New to this site. I am a member of Backyard Chickens

[ElpasoLinda]

I have several pairs of Old English Gamebirds. One pair was hatched out from free eggs I got from my feed store and sat under my broody Silkie hen. Once she hatched them out, I hand raised them because my coop wasn't set up for raising babies. They are very tame. The female, cream colored , is laying eggs but shows no sign of knowing what to do with the eggs. The other pair of OEG I got from my feed store and they bonded and she laid four eggs, 2 hatched out, a male and a female that are about half grown. They four birds go into the nesting coop each night, so when the hen laid 4 more eggs, she laid them in the feed bin. So I have taken the eggs and put them in my incubator.
I may take the babies out of the run and finish hand raising them and put the eggs back into the parents nest.
Anyway, the birds are pretty and I am enjoying the.
I also have 2 female Pekin ducks that are 5 months old. They are laying eggs daily. They have their own coop and nest box and plastic 5 foot diameter 18" deep pond for swimming. They get the run of my fenced back yard where they mingle with my Bantum Silkies. My yard is quite large with a fenced garden, raised Koi pond and raised, fenced turtle pond. I have to fence off my flower pots so the birds don't eat them, and that is quite a challenge. I
I have a compost pile that the birds scratch around in to find bugs and feed to eat.
In addition to their feed, I give them dried mealworms and greens to eat.
So, overall, I think I have a pretty good setup for my little backyard "farm"
I live in El Paso, Texas so we have mild winters and hot summers. About 6 months of the year is spring and fall where the weather is mild.
Looking forward to learning from the other forum members. Linda

 

[CLSranch]

Howdy and welcome from your northern neighbor.

 

[Baymule]

Welcome from another Texan, on the eastern side of Texas. I’m only an hour and a half from the Texas Louisiana line. Glad to have you here. We used to live in town, 75 miles north oh Houston. I had chickens in the backyard and gardened in beds in the front yard. I admire what you have done with your backyard. You got a lot going on!

 

[ElpasoLinda]

Yes I do. Maybe I should garden in the front yard, probably would shock the neighbors!

 

[Baymule]

Mix in some marigolds and zinnias, it will make it harder to know it’s a vegetable garden.

 

[River Buffaloes]

I have several pairs of Old English Gamebirds. One pair was hatched out from free eggs I got from my feed store and sat under my broody Silkie hen. Once she hatched them out, I hand raised them because my coop wasn't set up for raising babies. They are very tame. The female, cream colored , is laying eggs but shows no sign of knowing what to do with the eggs. The other pair of OEG I got from my feed store and they bonded and she laid four eggs, 2 hatched out, a male and a female that are about half grown. They four birds go into the nesting coop each night, so when the hen laid 4 more eggs, she laid them in the feed bin. So I have taken the eggs and put them in my incubator.
I may take the babies out of the run and finish hand raising them and put the eggs back into the parents nest.
Anyway, the birds are pretty and I am enjoying the.
I also have 2 female Pekin ducks that are 5 months old. They are laying eggs daily. They have their own coop and nest box and plastic 5 foot diameter 18" deep pond for swimming. They get the run of my fenced back yard where they mingle with my Bantum Silkies. My yard is quite large with a fenced garden, raised Koi pond and raised, fenced turtle pond. I have to fence off my flower pots so the birds don't eat them, and that is quite a challenge. I
I have a compost pile that the birds scratch around in to find bugs and feed to eat.
In addition to their feed, I give them dried mealworms and greens to eat.
So, overall, I think I have a pretty good setup for my little backyard "farm"
I live in El Paso, Texas so we have mild winters and hot summers. About 6 months of the year is spring and fall where the weather is mild.
Looking forward to learning from the other forum members. Linda

I love game birds too!!! I breed Aseel, I usually keep them for the mothering quality of the hens. The roosters are very docile towards people, my father's pet rooster prefers to hang around him and he hates other chickens, specially other roosters, hens are grumpy specially when they are broody which they often are. I keep exceptional cockerels and sell the rest. Most of them are used for cockfighting even though it's illegal in India, but I am just selling.

I don't like silkies, they are good sitters, but they are not good mothers. They always stay on the bottom of the pecking order, they are small, they can't free range and they get dirty. I am not a big fan of Peking ducks either. They are couch potatoes, they eat a lot and are vulnerable to predators.

Our climates are similar, we also get very hot and summer, very wet and warm monsoon season and cool and dry winters.