I have hatched out several groups of chicks, thought I had everything figured out. Then I figured out I have nothing figured out. I have a group of 9 BR hens with one BR roo. I have one hen who is darker then everyone else she also lays a darker egg. So I think this threw me off too. But I can see a redish fairly wide development above the nose on chicks by 3 weeks that resembles the hens full grown and then the others had the very narrow I'll call it shark fin with the little points like the beginnings of the rooster look. I thought wow easy... I know who is who. I have a pen with 14 week olds and there are some with well developed combs like then adult hens and there are others that have not developed at all. My thinking was there are other breeds in with them they are just not maturing. So do I have it completely backwards? I know pictures are needed and will post some tomorrow. Uggh frustrated I think I steared people wrong...I always say straight run but I really thought that development was hen....I am so worried...
Barred Rocks - head gear
- Thread starter jjaazzy
- Start date
So they would be CCL mixes, mixed with the barred birds as those are not full blooded CCL. (I do see the CCL crests).
Are you mixing the CCL with the Cuckoo Marans? If you set the dark brown eggs and only allow your Marans exposure to the CCL roos (the full blooded parent, not what's in the photo with the 9 week old), you could get Olive Eggers, but you'll have to keep strict pen policies, otherwise you'll never know the lineage with all the barring.
Nice thing will be if you set the BCM rooster (if you have one) over a Cuckoo Marans hen, you'll get sex linking...should darken the CCL with the BCM blood for darker eggs and the added bonus of KNOWING that you've got girls (no head dot, no barring) and boys (head dot for barring.
I just did that with my Barnevelder roo over my Cal Grey girls to check his fertility (young roo)...have some pretty brown sex links who will probably lay a middle tint egg (white with the darker brown should produce about tan to middle brown).
Good luck on your project. Read everything you can, keep strict pen policies, and try to keep the number of varieties down at first otherwise you multiply your problems with too many genetics. Make a plan for where you want to go and choose the birds to get you there. Be aware that specialty types (Marans and CCL) often drive down the productivity of utility layers as the different colored layers generally are not your most prolific, especially your dark layers (has to do with the fact one of the reasons the egg is darker is that it takes longer to go down the tract gaining more brown wash). If you aren't careful, you can drive down productivity substantially even with hybrids.
LofMc
Good website for learning basic chicken genetics for breeding:
https://scratchcradle.wordpress.com/genetics-mini-series/
And this for running plummage checks and sex linking checks (remember female has to be barred and male non-barred/non-cuckoo)
http://www.breedbook.org/?action=geneticscalculator&tab=CHICKEN
Are you mixing the CCL with the Cuckoo Marans? If you set the dark brown eggs and only allow your Marans exposure to the CCL roos (the full blooded parent, not what's in the photo with the 9 week old), you could get Olive Eggers, but you'll have to keep strict pen policies, otherwise you'll never know the lineage with all the barring.
Nice thing will be if you set the BCM rooster (if you have one) over a Cuckoo Marans hen, you'll get sex linking...should darken the CCL with the BCM blood for darker eggs and the added bonus of KNOWING that you've got girls (no head dot, no barring) and boys (head dot for barring.
I just did that with my Barnevelder roo over my Cal Grey girls to check his fertility (young roo)...have some pretty brown sex links who will probably lay a middle tint egg (white with the darker brown should produce about tan to middle brown).
Good luck on your project. Read everything you can, keep strict pen policies, and try to keep the number of varieties down at first otherwise you multiply your problems with too many genetics. Make a plan for where you want to go and choose the birds to get you there. Be aware that specialty types (Marans and CCL) often drive down the productivity of utility layers as the different colored layers generally are not your most prolific, especially your dark layers (has to do with the fact one of the reasons the egg is darker is that it takes longer to go down the tract gaining more brown wash). If you aren't careful, you can drive down productivity substantially even with hybrids.
LofMc
Good website for learning basic chicken genetics for breeding:
https://scratchcradle.wordpress.com/genetics-mini-series/
And this for running plummage checks and sex linking checks (remember female has to be barred and male non-barred/non-cuckoo)
http://www.breedbook.org/?action=geneticscalculator&tab=CHICKEN
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Yes, photos are needed.
If you are dealing with 14 week old birds, those with lots of red comb probably are roosters. Those with small, pale yellow or pink combs will be hens.
I would like to see the chicken that lays the darker egg....If you thought it was a Barred Rock but it lays eggs darker, it might be a Cuckoo Marans.
And yes straight run means un-sexed chicks...so you play the odds. Typically that is 50/50 boys to girls, but just like you can toss a coin 4 times and get 3 heads and 1 tail, the odds of what you get may be skewed. If you toss a coin (or purchase enough birds straight run or hatch enough chicks), you will see a truer 50/50.
With sexed chicks (at hatchery), there is typically a 90 to 95% success rate of getting a hen...and I have had those odds play out...10 chicks and 1 rooster among 9 hens.
With hatched eggs, I've actually been pretty darn lucky and get probably 75 to 80% hens. (I've pondered because I use broody hens and tend to hatch in the cold months if that may be favoring a hen rate as you can tinker with temperature and get more females to males that way as the males are more susceptible to colder temps)...but that's just a wild hypothesis. I've just been overall lucky.
Barnyard mixes can mature early, especially as they mature in lengthening daylight (hatched in January/February)....but if they are from the same general flock, your comb development is the best indicator.
