I've never processed BCs before. How much meat do you usually get?The bad news is that I think I won the cockerel lottery with that last batch. I noticed when I was checking on them today that 7 of the 9 have rather suspicious combs already.Guess I'll be getting a lot of practice at making soup this winter. I can't imagine I'll be able to find homes for all these boys! I'll probably have to have the current oldest cockerels processed pretty soon to make space. I've had no luck finding anyone who wants my extras, even paired up with a pullet.
Breeding silkied Cochin bantams to the Standard
- Thread starter pipdzipdnreadytogo
- Start date
- Thread starter
- #542
Not much, especially from younger birds like these guys. You probably wouldn't be able to make much other than soup with them. That's why I much prefer to sell or rehome them rather than eat them, but at the same time, when I've got so many extra cockerels coming into maturity, I'd rather eat them than continue to let them make everyone miserable with their antics while waiting for a buyer. 
I think building my own 'camp cockerel' is going to be on the roster for next year's projects, maybe even late this year if I can pull together enough funds for that before the snow flies. I need somewhere to throw all these boys when they start getting to be pains in the butt!
I think building my own 'camp cockerel' is going to be on the roster for next year's projects, maybe even late this year if I can pull together enough funds for that before the snow flies. I need somewhere to throw all these boys when they start getting to be pains in the butt!
- Thread starter
- #543
Just a few pictures to share today! 
Point of view: you're trying to get just one chick to pose nicely for 2 seconds to take a picture.
An attempt to get a good picture of one of the Splash pullets:
An attempt to get a good picture of the other Splash pullet:
Despite that they both pose weirdly for pictures, they are looking really nicely typey so far
I'd ideally like to put at least one back in the Blue pen next year, so hopefully they keep looking nice as they continue to grow.
One of the corner coop blue pullets who is also looking pretty nice so far:
The best I could get of a Splash cockerel
Two of Gus's daughters, both potential keepers. I cannot tell these girls apart at all anymore, the only reason why I know this is two different ones and not the same pullet twice is because they were both standing near me when I was taking pictures.
Liking the type on the first one a lot so far, just wish she held her wing a bit better! Second one could go either way.
Mamas with babies
Perdi and her adopted trio:
Peanut Butter and her three--unfortunately all looking like cockerels
And my little birthday baby I do think she's a pullet, though I won't say 100% for another couple weeks out of an abundance of caution.
Point of view: you're trying to get just one chick to pose nicely for 2 seconds to take a picture.
An attempt to get a good picture of one of the Splash pullets:
An attempt to get a good picture of the other Splash pullet:
Despite that they both pose weirdly for pictures, they are looking really nicely typey so far
I'd ideally like to put at least one back in the Blue pen next year, so hopefully they keep looking nice as they continue to grow.One of the corner coop blue pullets who is also looking pretty nice so far:
The best I could get of a Splash cockerel
Two of Gus's daughters, both potential keepers. I cannot tell these girls apart at all anymore, the only reason why I know this is two different ones and not the same pullet twice is because they were both standing near me when I was taking pictures.
Liking the type on the first one a lot so far, just wish she held her wing a bit better! Second one could go either way.Mamas with babies
Perdi and her adopted trio:Peanut Butter and her three--unfortunately all looking like cockerels
And my little birthday baby
I do think she's a pullet, though I won't say 100% for another couple weeks out of an abundance of caution.
Peanut Butter and her three--unfortunately all looking like cockerels
I fear that you're correct.
Adorable little gentlemen though.
- Thread starter
- #545
Yes, I have been trying to hold out hope on her Blue babe, but those little wattles he's growing in already are pretty damning. They are cute, though. The one nearest to her in that picture has been so slow to feather in, but look at how proudly he's posed there despite his patchiness!
They are cute, though. The one nearest to her in that picture has been so slow to feather in, but look at how proudly he's posed there despite his patchiness! - Thread starter
- #546
These birds usually never get tails. That is to say, they're not rumpless like Araucanas, they eventually get tail feathers, but usually by the time they get their tail feathers they've poofed out so much elsewhere that they just never really look like they have tails like other breeds. This is a terrible picture because she absolutely would not stand still, but this baby in the brooder is killing me with her little pom-pom butt of early tail feathers! Never had one feather in like this before!
Never had one feather in like this before!- Thread starter
- #547
It's leg banding week for the May-June babies! I got most of them done yesterday and today, hoping to finish as many of them up as possible tonight at roost time when I can check each of them one by one and don't have to grab them on the run in a crowd of other chicks just to find out I've picked one that already has their bands. 
