California-Southern

[ZChickens89]

Happens every year in Calif. Our sky is ablaze w/red smoke on the western horizon ~ Pacific Palisades.

Closer to home, just below our freeway embankment, some idiot must've tossed a lit cigarette into the dry roadside foliage about 5:30 a.m. but fire dept got on it immediately. On top of that the Santa Ana Winds blew out the power on our street & I had to take an antibacterial pre-surgery shower in the dark. Lucky DH is a techy & put up a couple battery lights for me. What a sweetie! He's been taking care of me & our hens 110% for 8+ months!

We left the house at 9 a.m. to check in atthe hospital for out-patient surgery & didn't get back home till after 5 p.m. & the sweetie hens dutifully put themsleves away ~ 3 Sikies piled in one nestbox, 2 older Silkies in a separate nestbox each ~ w/ one leftover empty box!

Team Tribble
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I was fishing at the lake right there. I took the day off becasuse it was the first time they opened the lake due to wind. After a few hours of fishing they closed the lake and kick us out because there were worried that they would need to use the lake for water to combat that fire. Waste of a day for me. Glad they stopped the fire though.

Your silkies are cute my girldfriend wants some, she wants the fizzled kind. where did you get yours from?

 

[Sylvester017]

I was fishing at the lake right there. I took the day off becasuse it was the first time they opened the lake due to wind. After a few hours of fishing they closed the lake and kick us out because there were worried that they would need to use the lake for water to combat that fire. Waste of a day for me. Glad they stopped the fire though.

Your silkies are cute my girldfriend wants some, she wants the fizzled kind. where did you get yours from?

We special ordered from a home breeder in Santa Ana. Because we wanted DNA-sexed female chicks in specific colors we had a 9-month wait before Buckaboo Farm had our order ready for pickup. We had to drive from L.A. County to Santa Ana in Orange County to pickup our 3 chicks. We paid $85 for each chick & the price went up again right after that. I used to pay up to $145 for DNA chicks in Riverside but that breeder is gone now. Specialty breeders are expensive but we aren't zoned for roosters so we had to go the DNA-sexed route to get female-only Silkies.

This is our Santa Ana breeder who has Bearded, Non-bearded, Frizzled, Satin, Laced Satin, & Showgirl Silkies plus many other standard & bantam birds. Be aware special orders can take weeks/months.

https://buckaboofarm.com/shop-chickens/

We opted for standard Bearded & Non-bearded Silkies cuz Frizzled don't do that well in inclement weather w/ feathers curled away from their skin. Our standard Bearded & Non-bearded do very well in our backyard.

1 old Dominique hen & 5 Silkies in our yard

Non-bearded Moorhead Silkie

Blue (gray) Silkie

Dark Partridge (gold collar w/ speckled gold wing tips)

Silver Partridge & Buff-Blue Partridge

 

[greylee]

Any ideas of what to do with roosters? I'm considering ordering straight run for the first time but want to have a plan for what to do with roosters. Last time I got an accidental rooster I just kept him, but I don't have the capacity to have multiple males.

I don't care if someone takes them for the stew pot, I just want it to be done humanely. I am not capable of doing that myself though.

I also want to make sure that no one wants them for cockfighting (or is that only certain breeds that are good for that?

So what have been your solutions for excess roos?

 

[Sylvester017]

Any ideas of what to do with roosters? I'm considering ordering straight run for the first time but want to have a plan for what to do with roosters. Last time I got an accidental rooster I just kept him, but I don't have the capacity to have multiple males.

I don't care if someone takes them for the stew pot, I just want it to be done humanely. I am not capable of doing that myself though.

I also want to make sure that no one wants them for cockfighting (or is that only certain breeds that are good for that?

So what have been your solutions for excess roos?

Any breed roosters can be used for cock-fighting cuz the non-fighting breeds are allowed to be killed by the fighting cocks to instill bloodlust & skill in the fighter breed. Basically unwanted roos are used as bait

Too much heartache w/straight run chicks! My suggestion for what it's worth is that you order auto-sexed chickens where female & male chicks are identified by color when hatched & all barred/cuckoo pattern breeds are auto-sexing as well. SoCalif has very little outlets for unwanted cockerels. To avoid cockerel chicks in the past we got auto-sexed cuckoo Dominique chicks which turned out great ~ outgoing unafraid chirpy chicks w/ calm adult temperaments.

Auto-sexing breeds list ~ too many for me to list individually ~ there are some neat breeds & the Cream Legbar hen lays blue eggs:

https://www.cacklehatchery.com/22-autosex-breeds-of-chickens-and-geese/

 

[greylee]

Any breed roosters can be used for cock-fighting cuz the non-fighting breeds are allowed to be killed by the fighting cocks to instill bloodlust & skill in the fighter breed. Basically unwanted roos are used as bait

Too much heartache w/straight run chicks! My suggestion for what it's worth is that you order auto-sexed chickens where female & male chicks are identified by color when hatched & all barred/cuckoo pattern breeds are auto-sexing as well. SoCalif has very little outlets for unwanted cockerels. To avoid cockerel chicks in the past we got auto-sexed cuckoo Dominique chicks which turned out great ~ outgoing unafraid chirpy chicks w/ calm adult temperaments.
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Auto-sexing breeds list ~ too many for me to list individually ~ there are some neat breeds & the Cream Legbar hen lays blue eggs:

https://www.cacklehatchery.com/22-autosex-breeds-of-chickens-and-geese/

I've just had my heart set on a few breeds for awhile and nearby places are only selling them as straight run.

I know large scale hatcheries sell sexed chicks but I've always felt uncomfortable ordering from the large places because I wonder how their chickens are treated.