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    Setting eggs

    With shipped eggs the viability is already compromised to some extent. Sooner is always better. Let them sit overnight or up to a day and then pop them in.
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    2026 breeding plans! (Meaties, egg/feather color)

    For the egg color part, not everyone is laying right now so I can only show maybe half of what I’m working with. There’s only a few medium/dark brown layers, one of which being a golden cuckoo and the rest being mixes fathered by the blue copper maran. Hoping to get him to father a few more...
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    3 month old BO/RiR mix gender?

    Seems pretty red for a 12 week old. I say male.
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    cold eggs on counter?

    I would think the condensation from being cold and then left out to warm up may affect the bloom. But I haven’t had any issues with that so who knows.
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    Is overall health tied to breed?

    Spent a lot of money on hatching eggs. I hatched the two, even had to help them during hatching. As chicks they’d follow me around and cried out when I wasn’t nearby. They really think I’m their mom and the black one likes to sit in my lap and get pet. Apparently turkeys are great guard dogs...
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    Strange pasty white looking egg from my girls

    That’s just a heavy bloom. You can get it wet to see its true color and maybe figure out who laid it unless it’s from a new girl. It seems to me that after some of my girls take a couple days break from laying their next egg is more heavily pigmented and/or comes with a heavy bloom. I haven’t...
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    Another gender challenge.

    White one look like a girl, blue/grey looks like a boy.
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    Meyer Hatchery Mystery Bird

    Glad to hear you found a home for him. IME the white feathering molts out once they mature a bit.
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    2026 breeding plans! (Meaties, egg/feather color)

    New year and new plans, or really a continuation of my 2025 thread as it was getting lengthy. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/future-plans-for-2025-breeding-for-large-meaties-barring-lacing-and-ee.1637641/ Current head count is 44 hen/pullet and 5 roosters/cockerels for a total of 49...
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    Is overall health tied to breed?

    Oh man I could never, if I kept all the boys I raised this last spring I’d have at least 20! Then it wouldn’t be just one or two roosters crowing at the moon at 3am and people would get mad. But I am pretty good about taking life as I grew up hunting so it isn’t too hard for me, in fact it is...
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    How Many Eggs Did You Get Today?

    12 today, we had a spell of warm, wet weather and now it’s back to wind and snow. Poor birds didn’t go far from the coop today. 2 from hens the rest from pullets. I will say the pullet egg size is increasing and some of my younger hen-raised girls are laying now too.
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    Is overall health tied to breed?

    You can pretty easily buy eggs on eBay or even through this forum if you want mutts that are bred for certain traits like egg color, size, or vigor. Some people even sell day old chicks. I’ve been hatches eggs my dad brought home from a road side stall. Just have to do some looking around and...
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    Is overall health tied to breed?

    Less to do with any particular breed and more to do with the breeding (genetics). Birds from hatcheries can be a bit iffy as they are looking for numbers and not so much health or temperament. An individual breeder will usually focus on the breed itself and aim to improve the line in the next...
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    He or she?

    Definitely a male, he's certainly got some genetic issues going on but sounds like you are making it work, try to make sure you don't breed from him. His spurs are definitely growing too. As for tail feathers, he appears to be rumpless so there can't be any rooster tail feathers if he doesn't...
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    Sick young drake

    Vitamin deficiency certainly could play a part in it but so could parasites. I'd be checking everyone's poo and see if they look normal. Check for mites, observe skin color around their eyes and inside their mouths to make sure they aren't getting sucked dry of blood from nasty critters. If...
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    A Cornish Cross (Breeding?) Journey

    Jr. at 17 weeks plus a few days. Still haven’t heard him or his brother crow. He also seems to have already relaxed a bit with his grabbing of pullets. Probably because they all chase him off. I hope that won’t be a problem when I move them all over for breeding. The male hierarchy seems to...
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    Future plans for 2025! Breeding for large meaties, barring, lacing and EE

    Today I got 11 eggs, been a little while since getting double digets. I need to keep track somewhere of who is laying and who isn't so here's a list as of Dec 20. Laying somewhat regularly -SLW (after molting) -Sapphire sky -both bantam daughters -buckeye -diamond duchess (who took an early...
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    How Many Eggs Did You Get Today?

    Anyone else excited about the winter solstice being here and gone as of yesterday? Soon enough we'll be getting more daylight hours and egg production will pick up. 11 today out of 44 hens/pullets, mostly brown/cream eggs which feels weird considering I have more colored layers than non colored...
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    Molting/Moulting only down?

    Yes it’s normal and it doesn’t look like just down to me but rather a lot of body feathers and butt fluff. Down feathers are the smaller fluffs under their patterned body feathers. They’ll drop their wing and tail feathers here and there but the body feathers seem to really come out in mass...
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    Would anyone explain to me what a safety hole is? When to do/or not do it?

    How are things going? Any chicks yet?
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