Reviews by banjomoon

We bought this from our local farmer's coop and it is not getting used again. It was better than frozen water, but not by much. We had to change clothes for work many mornings when the base popped off while carrying it and spilled water all over us. It is hard to fill, and very hard to flip over to carry it or place it in the coop. More often than not, the bottom would pop off and the water would go everywhere. We are definitely looking into something different for next winter.

We got 3 Black Copper Marans a year ago for our backyard flock, and they are not our favorites. We much prefer our Buff Orpingtons. The Marans are not very friendly, are very hard to catch, don't like to be held and general shy away from humans. They tend to be a bit squawky.

One of our hens went broody when she was about 9 months old and it took her a long time to get over it. After that, however, they have been very consistent layers. Their eggs are gorgeous. They are a deep brown/red color and I can see why they are prized.

One note: when they started laying, they laid a lot of soft shelled eggs before getting it right. Our Buff Orpingtons didn't do that, just started laying normal eggs.

We have had 3 Buff Orpingtons for a year now and love them. We live in Nashville and have them in our fenced in backyard. We have a two toddler who loves them. They let him pick them up, and are very sweet and docile while being held. They are good layers--in the summer we get 3-4 eggs every 4 days.

They are not flighty, they aren't too chatty and they lay lovely eggs. They are really great backyard chickens.