Red Pile Chickens

[Chris Steele]

I've looked and looked, but I just can't find anything about them on the internet. Can someone help me out? A caresheet would be nice, thanks.

[Karen Hulvey]

What is the sceintific name of a 'RED PILE CHICKEN"? How about a picture too.

[Chris Steele]

I'd like to know that too. I guess it is just a term that we rednecks here use for that type of chicken. Wish I knew it's common name.

[Karen Hulvey]

So you really are serious here? I thought you were joking, really.:raspberry:

Now my interest is piqued.

Is this a real animal?
Is it a special breed of chicken? (you know, hen lays eggs, rooster crows, etc)

[Karen Hulvey]

Okay I Googled it and ya know what? I found Red Pile Chicken! They live!

Red Pile OLD ENGLISH GAME are of ancient English origin and were developed as a fighting bird. Julius Caesar noted that the Britons kept fowls 'for pleasure, but not for the table' and cock fighting was not made illegal in Britain until 1849. Today they are kept by enthusiasts for show and Red Pile is just one of some thirty colour varieties found in the breed.

http://www.fortunecity.com/marina/bounty/170/poultry.html

[Chris Steele]

Thank you Karen! I really appreciate that. I am not really sure of how you go about giving rep. points, good you inform me?

[Karen Hulvey]

Here's a thread on red points.

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=69497

[Chris Steele]

Just out of curiosity, what made you take such interest in finding out about red piles? What all types of animals do you keep if you don't mind my asking?

[Karen Hulvey]

I really thought you were joking. When I realized that you weren't joking, I had to Google it and it popped up several pages into threads that had "piles of chicken" (LOL) in them.

I have Kenyan sand boas, Amazon tree boas, Columbian boas, Haitian rainbow boas, viper boas, cape gopher, sonoran gopher, trinket snake, California kings, greyband kings, ball pythons, jungle carpet pythons, tokay geckos, timneh African greys, peachfaced lovebirds, button quail, a couple canaries, a European goldfinch and cats!

[Chris Steele]

Awesome collection, purebred cats or normal? Are you a hobbiest, breeder or some of both?

So if it came up with "piles of chickens" how did you eventually get to the red pile. I gave up when I searched and got that result. Haha, I guess this will teach me to be more persistant.

You don't mind me getting so off topic do you? If so, you can email me if you want to continue a discussion. I am looking for a nice group of well experienced herpers to get involved in talking with often and learning to tell you the truth.

Haha, my collection right now consists of four mice that I will be breeding when I get my cornsnakes. Oh yeah, I have 1.2 red piles too, getting more... next week I believe.

[Wilomn]

What type of corns are you looking to get Chris? Any thing in particular?

[Chris Steele]

Nothing really in particular except that I would like to find a person with 5 sub-adults for sale. Preferably a morph male and four females het for that morph, but if it was in my price range i'd love to have some morph females. I am about to start a job at UPS and once that gets going, basically anything will be in the pricerange. Well except herps like BP morphs and such, plus I wouldn't be willing to spend that much if I could at this point in my life.

[PaulSage]

Chris, Strombergs' calls them red pyle modern game chickens. You might get different search results if you use the other spelling.

[Chris Steele]

I tried that one, guess I wasn't looking closely or my mind wasn't open to the fact that it wasn't the name of the breed.

[Chris Steele]

My county is notorious for its chicken breeding, but that would be tyson chickens. I've been working in chicken houses all summer and I know basically all I'd need to know. I am interested in what some internet caresheets on them might have to say that I may not know.

[Cat_72]

The correct spelling IS Red Pyle. And yes, they are considered game birds. They are neat little birds, I raised them for a few years awhile back, til the market totally fell out of them, lol. I'd be glad to help if you have any specific questions on them.

I'll have to look back in some old photos and see if I have any pics left of the chicks right after hatching....I set them next to a DIME for size comparison.

[Chris Steele]

Thanks. Will it increase the egg production and health if I get them some oyster shells? If there is anything crititcal that you think I might not know, then please feel free to point it out.

I appreciate the help everyone.

[Cat_72]

I don't know if giving them the oyster grit necessarily will INCREASE egg production....they are pretty prolific layers anyway....but it will keep it from decreasing from a lack of calcium, and it will ensure that the eggs have a solid shell. They aren't "year round" layers like production chickens are, but they seem to lay quite steadily through the normal laying season, from spring into mid-summer, at least.

I have all of my chickens eating a diet of cracked corn, supplemented with either the granular layer's mash or the wild game (pheasant) feed during the laying season to keep them in good shape....even the roosters need it since they spend most of their time chasing the hens around they yard and can actually get pretty thin themselves. I also keep a fine cherrystone grit available at all times, and also give them the oystershell free-choice during the laying season.

Contrary to what people think looking at these tiny birds, they are a very hardy breed, and don't really need a lot of "special" care as opposed to a plain old chicken. The roosters do tend to be a bit more ornery towards each other than "regular" chickens.....I always kept mine caged in breeding groups to keep the roosters from fighting, as opposed to my other chickens who have the run of the whole farm, lol....but toward humans, they tend to be very mellow and less flighty than other chickens.....my kids had several "pet Pyles" they would pick up and carry around all the time.


