Thuringians

[dinosaw]

It's my first experience of this breed but I have to say they are possibly the sweetest bunch of chicks I have ever had, they are so calm and friendly they actually jump up onto the edge of the brooder when you come in because they know that they will get picked up, they will sit in the palm of your hand quite happily. They spend half of their time trilling and unlike the other bunch I have at the moment, who are like feathered piranhas, they are very well mannered when I give them the odd titbit.
The colouring of the two types is really coming out now with the Chamois being particularly attractive, I reckon I have two Chamois girls and two Gold spangled girls with 3 gold spangled boys.

 

[valeriebutterley]

Lovely chicks, lovely expressions, absolutely no sign of fear or discomfort!.
Are they long lived, good layers? They look very healthy.
Beautiful feathering on both colours.

 

[MrsBiscuit]

I love the muffs on the chamois

 

[dinosaw]

They aren't great layers, 120-160 white eggs per year, but are known for being very friendly, they are about as long lived as most pure breeds as far as I can make out.

I love the muffs on the chamois

Their German nickname is Pausbacken, which translates as chubby cheeks, which suits them well I think.

 

[chickenfan]

Thanks for another wonderful set of pictures Dinosaw! Aren't they beautiful!

 

[dinosaw]

It's just as well that this lot have turned out to be nice little birds because the mixed large fowl that have been raised right next to them are probably the least friendly and most skittish chicks I have ever raised, they were fine up till about week 3 and have got steadily worse since then, they are now outside and run for cover whenever we approach the run, I put it down to the malign influence of the Aracaunas.

 

[chickenfan]

What breeds are your mixed large fowl, Dinosaw? Are Araucana known to be nervous? I have three I've hatched from bought in eggs and they are incredibly nervous too, although one of the pullets is calm. I separated out the other chicks from the Araucanas and these have all become laid-back now. My own Araucana are lovely, friendly birds so perhaps the strains vary a lot. Or could something have happened to your brood to make them skittish?

 

[dinosaw]

Araucanas (managed to spell it right this time) do have a bit of a reputation for being on the 'wilder' or flightier side Chickenfan, reading up on it lately they are also, as you suggest, a breed that seems to be highly variable in temperament depending on the strain, though I don't give much credence to the suggestion by some owners that unfriendly birds are a result of external crossing and are not true Araucanas.
I have 5 Silver Sussex which will be stunning birds when full grown, 2 White Orloffs and 5 Araucana, (2 White and 3 Black) I really had only intended to hatch the Thuringians and the Orloffs and then the Sussex and Araucana ended up being added from the same seller as I had space in the incubators. Anyway it turned out that Orloff fertility was poor and hatchability even worse, whilst the Sussex and Araucana was up at 83% hence the mix I have currently. Nothing has happened to them as far as I know, they are not the first skittish batch I have had but definitely the worst. In the past I have found that my mixed groups have been more highly strung than the single breed broods, but then again I haven't hatched anywhere near enough for that to be anything other than a personal observation, what do you think Chickenfan, you have hatched a lot over the last couple of years?.

 

[chickenfan]

You have some very interesting breeds Dinosaw! I'm very much a beginner with chickens, but like to hatch my birds from eggs as I had a health problem buying them in. I've hatched 11 broods so far, and they have nearly all been fairly calm and friendly. I had one bantam Faverolles that was amazingly skittish and wonder whether it was because he had a very difficult hatch and I had to help him out of the egg. He used to set all his siblings racing around, but they are all calm now and they were always extremely friendly. Otherwise, I've mostly had mixed breed broods raised with broody hens and for me I think the friendliness seems to go with how relaxed and confident the mother hen is.

Your Chamois is a real beauty! One of my most exceptional chicks this year is one I hadn't planned - a little brown sussex bantam cockerel. I think he would have been crushed by a clumsy broody so I moved these chicks on Chris' and your recommendation. He is a real pet, running to be picked up as soon as he sees you, as well as one of my most beautiful birds - so thank you!