There are a couple pullets that are just too small for the leg bands still, so they'll have to wait another couple weeks or so, but I hope to have all of the rest banded tonight.
I also grabbed Marka and Peanut Butter's kids to band them. Being that those two groups are getting pretty old at this point, I wanted to make sure they were properly banded before either mama decided to wean them in case they blended into the other chicks. Marka was alert and confused by her kids getting upset at me picking them up, but Peanut Butter--holy cow! I thought I was going to have to fight her off, the way she puffed up and came running when her kids started hollering! Thankfully, she recognized that it was me with her upset kiddos and seems to understand that I am a trusted entity with them, so she didn't actually attack me!
As for the brooder babies, it's starting to look like I don't have as many cockerels as I feared the last time I posted about them. Right now, I have 6 I'm confident are cockerels and 5 or 6 I'm confident are pullets out of the 15 of them.
Did I ever update about the one with the weird-looking navel? If not, that did dry up and fall off of him and he looks perfectly fine now!
A couple decisions I have come to for next year. Losing Gus has forced me to start rotating cockerels a year earlier than I had intended to. My plan for next year had been to keep Gus and Wyatt as my breeder males and swap Pete for Zeke in order to really solidify the blue plumage gene in the corner coop flock. Now I must pick another male to put in Gus's place. Since I don't want a Black male over the Blue coop girls because I always want the full spectrum of Blue, Black, and especially Splash from them, and I don't want the dark blue gene from Gus's group getting into my Blues anyway, rotating the corner coop cockerels to Gus's group and Gus's kids to the Blue coop is really not an option. Thus, I believe my best course of action is to pick a Blue coop male to rotate toward Gus's group and Gus's non-dark-blue sons or grandsons will rotate toward the corner coop in the future. An added bonus, if the Blue coop cockerel happens to be Blue or Splash, then he should reveal to me which hens are carrying dark blue, as supposedly a bird with one copy of dark blue and one copy of blue (Bl/Bl^d, in other words) will look like a Splash.
Another few things I have been thinking about. I believe I've mentioned that, for obvious reasons, Zinnia is now considered a cull and will not be breeding next year. I think I have decided to also count Athena in that group as well. She's never been very good for type and I kept her in there primarily for her color, but I believe I have plenty to work with toward that goal without her now, and I'd like to make a little more room for any pullets there. Inara and Ottilie are beautiful gals, so even if not a single pullet from the Blue coop turns out good, they should do just fine next year as a trio with Wyatt. However, I suspect that won't be a problem as many of the Blue coop pullets are already looking spectacular! So Zinni and Athena will go to the mixed flock before hatching begins next year.
Depending on how her daughters grow out, Washburne may also go to the mixed flock next year and be replaced by them, as she's also never been the best for type. Bella and Coco may also be counted as culls after not laying a single egg between the two of them this year. I haven't fully decided on them just yet, though. Maybe if they actually lay next year I'll leave them be. They are both pretty lovely for type, so it's a tough call... but if they aren't going to lay anyway, there's no point in them taking up space in a breeding coop.
So, with those decisions in mind, next year's coops are starting to look like this:
I'm thinking of putting together another page for my silkied Cochins to kind of track their family tree, I guess? Just a page to show which birds were in each coop each year, so that I can go back and see what my pens have looked like over the years and maybe double check on what pairings made which birds. But at the same, making such a page now would not have a whole lot on it so it kind of feels silly. Maybe once I finalize my 2024 picks. I'll of course post a link here if I ever do do this!
There are a couple pullets that are just too small for the leg bands still, so they'll have to wait another couple weeks or so, but I hope to have all of the rest banded tonight.I also grabbed Marka and Peanut Butter's kids to band them. Being that those two groups are getting pretty old at this point, I wanted to make sure they were properly banded before either mama decided to wean them in case they blended into the other chicks. Marka was alert and confused by her kids getting upset at me picking them up, but Peanut Butter--holy cow! I thought I was going to have to fight her off, the way she puffed up and came running when her kids started hollering!
Thankfully, she recognized that it was me with her upset kiddos and seems to understand that I am a trusted entity with them, so she didn't actually attack me!As for the brooder babies, it's starting to look like I don't have as many cockerels as I feared the last time I posted about them.
Right now, I have 6 I'm confident are cockerels and 5 or 6 I'm confident are pullets out of the 15 of them.Did I ever update about the one with the weird-looking navel? If not, that did dry up and fall off of him and he looks perfectly fine now!
