Reviews by winteree

well I have a white Cornish rooster that i wish i had killed a very long time ago. This is one of the worst roosters i think i have ever owned. I got hellion for $10 As a package deal with a black Sumatra off of CL that i ended up having to put down because of him.
Pros: hellion is a good mater he leaves no hen's needs "unattended" to and he has on more then one occasion taken on (and won) a dog three times his size.

now for the cons: This bird compared with the stories of other peoples cornishes doesn't fit he is very bird and human aggressive. He jumps and pecks for my face every time i bend down to fill the feeder or waterier. And he attacks the other chickens on the roost if they roost before him i have watched him more then once pull his pen mates off the roost by her tail or neck feathers this lead to a another hen (my only black Sumatra Watson) having to be put down when she hit the floor at a bad angle and broke her hip. I have tried for several months to get him a new home but no bites. so hellion will be meeting Jesus on Saturday i finally got the ok to cull him after he attacked my dad. I'm tried of trying to train him not to attack me he has over stayed his welcome by several months.

This is the sweetest birds ever (towards humans) both come when it looks like you may have treats or feed or just to see what I'm doing leading her to nearly die at just 2 months old from jumping within inches of my table saw blade (while it was on). Takes confinement and free ranging well unlike some of my flock which i love because their are some days i don't get home till all most 7 or later and free ranging just wouldn't be practical. When i started free ranging she was on the roost at 5:34 most of the flock followed suit after wards. i wanted to get a whole flock of Rhodie island reds but i just couldn't make it happen so i got five chicks at my feed store two of them being brown and it turns out they where new Hampshire's my favorite is baby girl they both eat from my hand but she is my only layer at the moment and loves to be petted . She has been laying for almost 2 weeks she did miss a day but she does lay very consistently.

Now for the cons

Despite my best efforts this baby girl WILL NOT lay inside the nest boxes leading me to have to step very carefully in the coop as not to break the egg until i find it, even though ideal has the eggs layed by this breed as large. The only eggs i get from baby girl are bantam sized and i know she lays them because i have watched her do so and because she lets off the most god awful horrible "chicken being eaten alive by a coyote" Noises up to an hour before laying said egg. leading me to believe for 2 straight weeks that something was after my chickens in the coop and hurting my self getting out to the coop to see her arranging hay in her "today" nesting spot
Baby girl was originally named big boy her comb and waddles grew so huge in such a short time (full comb and waddles at 12 weeks) we thought she was a rooster i even had a ad here on BYC saying such for about a month. Baby girl and works (my other new Hampshire) are both super sweet to people so much so i would be happy to show them to my nephews and nieces but to other birds is a different story i have a single brown campine and white leghorn they both will not stop picking at their breast and tail feathers not to mention they peck at them constantly if either one roosts to close to them no blood has ever been drawn but i don't like it. And for some reason they both will not stop treating the bantam half of the flock like chicks i caught baby girl trying to shove one of my white bantams under her wing of course it doesn't help that i have extra small bantams.


here are some pics of baby girl and works (Bottom to top)

I got watson with as package deal on CL with a horrible rooster that i can't seem to be able to get rid of. She reminds me of a lap cat most of the time she will let me pet her if that **** rooster doesn't go for my face She is completely beautiful in the sunlight her feathers are black but in the light they look like a deep green or blue. She has come to aid of both chicks and other chickens that where getting picked on by hellion more then once.
Now for the cons

watson has a perminate home here but i have no idea how to keep her in the yard when i let them out to forage i want her to be able to forage outside with no cages etc with the other birds but i have tried staying in the yard when they forage i have tried clipping one then both of her flight feathers on her wings but i still have to jump the fence every time to get her back in my yard. Her temperament is rare even for most birds in general in the coop but the second that coop door opens she turns into a scared cat if a duck happens to quack in the wrong tone she lets off the "hawk squawk" as my grams would call it sending all the chickens for the coop and her flying over the fence.
and now my main pet peeve she is around 32 weeks old and no eggs she has been swatting and letting the roosters mount her for almost a month and not one egg.

I love this waterier i can only say it over and over again. I had a 1 gallon waterier for my 5 anacona ducks and i was changing it almost every 4 hours needless to say i needed a bigger waterier after going through the reviews of other more expensive waterier i thought their was no hope they all seemed to have the same problems with crappy handles and bad rubber seals. So i started to look for a larger flip over waterier after all i raised all my birds on flip over waterier why change something that works and i came a cross this one on amazon it had one good one bad review i was desperate so i bought it. I have had it for one week and it is doing very well.