One thing you may notice is, depending on the breeder's preference, some will still "dub" the roosters.....meaning they remove almost all of the comb and the "wattles"when they are young, the original purpose of that being one less thing for other roosters to latch on to in the cockfighting ring, and the tradition kind of stuck even now when most people no longer raise them for such an awful purpose (kind of like ear cropping on pit bulls, for example....eeesch). I kept all of mine natural, and think they looked beautiful with the big combs, however they did tend to freeze the tips in a particularly cold winter here in Iowa if they didn't have heat lamps.

If you like the Red Pyles, you would also really enjoy the Silver Duckwing old english game birds. They are very similar, but the colors on the roosters are quite striking.

[Chris Steele]

I got a hen with some chicks a few days ago, how long does the hen need to be kept with the chicks? I would like to go ahead and move her in with my rooster.

[Karen Hulvey]

Chickens can eat on their own from the day they hatch. I mail oreder eggs and hatch them in my incubator all the time, no mama chicken here.

You will have to keep the babies caged and give them a warming light to keep warm for about a week or two depending on how warm it is outside. Hey post some pictures of your pyles. :dgrin: :dgrin: :dgrin: :dgrin: :dgrin: :dgrin: :dgrin:

[Chris Steele]

Well, these new ones aren't pyles, I can't remember what they were called. The hen is grey with white speckles thickly covering her. I am getting doubtful of the bloodline of my redpyles though, because I've been looking on the internet and none of them look like mine. I'll post some pictures probably wednesday because I'll have my camera out for my new Corns then anyway.

[Chris Steele]

Oh and thanks for the help, the warmth issue was what I needed to know. I don't feel like going to the unnessicary trouble of getting them a heat source when they have a perfectly good mother lol. Oh, another question. My pyles are not doing right. Used to when I had chickens they'd start setting at about 5-7 eggs and these have 9 eggs in one of the nests and still haven't started. I am worried they're going to let them rot.

Lol, another question, I am soon to get a snake egg incubator so I can be completely sure that I do everything right with their eggs. Would one of those work for chickens too??

[Cat_72]

My Pyles weren't much for sitting, I always just pulled the eggs and incubated them. But sometimes when you can have multiple hens laying in one nest, they will wait until there is a bigger clutch of eggs to sit on them. It does depend some on the breed too though....some breeds such as Leghorns will NOT sit on eggs....they just don't. If you aren't sure what they are, you never know.

I don't see why you couldn't hatch chicken eggs in a snake incubator, as long as you can keep the correct temp and humidity, though I think they do tend to do better in a circulated air incubator. You also need to remember that unlike snake eggs, the chicken eggs need to be turned several times daily up ( I always turn 4 times daily)until 3 days before hatch day. When I first collect the egg, I mark one side with an "X" and the other side with a number corresponding to what number of batch they will be in, so I know I'm turning them exactly halfway. I collect the eggs each day, and put them into egg cartons with the "pointiest" side down, and elevate one end of the carton slightly, changing which end is elevated each day. I don't hold them for more than a week before putting them into the incubator. Especially if you are in a hot environment, I wouldn't leave the eggs sitting outside for too long.

[Chris Steele]

Here are some pics. Does anyone know what the gray ones color variation is called?

[Cat_72]

That would be a barred rock bantam, or a cross thereof.

[Chris Steele]

Do my others look like red pyles to you? I guess barred rock is what it is, he said the lines were pure. Thanks!

[Cat_72]

Well....they do seem quite a bit darker in coloration than most of the Red Pyles that I have had or seen. The fact that the rooster's comb is still intact does give him a different look as well, but like I said before, I prefer them that way personally. Take a look at a couple of these.....these are what I would consider some nice quality Red Pyle, the first being the rooster, the second being the hen...


http://www.triple-h.ca/images/red_pyle_cockerel2001.jpg


http://www.triple-h.ca/images/red_pyle_2001_small.jpg

[Chris Steele]

My chickens have not been producing very many eggs and I am guessing it is the roosters fault. Is there something I can do to induce breeding or do I just need a new rooster? I have 1.4 chickens now.

Does crossbreeding chickens decrease their value? I have 1.2 red pyle and 0.1 barred rock and 0.1 ?? (it is speckled black and dark glossy brown, the speckling is so much that I really can't tell which is the background color. the feet are almost blue and the comb is very darkly colored) Since I have a small assortment of breeds I thought I would ask.

Thanks a lot everyone!

[Cat_72]

The rooster has nothing to so with the egg production, the hens never even have to be exposed to a rooster to lay very well. I would guess your hens are older, their egg production really goes down as they age. The Old English are normally very prolific layers their first year or 2.

Crossbreeding isn't such a big deal with the big chickens that can be raised for meat, but in this type of chickens it really drops the value. I'm guessing that your barred rock is a bantam, not a full sized one? But if you just have them around to enjoy like I do, it doesn't really matter. I've had some beautiful mixes that have hatched here, and then some that just grew up to be butt-ugly, lol.

[Chris Steele]

Yeah, I just like them (especially the eggs, which store bought can't compare to).. haha unless I had hundreds I doubt I could do anything but lose money. All of my hens are around 1 or 2 years old as well as the rooster (who I haven't saw on top of any of them which made me think it was his fault) They were laying good in the winter, but slowed down now in the heat which i thought is odd. I really have no clue of the barred rock bantams age though, but it seems to be producing the majority of the few eggs I get.

