NY chicken lover!!!!

[Glasshen]

I have the premier1 poultry net, and just bought another strand and a gate. I have a set up that uses a battery, so I bought an extra one. One can be charging, the other in use. Haven't set up the new parts yet, but can't wait to just walk through the gate! The chickens get zapped, but learn to stay away from the fence. Dogs learn fast too. Neighbors have to touch it...

 

[PhoredaBurds]

are spitzhauben a breed like that? All the chicks are half spitzhauben and half BA or WL or production red. I will get pictures tomorrow for the weekly update.

I was just talking with a spitz breeder this weekend about sexing young chicks. She said something about wing tip feather sexing in day-olds, but it's tough to do & has to be right out of the hatcher age. She noted that the cockerel's tails grow slower in the early weeks, showing up as short and stubby. She looks at the length of their legs from hock to foot, noting the boys to be slightly longer there. Also she mentioned the area just above the beak is wider in the boys, tho crossed w single comb birds, I'm not sure how reliable that will be. All very subtle differences, too. A couple spitz chicks that are 3 weeks old now are showing nubby little comb horns already, but not all of the boys do that. I learn more about telling them apart w every hatch.

 

[Lapeerian]

Took a quick pic of the spitz. 2 silver, 1 blue, 1 gold, 1 black looks more merault. Thankfully the blue hasn't continued with his crowing.

 

[Chicken girl 15]

I was just talking with a spitz breeder this weekend about sexing young chicks. She said something about wing tip feather sexing in day-olds, but it's tough to do & has to be right out of the hatcher age. She noted that the cockerel's tails grow slower in the early weeks, showing up as short and stubby. She looks at the length of their legs from hock to foot, noting the boys to be slightly longer there. Also she mentioned the area just above the beak is wider in the boys, tho crossed w single comb birds, I'm not sure how reliable that will be. All very subtle differences, too. A couple spitz chicks that are 3 weeks old now are showing nubby little comb horns already, but not all of the boys do that. I learn more about telling them apart w every hatch.

I will keep track of the wing development and let you know. It would be neat if we accidentally came up with an auto sex breed. Both parent breeds of all chicks are good layers and the hens are good size. So who knows. Right now all the rears are fuzzy no feathers yet so can't use that. Some are much (4-5 mm) taller than others also, those are the ones with longer wings.

 

[Beer can]

Lot of info out there on sexing by wing feather tips, don't remember it and don't feel like posting links at the moment, read some here on BYC and some elsewhere before. I have to deal with my kids infecting our laptop with malware by playing games...Crush Arcade, computer has been so great after installing ad blocker, now I have ads all over and popping up thanks to the kids, words in your all's posts are now links to ads, and ads not BYC popping up, all the BYC things, smilies, link and video 'buttons' all that stuff disappeared.... I'm computer inept, read how to uninstall the malware, can't find it to uninstall ?, DW will have to deal with it tomorrow... Humpff, no spell check either!...

 

[Pyxis]

Lot of info out there on sexing by wing feather tips, don't remember it and don't feel like posting links at the moment, read some here on BYC and some elsewhere before. I have to deal with my kids infecting our laptop with malware by playing games...Crush Arcade, computer has been so great after installing ad blocker, now I have ads all over and popping up thanks to the kids, words in your all's posts are now links to ads, and ads not BYC popping up, all the BYC things, smilies, link and video 'buttons' all that stuff disappeared.... I'm computer inept, read how to uninstall the malware, can't find it to uninstall ?, DW will have to deal with it tomorrow... Humpff, no spell check either!...

Download malwarebytes, it'll help you out. To unistall the stuff you already have, you need to go into the control panel, go to uninstall a program, find all the programs that are causing problems, and uninstall them from there.

 

[Chicken girl 15]

Lot of info out there on sexing by wing feather tips, don't remember it and don't feel like posting links at the moment, read some here on BYC and some elsewhere before. I have to deal with my kids infecting our laptop with malware by playing games...Crush Arcade, computer has been so great after installing ad blocker, now I have ads all over and popping up thanks to the kids, words in your all's posts are now links to ads, and ads not BYC popping up, all the BYC things, smilies, link and video 'buttons' all that stuff disappeared.... I'm computer inept, read how to uninstall the malware, can't find it to uninstall ?, DW will have to deal with it tomorrow... Humpff, no spell check either!...

I found a lot of links about it. Most say it only works on day olds . However the same ones also said that leg size and tail shape contribute to ease of determining. So with all that looked at I think the longer downward pointing wing feathers say cockerel.

Chunky legs
Fluffy not fuzzy butt
Pointy downward pointing wings
A tad smaller
All point to male

Skinny dainty legs
Fuzzy butt not fluffy
Rounded shorter wings
A but bigger
Points to girly girl

No science behind it just a bunch of reading and looking at my chicks from this batch and the first. I can't post links with my phone, it's smarter than me and I can't figure it out. Lol.

 

[PhoredaBurds]

I found a lot of links about it. Most say it only works on day olds . However the same ones also said that leg size and tail shape contribute to ease of determining. So with all that looked at I think the longer downward pointing wing feathers say cockerel.

Chunky legs
Fluffy not fuzzy butt
Pointy downward pointing wings
A tad smaller
All point to male

Skinny dainty legs
Fuzzy butt not fluffy
Rounded shorter wings
A but bigger
Points to girly girl

No science behind it just a bunch of reading and looking at my chicks from this batch and the first. I can't post links with my phone, it's smarter than me and I can't figure it out. Lol.

Great! Please keep us posted on if they prove the theory. Mini zip ties work make great leg bands for tagging them.

 

[Chicken girl 15]

Great! Please keep us posted on if they prove the theory. Mini zip ties work make great leg bands for tagging them.

I won't need the leg bands with them. One is brown with a black beak, one is black with a half white beak, and both whites have black on their beaks.

 

[tao chick]

Good morning. The forecast is looking up. I'm more optimistic about this week than last week. I had been quite grumpy for the past couple weeks so this change is welcome.

My flock is well right now. They'll be confined a bit this week to keep the roosters from waking up DH who's working nights. They seem to tolerate it well. I'd like to rearrange the barn already but that's going to have to wait.

I think I'll start some more tomato plants today.

Beercan and others with night cameras: what do you recommend? I have security cameras but they don't cover a couple nooks of my property. I'd like to price out some options. Would that be considered a farm expense? (Tax Brain has taken over as I'm trying to decipher whether I'll be a hobby or business this year. I'm tracking records both ways.)