Thank you! I've been surprised & delighted by how lovely they really are. (Pretty little rose combs, even lacing, slightly down-pointing wings, some silhouette curve towards the 'pigeon' shape without reaching the serama 's' shape.)
Also, I got the notice of your comment while I was in the...
Oh, that's a really good idea! Unfortunately, besides the Sebrights my birds are all LF. Maybe a salmon faverolle hen or one of the Legbar hens could be used to test the rosecomb cockerel?
For the girls, I'd have to gamble on my LF Legbar roo. He's got a good temperment, he's wonderful about...
Thank you both for the help!
Upon further reflection, if I were to have fertility issues, it would probably make the most sense to source a cockerel from elsewhere rather than using this closely related, out-of-standard one. (Since I have no idea how inbred my flock is, and that could be a...
Correct, I am from the states! And I will definitely keep this in mind about selecting for breeding birds. I've probably just listened to too many justifications for why some lines of rose-combed breeds are still occasionally heterogenous for it.
I appreciate the feedback about the fertility...
Hi, I could use some advice here.
By pure luck I happened into some silver sebright hatching eggs (from a small scale breeder) about 8 months ago and ended up with 4 pullets & 2 cockerels. They are delightful, I'm so excited that they've just started laying, BUT: one of those cockerels has a...
I got two of these off of Chewy for $220 ea, plus a $30 gift card back- so I felt very free to modify my less-than-$200-coops. I'm writing this from the perspective of having bought three other pre-fab coops in the past, so I'm aware of the range of quality and design issues that all such coops...
Hey, I'm sorry, I could have sworn I answered this. She was 2 years; hatchery stock 'Americana' & not vaccinated against anything, as far as I know.
Unfortunately, she did not continue to do well- lost a ton of weight quickly, started to show discomfort and stress in the heat, etc.- and I took...
Okay, I accidentally posted a reply before I finished, and then deleted it. Sorry. But here's the relevant part:
Thank you for the info about rose combs & fertility, I did NOT realize that, and it completely changed my understanding of some chicken things! Do you have any suggestions of...
When I look at the bird in person, not just in a picture, she seems to be more white with black than black with white. I'm *assuming* that coloration is the primary way large hatcheries differentiate them; that they throw the birds who are more dark in with the Ancona breeders and the ones who...
At 14 weeks what's your guess about breed and gender?
Ordered a large mix of pullets from MPC/Meyer, including 1 Ancona, 3 exchequer leghorns, and 3 BBS Andalusian. Lost one of them as a baby, rehomed 4 of the others.
I thought that one of my two remaining was an Ancona, and one a BBS...
Thank you. We contacted our local vet, who says she usually recommends euthanasia in these cases. For now we decided to continue watchfully waiting, but have acquired supplies in case draining seems called for.
Hen continues to be active and show relatively little distress.
Well, early this week I came to the conclusion that I need to downsize my flock, mostly by moving the assorted layers along. So of course, this evening I finally get to spend a little time with them, and see this (see photo) on one of the Easter eggers I had planned to seek a new home for.
Am I...
I know they're extremely rare, but I'm on the lookout for bantam sumatra hatching eggs, any color. Either shipped, or I'm open to a long drive in the Mid-Atlantic region (or even into the Midwest.)
This will probably be an ongoing search.
Failure. I re-arranged her setup and gave her the food & water access at about 7am before work, while she was upright and opening her eyes. My mother went to check in at 9am and found her stiff, so she must have passed no later than 8. Pretty fast decline at the end there.
Thank you so much for...
Well, I thought she was gone late last night. She had moved off the heating pad and got herself nice and cold. Once I had her warmed again she still seemed barely awake; I started more or less forcing the fluid issue by dipping the tip of her beak repeatedly into a fairly strong nutri-drench...
Tried hydrocortisone cream because I couldn't find any hemmeroid stuff, oops! She's gotten clogged up with urates again.
Offered scrambled egg to her, to see if I could get her to eat *something*. Still waiting to see if it works.
I let another chick in with her for about 5 hours. Seemed to...
No big change in 8+ hours. She's loud, her vent still appears prolapsed but not inflamed, and I don't think she's passed much besides urates since I saw her this morning.
I'm introduce another chick from the brooder, and see if it improves the sick chick's appetite and behavior. I'll keep an...