Yes, the barred rock is a bantam, they all are. The brown/black one I was talking to, I went and looked at it and I was wrong. Each feather is brown with a black outline. At the tail there is a lot of brown. The colors even out in the middle and at the head their is a lot of black.

Random though: What are your thoughts on the 'bird flu?'

[Cat_72]

Hm, from your description of the "oddball" hen, it brings to mind either a Golden Sebright or perhaps a Gold Laced Wyandotte bantam....but it's hard to tell without seeing a picture. And yeah, I think the Barred Rocks are just about the "queens" of egg laying, and are also excellent broody hens. They will all tend to slow down on the laying when it gets hot out, though.

As far as the bird flu......well, I've thinned down my "herd" alot (not because of that, because of time constraints) and really don't worry too much about it at this point. If the time comes where there may be a threat here, I have few enough birds now that I know I have enough space to keep them locked inside and still have them be happy and comfy. I'd never be able to catch all of the pigeons I have flying around, but reasearch has shown that pigeons are all but immune to it. From there...I just don't know. I do know that I'm kind of paranoid about eating any wild waterfowl this upcoming hunting season, however.

[Chris Steele]

Well you know your chickens, because it is definately either a golden sebright or gold laced wyandotte but I really can't decide which though i'm leaning toward sebright.

Well I guess the slow egg laying is just something I wasn't expecting because back when I had chickens about 4 years ago and then got out of it I had about 4 barred rock hens and a red pile rooster and got atleast 15 per week. So I guess im not getting so many because they aren't the all the barred rocks.

[Cat_72]

The Sebrights are really neat little birds, and tend to be one of the higher priced bantams if they are nice specimens. I don't think they tend to be really big layers, however. I haven't really kept them, as I've heard they aren't quite as hardy as some in the cold Iowa winters, but I'd don't think that's something you have to worry about in NC, lol.

If you want bantams that will put out a lot of eggs, the Araucana (sometimes called Americaunas now) are one of the best I've found.....and they lay cool colored eggs too. Most of the ones I have had have laid blue eggs, but some will lay very pretty pink eggs, and occasionally you find one that lays weird green colored eggs, lol. But they seem to lay right through the summer, and for their size, they lay a lot of eggs, and good sized ones to boot.

[Chris Steele]

I have a new problem and one thats been going on. I'll start with the ongoing one. I have never seen my rooster mount a hen or even do the little dominance dance they like to do, I've been getting plenty of eggs since I started putting shell in their pen but i fear the eggs aren't firtile. any suggestions? the new problem is that my rooster is missing feathers around his neck and he's starting to look pretty rough, does he have a disease or are the hens picking on him? i have 3 hens setting, one not.

[Chris Steele]

New question:

I got two baby chicks so i put them in with one of the setting hens, the hen took them in but two days later abandons the nest and takes care of the chicks only. should I just toss the eggs or what?

[Chris Steele]

more feathers are gone please reply

[Cat_72]

Sorry, I hadn't seen your posts............

As for the missing feathers, well, it's hard to say without actually seeing them. I've seen hens very often with the missing feathers you describe from the roosters being "overly friendly".....or in the case of having more than one rooster and one doesn't seem to like the other or likes him TOO much and mistakes him for a hen, lol. It COULD be that the hens are just getting pissy with him getting near their nests...but it's really hard to say.

When you put the 2 little chicks under then setting hen, she figures her eggs have begun hatching, and will only sit on them a day or 2 longer, by that time she figures the rest are bad and aren't going to hatch. If you are going to put chicks under a setting hen, you'll need to move the eggs she's setting on under a different hen, or they will invariably be abandoned, unless those eggs are beginning to hatch as well. After 2 days, she needs to take the live chicks she has out and get them food and water, or they would die.

[Chris Steele]

welp all that you said about the hen has happened as it should.. is it too late to pput the eggs under a new hen?

about the rooster is there anthing i can do?

thanks a bunch.

[Cat_72]

Well........you could try putting the eggs under another hen, IF you have one that has been setting on her nest for close to the same amount of time as the first hen. If the first hen was setting longer, those chicks will hatch sooner than her eggs would (if they still hatch) and you will have a big vicious circle going on, lol. Depending on how long she has been off the nest and what your low temps have been, there is a chance the fisrt eggs would still be viable, but I wouldn't count on it.

As far as the rooster goes, I would just try confining him elsewhere for awhile and see if the feathers stop disappearing. If they do, it is most likely just the hens chasing him away, and after they have had a break from him, they may put up with him better as well. If the feathers keep dropping, it may be mites or something similar, which can usually be treated with a good mite dust.

[Chris Steele]

Alright I am in need of some help. Yesterday all six of my chickens looked to be perfectly fine, but today I walked out to their pen and three of them are dead! I don't know how or why, but I need advice.

Also, its winter now, but throughout the summer my rooster never really became a rooster. He was never too interested in my hens, he never 'danced' for them, I never caught him mating. What is his issue??

[Cat_72]

I'm sorry to hear about your chickens! My first thought, finding 3 of them dead suddenly and all at once would be a predator......weasel is the first thing coming to mind. They will kill them with almost no trace. If you have a live trap, I would definitely set it up and see what you can catch....I think I had my best luck catching weasels using pepperoni sticks, lol. Something tasty and smelly, canned cat food works too.

