Silver Laced Wyandotte gender?

[Kev]

Not necessarily due to mixing. It has to do with lowered fertility in roosters pure for rose comb as I said right before. And in hatchery stock large breeding flocks, it is going to naturally float around for this reason.

It is also present in other rose combed breeds to varying degrees for same reason. Even in some show stock lines.

 

[lauranickerson]

Not necessarily due to mixing. It has to do with lowered fertility in roosters pure for rose comb as I said right before. And in hatchery stock large breeding flocks, it is going to naturally float around for this reason.

It is also present in other rose combed breeds to varying degrees for same reason. Even in some show stock lines.

Funny you mention that, because I got 3 Golden Laced Sebrights from a lady on Craigslist that breeds them. They were straight run, but I figured I was getting 2 pullets and a cockerel by the comb sizes. Ended up all were cockerels, but one was single comb and two were rose. And from what I saw, she had all rose-combed parents.

 

[Kev]

Yeah rose is dominant and in most cases there is no visual difference between bird pure vs not pure for rose comb.

Even if both parents were not pure for rose comb, only 25% will come up with single comb. If it's a flock of roo not pure for rose comb with hens either pure or not pure, then the overall percentage will go way down for a single comb chick. If all the hens happened to be pure rose comb then no single combs at all. However half of the chicks would inherit the single comb copy from their carrier father.. that's basically how a single comb can float around in rose comb stock.

On top of that, some show breeders cull any single combs at hatch making it seem much rarer.

 

[lauranickerson]

Aww that's sad. I also just got some BLRD from someone on Craigslist that got them from Meyer. The cockerel is the blue strain and has a rose comb, where the three pullets are splash strain and have single comb.

 

[chooks4life]

Quote: I agree. In my experience you just can't get the same health from caged birds as from free range. It's not an option for me to not free range them since I keep them for my family's health; this leads to my seemingly very stringent culling standards for social behaviors. They must be the kindest, most peaceful birds --- or else!

Sounds to me like you're well on your way to having a spectacular flock. Nothing makes great type look better than great health. Good health looks good on everything.

 

[lauranickerson]

I agree. In my experience you just can't get the same health from caged birds as from free range. It's not an option for me to not free range them since I keep them for my family's health; this leads to my seemingly very stringent culling standards for social behaviors. They must be the kindest, most peaceful birds --- or else!

Sounds to me like you're well on your way to having a spectacular flock. Nothing makes great type look better than great health. Good health looks good on everything.

Haha! That's what I said about my rooster the other day! We were culling them for the freezer (culled 5, kept 2 [for now]) and got down to the last one. He was a bugger to catch, but finally did. I went to pet him on the head and he bit me! It bruised! This was last week and it's still there! I didn't feel about about making him dinner after that...

I currently have about 3 flocks going that aren't integrated yet. My main flock - they are not free range unless it's towards the end of the day and I feel like letting them out for the last hour or two before dusk for some fun. They aren't free range yet because they are just coming into egg-laying age, and I want them to get used to laying their eggs in the nest boxes rather than in the woods somewhere. Then there's my next flock, which is the flock with the bird-in-question that started this forum. With the exception of 3 laying hens that can jump the 8 foot fence, they are all the same age as the SLW, which are not laying eggs (the hens lay their eggs in the bags of feed most of the time, but I haven't gotten some in a few days, so I'm worried that they are in the woods.

). As soon as we get a roof on the run (which is hopefully soon) we will integrate those, and hopefully the others will be in full lay and teach these ones where to lay.

Then there's my last flock. It's my young Sebright cockerels and new BLR Wyandottes I just got. They are currently in a big bunny cage because I'm scared to let them free range with the bigger ones, and afraid to let them in the coop with the full grown ones.

 

[chooks4life]

lol, sounds like you made the right choice with that cockerel. Interestingly enough I discovered that it was always my sub par hens making what I dubbed 'illicit nests' (any nest not within the bounds of the cages and not approved by me, the chicken-law-maker for my flock). I'd always thought it might be a trait associated with more instinctive hens but instead always found the least capable mothers were responsible. One or two of them had some impressive misdirection ploys and tricks to play but couldn't hack it as mothers. Shame. Or not, I guess, since the good hens laid their eggs where I could tend their nests, which is I guess good domestic instinct in action.

Best wishes with integrating your various flocks. Any advice I could offer is probably already familiar to you or something you've already done. Even if you're thoroughly experienced the poultry will always do something new, lol!

 

[BLT79]

Can anyone tell me if this is a roo or hen before I bring it home? Than you all so much. 8 weeks old.

 

[lauranickerson]

Can anyone tell me if this is a roo or hen before I bring it home? Than you all so much. 8 weeks old.

Looks like a pullet to me.

 

[lauranickerson]

The hens that escape the roofless run are in with my second flock that are almost always free range. They are in the "entryway" to the coop, where I keep the bags of feed and whatnot. Well one of the Production Red/Red Sex Link (whatever they're called) has gotten accustomed to laying her egg in the bag of rabbit feed. I'm in the process of cleaning the whole coop as of yesterday, and it is spilling over until today, so everything is outside while I clean it out (They make quite the mess in there...). She was desperately looking for somewhere to lay her egg, and almost laid it right behind the swinging door. So I quickly filled a cat carrier with hay and set it in where the feed normally is. She went right in and popped out an egg within 5 minutes.

Haha. Now my Leghorn that copies her is interested in the nest.