Just some spring notes as we're thinking ahead . . . from our experience with chickens so far:
1. Americanas don't seem to be very winter hardy, or maybe very hardy in general. Our remaining Americanas are always roosting in the hen house towards late afternoon on cold days, they frequently are all fluffed up and just looking cold. This is the only breed we've had trouble with a prolapse on too. The breed is so interesting to look at and very friendly, and you can get so many different colors, but probably not one we'll be getting more of.
2. Red Stars (also called Red Sex-Link, they are easily identified as male or female by their markings as chicks), in our experience, is a very "picky" breed. Ours "pick" on everyone . . . we have very few hens that have full tails because of them. In fact, some have no tails and some have few feathers in their rump too. We've seen them pick right in front of us, that's just not a nice trait to have. They lay nice, brown, uniform eggs, but needless to say, there won't be any more Red Stars here.3. Australorps are a very interesting breed, they make a noise that isn't usual for chickens, kind of like a "honk". They are very friendly birds as long as you don't want to pick them up (they don't seem to need to be picked up and would prefer to follow you around). One of our friendliest hens right now is an Australorp named Peep who meets us at the doors to our house and is happy to follow us just about anywhere.
4. Rhode Island Reds seem to be an okay bird. We have two of them, neither is real friendly, one picks, the other doesn't. The jury is still out on them.
5. Buff Orpingtons are supposed to be very nice, calm, happy chickens. We have one. She is the low-chicken on the totem pole and maybe that would explain her behavior. She is loud, fast, and mean (to us, in picking at us when we get too close, although if you pick her up, she is fine). The jury is still out on that breed too.
6. Silkies are wonderful. They are little walking puffballs, but they are rather noisy. If you tame them as chicks (it's hard not to), they are little sweeties. We have 4 full-blood Silkie hens, 2 full-blood Silkie roosters, 1 half-Silkie hen and 1 half-Silkie rooster. No picking of feathers goes on with this bunch. Our Silkies have a hen house of their own with our Nankins. They lay nice medium eggs, but are often broody.
7. Nankins are delightful little tiny pet-like chickens. They are so interesting to watch and lay small eggs and are also often broody. We have 1 full-blood Nankin and 1 Silkie-Nankin, both are really cool to look at! They are tiny, so they have to be with other small banties, and they don't want to be picked up but will happily roost on your hand. A very neat breed, that I think is one of the rare types. Worth having, we will probably be getting more of these. If you get some (and have a rooster), let the hen sit on eggs at least once (the tiniest of chicks comes out of them!).
So, that's all we have time for right now . . . just a few thoughts on our bunch!