And well.....I don't know what to tell you about your rooster. Did they ever hatch any eggs? He may just be "courting" during the day when you aren't looking.....or he may be a "dud".

[Chris Steele]

they had eggs, but not as many as they should have. They would all lay in the same nest though so they wouldnt set until they had about 25 and then only 3 hatched.. I was disapointed. Is there nothing I can do about him being a dud? He's so beautiful, I dont want to have tto replace him!

Alright, by no trace what do you mean? I dind't find any trace of violence or anything like that. Would you suggest putting the trap in the pen/lot? I reckon I will build a gum(sp).

[Cat_72]

Well, by no trace I mean exactly that, lol. To be honest, I'm not sure why the weasels kill like they do, it is usually a small bite wound on the neck, and unless you really, really look, you'll never see it, and sometimes you still don't. Now I've been TOLD that they actually bite them and drink the blood, but that may very well be an old wives tale, lol.....but I know for a fact they kill that way, whatever their reasoning is. I would go ahead and set the trap inside the pen, but put it as far away from where they roost at night as possible. That's where I've had my best luck at both catching the critter and keeping my birds safe.

The rooster may not be a "dud" if you had some luck with eggs hatching, albeit not great luck. Laying in a common nest is what they usually do, but if they are waiting too long to set, especially when the temps are quite warm, the embryos may be beginiing to incuabte at too low of a temp (the outside temp) and dying. That, or being such small hens, they don't get all of the eggs covered all of the time, and some get chilled when they aren't covered. There's a lot of variables....

[Wolfy-hound]

Red Pyles don't have a huge hatch rate nor lay many eggs anyway. You may need to incubate, as mentioned. Especially if several are laying in one nest.
I had great luck with a heating pad and several layers of towels, although I was told they wouldn't hatch that way, my rates were about 80%+ while when I moved to a incubator, the rates plummeted to 50% or worse. Probaly was the incubator.
I'd definately look into the reasons behind those deaths. Never good to have multiple deaths at once.
Wolfy

[Chris Steele]

So neither of you suspect disease right off? That is definately comforting. That disappoints me about the weasels. You would think that being of nature they wouldn't waste so much food, but oh well, either way I can't have them killing off my birds! Thanks for the help and advice!

[Chris Steele]

Oh, uhm, not to sound stupid, but what does albeit mean?

[Cat_72]

LOL....albeit: Even though; although; notwithstanding.

I would really find it odd for disease to suddenly sweep in and kill 3 all at once, and leave the others untouched, especially if there have been no sign of illness. It's not impossible, but I would find a lot of other explanations a lot more likely.

[Chris Steele]

I have two left now... My rooster and my barred-rock. One of the two fresh kills had some intestins hanging from his anus.. if that tells anyone anything. Thanks for looking, sorry for the graphic words.

[Cat_72]

Wow, have you tried setting the live trap???

[Chris Steele]

I set a trap, it has chicken in it.. seems to be what my mean old creature likes... I guess we'll soon find out what is going on.

[Cat_72]

How large of a live trap are you using?? If it big enough to put a whole chicken in, the wire spacing may be large enough for a weasel to get through (they can squeak through some mighty small holes).

[Chris Steele]

Hmm, it may be.. I guess I'll have an idea though if the trap gets set or I could reinforce it with some of my on wire. I didn't have time exactly to build a wooden gum that in my opinion works better than anything, thanks for the heads up!

[Chris Steele]

Actually it was already 1" mesh, that should be small enough unless its rats I guess?

[Chris Steele]

The trap was set, but no bait had been taken. I assume the chickens did it this morning.

[Chris Steele]

Well the remaining two are still alive, but I've caught nothing. My dog has had two rats in the yard, but I don't think it was them; I would expect rats to make quite a mess with the chickens. I am thinking about keep my chickens in cages now though. Can you keep them on mesh? If so what size mesh? I got some new hens and threw them in with the survivors and both survivors started fighting with the new ones. Do you think that my survivors actually killed the others? I would think it would be obvious by looking at them, so I don't think that is it.

[Chris Steele]

I forgot to ask, do I need to be keeping my rooster's spurs from getting to long? If I haven't is there any harm done? Could not doing it be related to him not being a good breeder?

[Cat_72]

In the case of spurs as related to breeding, size really doesn't matter, lol.... ;)

I have only trimmed spurs if they have already been damaged somehow and leaving them could cause injury, or in the case of one particularly nasty rooster I used to have, for self defense so I didn't get an injury.

[Chris Steele]

I assume you don't know about the mesh?

Anyway here is the caging plan. The individual cages will be supposed to house constantly one hen each with roosters rotating. They will be lined up inside the chicken pin to protect them from having predators nip at their feet. They will be 42"Lx18"Wx18"Tall, included in this will be a 12"x18"x12" nest raised 6" higher than the wire in the front 2/3's. I am probably going to put a roost in the middle of the front 2/3's about 9" high. I'll have self watering bowls and feed bowls in the front. There will be a front door and a nest door (either on the side or the top). The frame will be 2x4's. The nest will be plywood with a step/roost a couple inches in front of it. The front door and sides will be chicken wire. The bottom will be 1"x1/2" mesh and the roof will be either a sheet of plastic, tin, etc.

