Recent content by MaeIstrom

  1. MaeIstrom

    Looking for a non-patterned red (gold) feathered breed that lays white eggs

    Ah yes I get that part, can't look for red on a black chook, I was planning on using barred females for that. I do have a mostly wheaten araucana that might be interesting to cross the silver duckwing though. The thing I'm not understanding is how you got sexlinks from a buckeye over a blue...
  2. MaeIstrom

    Looking for a non-patterned red (gold) feathered breed that lays white eggs

    I've been trying to wrap my head around this example for a few days and I can't quite figure it out. I think what you're saying is the mother had 1 duckwing and 1 extended black and she's only passing on the extended black to her daughter which would mean it's on the female (w) chromosome? And...
  3. MaeIstrom

    Looking for a non-patterned red (gold) feathered breed that lays white eggs

    Yes I've only just realized the silver leghorn looks nothing like the white bird I'd envisioned. I'm hoping a silver leghorn roo over black or lavender araucanas will give me hens that can be used to make red sexlinks. Seems like the catalana would be ideal if they were available in Australia...
  4. MaeIstrom

    Looking for a non-patterned red (gold) feathered breed that lays white eggs

    I'd like to create a flock of silver and barred hens under a red rooster to get both red and black sex links so something like a rhode island red would be ideal but I'd also like the chicks to be genuine easter eggers that could lay white, brown, green or blue and the only way to do that is a...
  5. MaeIstrom

    Has anyone here tried Beneficial Nematodes?

    Hi yes it *seems* to have worked as I've not seen any more since the treatment although I maintained ivermectin treatments to be doubly safe. I'm actually down in Albany atm which is a bit cooler and I applied my second treatment at the start of a rainy week so you might have better luck doing...
  6. MaeIstrom

    Has anyone here tried Beneficial Nematodes?

    I've been wrestling with stickfast fleas for about 3 years now and there seems to be a dormant corner of my pen where re-infections occur after months of having the main flock flea-free. Unfortunately it's the only place I have to put broodies with young chicks to keep them safe from the main...
  7. MaeIstrom

    Low fertility/testosterone rooster

    Would that affect the ovum developing into that 'bullseye' shape you observe when you open a fertilized egg because I've been sporadically checking eggs and very few have got that. No antibiotics or pesticide exposure that I know of. I do think the miserable weather might explain a bit of it, I...
  8. MaeIstrom

    Do I need another rooster?

    Yes but what makes you think that reaction wouldn't include grief for a dead flock mate? You can keep chickens for years and not appreciate the complexities of their social bonds if you're not looking for it. I was raised to see them as simple livestock and for years that's all I saw but coming...
  9. MaeIstrom

    Do I need another rooster?

    I noticed this exact same behaviour the first time I had to cull a rooster, the hens moped around the shed for a couple of days. My guess is they are (or were) missing him. They're very social creatures and even they didn't appreciate his mating attempts they definitely appreciated having a...
  10. MaeIstrom

    Low fertility/testosterone rooster

    I have 8 altogether although 1 is currently brooding. I was thinking of trying to move them in terms of cliques or friendship groups of which I know a couple, others are more solo depending on age differences and having to cull half recently. Also if it makes a difference the "second" pen has...
  11. MaeIstrom

    Low fertility/testosterone rooster

    They're Australian standard so they have tails, albeit short ones and the rooster kind of has a stocky build that doesn't do him any favour when attempting the "cloacal kiss" I suspect, I've attached a photo for reference. They've been getting plenty of scrambled eggs from all the failed hatch...
  12. MaeIstrom

    Low fertility/testosterone rooster

    Aha thanks for that although TBH I am kind of hoping someone mentions a food or supplement that might help, outside of oysters which are a bit out of my price range.
  13. MaeIstrom

    Low fertility/testosterone rooster

    So I have an Araucana rooster that's been crowing and mating for at least 2 months now but the problem is he appears to mate much less than the average rooster. When I first tried doing a hatch he was in a pen with 28 females of varying age and the fertility was maybe 10-15%. Maybe a month ago I...
  14. MaeIstrom

    Should I abort a 1 chicken hatch?

    The nearest place to buy chicks is 4 hours away, in this town I'm the person you go to to get live chicks lol. That said I am heading up that way for an operation a couple of days before they hatch so yeah I'll see if I can find a couple of young chicks on the way back, sounds like a plan.
  15. MaeIstrom

    Should I abort a 1 chicken hatch?

    It would've been even quicker to read my original post. I know the egg can be removed at this point without suffering. The question is how cruel is it to hatch and raise the chicken in a brooder by itself.
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