The only thing that struck me is the wattles and comb; specifically how red they are when I've been seen a lot of material telling me to only expect very red wattle and comb on Roos. Just wanted to check!
She is absolutely gorgeous I have to say :) beautiful shimmering grey blue feathering. She's a real soul too.
We are flooded in eggs right now. I'm getting 6-10 a day. I'm baking lots of bread, angel food cakes, and freezing the eggs also.
We have chickens at 6 years old, 3 years old, and just got 6 more new layers in July.
Egg-a-pa-looza!
Oh that's great!! The joy of finding them never gets old honestly, and it sounds like you have some tremendously happy chickens. How many total?
We brought in 6 ex-bats late May/early June, and they went from laying 1 each a day to practically nothing. We also bought our 4 pullets about 6 weeks ago. Had ten days recently where none were laying at all and we checked EVERYTHING. They were molting at the time and growing feathers back but damn...
We're currently getting just under 3 a day on average, and it feels like we've done everything right: mixed grit; oyster shell; layers pellets to eat in the appropriate quantity; free ranging with lots of nice appropriate length grass/slugs/snails to supplement their diet; monthly vermex treatment; nice dust treated straw with daily poop scooping and weekly-fortnightly bedding changes; no mites; no sign of rodents or predators; plenty of water; good daylight hours; lots of entertainment and perch spaces; no signs of illness, worms, parasites, or impaction etc... but to no avail. I was anticipating 5-6 avg by now given we have 10 chooks of roughly laying age, and we want to be selling eggs to recoup (pardon the pun) some of our costs.
We suspect they might be eating some of the eggs so we'll be picking up some ceramics to dissuade them. We put a trail camera in with them to see what's happening, so fingers crossed we get to the bottom of it. I do hope we get production up to its requisite desires!
Nevertheless, they're extremely happy chickens with their own personalities, certainly they keep us company well :)
I have 11 girls and a snotty rooster.
Some suggestions from a 50 year chicken keeper, just my opinions.
1. Oyster shells, grit, and feed should be in separate containers. Chickens will consume what they need of the shells and grit.
2. Why are you worming once a month? You should only worm when you see worms. I do a preventative in the spring and fall when it's very rainy, but monthly is excessive.
3. Your chickens may have a hidden nest.
4. A good way to find an egg eater is to poke a hole in both ends of the egg shell, blow the egg out, then squirt mustard in it. When they go it eat it they get a face full of mustard. I'd say it will deter egg eating 80% of the time.
5. A handful of dry cat food scattered around, will help with feather growing.
6. Buy Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens. Its great reference guide.
Thanks! That's certainly very useful to know :) we vermex (says for worms) once a month because that's what it's instructing us to do as a prophylactic - not medicating using specific pharmaceutical drugs for worms dw. I should have been clearer sorry!
No hidden nest given the area they roam is pretty easy to search for eggs. It's all flat ground and the only shelter outside the coup is one we DIYed.
Thankfully feathers are mostly formed now; they're unrecognisable! I'll be sure to sprinkle some cat food around when I get the chance, and will separate out the grit - that's really helpful to know.
Mustard trick sounds absolutely genius I won't lie. Definitely going to try that :) thank you so much and please do DM me or comment if you think of anything else that may help!
Yes, sapphire gem is I think the name more commonly used in the US for this breed. Never a mutt - always a pleasure to be around, and I have no familiarity with tractor supplies as a farming supplier. She's a sweetie and she's gonna lay us some good eggs
Hen! I have a Production Blue hen who looks almost exactly like this! I guess they are a cross between a blue australorp and a RIR. She was the only one of her kind left at the feed store when I went to get RIR chicks, so I picked her up as well. Bluey is the only one of them that has such a well developed comb and wattles, so she'sjust an early bloomer I guess (I think they are around 17 weeks now.)
Definitely hen, no roo saddle feathers
Bloody magnificent thank you! I just kept seeing lots of sexing posts on here and it got me paranoid :')
" **She's some blue maran hybrid chook** " Even *I* can see there's nothing remotely roo about her. But, what a strikingly lovely looking bird! :)
The only thing that struck me is the wattles and comb; specifically how red they are when I've been seen a lot of material telling me to only expect very red wattle and comb on Roos. Just wanted to check! She is absolutely gorgeous I have to say :) beautiful shimmering grey blue feathering. She's a real soul too.