Does anyone see any problems in this design?

[Cat_72]

I assume you don't know about the mesh?

Huh? :confused:

[Chris Steele]

I was wondering if they can live on it?

[Cat_72]

Oh....I was lost there for a minute, lol.

As long as they also have access to a solid surface to stand on should they choose to, they should be just fine. It's a fine line to figure out how large the mesh should be to allow the droppings to fall through freely, and to make sure they can't get a foot stuck or something grab them from underneath, however.....1" spacing may be a bit large if they are small Pyles.

[Chris Steele]

Well I never caught anything, but nothing else has died/been killed.

I was planning on going to the cattle sale this coming week and getting a couple new chickens. Any suggestions? I'm looking for something that will produce eggs really well and will atleast sometimes set on the eggs for me. Just looking for a list of types to look for.

[Cat_72]

Well, are you looking for more small breeds?

The quandry you may run into is that most of the best layers are not broody, while the best broody hens often aren't the most prolific layers. I've had great luck with keeping a combination of Aracuanas (they lay the pretty blue and pink eggs, and LOTS of them, and have the funny feathered "ears"), leghorns, Australorps, and/or Rhode Island Reds for egg production, and then having Cochins and Orpingtons for broody hens. If you like the smaller birds, some of these are available as bantams as well, and seem to keep the same laying/broody charachteristics as their larger versions. I have also found that although the eggs are small, the Japanese varieties of bantams are VERY prolific, and downright viciously protective moms, often raising very large groups of babies. I've even had Japs raise baby ducks, after stealing the nest from the mother duck.

[Chris Steele]

Yeah I'm looking for bantams, do you know of any site that might list some bantam breeds and give their characteristics?

[Chris Steele]

Are any of the japanese varieties common?

[Cat_72]

Well, around here they are very common.... I had the black Japs and the black tailed white japs, as well as the Aracauna bantams.

Murray McMurray hatchery is the best I've found. I usually buy mine at a local exotic sale, but have bought some from there when looking to increase the quality and diversity of the birds. Never lost a chick from them, and they are great to deal with as well.

http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/category/bantams_chicks.html

[Chris Steele]

Thanks! I've got me a list to go by as a look through the cattle sale monday now.

[Chris Steele]

The cattle sale was a dissappointment. There was only one stand with any chickens and they didn't look all that great, not to mention that the prices were double or more what they usually go for. I may look into getting some from that hatchery.

[Chris Steele]

Well I just realized the minimum order is 25 birds and I'm not sure that I'm ready for such a big leap from 5 or so to 30 or so. Out of curiosity though, what all order modifications do you get when you shop there?

I think I am going to look at some local classifieds and call around, I don't know that I can find anyone I trust to give me a truely purebred chicken though. That goes for the cattle sale too, it just seems questionable to me.

[Cat_72]

Not sure what you mean by "modifications"?

[Chris Steele]

Well there were a couple of vaccinations, papers, and then there were ? growth enhancers ?, and a receive rare chick free.

[Cat_72]

Hmmm.....I always had the vaccinations done, I don't remember any kind of growth enhancers (I would avoid something like that anyway, but would assume they would be for the meat chickens??). The free chicks thing was always fun, I usually got some kind of Polish or some other funky-looking critter. It's been several years since I have ordered any, I've cut back a lot on my poultry.....but what I have gotten from them in the past has continued to keep my population going very well with future generations here.

[Chris Steele]

How do the colored egg genes work? For example if you had a cross between araucana and something else, would the hens of that cross lay colored eggs?

[Cat_72]

Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. It's the luck of the draw, I guess. Most of mine lay big, sky blue eggs, I used to have one that laid the prettiest pink eggs you've ever seen. Aracaunas are probably the most prolific layers I've got, and the eggs are large for the size of bird.

[Chris Steele]

I didn't realize that the araucanas were so prolific? More prolific than the Japanese or RI red?

What is the going price for an araucana hen?

[Cat_72]

My Aracaunas seem to have a longer laying season than the others....it never fails, the first and last eggs of the year are always blue ones. The Japanese are much more broody, though. I haven't kept a lot of the Rhode Island Reds, but it seems to me that they tend to "burn out" and quit laying at a younger age....I have had Aracauna and Japanese hens several years old still laying like it was their first season. And..I like all the neat colors the Aracaunas come in, lol.

Price varies by where you get them....I think the last hens I bought full-grown were at an old hillbilly swap meet, and paid $5-6 each for them, but they tend to go for closer to $10 apiece (and sometimes higher in the early spring) at the exotic sales. Keep in mind that if you buy adult hens, you want to either get them in the fall or the very early spring, often moving them once they have started laying will throw them off laying for quite some time.

[Chris Steele]

Welp, I guess I'm looking for them at the right time, finding them before time is up is going to be the problem I guess. How many years do they lay well? Most bantams?

[Chris Steele]

I went out to check for eggs this morning and the hen my girlfriend gave me had laid its first egg for me. I didn't have any clue what kind of chicken it is or what the rooster with it is. It laid a colored egg. Do any others besides araucana's lay colored eggs? I looked over the hatchery and none of those besides the araucana said anything about colored eggs. Haha, do I have one and not even know it?