A couple decisions I have come to for next year. Losing Gus has forced me to start rotating cockerels a year earlier than I had intended to. My plan for next year had been to keep Gus and Wyatt as my breeder males and swap Pete for Zeke in order to really solidify the blue plumage gene in the corner coop flock. Now I must pick another male to put in Gus's place. Since I don't want a Black male over the Blue coop girls because I always want the full spectrum of Blue, Black, and especially Splash from them, and I don't want the dark blue gene from Gus's group getting into my Blues anyway, rotating the corner coop cockerels to Gus's group and Gus's kids to the Blue coop is really not an option. Thus, I believe my best course of action is to pick a Blue coop male to rotate toward Gus's group and Gus's non-dark-blue sons or grandsons will rotate toward the corner coop in the future. An added bonus, if the Blue coop cockerel happens to be Blue or Splash, then he should reveal to me which hens are carrying dark blue, as supposedly a bird with one copy of dark blue and one copy of blue (Bl/Bl^d, in other words) will look like a Splash.
Another few things I have been thinking about. I believe I've mentioned that, for obvious reasons, Zinnia is now considered a cull and will not be breeding next year. I think I have decided to also count Athena in that group as well. She's never been very good for type and I kept her in there primarily for her color, but I believe I have plenty to work with toward that goal without her now, and I'd like to make a little more room for any pullets there. Inara and Ottilie are beautiful gals, so even if not a single pullet from the Blue coop turns out good, they should do just fine next year as a trio with Wyatt. However, I suspect that won't be a problem as many of the Blue coop pullets are already looking spectacular!
So Zinni and Athena will go to the mixed flock before hatching begins next year.Depending on how her daughters grow out, Washburne may also go to the mixed flock next year and be replaced by them, as she's also never been the best for type. Bella and Coco may also be counted as culls after not laying a single egg between the two of them this year.
I haven't fully decided on them just yet, though. Maybe if they actually lay next year I'll leave them be. They are both pretty lovely for type, so it's a tough call... but if they aren't going to lay anyway, there's no point in them taking up space in a breeding coop.So, with those decisions in mind, next year's coops are starting to look like this:
- Yet to be decided Blue coop cockerel over Boba and yet to be decided daughter(s) of Gus.
- Zeke over yet to be decided corner coop pullets and possibly Wash, Bella, and/or Coco.
- Wyatt over Inara, Ottilie, and yet to be decided Blue coop pullet(s).
I'm thinking of putting together another page for my silkied Cochins to kind of track their family tree, I guess? Just a page to show which birds were in each coop each year, so that I can go back and see what my pens have looked like over the years and maybe double check on what pairings made which birds. But at the same, making such a page now would not have a whole lot on it so it kind of feels silly.
Maybe once I finalize my 2024 picks. I'll of course post a link here if I ever do do this!- Thread starter
- #548
All May-June chicks are banded except for two pullets that were just too small still! 
I did find a cockerel who had somehow lost his baby band, so unfortunately I don't know where he belongs in the mix and he is unbanded. If he turns out spectacular, I may find a spot for him, but otherwise preference will go to the males whose origin I know. I also didn't band one pullet because she's a Black out of the Blue pen and, like with what I mentioned before about not putting a Black male over that pen, I was thinking she'd be an automatic cull for that... but after thinking about it more, I don't think that would be an issue after all considering it would only be her eggs affected versus all of the eggs with a Black male, and especially not if I have a Splash pullet or two in there along with her to sort of balance those odds back out. So, in a couple weeks when I band the last two pullets who were too small this week, I'll go ahead and grab her and band her as well.
In other news, I don't remember what I'd mentioned about this or not beyond the initial details, but the little one that fell into the duck pool a while back, I put a leg band on her to distinguish her from the others after some strong hinting from my sister about wanting to keep her even though she's a mixed pen baby so not technically supposed to be a keeper. Well, over time I started to refer to her as Duckling as a callback to that event, and eventually learned how to tell her from the others at a glance instead of having to pick her up to see the leg band, and... Shoot, I think Duckling's going to have to stay, y'all. Not as a breeder most likely, but in the mixed flock at least. I've had a couple older birds in the mixed flock pass this year, so I do have the room, I suppose.
Anyway, I bring this up because I went out to let the birds free-range today, and while I was there I checked the coop for broodies that need busting. Lo and behold, there's Duckling, tucked behind one of the nest boxes I left on the floor for the broodies with babies to sleep in, building herself a nice little nest. Y'all, she is at most 20 weeks old, at most!! I think the very youngest I've ever had one of these gals go into lay has been a little over 7 months old, so like closer to 30 weeks of age!