This waterier is about 18 inches tall the base is screwed to the top with three tab openings that fit three tabs on the reservoir itself all three must be locked in before the waterier is turned over or you will get very wet. The weight on this waterier is very nice (about 15-20lbs) i don't have to go put on my lifting belt to fill this one like i had to with the 7 gallon waterier's my grams had and if I'm fast i don't need a pad for the handle when i carry it (full) a cross the yard but that is a complaint i do have i would like the handle to have a pad of some kind instead of being straight metal like a bucket. Best of all this is nothing special that has to be done it get this waterier to hold water (as long as the ground is level) just fill, screw on the base, and flip over. I still have to change the water for my ducks every day but compared with the 4-6 times or so a day i was doing before i can handle that. If this waterier keeps doing this well i will be getting two more for my other birds

This electrolyte formula helped me bring a rooster back from the brink. I like the fact that this formula is good for ducklings, chicks and poults this is also pre-measured for gallon waterier which i have. I bought this for $4 the electrolytes themselves where only .25 cents but shipping was $3.99. I would have bought more but then i would have had to pay $3.99 for each packet of 3. My only complaint is that my feed store doesn't have it.

I don't like the fact that Purina won't make a layer feed for ducks or a starter feed for turkeys but i have been using the medicated chick crumbles for about 8-10 weeks since my grams old flocks a few years ago but the younger day old chicks seem to have issues eating a crumble whole. While the older chicks seem to think it's fun to knock their feeders over and this stuff looks just to much like the dirt to try and save. It sucks that the economy is so bad i just to be able to buy a 50lb bag for $12 but now i would be lucky to get away with paying $16. The older chicks haven't been eating as much feed as much as they had been(i'm guessing because of the heat). But as far as i know the feed isn't outdated and i will feed this to them until i can afford something better.

This waterier is good for chicks but you must use marbles or risk them drowning. This is also good for calmer bantams as i have been using this waterier for my 17 week old bantams since they where 7 weeks old. The only reason i bought this waterier for my bantams and my new chicks is because they where not metal, where very cheap and washable. But this can't be used for shows and have to be put on level ground or else they will empty themselves. They have almost no weight to them so they are knocked over very easily i would save your money and get something bigger. this thing gets dirty in a matter of minutes.

while this waterier does have a good size for water capacity and isn't easily knocked over it doesn't have a carrying handle which is really starting to get on my nerves. I know it may not matter to some people who get their kids or family members to do the chicken chores but i am a one (wo) man show. I don't have a good grip to begin with and this thing keeps slipping out of my hands when i have to clean a half full waterier because the filling tray at the bottom is so dirty the water won't flow i don't have money to keep throwing at replacement bottoms.

And speaking of flow issues if the top not screwed on tight enough when the waterier is flipped over the top comes off and water goes everywhere but if the top is screwed on too tight the water comes out at a slow breakneck pace that barely fills the bottom filling tray leaving you to wonder if the chickens can drink from water that is no higher then a Millimeter. I refill the water daily because of where we live and the real possibility of algae in the wateriers and this thing is dirty every day sometimes minutes after i fill it the bottom try is just to big and chickens too dirty to keep clean until a good amount of water is consumed for the waterier not to be that heavy.

Futher more break out the leveler you will need it with this waterier if this waterier isn't 110% level it will over flow.

I got these hatching egg's from harriedhomemaker's sale page and the eggs where $2.50 each but for some reason this page will not let me do anything number wise in the cent area. NPIP cert is a big thing in my house and the price was unbeatable. I hatched out 5 ducklings out of 6 egg's they had 100% fertility but #6 piped on the wrong end into a vein. They are nice to their hatch mates which is more then i can say from some no-name breeds i had in the past that killed each other in the brooder.

I can not say this enough GET A BROODER WITH TALL WALLS!! These little fuzz balls think they are wood ducks and will pile on top of each other to climb and jump over the brooder walls on to the floor i almost lost a duckling this afternoon because of it (not from injury but from a Terrier mix). Picking up these little guys is a two handed affair they hate being picked up they will kick "peck" at you anything to jump out of your hands be careful. Every little noise sets these ducklings into a peeping frenzy so i haven't gotten allot of sleep during lock down or since they have been hatched so these are definitely outdoor brooder ducklings. If you are going to brood these ducklings indoors be warned they are very messy i had to set up a rig feeding station to keep the brooder dry they love to fling water.

It has been a 28 weeks since they where born and no behavior change they are still as skittish as the day they hatched so go figure