 

[dinosaw]

I'm glad your Brown Sussex has turned out well Chickenfan, I think 11 broods is quite a lot, I don't think you qualify as a beginner anymore . The state my conservatory was in by the time I put the Thuringians out today I wish I used broodies too! ,each time I have hatched large numbers I have said never again and then after a while forget how much smell and mess 19 chicks can make. Chicks that you aid in hatching often seem to have something wrong with them, though it often manifests physically, Faverolles are normally very placid. I don't need much of an excuse to post photos of my birds ( I wish others would post more of theirs too as I love seeing other peoples chickens) so as you asked about the large fowl here are some photos of them. Sorry Marigold, I'll post it on the photos of chickens section next time.

 

[chickenfan]

Gosh, it looks like Buckingham Palace for chickens, Dinosaw. Isn't your covered run wonderful! Really great to see the pics of all your lovely young birds. The Araucanas look very pretty. I hope they may calm down when they come into lay. I'm trying to work out how to roof my breeding runs to avoid cockerel complications and I wonder how you did the roof of yours? Is it pitched or flat? Is it 2" x 2" wood?

 

[dinosaw]

I'm glad you like the run Chickenfan, it often feels like overkill when I'm building them but I am so glad of them when the rain and cold comes. I built two of them from scratch both 3.6m x 2.6m, they are in effect slightly larger replicas of what I used to have at my old place, I only just got them finished in time because I had to have a two week layoff because I forgot to turn the torque down on my drill when screwdriving (idiot) and turned my wrist quite badly (couldn't even lift a kettle at one stage, oh no !!), I ended up spending every spare minute of the last few weeks on them so am now so glad they are finished. The roof is pitched and it is fairly straightforward to pitch a roof onto a strongish rectangular or square frame, your correct it is 2 x 2 which is strong enough to hold the weight of onduline/coraline roof tiles plus any snow load. I will put a couple of pics of the roof structure up later if you like and talk you through the easiest way to put it onto your runs if you can describe them to me or pm me a photo of them.

 

[dinosaw]

Hopefully this will give some ideas, you can see I haven't quite finished yet as I haven't trimmed the roof sheets off properly yet.

 

[chickenfan]

It looks fantastic Dinosaw! Lucky girls!

 

[Exotica]

Oh my gosh!! They are just so very adorable! It's hard to find breeders for them where I am (Los Angeles, CA). I'm so jealous!

 

[dinosaw]

Thank you Exotica and welcome to the forum, now they are outside they have really come into their own, they are such confident little chicks. There aren't too many breeders here in Britain either, you only really see bantams and I think a lot of them have probably originally come from the same line so it will be interesting to see how it goes when I want to breed my own.

 

[chickenfan]

I'm glad your birds are settling down and coming into their own now they are in the run. My araucanas have become very placid and friendly again now they are in a bigger space. I have one that has come out silver-duckwing. Does that mean she has a bit of something else in her?

 

[Marigold]

What an amazing run, Dinosaw - oh to have so much space!
I wonder how you get into the Green Frog coop pictured in it, though - from the photo it looks as if the back end is close to the mesh, and that's where the door is. I've turned mine through 45 degrees so the pophole points towards a corner, which is covered in clear plastic tarp to give wind protection, so I can always leave the pophole open.
Anyone reading your posts would conclude that chicken keeping is a very dangerous hobby, which indeed it can be. I've just put up the winter tarps, with great care this year as last autumn I split my lip open when misusing a claw hammer to remove a bent nail from a batten. The hammer then slipped off and flew up and embedded itself in my lip. Plastic surgery worked quite well, though, after the usual NHS A&E wait!

 

[dinosaw]

It was more the Thuringians I was referring to Chickenfan who are loving it out there, the LF are actually a lot better than they were but still a bit on the nervy side. Whenever you have a visual trait you aren't expecting then it is normally either due to recessive genes or direct crossing so in all likelihood there is a bit of something else in her, I do always wait until they have gone through their final moult though as they can sometimes change.

It is tight Marigold but there is just enough space to take the back off and lean in and sweep out. Your injury sounds very nasty, I'm glad they were able to patch you up. Most tools can be dangerous if your not being careful and I think the problem comes when you are either tired or in a hurry and I often seem to be both. Do you not leave your tarps up in summer for shade?

 

[chickenfan]

Your large fowl might settle down when they come into lay Dinosaw. I've had several birds a bit flighty in their teens that have been placid later. I hope your eye is recovering?