Normal Flock Size?

[micah O]

does any one here own isa browns because im am buying them and would like some info

 

[ChickenCurt]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/...island-red-female-and-rhode-island-white-male

 

[AussieHens96]

does any one here own isa browns because im am buying them and would like some info 

Isa browns are technically a cross breed between a dozen or so breeds, bred specifically for laying eggs. Short of an Australorp they are probably one of the best layers.

They certainly have very flamboyant personalities. Our two always are the first to run up to us for food, will wait at our back step if they know we are there or will follow us around in the yard. They aren't a loud bird, not compared to a silkie or Wyandotte after laying an egg. That we learnt by experience.

However they can be, so I've been told by others, that they can be quite aggressive towards other birds. We bought ours at the start around 8 weeks old, with the rest being older. Now our two are fine. Of course any new chicks are kept separate until the two are use to them. We had three week olds running around them. They were fine but we did watch them closely, just to be safe but no they're fine. They do sit high on the pecking order.

They jump. We learnt that very quickly. One of ours we swore had leghorn in her. Anyway, we found that she could jump our back wire fence at around 1-1.5m fence. It's raised now to almost 2-2.5.

Like most breeds their egg production drops off after two years which is when most cull but can keep laying for years after, just not as much. We'll be doing that.

Out of our entire flock they do have one of the most distinct personalities. My advice, buy them as chicks or around 8 weeks and introduce slowly. They can be a bit of a bully breed but I'm not 100% sure since ours are fairly mild tempered! apart from the odd scuffle over food.

Hope this helped

 

[micah O]

Isa browns are technically a cross breed between a dozen or so breeds, bred specifically for laying eggs. Short of an Australorp they are probably one of the best layers.

They certainly have very flamboyant personalities. Our two always are the first to run up to us for food, will wait at our back step if they know we are there or will follow us around in the yard. They aren't a loud bird, not compared to a silkie or Wyandotte after laying an egg. That we learnt by experience.

However they can be, so I've been told by others, that they can be quite aggressive towards other birds. We bought ours at the start around 8 weeks old, with the rest being older. Now our two are fine. Of course any new chicks are kept separate until the two are use to them. We had three week olds running around them. They were fine but we did watch them closely, just to be safe but no they're fine. They do sit high on the pecking order.

They jump. We learnt that very quickly. One of ours we swore had leghorn in her. Anyway, we found that she could jump our back wire fence at around 1-1.5m fence. It's raised now to almost 2-2.5.

Like most breeds their egg production drops off after two years which is when most cull but can keep laying for years after, just not as much. We'll be doing that.

Out of our entire flock they do have one of the most distinct personalities. My advice, buy them as chicks or around 8 weeks and introduce slowly. They can be a bit of a bully breed but I'm not 100% sure since ours are fairly mild tempered! apart from the odd scuffle over food.

Hope this helped

Thanks you very much it has helped alot i also was wondering if there roosters are very mean as i currently have a rooster who is very skittish and will attack you even for petting one of my hens.

 

[Sylvester017]

Start small!

My bantams maintain, no matter WHAT I do, Northern Fowl Mites, which can make them bloody, scabbed, and utterly miserable if the mites get bad. Currently (since fall) I have been BOTH dusting each chickens vent with Sevin dust, and also applying 3 drops of Ivomec Pour-On to the base of each chickens skull. EVERY WEEKEND, without fail. It's the only way I can keep them (visibly) mite free.

I have to discard their eggs.

I've got our regimen down to a fast pattern, now, but--seven bantams is a lot less time and fuss than 40 standards! Start small, see what problems you encounter.

And yes, my henhouse was new, and it and run are clean; I scoop droppings every day, and wash and spray the henhouse in summer. Sparrows can squeeze through poultry netting.

In the summer, when it's hot enough, I also bathe them to knock off any I can, and spray each one with non-toxic spray, since I don't want use chemicals in the summer when I can employ gentler means. In winter, however, I can't use a wet spray on them, hence the chemicals.

(No, diatomaceous earth did not do a THING for the mites.)

If I didn't do all this work, the mites would be horrible.

Again, start small, and don't add birds to your flock without quarantine! Even then, pests can hitchhike in. Make sure you enjoy them enough to do all the work it can take.

