Chickens for bug control and food recycling.

[RUNuts]

Yes, they are lovely! Much different form than mine. Dear @Beekissed , where did these lovely birds come from? Show birds? I'm running hatchery stock and first year. Cheers and spring has sprung!

 

[Beekissed]

Yes, they are lovely! Much different form than mine. Dear @Beekissed , where did these lovely birds come from? Show birds? I'm running hatchery stock and first year. Cheers and spring has sprung!

I had some old hatchery WR hens I had gotten as chicks back in '08 and they laid like gangbusters into ripe old age. Had two of them left when I received an 18 mo. old standard bred WR male from a good man over on BYC, for the price of the postage to send him. Yep, sent him overnight through the US mail!

This man had inherited some lines from another wonderfully nice man over on BYC~Bob Blosl~ who had passed on, but had put 25 yrs into breeding his line of WRs after he had gotten some birds from another old man who had spent that long breeding his line and it just went back from there. It's an old, old line.

So, breed one standard bred rooster from long lines of good breeding to two hatchery stock WR hens who had good conformation in their own right, and one 6 yr old hen managed to pass along her genetics mixed with his to give me the start on my own line.

So, this male here is the grandson of that original male and female, and one of my own line, the Fox Run line of breeding. This bird's mama and papa has been to show and won ribbons, but it was just one big show and then no more. I'd had enough of shows from just that one adventure(first and last time I ever washed a chicken!)...but I had all kinds of offers for them and menfolk wanting to know if I was selling chicks, so they must have made an impression.

I can't take any credit for these birds as I know nothing at all about breeding or developing a breed. I just cull a lot...keep the best and cull the rest.

 

[canesisters]

... saw a thing yesterday about the new trans-gender chicken breed.. it's called a Himalayin.

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

such pretty birds, Bee!

 

[Nyboy]

Bee at least you get to eat your culls

 

[baymule]

You do have some nice chickens Bee!

 

[Nyboy]

I am over run with slugs was glad to hear duck eat them.

 

[flowerbug]

snakes, raccoons, some birds, frogs, toads, newts and some birds will eat them too.

 

[Nyboy]

Not counting first 2 all welcome

 

[Beekissed]

Night before last I loaded up a nest and placed my first broody of the year on it. Hopefully I'll have a better hatch season this year than last. She's sitting on 20+ eggs and doing well.

I'm letting eggs linger in the nests these days so as to get other chickens into that broody feelin'. I'd love to have a lot of early broodies this year. I think March is the earliest I've ever had a broody.

Spring is upon us and soon there will be little pieces of popcorn fluff popping along on the new green grass behind their mama. These hens certainly don't slow down for those little legs and I often wonder how in the world they run like that all day long and still not burn up all their fuel they need for growing.