Reviews by ochochicas

Almost a year ago I purchased a flock of one year old unrelated legbars that came from a large breeder.

The hens are not friendly or sociable. They are avid foragers to the point of being neurotic and will dig and scratch everything in the yard. The rooster was so mean that he didn't last long before he had to be culled. The hens are quiet and are generally not aggressive to the other birds.

The Legbar eggs are XL to jumbo in size. They are a pale blue, not that pretty, and the shells are rough. After a year of raising/breeding these birds, I found that there are inherent problems with genetics and egg quality that make the eggs difficult to hatch. The few pullets I have been able to hatch from this flock lay white or tinted egg instead of blue. Despite the outward appearance of the hens and the price I paid for them, it is obvious that there is mixed genetics going on with them and they are not homozygous for blue egg genes.

As my hens approach 2 years old, they are already not laying well. They took the entire winter off to molt (3 - 4 months). Now their shells are extremely thin; the eggs are not suitable for hatching or for selling for eating. They are in a coop with other breeds of hens eating the same diet, so I doubt their lack of productivity is a result of their environment. The hens weigh an average of 4 pounds, so they are not good dual purpose birds.

In the end I think I was sold defective birds that the breeder probably knowingly culled from the flock due to mixed breeding and genetic problems. My birds are classic cream colored and have beautiful crests. The crests are the best thing about the birds. I wish now that I could get rid of the legbars, but I would never sell "defective" birds to someone just to pass my problem on to someone else. I even offered to give them away to a neighbor, and she didn't want them.

Our flock has two Australorp hens that came from different sources. They are both very friendly. In addition, they are quiet, calm birds that get along with everyone else in the flock. One hen lays large eggs, about 5 per week. Her eggs are brown, but when the bloom dries they look pinkish-purple. The other hen lays about four extra-large eggs weekly that are nearly white. They are football shaped and have two pointy ends. They are so long it is hard to get them in an egg carton.

My only complaint about the Australorps is that they are rather generic looking. They all look the same. We had to put leg bands on them in order to tell them apart.

This fall we decided to hatch a mix of eggs from our flock. We ended up with two black Ameraucana/Australorp pullets. We did not play with them as much since they just don't have the cute coloring like the others. Nevertheless, the Australorp pullets are the friendliest of the batch. They are the first ones to run up to you and want to be petted. One of them (we call her Black Magic) jumps up and will sit in your lap for hours. Very nice girls despite being non-exciting colors.

One of our hens did go broody last year. We bought some fertile eggs and let her hatch them. She did the bare minimum but was not the best mom. She left the chicks when they were 5 weeks old and they were not well integrated into the flock.

I do recommend Australorps to anyone who wants friendly birds that are good layers and foragers.

We are lucky enough to have two red star hens. One is coming up on a year old, and the other one is almost 4 years old. They often lay 7 eggs per week, and there are several months this year where they have laid every single day. The eggs are a rich tan color and are always in the XL to Jumbo size range. The older hen's shells are becoming thinner, and she was egg bound a few months ago. She pulled through and is laying 4 to 5 eggs per week despite her age and the fact that it is the middle of winter.

The younger one we purchased at a feed store. She was always very friendly and would jump on your back in the yard to take a ride. She is very active and loves to free range in the yard. Both of the hens tend to pick on the smaller/younger/weaker pullets. Other than that, they are perfect chickens!

We got our Speckled Sussex by accident. We bought a Welsummer at the feed store and she ended up being a Sussex. Very slow to grow and feather out, but when she did she is a beautiful, heavy bird. She loves to free-range and wanders way out in the field by herself. We worry a predator will get her, but so far she has either been lucky or smarter than they are.

Eggs are very lightly tinted. Hen has laid consistently all winter, about 4 or 5 eggs per week. One of the main complaints I have is the eggs are small to medium in size. She is also a very vocal bird and extremely loud. I don't think she'd do well being confined all day because she was squawk all day long. Nice, friendly bird though. She enjoys being picked up and carried around the yard.

Despite the small egg size, we hatched four of them this winter and all the chick are doing great!

Easy to use with detailed instructions included in the box. The thermostat is a little hard to install if you have never done it before, but after some trail and error it finally goes together. My first time owning an incubator and I had a great hatch rate.