[Samotis]

I may be crazy but I bit the bullet and bought some chicks.

I have 15 marans coming mid October! The mix of marans is a surprise and some only come with this mix so it will be fun figuring out what kinds they are.

I already have 2 black copper marans, 2 Barred Rock and a wild rooster I rescued as a baby. ( he was being stalked by a cat before my eyes!)

But here is the problem, I have hatched them and I get half boys! So I now have 3 roosters and 2 hens.

Soo I spent the extra money for pulleys and hopefully now I will have a good mix!

The marans mix are, blue splash, golden cuckoo, white cuckoo and black copper marans!

My boyfriend thinks I am crazy. I figured only farm people would be interested in my excitement!

[Chestnut Run]

I love chickens. I'm excited for you!

we ordered live chicks instead of eggs too, for just that reason. I wanted the pullets. The really funny thing was, we got them in February (a few years ago), so for the first couple of weeks we kept them in a huge box in the living room, then moved them to a protected coop outside with heat lamps. But, while they were in the living room, my son's preschool teacher gave the children an assignment to draw a picture of each room in their house. Of course, Nick's picture of the living room prominantly featured the box of chicks. The teacher (who obviously wasn't a farm type) told Nick that he would need to redo his picture, since chickens don't live inside. Nick insisted that, yes, chickens do live inside at our house. When I picked Nick up, his teacher was upset about Nick's unwillingness to cooperate about redoing his picture. I set her straight about the chickens, and she gave my son a huge apology and asked me to bring in pictures or a live chick to share with the class. So Nick picked out his favorites of the chicks, and we took them to preschool!

Sheila

[Samotis]

Thats funny! Of course chickens live in the house! Mine actually came in the house a few months ago because of a big monsoon storm we were having. I opened the sliding door and they ran in and sat in the kitchen.

They also knock on the window when they are hungry!

I like that they eat the bugs. I don't like to use pesticides because of the horses, and because I have irrigation I have crickets and roaches. They eat a lot of them which helps!

[2DogsFarm]

I'm excited for you!

Since a fox helped himself to 2 of my hens & the rooster , I am planning to add to my flock too.

I was going to wait until Spring and get chicks, but a friend - who keeps chickens in Chicago - - found a place that rehomes 3yo hens from their "learning farm".

I know they would not be champion layers, but there's just me and an egg a day is plenty.

Right now I have 4 survivors - a Delaware, 2 Black Stars and a mutt hen.
2 of them are moulting, so their eggmachines are shutdown and Winter is approaching so that slows them as well.
I may have to {shudder} buy eggs.
The Horror!

[dacasodivine]

I love raising chicks! Usually I buy pullets too but recently bought a mix of bantams. They don't sex bantam chicks so I guess we'll see what sexes and what breeds.

[bathsheba8542]

How much fun! Can't wait until spring when we order our new flock...we got babies a few years ago and it was terrific watching them grow - they get so big, so fast! Love Marans but I thought they were tempermental. Am I wrong??? We have Welsummers and they are egg laying machines. I'd love a Maran or two.

[Chestnut Run]

I may have to {shudder} buy eggs.
The Horror!

We have 8 laying hens and ALL of them moulted at the same time just recently. I had to buy eggs for the first time in about 6 years. My husband threw out the first three that he cracked thinking that they were bad because they were so pale and runny! I ate one of the store bought and then went on an egg strike until ours started laying again.

Sheila

[Chestnut Run]

Thats funny! Of course chickens live in the house! Mine actually came in the house a few months ago because of a big monsoon storm we were having. I opened the sliding door and they ran in and sat in the kitchen.

One of our original chickens (we got our first three as almost ready to lay hens 6 years ago) we named Lady Don, for my brother in law that wanted chickens but couldn't because of where he lived. She was more like a dog than a chicken. Would follow me around the yard and garden, jump up for you to catch her if you called her and held your arms open to her. She loved to be petted. Lady Don would squeeze in the cat door and come in the house to drink out of the dogs water. Then she discovered that we had a window air conditioner! She'd sit on the little table in front of the window air conditioner. Then winter came and she discovered we had a wood pellet stove in the living room. My husband used to laugh and say she was "pre-roasting". I have to find the picture I have of her, the cat, and the rottweiler all laying in front of the wood pellet stove together. I cried when she died, and even my husband got a little sniffley. And you know, she never once poohed in the house. She would get up, go outside, pooh on the porch or the front yard, then come right back in. Of course, she did lay an egg in the rocking chair once.

Sheila

[Samotis]

Mine aren't terribly friendly, but they will follow me around. My marans hen is a little shy. The marans rooster is a dork. He chases me on the other side of the pipe pens and when I stop and look at him he slide stops and acts like he wasn't doing a thing.

The wild roo and the barred rock rooster are still young and so far very docile. We will see when the hormones kick in.

I get 1 egg a day now and can barely eat them, so next year I will probably be giving eggs away.

I am a chef so I suppose I can just bring them to the restaurant!

[BoysNightOut]

How exciting! Have fun with them!

I bought 6 pullets this spring....3 Golden Comets & 3 Speckled Sussex. One of the SS turned out to be a rooster, but the farm we got them from took it back, & gave us another Golden Comet pullet. Our ladies just started laying about a month ago, and the amount of eggs we get each day is ridiculous. Chickens are so much fun.

[Samotis]

I am excited to see the difference in the dark brown color in the eggs with the different marans.

I also got a rare breed assortment so that will be interesting to see what breed there are. Compared to the marans mix which was 4 breeds the rare breeds had over 12!

I am going to start coming up with more recipes that use eggs!