This is off subject, but the most prolific layer I've ever had are barred-rocks. The barred-rock eggs are significantly bigger than the colored egg too. Right now my barred rock is laying 1 egg per day even with it still being cool outside a lot of days. Is one a day good? Do you get more?

[Cat_72]

Well...what color was the egg? There are some that will lay white eggs with a slight olive tint to them, and many different shades of the brown eggs. The easiest identifier of the Aracaunas are the "ears".....they have tufts of feathers coming up from kind of under/behind the base of their beak that stick up and look like ears, and they have a rose comb. Otherwise, they really don't have any distinctly identifying color or pattern to the feathers.

Barred rocks are good layers, but in my experience seem to be more seasonal around here...something you don't have to worry about as much as I do. And my Aracauna eggs were always larger than the barred rock eggs. Barred rocks tend to be good broody hens though. If they are laying daily, they are doing good. I've had very few that will lay more than one egg a day, and even those didn't lay 2 every day, just occasionally.

[Chris Steele]

Well I think it does have the "ears." They are pretty short though, half an inch or less, does that sound right? The egg was a light blue/green. Yeah, the barred-rock is always the first on the nest in my experience, agressive about it too. The hen in question though is mostly black, but I guess that won't help any. I am pretty excited about getting some more hens though. My parents enjoy the eggs I produce for them and they are going to take care of them all through college for me. Do you ever try to breed for traits or do you just let them have at it?

[Cat_72]

I'll have to see if I can get a couple pics of my Aracaunas for you....yeah, the "ears" aren't huge, but definitely noticeable.

I used to breed for certain characteristics and such, had a fancy setup to keep them divided into breeding groups at least during the initial part of laying season when I was going to be incubating and selling...but now, the birds I have left just run around the farm where I can watch and enjoy them, and they just do their thing, lol. They still lay either in the chicken pen inside the building, or in one of a couple spots in the barn.

[Chris Steele]

It laid another small blue/green egg today. I find it odd though that it's eggs are smaller than the barred-rock because the barred-rock is smaller.

I also wanted to know if it is safe to introduce new hens to a group of hens and one rooster?

By the way, I appreciate all of the time and patients!

[Cat_72]

Introducing new hens should be no problem, in fact the other hens will probably be relieved at someone else getting some of the rooster's "attention", lol.

Maybe the hen you have that is laying the colored eggs is actually an Aracauna cross? Some crosses will still retain some of the "ear" feathering....does she have a pea comb? (Sorry, I think I mistakenly called it a rose comb earlier) The pea comb doesn't tend to stay nearly as small in crosses. I just wonder, because every Aracauna I have had produced very nice, large eggs.

And no problem....it's fun to find someone with an interest in chickens beyond the fried kind. ;)

[Chris Steele]

Don't get me wrong I am very interested in the fried variety! I just wouldn't like to see any of mine converted to that. haha

I looked at some pictures and I'm still not exactly sure of what a pea comb is. From the pictures I am guessing this is somewhat of a small, flattened comb?

[Chris Steele]

Alright, if I am right, my barred-rock has a rose comb and my chicken in question has a pea comb. The barred-rock has a comb that sticks up a bit, almost enough to sag to the side, while the one in question has one that barely protrudes.

[Cat_72]

A comb that stands up enough to fall over is usually just called a "single comb". A pea comb is a very small, almost roundish comb that tapers just slightly toward the beak. A rose comb is similar to a pea comb, but larger, and tapering in the opposite direction as the pea comb. Neither the pea comb or rose comb have the protrusions that stick up beyond the base of the comb, like you would see on a leghorn.

I wish I could just get out my crayons and draw you a picture, it would be easier than trying to explain it, lol.

[Chris Steele]

Paint? hahaha.

One day when I finish all these essays I'm bogged down with I'll just shoot some pics.

[Chris Steele]

Alright, once again another question. I don't have any funds anymore, so I've decided to make do with the chickens I have. Right now I have both my araucana and my barred-rock with my redpyle rooster and they have 8 eggs laid. I was wondering if I switched them to my orange rooster if he would start breeding immediately so they would keep filling the nest with fertile eggs or if this would throw the laying off? Thanks a bunch!

The hens would be staying in the same pen with roosters switched out.

[Cat_72]

I'm sure he would start breeding right away if moved, and if you don't move the hens, their laying shouldn't be thrown off, I wouldn't think.

[Chris Steele]

Well, it seems I was too late for that, my araucana is on the nest today, unless she was laying. She seemed ill, but I guess I'll know for sure when I get home from school. Will she start laying right after the eggs hatch? If so and she is setting already I guess I will just wait until next month and switch out the roosters, let each rooster have a full nest of eggs. If she isn't setting I'll switch them out this evening.

[Chris Steele]

Do hens lay any less often when no rooster is present?

[Chris Steele]

I just made an interesteing find. I didn't know they would do this, but both hens are on the same nest right now setting. You ever have 'em do that? haha.

[Chris Steele]

Now I'm just confused.. the rooster is setting on the nest with the two hens now...

Maybe this is an effort to keep himself warm?

