I also concur that chickens are the greatest. How the old blues song go. c is how you begin h is for what you've heard i the next letter in c is for the bird k is the filling in e is near the n and that's the way you spell chicken
Yes the reds are great birds. Friendly moderate intelligence. Good tasting roasters. Old Sven was hawked-alized this year. He was six. A number of years back he flew out of the chicken yard crossed the road and came to the kitchen door to get me, in the dark mind you, because a coon had managed to get through the electric fence. He was a great bird but a poor lover - he'd stand on the hen looking to see who was next. We lost big Bertha this year also. She was the big hen Linda could pick-up for kids to pet. Goldy the Buff Orpington is getting better at it. They are also very friendly. I will plug having many heritage breeds, yes one needs to do ones part in keeping a good breed going locally. But that only takes one roaster and 5 - 6 of those hens. The variety are fun and great for the public to comprehend the vastness of agri Culture. For good press some polish babes are a must. Our Silver Crested Polish, Sarafiena has her picture in a national art book "Back Roads of Wisconsin" and prime bit of film on the local tube and just recently center page in a Wisconsin ag mag "Agraview" - (we had a very nice pic of ourselves in the full page spread and a small paragraph on BD.) She is one of the smartest animals I have ever meet. When she was 4 weeks old she learned & eventualy taught a group of fellow chicks that if they listened for the snap of the electric mesh fence the had 59.5 sec to run through! Stay a way from the Iowa Blues unless you like though cockerrooses. When we butchered the roasters I joke their gonads would be bigger then their hearts - They Where! We had a pair of Speckled English Sussexxs gals who thought they'd go wild. The first one came home with 6 inches of snow. The second waited for the blizzard and had to "swim" to the road cut. We feed mainly whole grain. 2/3 wheat. It's at good price and generaly in better condition then barley which tends to have greater fungal infections. The barley I soak for a day and drain a bit and pour it in a plastic sled. The gals tend it till it is just to their liking and eat it up. I do this outside in warm weather, in the coop in winter. The wheat they eat readily strait. I feed meat and fat scraps weekly - more in the winter. Pumpkins all winter, with some nettles and confrey with hay. When they are laying heavy some Highland hamburger - I make $3 a dozen on the eggs. Yes more fresh greens from the co-op waste bin in the winter make huge difference. In Love & Light Markess