All I can guess now as we'd need pictures.
LofMc
If you are dealing with 14 week old birds, those with lots of red comb probably are roosters. Those with small, pale yellow or pink combs will be hens.
I would like to see the chicken that lays the darker egg....If you thought it was a Barred Rock but it lays eggs darker, it might be a Cuckoo Marans.
And yes straight run means un-sexed chicks...so you play the odds. Typically that is 50/50 boys to girls, but just like you can toss a coin 4 times and get 3 heads and 1 tail, the odds of what you get may be skewed. If you toss a coin (or purchase enough birds straight run or hatch enough chicks), you will see a truer 50/50.
With sexed chicks (at hatchery), there is typically a 90 to 95% success rate of getting a hen...and I have had those odds play out...10 chicks and 1 rooster among 9 hens.
With hatched eggs, I've actually been pretty darn lucky and get probably 75 to 80% hens. (I've pondered because I use broody hens and tend to hatch in the cold months if that may be favoring a hen rate as you can tinker with temperature and get more females to males that way as the males are more susceptible to colder temps)...but that's just a wild hypothesis. I've just been overall lucky.
Barnyard mixes can mature early, especially as they mature in lengthening daylight (hatched in January/February)....but if they are from the same general flock, your comb development is the best indicator.
All I can guess now as we'd need pictures.
LofMc
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I agree, pictures will help 
And I also agree that what you are describing are possibly seeing cockerel combs vs pullet combs.
In my experience, cockerels can be sexed fairly early when you know how the comb should look at say, 3 weeks, 12 weeks, and 24 weeks. Mixes are trickier just because they can vary in comb style or size, ie, if you were to cross a single comb bird with a rose comb bird, the shape of the comb would be in question, but the development should be the same; cockerels will show red in the comb very early, pullets will not turn red until point of lay, or sexual maturity. That can be anywhere from 16-24 weeks of age.
Here are a couple pics of chicks that were obvious cockerels; based on combs..
This one has 2 cockerels and a pullet, guess who is who
This is Blue, an Andalusian. He has a single comb, so he would be close to what a comb on a BR cockerel should look like at 4-5 weeks.
And this is a cross between a Red Star roo and a gold laced Cochin. He's @ 4 weeks in this pic.
Here's a better one at about 9 weeks..
Eta: here's a Red Star cockerel at 16 weeks, notice his comb and wattles. Thus one isn't fair lol, because he's a sex link and obviously a boy from the day he hatched, just based on color. But still, we can see the difference in combs at 16 weeks for a cockerel vs a pullet.
Ok, now I don't have any BR roos, so I don't have any cockerel pics, but I have a whole bunch of hens, and this one gave a nice close up at about 16 weeks old; we can see how her comb is still small and orangish and her wattles are just starting to grow too. A cockerel BR at 16 weeks would have a big, red, beautiful comb and big ol wattles, just like the cockrrel in the above pic, but the pullets don't quite get them in full until they start laying.
Hope it helps, and I'll look forward to your pics
And I also agree that what you are describing are possibly seeing cockerel combs vs pullet combs.
In my experience, cockerels can be sexed fairly early when you know how the comb should look at say, 3 weeks, 12 weeks, and 24 weeks. Mixes are trickier just because they can vary in comb style or size, ie, if you were to cross a single comb bird with a rose comb bird, the shape of the comb would be in question, but the development should be the same; cockerels will show red in the comb very early, pullets will not turn red until point of lay, or sexual maturity. That can be anywhere from 16-24 weeks of age.
Here are a couple pics of chicks that were obvious cockerels; based on combs..
This one has 2 cockerels and a pullet, guess who is who
This is Blue, an Andalusian. He has a single comb, so he would be close to what a comb on a BR cockerel should look like at 4-5 weeks.
And this is a cross between a Red Star roo and a gold laced Cochin. He's @ 4 weeks in this pic.
Here's a better one at about 9 weeks..
Eta: here's a Red Star cockerel at 16 weeks, notice his comb and wattles. Thus one isn't fair lol, because he's a sex link and obviously a boy from the day he hatched, just based on color. But still, we can see the difference in combs at 16 weeks for a cockerel vs a pullet.
Ok, now I don't have any BR roos, so I don't have any cockerel pics, but I have a whole bunch of hens, and this one gave a nice close up at about 16 weeks old; we can see how her comb is still small and orangish and her wattles are just starting to grow too. A cockerel BR at 16 weeks would have a big, red, beautiful comb and big ol wattles, just like the cockrrel in the above pic, but the pullets don't quite get them in full until they start laying.
Hope it helps, and I'll look forward to your pics
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Oh my gosh I am anxious to post....we are in between moving so some stuff is here the older stuff is at the property. I was selling straight run but thought I had it all figured out. What really makes me mad was I had a guy who was super pushy and he wanted a rooster. So rare and I think I gave him a hen... Errrr. Then another super nice guy came and picked up 6 and I believe he got roos based on what I am learning now. Now the darker hen that lays the darker eggs I was thinking Marran too but then I saw pictures and backed off that. These birds were purchased from the fair last year I wanted to support the kids and thought they would be chicks that they hatched but I found out later they were hatchery birds. They have been great birds and the mix was perfect 9 hens and 1 rooster. I got BO and BR. Pictures soon...
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