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Red Pile Chickens

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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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?
 
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.
 
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?
 
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.
 
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?
 
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?
 
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.
 
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?
 
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