Greedy girls

[Bickerton]

Ever so easy to get the girls into their house with my magic white bowl.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=345mzvsf_2Y&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

[Marigold]

Mine all used to do that until I got a Leghorn. The others all follow me in like yours do and start on the treats, except Saffron, who gives me the runaround in the garden outside. If I leave the run door open to herd her inside, by the time I've got her near enough the others have finished the treats and are all spilling out again. But if I shut the run door, Saffron can't get it into her head that she has to move backwards a step or two to allow me to open it and let her in. And actually grabbing a flighty Leghorn is a difficult task! But she's worth it for the fantastic large white daily egg.

 

[Margaid]

I don't need a bowl - I get mobbed whenever they see me and will follow me back into the enclosure. I feel like the Pied Piper! I can't get near my Leghorns Marigold, or the Cream Legbars - in fact I can't get close to any of them unless they've gone to roost!

 

[Icemaiden]

Does anyone know how friendly / cuddly Chalkhill Blues are? Presumably they have Cream Legbar parentage, so does it make them somewhat aloof? (I'd love them anyway, but it is nice to be able to cuddle the hens & have them enjoy it...)

 

[Bickerton]

I don't need a bowl - I get mobbed whenever they see me and will follow me back into the enclosure. I feel like the Pied Piper! I can't get near my Leghorns Marigold, or the Cream Legbars - in fact I can't get close to any of them unless they've gone to roost!

Three of mine usuallyleg it to me on sight.

The most inquisitive one is my crested, often the first but to try and handle her is an ordeal. Can only catch her if cornered

 

[Marigold]

Does anyone know how friendly / cuddly Chalkhill Blues are? Presumably they have Cream Legbar parentage, so does it make them somewhat aloof? (I'd love them anyway, but it is nice to be able to cuddle the hens & have them enjoy it...)

Well, you'll probably have to go on Nick's waiting list at Chalk Hill Poultry for Chalk Hill Blues, but I expect it will be worth the wait, as all the birds I've had from him have been really healthy and good layers. I have a purebred CLB from him and she's just lovely, very pretty and intelligent, no problem to catch, and no trouble at all. I did have her from a 5-week-old chick, though, along with Marigold, as CLBs and Buff Sussex can be sexed at hatch so no noisy surprises!
You might consider getting sexed chicks from him. If you want to finish up with really tame hens, as the early handling does make a big difference, compared with how they are normally raised in a larger flock and not handled much, if at all, until sold at POL. And it's so lovely to see them grow, especially CLBs with their funny little 'hats' sprouting out of their heads before their combs grow big. And much cheaper too!
PS and she's never gone broody - unlike Marigold, in the sin bin again today. I'm afraid.

 

[Icemaiden]

Hmm. Good thought.
I'm "in the book" for a POL Chalkhill Blue & a Longtown Brown (Chalk Hill's answer to the Burford Brown perhaps?) for July. Maybe I should follow your advice & get younger birds instead? I don't have chick feeders though, & only have one run. Would I need to partition off part of the run for them, & get a chick feeder & drinker & another coop? When you start thinking of a new coop it starts looking expensive...

What's the youngest age at which they could live (once introduced) & sleep together with my araucana & ex-batts?

Also, do Chalk Hill sell hybrids as chicks? Their website only gives prices for them at POL...

 

[Marigold]

I wasn't advising you to do anything, just suggesting there were other possibilities to think about. If you get chicks or growers, you would need to separate them until they were at POL, i.e. about 18+ weeks, but this could easily be done by dividing your run and giving them their own section. You could make a temporary box for them to roost in, they don't need perches or nestboxes, just a dry safe sheltered place. By the time they are several weeks old they could use an ordinary feeder and drinker, and its useful to have a spare anyway. They would need to eat growers pellets, another reason for keeping them separate, and also the older birds would attack them when they were little. For my two growers I used a small run on the grass during the day just for them, and catching and carrying them out in the morning and back at night got them used to being handled. I just enjoyed seeing them grow, and getting a bit more experience of raising younger birds, having previously bought pullets at POL. I think next time I need new birds I might get some growers of the Utility breeds they are currently breeding, as true to the original type as possible. By the time they are old enough to join the others in August- September the breeding season will be waning and integration will be easier than in Spring or Summer, especially if they have seen each other through the wire.
I may be wrong but I don't think Chalk Hill breed their own hybrids, like most places I think they buy them in at 16 weeks POL, but they are good birds and are kept on lovely big open grass paddocks whilst in their care. The two I have, a Columbian Blacktail and a Brown Leghorn, are very healthy and really good layers, so if you decide on POL hybrids that won't go broody, they would be OK. If you decide on POLs you would do best to keep them separate for at least a couple of weeks anyway, to settle in and to see that they are healthy.
Decisions, decisions - when like me, you can only keep a small flock!

 

[valeriebutterley]

Hi Virginia,
how do you sex buff Sussex, please? I have 4 lovelies, two light and two darker buff.
I am still not sure which are which, I think one of the darker is a girl, and also one of the lighter ones, but I'm not sure. They are now nearly 8 weeks old and large!
They are all gorgeous birds, though.

 

[valeriebutterley]

Hello again, Virginia,
just done a very quick bit of research, which basically said that only cross breed Sussex can be sexed, mine are pure buff, two happen to be darker than the other two.
So back to the drawing board and wattle and comb development and waiting!