You're doing everything possible to keep up the health of your flock. I have a 2x/month regimen of spraying all the birds with Organic Poultry Protector for lice/mite protection plus the crevices in the nestboxes/coop, and vitamin E oil leg massages for scaly mite prevention. I worm with Ivermectin 2x/year. All this I do because the wild birds (Sparrows, Mourning Doves, Finches, Phoebes, Mocking Birds, Crows, Hawks, etc) keep returning to the yard bringing all their lovely "germs." Uninformed people blame chickens for spreading diseases but they don't fly everywhere but usually forage and stay within a parameter. The way pestilences and diseases spread are either by man moving birds from location to location or wild bird populations flying around the countryside spreading their infestations to domestic poultry. You can't control the wildlife so have to take precautionary health measures to protect your flock. Can't just treat for lice once and think it will never come back - wild birds are loaded with them. I saved a fallen baby bird from its nest and it was riddled with feather lice, poor thing! Glad I had Poultry Protector.

 

[AussieHens96]

Thanks you very much it  has helped alot i also was wondering if there roosters are very mean as i currently have a rooster who is very skittish and will attack you even for petting one of my hens.

I have no isas roosters so I can't comment on that. We live in a residential area is we can't keep them,

 

[Sylvester017]

Thanks you very much it has helped alot i also was wondering if there roosters are very mean as i currently have a rooster who is very skittish and will attack you even for petting one of my hens.

Roos may be just a bit hormonal this time of year no matter what breed and they're protective of their hens if you touch them. If a roo behaves badly year-round than I would say that is one you don't want to keep - wonder if anyone else is noticing the hormonal mood going up in their normally gentle roos?

 

[Phoenixxx]

Roos may be just a bit hormonal this time of year no matter what breed and they're protective of their hens if you touch them. If a roo behaves badly year-round than I would say that is one you don't want to keep - wonder if anyone else is noticing the hormonal mood going up in their normally gentle roos?

I don't know about hormones, but one of mine decided that I was good practice. I thought the attack behaviour was great but then I lost a pullet to a dog - where was "the man" then? The day he took a chunk out of my ear was the last straw - he's the chicken soup that's getting me over my cold/flu right now. The rest of my boys are nice, but none are great protectors. My biggest boy was perched on top of a tree the entire time of the second dog attack - and stayed there long after the ordeal was over.

 

[Sylvester017]

I don't know about hormones, but one of mine decided that I was good practice. I thought the attack behaviour was great but then I lost a pullet to a dog - where was "the man" then? The day he took a chunk out of my ear was the last straw - he's the chicken soup that's getting me over my cold/flu right now. The rest of my boys are nice, but none are great protectors. My biggest boy was perched on top of a tree the entire time of the second dog attack - and stayed there long after the ordeal was over.

Maybe someone on this thread has experience with a good breed of roo? I know our Colorado friends love their Dominique roo - he has 3 Dom girls and 2 Buckeye girls and takes good care of them in open range. Some owners have lost bantam roos protecting the flock. I think some breeds must be more protective as roos or maybe the oldest ones have better protective characteristics? I don't know much about roos but soup sounds like a good use of the mean ones. Get well - Smiles

 

[laughingdog]

My bantam Americana (think breeder got originals from murrey mcmurrey), are great free rangers, layers of med a colorful egg day by hens, they brood own young if leave too many eggs in a nest, roos guard hens well but hens have small spurs to defend selves and each other too. Roos are pretty meaty for for totally free range birds not fed except when completely bare land that hasn't happened yet.

one hen had a hawk over double her size on ground not letting it get its wing, after hawk was evaded by another hen that had attacked it until lead hen got there (lead gamey type hen scares rest when she screams), which fought and bloodied it till the hawk was too exausted to lift its wings stooping holding self up by wings heaving for breath (hen was bleeding from mouth with chipped beak and lost two or three nails). naturally wary but learn quickly if that i am provider of treats and pets, but sound alarm if anyone else comes around.

I'm in east tn, noticing most hobby to med level poultry keepers in general area who care about animals are from NC TX or FL.

starter flock size is two to three hens, or five to eight, ten to fifteen. with one roo for every eight to twelve hens if want total fertility. i find one main roo with two to three sub roos to him, will make great sentinels as lower roos are taking that job more seriously for lf chooks that need more time to run and hide, two to three sub roos or cockerels full of fight will take on and kill a hawk they can get above and/or ground (I've seen many times), and I've had to save many a pathetic downed hawk from my games.