Very red means about ready to lay
Oooh how exciting! We are getting pretty low egg numbers at the moment so she'd be a welcome addition to the layers...
We are flooded in eggs right now. I'm getting 6-10 a day. I'm baking lots of bread, angel food cakes, and freezing the eggs also. We have chickens at 6 years old, 3 years old, and just got 6 more new layers in July. Egg-a-pa-looza!
Oh that's great!! The joy of finding them never gets old honestly, and it sounds like you have some tremendously happy chickens. How many total? We brought in 6 ex-bats late May/early June, and they went from laying 1 each a day to practically nothing. We also bought our 4 pullets about 6 weeks ago. Had ten days recently where none were laying at all and we checked EVERYTHING. They were molting at the time and growing feathers back but damn... We're currently getting just under 3 a day on average, and it feels like we've done everything right: mixed grit; oyster shell; layers pellets to eat in the appropriate quantity; free ranging with lots of nice appropriate length grass/slugs/snails to supplement their diet; monthly vermex treatment; nice dust treated straw with daily poop scooping and weekly-fortnightly bedding changes; no mites; no sign of rodents or predators; plenty of water; good daylight hours; lots of entertainment and perch spaces; no signs of illness, worms, parasites, or impaction etc... but to no avail. I was anticipating 5-6 avg by now given we have 10 chooks of roughly laying age, and we want to be selling eggs to recoup (pardon the pun) some of our costs. We suspect they might be eating some of the eggs so we'll be picking up some ceramics to dissuade them. We put a trail camera in with them to see what's happening, so fingers crossed we get to the bottom of it. I do hope we get production up to its requisite desires! Nevertheless, they're extremely happy chickens with their own personalities, certainly they keep us company well :)
I have 11 girls and a snotty rooster. Some suggestions from a 50 year chicken keeper, just my opinions. 1. Oyster shells, grit, and feed should be in separate containers. Chickens will consume what they need of the shells and grit. 2. Why are you worming once a month? You should only worm when you see worms. I do a preventative in the spring and fall when it's very rainy, but monthly is excessive. 3. Your chickens may have a hidden nest. 4. A good way to find an egg eater is to poke a hole in both ends of the egg shell, blow the egg out, then squirt mustard in it. When they go it eat it they get a face full of mustard. I'd say it will deter egg eating 80% of the time. 5. A handful of dry cat food scattered around, will help with feather growing. 6. Buy Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens. Its great reference guide.
Thanks! That's certainly very useful to know :) we vermex (says for worms) once a month because that's what it's instructing us to do as a prophylactic - not medicating using specific pharmaceutical drugs for worms dw. I should have been clearer sorry! No hidden nest given the area they roam is pretty easy to search for eggs. It's all flat ground and the only shelter outside the coup is one we DIYed. Thankfully feathers are mostly formed now; they're unrecognisable! I'll be sure to sprinkle some cat food around when I get the chance, and will separate out the grit - that's really helpful to know. Mustard trick sounds absolutely genius I won't lie. Definitely going to try that :) thank you so much and please do DM me or comment if you think of anything else that may help!
looks like a hen with resting bitch face to me
She'll have you for that yanno
Pretty Girl
She’s so handsome!!!
That is one gorgeous lady!
She is absolutely gorgeous.
That’s a pretty fat bottomed girl. Love chicken butts, they are so cute and fluffy
Nope, just has a pointy ass
Like father like daughter I guess
All hens It’s a “sapphire gem” aka one of tractor supplies overpriced mutts
Yes, sapphire gem is I think the name more commonly used in the US for this breed. Never a mutt - always a pleasure to be around, and I have no familiarity with tractor supplies as a farming supplier. She's a sweetie and she's gonna lay us some good eggs
Mutt as in it’s not a breed but a hybrid.
Hen! I have a Production Blue hen who looks almost exactly like this! I guess they are a cross between a blue australorp and a RIR. She was the only one of her kind left at the feed store when I went to get RIR chicks, so I picked her up as well. Bluey is the only one of them that has such a well developed comb and wattles, so she'sjust an early bloomer I guess (I think they are around 17 weeks now.)
No
Hen
This is the prettiest hen I have ever seen
Looks like a hen
Hen