GL Wyandotte x Splash Orpington--how do they look and behave?

[Bluebells]

We have two LF GL Wyandotte hens and had Splash Orpington cockerels hatched from eggs bought from a breeder near Orpington---unfortunately all five birds turned out to be cockerels! There was mating before we rehomed the young men, and now the two hens have gone broody, taking turns sitting on the eggs.

Just wondering what is likely to hatch if they keep it up. Has anyone seen this kind of cross before?

What is it like raising chicks in January?

They may be hatching around Epiphany, not that it's too cold here, still well above freezing.
We have a heat lamp inside the hen house which at the moment they don't need.
Have heard one must keep broody hens warm.
Should I keep it on at night, or at what point will they need it on during the night, at 32 F or lower?

What is the ratio of males to females at hatching?
I thought it would be 50:50, but maybe it is 75:25.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Liz

 

[Ridgerunner]

With that cross I think the odds are pretty good you’ll get a blue chick.

I don’t know where you heard that about keeping broody hens warm. They have their own internal heater that never suffers a power outage. You may have read that someone keeps their broody hens warm but that doesn’t mean they need to.

What’s it like with a broody raising chicks in the winter? That depends a bit on how cold it gets. If it is really cold it might be a good idea to keep a little heat on the food and especially the water to keep it thawed so they can eat and drink whenever they want during daylight hours. In general the hen will keep them warm and you’ll be amazed at what temperatures those chicks will play in, but it is harder to raise them in cold weather. My biggest concern is if the chicks get trapped somewhere and cannot get back to the hen to warm up when they need to.

Weaker chicks have more trouble too. I’ve hatched those tiny pullet eggs along with regular sized eggs. The chicks from those tiny pullet eggs had a lot more trouble than the ones from regular eggs. Winter is certainly more stressful on you and maybe on the chicks but barring accidents or extraordinary events, the broody usually does OK.

The odds of each egg being male or female are 50-50. I’ve had a few hatches where it actually came out that way. But most of my hatches are more like 3-2 and either one of those could be male or female. One hatch last spring was 9 males and 4 females, but if I add up all my hatches over the past two years I’m right at 50-50.