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BarnGems

Songster
Jan 12, 2019
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SE KY
Hello all, I am a new member to the site and new to owning chickens. My chicken adventure started last year in June when I decided I wanted Barnevelder chickens. Started by building a brooder box 4'x5' (3' off the ground) to go inside our existing cow barn while I revamped the barn and built an outside run. I found some Barnevelders at the local Rural King and bought as many as my husband would let me (15) in early August. Knew they were straight run even though RK said "oh for sure those are all hens". They were the cutest stripy babies ever! They were good for about 5 weeks, until the predators figured out we had chicken nuggets running lose in the barn. First attack killed all but five. Made adjustments secured where we guessed they got in. Second night something got 3 more. More fevered repairs and returned them to the brooder with a solid lid. This left me with 2 living chicks one hen, one roo. Sick and heart broke, I took a few days to recover and decide if I wanted to continue or stop all together. I read up more on line and spoke to my neighbors and found that losing chickens wasn't new and everyone has lost some (if not all) sometimes. I bought a live trap and became opossume/coon/feral cat trapper. I knew one hen wasn't enough for one roo so since I wanted to try again I looked at the prices for Barnies and nearly fell down. I got mine for the price of an Austrolorp from a hatchery. I found the Sapphire gems and ordered 12 hens 3 roos. I wasn't sure then if my Barnie would live and I wanted roo options to pick from, as I really want to hatch babies. Got them from Hoover one died in transit. The group pic with three looking at the camera (4th pic) are the Sapphire gem roosters. At 4 and 1/2 months my gems have started laying. BV hen as of yet has not laid and just turned 8 months old. I re homed the Gem roos as I want to use my BV to breed. Sorry such a long post :))
1 wk Sap Gem Cks.jpg 2 wk Sap Gem Cks.jpg 6 wk Sap Gem Cks.jpg 12 wks Sap Gems.jpg 14 wk Sap Gem.jpg Blue Hen.jpg BV Tiny 8 mon.jpg Herietta.jpg
 
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Sorry to hear about all those Barnevelder losses... what a shame. I hope you're able to get a nice predator-proof area set up for them. How many "intruders" have you been able to trap so far, and what do you do with them? Barnevelders are so beautiful but I've heard they start laying pretty late. And you'll probably get some interesting mixes with all those blue pullets... I'm curious to see what they'd look like.

Here's an article that may give you some ideas how to protect your chicken yard:
Predator Proofing

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Best wishes with your flock!
 
Welcome to backyard chickens hope all of your birds are doing great! I'm sorry to hear some of your birds died.:hit Hope you enjoy this site as much as we all do and when you post new threads I will always try to write on your threads and everybody else I'm sure will write on them to and you can do lots of stuff ask questions tell people that you need help sexing and I will help too...:D:welcome
 
FlappyFeathers said:
View attachment 1640763
Sorry to hear about all those Barnevelder losses... what a shame. I hope you're able to get a nice predator-proof area set up for them. How many "intruders" have you been able to trap so far, and what do you do with them? Barnevelders are so beautiful but I've heard they start laying pretty late. And you'll probably get some interesting mixes with all those blue pullets... I'm curious to see what they'd look like.
Click to expand...

Thank you, I was very upset for a while after losing them. We have since locked down any hole larger than 1/2". I have tin all the way down to the ground and all the way up to the rafters 1/2" short of the roof beams. I've caught since Aug: 7 opossum, 5 racoons, and 5 feral cats (plus my own mouser 2 times :) lol ). Husband handles the beasts once I catch them. I prefer not to know what happens to the wild ones but the cats are sent to a local animal shelter (if its not one of my neighbors pets, I just let them out with a scolding). The only repeat offender has been our cat.

I can confirm my Barnie took 8 months to lay her first egg. I've got some plans for the future as far a breeding goes but I am looking forward to seeing what my crossing will produce.
 

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