Silver Grey Dorking

[Doozerdoo]

Not a Spanish hon, how many toes does this chicken have? Age ? Have feelers out to see what it is, but all say no way a white faced black Spanish . Anxious to find out !

[Equilibrium]

biig> Chicken expert (gulp.... I do have a good vet who's an expert.... that should count). I can tell the difference between the males and females though and that's an accomplishment for me since I've never had dorkings before. Say.... flattery will get you everywhere though. Do you want me to bring you a few dorkings when we come visit you this fall? I'll have 2 extra females and an unrelated male from different lines that I could bring you. These aren't good layers.... they're meat birds but they'd be "safe" around your grandchildren and you'd get enough fertile eggs from the females that you'd be able to hatch out your own chicks. The females would be 6 mos old by then and the male would be 5 mos old by then. The females were from Murray McMurray Hatchery and the males were from a private breeder.... the males have the better "gene" pool but for meat.... it doesn't really matter whether any chicks are show qualtiy or not... just matters whether they're from decent breeding lines is all. You're welcome to em otherwise they're going to 4H kids. These chicks are fitting in well here!!! We like dorks!!! Our kids were all dorks... dweebs.... or geeks and so are we so I guess it's dorks for dorks!!!
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Doozer> You're kidding!!! I spent hours and hours and hours and hours looking at photos from the feather site and just about every where else trying to figure out what that liitle turd was and I was so sure I'd pegged it by process of elimination. That chick came as my "freebie" from Murray McMurray Hatchery. They always send a free pure bred chick when you place an order for 25. What ever it is.... I'm pretty sure it's a cockerel and I'm pretty sure it has a temperament that's not gonna fly over here. This bird has been handled from day 1 and it's still a dick. It doesn't like being picked up and will march right over to your hand and peck you and even after you pick it up and pet it.... it's still pecking at you and giving you dirty looks. From day 1 that bird was more alert and considerably more coordinated than the dorkings and by the 2nd week even people who weren't familiar with chickens could spot that developmentally it was leaps and bounds ahead of the other chicks. It fights with the other chicks. Overall.... I'd rate this chick a 0 on s scale of 1-10. You wouldn't want this with your grandsons.... it's too much bird for kids and my bet is it's gonna grow up to be like 1 of those street birds you see people cockfighting with. I'll start another thread with the photos I've got of it and PLEASE pass the link out to your friends. I want to know what it is. If your friends can't figure out what it is.... I'll post it at a good website Bulu turned me onto. I registered over there and maybe 1 of their members will know what it is. I was gonna send it to freezer camp because I really don't want a chick with such an aggressive personality but.... maybe not if it's something a 4H kid could use.

[biigblueyes]

I appreciate the offer, (and would be grateful) but let the 4-H ers have the chickens. I can get chickens - in fact Dad picked up a dozen for me and has them with his. I'm waiting for a fence and a coop first.

[Equilibrium]

There's this 1 4H mom who called me asking for spares her kid could buy.... I hadn't committed to her since I was having problems with this batch from getting a few too many blasts of icy cold air in transit but I will. I'm charging her kid $3.50 each for the pullets and $10 for the cockerel because that's what I paid for them vaccinated. The Mom said I had to charge her kid at least what I had into em and I understand that I think. They're taking a baby bunny from us for free though. I guess free was ok on the rabbit since we own the parents>>>?
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Soooooo.... you're entering the world of cluckers, eh? I think they're a lot like soggy gardening.... once you start... you never go back!!! It's totally addicting. You will love your chickens!!! Are you going over and handling the 1s that are gonna be yours? What kind are you getting? Can you start the coop and run down by you now or is it already too darn hot to work?

[Doozerdoo]

Lib, how many toes does that bird have? It is a Roo, no doubt about that, just waiting on toe count. My buddies have Spanish and say no, but I have not heard back yet on what the verdict is. Big blue eyes how exciting, can not wait to see you all set up for your chickens!

[biigblueyes]

My problem is a hubby who feels doing that stuff is his job, but he has no "start" button. If I lived near Dad, I wouldn't worry, knowing if an animal showed up, it would have suitable shelter by the weekend. I can't depend on that with hubby. I'm not sure how long I can resist the temptation to put an ad on craigslist to BUY one. I'm sure we'll go see Dad for father's day, and I'll really want to take those chickens home with me on that trip.

I'm pretty sure Dad told me that mine were some with "foofs" on the top of their heads. I'm not sure if he knows the variety. He got them from a feed store, so I can probably find out if he doesn't know. His last batch were a red "meat" variety. He has the name of those. I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard to convince him to give me a mix from his assorted batches.

Hot - oh yeah. I went out at 7 to pull grass and came in dripping from sweat. 94 % humidity, high today is 93 - cooler today because it's cloudy. Heat index chart says 90 degrees at 90% feels like 119, 93 degrees at 90% feels like 136. I dunno. All I know is I'm stinky right now. Going back outside to molest more weeds.

[Equilibrium]

biig> My husband's start button works really good if.... he's feeling ok and there's no crappola hitting the fan at his work. If your coop's not built by October.... maybe me and hava can help you. I'm getting pretty good at pounding stakes and they let me use a nail gun when we were building our coop.... whooooo hoooo!!! I was happening. I know how to set insulation and they taught me the basics of framing windows. Ummm.... doors.... I screwed ours up and a carpenter had to fix it. Tar paper I got down pat. Shingles... I didn't do those but they can't be that hard. Other than that.... I'm sure between the 3 of us we could get something going!!!
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Doozer> The answer to your toes question, What breed of chicken am I?

[biigblueyes]

Hubby spent all afternoon planning. One trip to town to look at supplies and chicken books. Back home to do more research for plans on the computer. Finally I called Mom and told her I needed to talk to a Chicken Coop Architect. Dad called back and I handed the phone to hubby. Another trip to town and we have most of the supplies. It will be a coop and a run. 4 x 4 x 12 run with a 4 x 6 single story coop raised 2 feet off the ground at the end.

Get this - my chickens will have a vinyl siding house. I think it's funny.

[Equilibrium]

I planned for like a year and then I started planning all over again. I envy someone who can button down all the planning in like 1 weekend. Even after I planned I deliberated over building materials. So many choices.... so little time.
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I like sooooo wanted to use a nail gun again.... your husband is depriving me. Just funnin with ya. Those dimensions sound good. You'll be able to buy standard bird netting if you need it. Are you going to plant around the run and coop or just leave lawn running to it?
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See.... now I like the look of vinyl siding. It makes chicken coops look like little doll houses. I just begrudged getting forced to use it on our chicken coop because of building codes and covenants.

[biigblueyes]

Oh man, there are about a zillion choices!!! He decided on a chicken tractor. No wheels, but the original meaning - when the grass is gone, pull it somewhere else with a tractor. He put it on 16' skids - 2 x 4's. The roof was going to hinge up, but it will be too tall for me, so the door will be on the side instead. The roof over the nest boxes will hinge up.

The neighbors are scratching their heads trying to figure out what he's building! And when they finally ask and he tells them a chicken tractor, you should see the looks he gets!

I need nest box input. Dimensions of the next box apartment is 1 ft x 4 ft. How many boxes do I divide it into? He planned on 4. Everything I'm reading says they share next boxes. Do I need to have fewer, wider ones? Or is about a foot wide a good size?