5th Annual BYC New Year's Day 2014 Hatch-A-Long

[chickengirl1193]

They will be like the parents and will lay like the did. They will not lay as much as a sex link cross. You could get one of the parent stock and breed back using the correct color to make a sexlink and make for from them. You could repeat the cycle for years making your own line of sex links if you like the results.

You could use Barred Rock for one of the parents and also keep some Cornish hens and make a line of meat crosses too.

Barnyard mixes are usually quite healthy due to the injection of diverse genes. They can be good layers, like the parentage.

Thank you for the info! Ill have to look into sex links more because I do have a barred rock hen and a RIR hen so maybe I could borrow my neighbors roo if its possible to get sex link chicks. With borrowing their roo, our flocks some times free range in areas very close to each other and I think that the coops are close enough that anything airbore would have already transmitted, would it be safe to let him come visit or am I just asking for problems?

 

[CackleJoy]

my only new years chicky out of six eggs =/ atleast my Christmas chicks are the same size and breed so it's not lonely =)

I love fluffy babies! Hopefully your next hatch is better

 

[chiqita]

Very Interesting!

I am reading The Better Angles of Our Nature, Which is a Civil War Novel Focused on Sherman. They talk about stealing chickens but do not describe them.

It would be nice if they used something closer to period specific breeds in movies. It Cracks me up to see Cinnamon Queens(a sexlink breed) running around in Medieval England.

Ahh there must be 2 books with that name! Mine was a nonfiction one on how society is improving. Should I pick up the novel?

Did someone already say what day the Easter hatch starts? I have a 9 week old Marans, and I'm wondering if he might be fertile in time.

No way the pullets will be ready.

I have been hatching quail! Even with a small incubator you can get into trouble with quail..

 

[CackleJoy]

Well, the chicks from my first incubator test hatch are old enough now that I can tell with pretty good certainty which are boys and which girls. Out of 8 hatched I got 6 boys! 6!!!!

They were supposed to be expanding my layer flock.

I sure do hope these NYD chicks come out with a better ratio of pullets. I need to try to get some good pics of them to put up. They sure are coming out pretty.

I have a question for anyone who is familiar with orpingtons. Do they typically tend to grow slowly? They are very noticeably behind the RIRxEE chicks in development. Was just wondering if that was normal for them. Or maybe the hybrid vigor of the others is just making them grow really fast? They are close to double the size of the orps and probably have 3x more feathering.

All my EE chicks outgrow and out-feather the purebreds. They also start laying earlier

 

[Aphrael]

All my EE chicks outgrow and out-feather the purebreds. They also start laying earlier

Great! Thank you! Now I can maybe stop obsessing about my little orps being behind the EEs!

Of course, me being me, I'll just find something else to obsess about.

I really have to get pics of my NYD babies. I am crossing my fingers that the RIRxEE will keep the colors they are feathering in with now (and that they are pullets!). They are such pretty colors right now!

 

[chicken pickin]

No way the pullets will be ready.

I have been hatching quail! Even with a small incubator you can get into trouble with quail..

The Marans she is referring to is her 9-10week old rooster. She was curious if he would be mature enough by the set day of the Easter hatchalong to fertilize her older pullets eggs.

 

[ronott1]

Ahh there must be 2 books with that name! Mine was a nonfiction one on how society is improving. Should I pick up the novel?
No way the pullets will be ready.

If you like inspirational stories then yes!

 

[chiqita]

The Marans she is referring to is her 9-10week old rooster. She was curious if he would be mature enough by the set day of the Easter hatchalong to fertilize her older pullets eggs.

Oops! He will be trying! But my girls rarely let young roosters near them. Nothing funnier then Catalana chasing g a young rooster across the yard for getting eager.

 

[JDchicks]

It's a toss up. You're right, at least the chicks are already chicks and cheaper. I think the earlier chicks get food and water makes a difference in their development. In that respect, eggs are better.

I am still undecided. The chicks are twice as expensive as the eggs. I love and would prefer to hatch them myself, but there just isn't any guarantee. And they do promise to send only the strongest, healthiest chicks, that they weed out any that don't meet the standards.
Grrr...I don't know what to do.

 

[chicken pickin]

I am still undecided. The chicks are twice as expensive as the eggs. I love and would prefer to hatch them myself, but there just isn't any guarantee. And they do promise to send only the strongest, healthiest chicks, that they weed out any that don't meet the standards.
Grrr...I don't know what to do.

When it comes to a more expensive and more rare type breed I think I personally would go with the started chicks.

When I started out with Cream Legbars last year I decided to go with hatching eggs in hopes of getting a few pairs or even trios. I ended up only with one chick and he was a rooster. So he was an expensive rooster. Turns out he is a decent looking rooster so I am happy with that purchase. But its a chance you take starting with eggs.

I agree with you about preferring to hatch. I love the process of hatching my own eggs too much