[Cat_72]

Yep, I have hens who share nests all of the time. I've had hen chickens try to share nests with hen ducks (which causes problems because duck eggs take a week longer to hatch than chicken eggs)....and I've had a hen chicken actually hatch baby ducks. I used to have one hen that was a very poor layer herself, but would seem to wait until another hen had a full nest, and then boot her off and sit on it, lol....but she was an excellent Mom, so I kept her around. She could keep a group of 15 chicks all together and raise them. My hen turkeys always share a common nest.

But the rooster on the nest, well.....that's just weird. LOL.

[Chris Steele]

Ha, thats pretty interesting. I wouldn't have thought a chicken would hatch a ducks eggs. Yeah, the rooster wasn't on there this morning when I checked. I had bad timing on letting them hatch a nest, it is so cold here right now. I thought the cold weather was over, but it came back strong this weekend.

[Cat_72]

You'd be amazed at how well those hens keep the eggs warm....if they are sitting on the nest, it has to get mighty cold to hurt the eggs. If my hens can hatch out spring babies here in Iowa, you should have no problem in NC.

Somewhere, I have some pics of one of my hens with baby ducks under her....I didn't worry about her raising ducklings, but a Mama duck raising chicks is another story....chicks don't take well to swimming, lol.

[Chris Steele]

Haha, have you had a duck try to take chicks swimming?

[Chris Steele]

Do hens lay any less often when no rooster is present?

I think its funny how this thread is just a conversation between us two..

[Cat_72]

Haha, have you had a duck try to take chicks swimming?

Yep, had it happen once, it didn't turn out well for the chicks. They don't know any better, and the poor mama duck was utterly confused....my daughter came running in the house after trying to rescue the chicks and getting attacked by the mama duck, lol. I think we ended up saving 3 of the chicks, and raising them under a brooder.

[Chris Steele]

Ah, thats sad. Good that ya got three of 'em though.

[Chris Steele]

MY EGGS HATCHED!!! I have 14 little chicks running around now!

[Cat_72]

Awwww, congrats!!! :thumbsup:

I don't have any chickens sitting yet, but have a mama turkey sitting on 24 eggs. I did have another one sitting on a nest, but unlike the smart one who laid in the barn, where the yard dog keeps watch over her, she went waaayyyy out into the grove and made her nest, and a critter got to the eggs. She looks rather forlorn wandering around the yard now, hopefully she will decide to share the nest with the one already sitting.

[Chris Steele]

Aw I'm sorry about her nest. Good luck with the other though. What do you do with all those baby turkeys? Cattle sale?

[texasnewbie]

MY EGGS HATCHED!!! I have 14 little chicks running around now!

Congratulations
:dancer01:

[texasnewbie]

I did have another one sitting on a nest, but unlike the smart one who laid in the barn, where the yard dog keeps watch over her, she went waaayyyy out into the grove and made her nest, and a critter got to the eggs.

We used to have a rottweiler (spelling?) that would go into our duck pen and gently carry the ducklings out, one at a time, in her mouth into the yard. When she decided they had, had enough she would carry them back into the pen.

I miss having critters ( I had some moscoveys that thought they were dogs) I cant wait to get a little land and a few ducks/ hens again.

[Cat_72]

Aw I'm sorry about her nest. Good luck with the other though. What do you do with all those baby turkeys? Cattle sale?

Thanks....my son set a live trap out near there last night, bu it was still empty this morning. He baited it with cat food, which normally works well...but I think we'll try eggs tonight, since this critter obviously has a taste for them. Silly thing is, as much as it ticks me off that the coon or whatever did that......I'll end up driving it 15-20 miles from here and turning it loose again, it's only doing what it's naturally supposed to do. (but not to MY eggs!) Unless it's a skunk....

We usually have all of the babies sold to people we know by the fall..and if not, they have an exotic animal sale not too far from here in the fall as well as the spring.

We used to have a rottweiler (spelling?) that would go into our duck pen and gently carry the ducklings out, one at a time, in her mouth into the yard. When she decided they had, had enough she would carry them back into the pen.

Awww, how cute! We had a big ol Golden Retriever named Charlie that used to retrieve our Call Ducks when they would get too far from the barn....those little suckers can really fly, I never did see how he caught them, but saw him carry them back a couple times, lol. A slobbery mess they were, but completely unharmed, other than their pride. ;)

[Cat_72]

Well....Josh caught the critter. It was the biggest dang raccoon I have ever seen!

Probably fat from eating all of my eggs.

[Chris Steele]

Good job catching it. My two older hens are laying again now, but my new ones haven't. It looks like I have four roosters and ten hens, I lucked up.

[Cat_72]

Unfortunately, that one raccoon seems to have been just one of a whole "gang". I lost all of my baby turkeys, a batch of Cochin chicks, as well as a couple of my best hen chickens this season. Josh has caught 3 or 4 raccoons, and 2 possums. The killing of my birds seems to finally have stopped, but it just wasn't a good season.

Glad to hear you're getting eggs, at least....and you came out pretty decent on the sex ratio. :)

[Chris Steele]

Turns out I have one less hen, one more rooster.. massive one, but he just now got his comb and started crowing. He's the biggest chicken I have.

I had some questions that I mgiht have asked before. Is it ok to inbreed for eggs to eat? Will a hen mate with its sibling or kid? A rooster with its sybling or kid? Will they mate better raised together or introduced as adults. With 12 hens, what would be the best amount of roosters in a roughly 12x14' cage? With that many hens do I need a certain number of egg nests, will 3 do?

