Laying Chicken Homestead News Update

The 8 broilers are waiting to go out in the yard (and will do so this week), but the layers are still too small to do so.  BUT.. the broilers are chomping at their bits!!  The yard will be tractor mowed, and I’ll get their happy homes outside, as predator proof as possible, this week.

I want to talk about egg layers today…  I think the laying birds will be ready to be outdoors in about 7-10 days, but I’ll evaluate as they grow further.   PS, they arrived here May 8th.

I am eager to name these laying birds.  So far, only two (probably three) have names.  Goldilocks, Tiny Dancer, and (when I figure out which is the rooster) Sultan.  Ideas for the others are appreciated.  Please post below!!

A Buckeye pullet. These birds were developed in Ohio by a woman who was interested in both meat and eggs. This breed is not as prolific as the other egg-layer breeds I brought in, but I was intrigued. I have two of these. Original coat before feathering was golden. Photo 6/11/18

The laying birds consist of:

• 3 buff Orpingtons
• 2 black Australorpes
• 2 buckeyes
• 1 golden laced Wyandotte
• 3 silver laced Wyandottes, one of whom is a male and will be a rooster.  I don’t know which one, although I begin to suspect.

The Orpingtons and the Australorpes are extremely mellow.  These two breeds are genetically very similar to each other, and so personalities will overlap.

A buff Orpington. This seems to be the most common color pattern today, but a dark variety was ready and waiting in the past. They are good egg layers. And very mellow and not at all perturbed about being in my hand.  I have three.  Photo 6/11

Australorpes are most common in black. They are related to Orpingtons. I have two of these. Both my Orpingtons and Australorpes are very mellow and enjoy being held. All to the good!  Photo, 6/11

 

The Buckeyes, a little less so, but still docile as was recommended.

The Wyandottes are a bit more adventurous and less willing to be your best friend, but they are docile.  The runt of the “litter” as it were, was a Wyandotte, and she? is more friendly than her putative siblings.  She also has the most interesting markings of her fellow silver-laced Wyandottes.

This is the “runt” of the litter, as it were. A silver-laced Wyandotte, whom I am naming Tiny Dancer.  She seems eager to thrive.  Photo 6/11.

I only ordered one golden-laced Wyandotte, so she’s been named Goldilocks.  She has her own mind, but that is fine.

My lone Golden-Laced Wyandotte… her name is Goldilocks.  Photo 6/11.

Of the three silver-laced Wyandottes, one came in as a runt, so I have named her “Tiny”, whom you see above, although she’s growing out nicely.   One of these is a future rooster (to be named “Sultan”) but I am assuming for now that it’s not the runt.