Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I went with OEG bantams because they are a small bird and the rooster's crow isn't that loud, the hens lay a good size egg for the size of the bird and they are good brouders, they are proly twice the size of a table quale. i have two roosters and i live in subberbs, the wife said i cant have any more than two. but i would like to have a few different colour variations. I think they are a great choock for the small back yard.

Not really. If you work it out right, then you get an egg supply and the extra eggs get sold to work collegues and the money goes into buying food for the chooks..a nice closed loop.

Lately we have gotten into making our own pasta, so a few extra eggs get used. Include that along with other baking and our 6 plus a couple of bantams are just about right.

Himzo.

BTW, can you change your avatar, it's making me jealous

How about Indian Runner ducks?
They have loads of character, great layers and mostly quite.
I have two ducks and a drake in my suburban backyard.

I've been told they are the dumb blonde of the duck world, but very entertaining to watch

yep,
They are not the smartest chicken in the coup.

Good to know you have these Scott, maybe we can organise an egg swap some time down the track. (when i get a new rooster, or are they butterflies now? )

Himzo.

I have considered this and if you wish to close the loop as you say it is a good option. I am on a suburban block however so am space limited and at this stage wanted to just run enough layers to feed us so they can reside in a tractor. After all, I need space to set my Lucas up

No Chance

Well after visiting this site I found out I do not have leghorns but have White Plymouth Rock hens.
http://www.omlet.co.uk/breeds/breeds.ph ... mouth+Rock
and my black and red chickens are welsummers(or at least mostly)
The plymouth rocks lay less eggs and are brown instead of white but they are a better utility/meat chicken. And half of what I need to possibly breed some fast growing hybrids. I finally found some sources for Standard White Cornish Roosters.
http://homesteadhatchery.com/index.php? ... cts_id=113
http://www.hoffmanhatchery.com/chicks.html
Standard white cornish chickens are not very large chickens at all but are very wide breasted. Whole chicken is flat and wide with a really wide stance and really thick legs. About 8 years ago I had some white cornish bantams and they matured very quickly just didn't get big at all. In fact it is one of the smallest bantams. But anyway I plan on getting some in the spring to grow out and try to produce some of my own fast growing hybrids. I know they will not compete with the 50+ years breeders have been perfecting their product but by hybriding alone should produce a faster growing larger bird than both parents much like when you cross a mallard with a muscovie you end up with this really large greenhead mulie. Larger than both parents. I know the breeders use what they call a double cross (excuse the pun) to get their hybrids but the original was simplly a Rock/cornish cross. I believe the breeders use the double cross (four grand parents) more to make the chicks unable to reproduce the high quality hybrid much like what monsanto does with seeds. But paralell to this they were doing breed improvements but the main purpose was so the average joe couldn't easily breed fast growing hybrids. Which is why White Cornish Standards are so darned hard to come by.
These are just my thoughts a plans, Please comment!

Yea!!! got my first egg!!! And another hen setting in a different slot!!! So they are getting used to their new hen house.
And it is brown so it's confirmed my hens are White Rocks. Fixing to go to the feed store and order the Cornish standards, they won't come in until February though. Min. 25 order yuk, but there it is! I don't know what I going to do with my two roosters, Red and Byron. Kinda grew attached to those guys. They are a little younger than the hens and haven't started crowing yet. I watched them play fight a little so I guess it's comming

Make that two eggs
I just came back from the feed store and got some more oyster grit and ordered the straight run Cornish standards and a couple Kahki Campbell duck hens. I heard they were good layers and my lonely drake would get some company.

I have a couple of Silkies batums, ( Maureen and Moonbeam). No Rooster.
They lay an egg each a day for about 6 weeks then they get really broody and stop laying.
1 of the locals breed show quality Seabrites both golden and silver breeds, so I collect a dozen fertile eggs from him and let the girls do their thing. after about another 6 weeks the girls start laying again.
Food is a Commercial grain mix with some layer pellets which I add more Sunflower, Niger, canola seeds too, They also get food scraps and added grass.
Silkies are a flightless bird and quite affectinate, not a day goes by when they don't come up for a pat (unless their broody then they'll peck you if you get too close and after the chicks have hatched you can't get close them), they have a small secure enclosure 4m x 2m which they can roam around any time plus I have a movable 10m x 10m fenced enclosure which I let them free range in.

Inside the 10 x 10 enclosure is one of my compost/mulching piles resides which they love scratching through getting the bugs and worms. ( When they are not broody ) These hens get broody often and can sit on eggs 3 days at a time before getting off for about 5-10 minutes to have a drink and feed before sitting back on the eggs for another few days.

Cheers
Ron

Picked 4 eggs Tuesday, 5 eggs Wednesday, and 8 eggs Today

I picked another 8 eggs today.
We only eat a dozen and a half a week may try selling some at work to offset feed costs.

I like the Australorps redish brown eggs, Bared Rock lite brown eggs, and Araucanas /Americanas green/blue/brown eggs, these 3 are good layers and good meat birds, and are good broody/setting hens and good mommas. and the different colored eggs from them look good mixed together in a basket......

I have had a lot of various breeds over the years from buying the bargan mixed breed deals, and have found these 3 to be the best of them all...... so i only buy these 3 now, when i dont have any setting.

RS

Young rooster finally found his voice and thank goodness it's low and hoarse. He's just in the backyard but sounds like he's crowing from a distance He's still not the ruler of the roost yet although he giving the hens hell. The one large hen gets fed up with him and flares up her neck feathers and chases him around the coop. He's a couple months younger and not all the hens acknowlege him to be in charge yet!