Now, the pullet who laid that egg at about 7 months old was Athena, who is a possible mother in the mix at the time I hatched Duckling, and Duckling's comb shape is pretty similar to Athena's, but with more comb points like the only possible father at the time, Gus... So it's distinctly possible that Duckling is the child of two of my very favorite birds, making it even harder for me to resist keeping her. But that also kind of points in the direction of the heritability of egg laying onset, which I thought was pretty interesting. I don't think I'll ever actively select for egg laying onset for these birds, but maybe there is something to it!
I did find a cockerel who had somehow lost his baby band, so unfortunately I don't know where he belongs in the mix and he is unbanded. If he turns out spectacular, I may find a spot for him, but otherwise preference will go to the males whose origin I know. I also didn't band one pullet because she's a Black out of the Blue pen and, like with what I mentioned before about not putting a Black male over that pen, I was thinking she'd be an automatic cull for that... but after thinking about it more, I don't think that would be an issue after all considering it would only be her eggs affected versus all of the eggs with a Black male, and especially not if I have a Splash pullet or two in there along with her to sort of balance those odds back out. So, in a couple weeks when I band the last two pullets who were too small this week, I'll go ahead and grab her and band her as well.In other news, I don't remember what I'd mentioned about this or not beyond the initial details, but the little one that fell into the duck pool a while back, I put a leg band on her to distinguish her from the others after some strong hinting from my sister about wanting to keep her even though she's a mixed pen baby so not technically supposed to be a keeper. Well, over time I started to refer to her as Duckling as a callback to that event, and eventually learned how to tell her from the others at a glance instead of having to pick her up to see the leg band, and... Shoot, I think Duckling's going to have to stay, y'all. Not as a breeder most likely, but in the mixed flock at least. I've had a couple older birds in the mixed flock pass this year, so I do have the room, I suppose.
Anyway, I bring this up because I went out to let the birds free-range today, and while I was there I checked the coop for broodies that need busting. Lo and behold, there's Duckling, tucked behind one of the nest boxes I left on the floor for the broodies with babies to sleep in, building herself a nice little nest. Y'all, she is at most 20 weeks old, at most!! I think the very youngest I've ever had one of these gals go into lay has been a little over 7 months old, so like closer to 30 weeks of age!
Now, the pullet who laid that egg at about 7 months old was Athena, who is a possible mother in the mix at the time I hatched Duckling, and Duckling's comb shape is pretty similar to Athena's, but with more comb points like the only possible father at the time, Gus... So it's distinctly possible that Duckling is the child of two of my very favorite birds, making it even harder for me to resist keeping her.
But that also kind of points in the direction of the heritability of egg laying onset, which I thought was pretty interesting. I don't think I'll ever actively select for egg laying onset for these birds, but maybe there is something to it!- Thread starter
- #549
So, regarding this:
In an interesting turn of events, Marka was wandering around without her brood when I went out to check on the birds just now.
I nudged her in their direction and she didn't reject them when they approached her, but she also didn't really cluck for them or anything, which is odd based on her past, what, 11 weeks now with them. Guess I got them banded just in time!
In an interesting turn of events, Marka was wandering around without her brood when I went out to check on the birds just now.
I nudged her in their direction and she didn't reject them when they approached her, but she also didn't really cluck for them or anything, which is odd based on her past, what, 11 weeks now with them. Guess I got them banded just in time! - Thread starter
- #550
Completely and totally stunned, y'all. She did it. Duckling laid an egg today. The very oldest she could be is 20 weeks and a few days. Maybe 21 weeks and a few days, but I don't think she was the first pullet hatched this year. Though, maybe she was... I unfortunately didn't track their ages very well batch by batch. Either way, she beat the previous record for any of my silkied Cochins from this line by a whopping 9-10 weeks!
I didn't have anything on me to do a proper size compare with, but here it is next to Boba's egg from today. It's so tiny!
And the girl, herself, miss Duckling. I did a vent check on her compared to one of the other pullets of that age group and, well, she sure looks like an egg layer from that end! I'm so surprised!
The very oldest she could be is 20 weeks and a few days. Maybe 21 weeks and a few days, but I don't think she was the first pullet hatched this year. Though, maybe she was... I unfortunately didn't track their ages very well batch by batch. Either way, she beat the previous record for any of my silkied Cochins from this line by a whopping 9-10 weeks!I didn't have anything on me to do a proper size compare with, but here it is next to Boba's egg from today. It's so tiny!
And the girl, herself, miss Duckling. I did a vent check on her compared to one of the other pullets of that age group and, well, she sure looks like an egg layer from that end! I'm so surprised!
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