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  1. NatJ

    Bush Alaska Newbie

    Some ideas for things you might want to learn more about: --eggs can be stored in the refrigerator for quite a few weeks. If you just want eggs, if might be easier to buy a bunch of them every month or so, rather than actually raising chickens that need care every single day. If you want to...
  2. NatJ

    Chickens addicted to cat food! Will a cat door keep them out?

    It probably varies a bit by country. In the USA, the label must list the ingredients in descending order by weight. Yes, the manufacturer can list same-weight ingredients in any order. So if the first two ingredients are "Chicken by-product meal, ground yellow corn," that means the amount of...
  3. NatJ

    new chicken breed

    I'm glad you already have experience with feathered feet, and that they work for you! Sometimes people come on here with lots of ideas and no experience at all, and other times people have lots of experience with chickens even when they are new to the forum, and I am no good at guessing which...
  4. NatJ

    new chicken breed

    I do not know if that is possible or not. Have you actually raised any chickens yet? If so, have you had any with feathered feet? If yes, you probably do know what you are getting into. If no, I strongly recommend that you try raising a few, before you commit yourself to a multi-year project...
  5. NatJ

    new chicken breed

    That sounds like a good idea. Experience and knowledge are definitely helpful when you are deciding what you want to have, whether it already exists, whether it is possible for it to exist, and how to create it.
  6. NatJ

    Is my rooster a Purebred Ameraucana? Once again

    If you really want to know if he has two blue egg genes, you can just get a genetic test. Here is one place that can do it: https://iqbirdtesting.com/blueegg That would be much more accurate than trying to guess the egg color genes by looking at feather color and other traits that have...
  7. NatJ

    ISA Brown?

    My understanding is that cages can work really well, if the only goal is to keep the largest number of hens alive and laying inside a given size of building. Obviously the cages have to be designed properly for this to work. Poorly designed cages may not keep the hens alive, or might keep them...
  8. NatJ

    What is everybody's opinion on this Rooster?

    He is not a show quality Barred Plymouth Rock. The barring looks wrong. It should be more like straight lines. For example, look at the pictures at this hatchery: https://www.cacklehatchery.com/product/barred-rocks/ I can't say whether they are show quality either, but they are at least closer...
  9. NatJ

    Ingredients in chicken vaccines?

    It is generally not a good idea to post your age on the internet. Telling your grade is pretty close to telling your age. I suggest you edit your post to remove the grade. There should be an "edit" button at the bottom of the post for about 24 hours after you first made it.
  10. NatJ

    new chicken breed

    In that case, you might look at the pictures here: https://www.dragonflyfarmnc.com/langshan I think that looks very much like what you are describing. So you might be able to save quite a few years of work by starting with birds like those, and then you might just need to refine the details if...
  11. NatJ

    new chicken breed

    Considering how many chicken breeds already have pretty feathers and feather feet, I think it might make more sense to develop a different color variety of a breed that already exists. A new breed should have different traits than existing breeds, and the difference should not be only in the...
  12. NatJ

    new chicken breed

    I do not think that is possible. Blue is a dilution of black. Lavender is a different dilution of black. I'm pretty sure you can't make a black feather have one dilution around the edge and the other dilution in the middle, which is what you are describing. Lacing in chickens is black on the...
  13. NatJ

    Hen or roo? It's a buff Orpington x French copper maran. Just a few month old. The tail looks hennish but are those saddle feathers 😩

    This is either a female, or a male that is too young to show saddle feathers and large comb. How old is this bird?
  14. NatJ

    ISA Brown?

    Because otherwise they peck each other to death. Yes, literally to death. Dead hens do not lay eggs, so this is a problem for a commercial egg producer. Debeaking is the cheapest way to "solve" the problem. If the end of the beak is cut off so it is not sharp, it cannot do as much damage. And...
  15. NatJ

    TIL: Fence top roller bars - do they keep chickens in?

    It seems to depend on the chicken. I've had some chickens that go straight over fences, but more that would fly up to hang out on top of the fence and later decide to come down on the other side. I sometimes wondered if they just wanted a break on the way, or if they really couldn't think well...
  16. NatJ

    Rooster drama and selection - what should I do?

    Got it! Yes, if you are able to raise a large number, and are able to evaluate them and remove the ones that don't work out, you do have a better chance of finding a good one. (Because the best of 20 is probably better than the best of 4, but even the best of 4 is likely to be better than...
  17. NatJ

    ISA Brown?

    Commercial producers of brown eggs do use Red Sexlinks sometimes, so that is at least a possibility.
  18. NatJ

    Hen or roo? It's a buff Orpington x French copper maran. Just a few month old. The tail looks hennish but are those saddle feathers 😩

    They do look like saddle feathers to me, so that would mean he is indeed a male. The comb and wattles also look pretty big and red (too much for a pullet, right for a cockerel, maybe also right for a mature hen that is already laying-- but obviously if this bird was laying you would not be...
  19. NatJ

    How can I "make" an olive egger?

    Since your hens have a Cream Legbar father and Welsummer mother, then breeding them to a Cream Legbar rooster should produce autosexing chicks (same sexing as pure Cream Legbars.) Even pure Legbars can produce some chicks that are sort of in-between the male & female color patterns, and you...
  20. NatJ

    How can I "make" an olive egger?

    No, you have that backwards. A rooster passes barring to both his sons and his daughters. The sexlink cross takes a barred hen and a rooster with no barring. If the Olive Eggers have barring and generally look like Cream Legbars, and the rooster is a Cream Legbar, you might be able to sex the...
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