didn't spray, but freaked out the sheep. Hubby went to get his gun, but it make it out and I couldn't see the back corner as it was dark. Still can't figure out how it got in or out of there? Hope you get your predator soon before any more losses!

We now have another picked on hen in sick bay...sigh...being pecked and feather pulled at her breast...is this a RIR thing? Never had this before with quail or bantams...or did I just buy evil chickens? Rooster doesn't do it...its the hens...and they are not crowded...have good protein content in their layer feed??? Sick bay cage is now close to the big area where they can see and hear each other, but now I'm kind of nervous to integrate her back in with those witches

 

[RemudaOne]

I've heard that RIRs are pretty aggressive. That's probably the only reason I don't have them here. I'm all about the egg production and they're s'posed to be awesome layers but the drama isn't worth it to me. The only breeds I will be replacing hens with now are Golden Comets, which oddly enough are RIR crosses but they are the sweetest, just minding my own business and laying humongous eggs every day hens I've ever seen. Also they aren't that big so don't require as much to eat. I free range everyone but they have 24/7 access to layer feed as well. The other breed I'll replace with is Easter or Olive Eggers. Customers love those colored eggs. I have three brown Leghorns...... They are flighty as all get out and a pain in my backside. I don't know what kind of white egg layers I will find to replace those with when the time comes but whatever it is, it will be a nice, laid back breed, lol!

 

[bonbean01]

You know...when we bought the RIR as youngsters, some of them had some white in them and the couple called them "production" hens from a cross with RIR. We've noticed that they lay the biggest and most eggs and are sweet as can be. Looked up breeds to see just what a production chicken was and found out they were Golden Comets and that they are sex linked, so by their colouring you can tell when they are small who are hens and roosters. We decided that when we start incubating eggs in spring we will keep only those and look for a Golden Coment rooster too and eventually replace the RIRs. Funny thing is...Golden Comet is not a "real" breed?

We're all about egg production here too, and they seem the way to go. So far the few we have are not evil.

 

[RemudaOne]

That's them Bonnie . You're right, they are sex links and won't come true in breeding them. I have always just waited for a Craigslist ad but the last time I bought, I found someone very local that I will shop with again. Right now, since I let a broody hen hatch a batch, I need to find homes for two olive egger cockerels and one BCM roo . I'm keeping one BCM cockerel and pullet. I love the dark brown eggs, but have found that the BCM hens seem to be the first ones affected by temps, # of daylight hours and molting when it comes to egg production. But all of the different colors make for a nice effect when you open the egg carton so I'll keep one or two of them always.

What are all of the breeds that you have?

 

[bonbean01]

I'll be watching Craig's list here too for them. As for breeds...well...started with quail...too much higher priced feed and care for very small eggs (although the smaller eggs make for nice pickled eggs and colouring those speckled eggs at Easter...pretty fancy)....then quit them and got bantams...rooster looks like an Old English and the hens were white...came up with lots of multi colour chicks from them...decided to quit them and go for a large breed and got all RIR with some productions in the mix this spring. We gave all our bantams away to a friend who wanted some except for the beautiful rooster and two hens to keep him company. They have their total freedom, but hang out by the coop and yeah, we have fresh water and feed for them, but they do eat a ton of bugs and worms which I'm happy about. Our bantam "freedom" birds are so pampered and spoiled...LOL...one bantam hen hatched out chicks on her own (well, I did interfere and move her nest and eggs to a safer place at one point...nothing natural when I get attached to these critters) and again gave away young birds from that hatch and kept two for her. She liked to be hand fed and pet and talked to when she was sitting.

When it came to cattle, chickens or the hogs we had on the farm when I was a kid, my Dad would always say to not interfere and to let nature take its course....hahahahahahaha...right...he intervened whenever anything had a problem My Dad took vet night classes and he had the biggest vet fridge and supplies ever!