[Chris Steele]

Out of curiosity, what exactly gives a rooster dominance. From what I've read online, it is the one who can fight the best. This doesn't really make complete sense to me though, because my pyle is dominant over a much larger rooster I have that I'm sure could take him in a fight.. they never fight though, the big one just runs. I didn't find a thing online about hens being dominant, but I know some of mine are dominant over others, why?

While I was reading I ran into the origin of the chicken. Are there any pure Red Jungle Fowl on the market these days?

[Cat_72]

I think it's a lot like people.....sometimes, just their attitude is enough to imtimidate even much larger roosters. Same with hens, mine have always had a specific "pecking order".

As far as finding any TRULY pure Junglefowl....I highly doubt it, IMO. It seems to me there was a breeding program in Conneticut working with them, but I don't know that they were releasing any. I have on rare occasion seen some offered for sale at "Exotic" sales, but still would doubt the purity of those.

[Chris Steele]

I think after I get out of college it would be pretty exciting to try to get a hold of pure ones and get them breeding. After reading about them and the history and all, I've been thinking about them quite a bit.

I don't know if I posted this yet, but I thought it was really interesting so I'll share. One of my hens turned out to be pretty much pure white (light vanilla really). I'll post a picture if you'd like to see.

[Cat_72]

I think it would be a neat thing if you could find some that were pure....you may want to try talking to some of the bigger hatcheries and see if they can offer help. The hatcheries do breed most of the chicks themselves, but always have other "suppliers" as well. I know one of Murray McMurray's duck suppliers is in Minnesota, and they did actually give me a contact number for him when I was dealing with a muscovy duck issue that I couldn't get any answers on from vets. They won't usually do that, but the big hatcheries usually will have the connections to find you whatever you are looking for.

There's an exotic sale coming up in my area next month, I can ask a couple of the "old school" guys if they know of anyone who has them if you'd like, if I get the chance.

[Chris Steele]

Nah, I'll wait to seriously look into it till I'm out of college, no reason to look deeply into it when I won't be getting any for another 2-4 years if there are any to get when that time rolls around.

[Chris Steele]

Will a hen mate with its sibling or kid? A rooster with its sybling or kid?

Would it be safe to keep a larger breed hen with bannies?

[Cat_72]

I've never had any trouble at all keeping the different sized hens together.

And yes, if I didn't answer it before......chickens will mate with whomever is handy, whether it be relation or not. ;)

[Chris Steele]

Do all chickens eat and never get full haha these things are putting my feed away

[Cat_72]

Yep, they do lol....especially this time of year, packing it away for the winter...not that they REALLY need it in NC, but they can't be too careful. ;)

The exotic sale last weekend was a blowout, there was hardly anything there. They DID have some of the nicest Silver Duckwings I've seen in ages, but I'm just not needing any of those....it was a treat to see them though. Don't see many these days with the proper size and such good quality.

All I came home with was 2 Aracauna hens, and a hairless rat. LOL.

[Chris Steele]

Well atleast you got something you wanted. I went to the cattle sale this morning and saw the biggest rooster I'd ever seen, it was about the size of a turkey with the exact same coloration as my "pyle" rooster. All of the other chickens there were pretty bad looking.

[Chris Steele]

Are there any particular things that chickens shouldn't be fed?

[IloveSnakes1234]

Are there any particular things that chickens shouldn't be fed?
I dunno...but if you feed them chicken they might get offended and do bad stuff to you in your sleep... :shrug01:
J/K :rofl:

[Cat_72]

Are there any particular things that chickens shouldn't be fed?

Not really.....as long as they have a good steady diet of grain, they can have just about anything they will eat. I keep a self-feeder of cracked corn available for them all of the time, and mix in some laying mash sometimes in the height of the laying season. Always have grit available....but from there, I give mine a lot of things like leftover bread, (no one will eat the heel in my house, lol) tater peels, they LOVE it when you give them canteloupe or melon rinds, leftover veggies....whatever. As long as it isn't the mainstay of their diet.

I dunno...but if you feed them chicken they might get offended and do bad stuff to you in your sleep...

Actually.....I throw leftover from dinner into a pan outside the door for the cats, and the turkeys and chickens hear me call the kitties to the door, and they come a running too....it's kinda creepy watching chickens eat chicken, but they do. LOL.

And not to be gross here, but back when we were raising our own meat chickens, and it was butchering time, the other chickens would stand around the "cleaning" table, and fight over the uh.....scraps. :eek:

[Chris Steele]

And not to be gross here, but back when we were raising our own meat chickens, and it was butchering time, the other chickens would stand around the "cleaning" table, and fight over the uh.....scraps. :eek:

I wouldn't doubt that a bit and I've fed mine chicken scraps a few times too.. makes me feel like im playing a cruel trick haha, but they love it.

[Chris Steele]

Its bad for about everything else, chickens too?

[Cat_72]

I have used pine shavings for bedding under my "broiler" chickens when we used to raise them with no ill effects.....as long as they are not young chicks, I don't worry about pine. I don't think I would use cedar at all, though....I guess I personally don't have any solid evidence that it would cause problems in chickens, but I just wouldn't feel comfortable using it knowing the problems it can present in other species.