Thagirion
Budgies are best
Starting this thread after seeing the questions about chickens in the mail order thread. As some of you know I'm the bird nut here. I have and have had many birds over the years and am still a breeder of the smaller parrots. I have been wanting chickens for quite some time now and two years ago I placed an order with My Pet Chicken and have been extremely pleased. I actually picked up two baby Rhode Island Reds from a local feed store that I named Henrietta and The Cheeper.
Here are my two girls sleeping. They were so little back then! Weeks later I decided I wanted special breeds. My Pet Chicken allows a minimum of three chicks which is nice because most other places want a minimum of 25 and that's too much for most backyard chicken owners. So I ordered three Easter Eggers and three Black Copper Marans. Easter Eggers lay colored eggs. Each chicken lays only one color. But you can get blue, green or pink eggs. The Black Copper Marans have the darkest eggs of all breeds. They are called dark chocolate eggs. So I wanted a natural Easter basket every day once my girls got old enough. I made a video of the day my sweet babies arrived. Chris helped film me getting them out.
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I wish I had taken pics but at the time my photo camera was also my video camera. I do have pics of the chicks though. I named the Easter Eggers: Raptor, Gamma and Mocha. The Marans wer named: Zucca, Expresso and Omega
Omega by Thagirion3, on Flickr
Zucca close by Thagirion3, on Flickr
Gamma or Mocha by Thagirion3, on Flickr
Raptor close by Thagirion3, on Flickr
Here are some of the eggs I got. They start to lay eggs around 6 months. Waiting for that first egg is really hard once the date gets close. As for my Easter Eggers I ended up with Raptor and Mocha being blue egg layers and Gamma a pink egg layer.
Naturally colored chicken eggs by Thagirion3, on Flickr
And the Marans eggs.
Black Copper Marans eggs by Thagirion3, on Flickr
Not as dark as they could be but still pretty dark compared to the normal Rhode Island Reds. I'll stop here. I need to go let them out now and feed my flock and tend my plants. But I will add more to this later. I have pics of them growing up and now as adults. They are wonderful pets and Henrietta has become quite the demanding dominant flock leader. She's special and spoiled.
Here are my two girls sleeping. They were so little back then! Weeks later I decided I wanted special breeds. My Pet Chicken allows a minimum of three chicks which is nice because most other places want a minimum of 25 and that's too much for most backyard chicken owners. So I ordered three Easter Eggers and three Black Copper Marans. Easter Eggers lay colored eggs. Each chicken lays only one color. But you can get blue, green or pink eggs. The Black Copper Marans have the darkest eggs of all breeds. They are called dark chocolate eggs. So I wanted a natural Easter basket every day once my girls got old enough. I made a video of the day my sweet babies arrived. Chris helped film me getting them out.
<object width= "500" height="409"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/p7TzcyoDbBM&ap=%2526fmt%3D18&rel=0&color1=0x05555F&color2=0x01DEF9&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/p7TzcyoDbBM&ap=%2526fmt%3D18&rel=0&color1=0x05555F&color2=0x01DEF9&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="500" height="409"></embed></object>
I wish I had taken pics but at the time my photo camera was also my video camera. I do have pics of the chicks though. I named the Easter Eggers: Raptor, Gamma and Mocha. The Marans wer named: Zucca, Expresso and Omega
Omega by Thagirion3, on Flickr
Zucca close by Thagirion3, on Flickr
Gamma or Mocha by Thagirion3, on Flickr
Raptor close by Thagirion3, on Flickr
Here are some of the eggs I got. They start to lay eggs around 6 months. Waiting for that first egg is really hard once the date gets close. As for my Easter Eggers I ended up with Raptor and Mocha being blue egg layers and Gamma a pink egg layer.
Naturally colored chicken eggs by Thagirion3, on Flickr
And the Marans eggs.
Black Copper Marans eggs by Thagirion3, on Flickr
Not as dark as they could be but still pretty dark compared to the normal Rhode Island Reds. I'll stop here. I need to go let them out now and feed my flock and tend my plants. But I will add more to this later. I have pics of them growing up and now as adults. They are wonderful pets and Henrietta has become quite the demanding dominant flock leader. She's special and spoiled.