➡I accidentally bought Balut eggs: 2 live ducks! Now a Chat Thread!

[BantyChooks]

you’re making me want one so bad!!

Do they crow a lot? Are their crows loud?

How are they with their hens? Assume maybe they’d be better at protecting with their game nature?

Now you have me debating whether I should even keep any of my standard cockerels or just sell them all and buy some OEGBs

Or maybe I should get a standard game?

They crow exactly like every other rooster, only pitched appropriately to their size.

They're bantams. They can't fight off anything even remotely determined. Most roosters are only capable of giving warning of threats they spot and not of stopping them.

In general, I find them polite, charming with hens, and good with chicks. They're a bit hotheaded, particularly as cockerels, but rarely inflict much damage on each other. They're smart enough to avoid picking fights they can't win with my LF roosters. They are, however, quick to defend themselves and react to provocation in ways that larger birds often don't, which results in a lot of them turning chronically aggressive if raised by someone ignorant in communication. I've seen a lot of these at other farms. These birds are highly intelligent, as far as chickens go; communication is rarely an issue on their end, it's a problem on the human's behalf. If I wish to train any of my OEGBs to stop a behaviour or start a new one it takes me less than an hour to get them to do pretty much anything.

I have always had larger roosters too, so I can't prove this, but my theory is that their better behaviour around hens and avoidance of conflict is simply due to them having to "game the system" to get hens and resources. They can't use brute strength, they have to woo their hens and tread lightly around the alpha males. I don't think it's because of some innate thing inside of them. That's only a theory, like I said.

Standard cockerels have their own merits. My Plymouth Rock, Zachary, is extraordinarily well mannered, gentle around humans, and keeps the more fiery OEGB cockerels in check. He's staying here for the rest of his life. It is my belief that nurture matters far more than nature in most generic traits among chickens.

 

[BantyChooks]

Gorgeous Is he a black tailed white?

Like my others, he's mixed. I don't think his colour is APA accepted. It's actually sex linked; his mother looks like him, and throws all-buff females and black-and-white males. Doesn't seem to matter what the father is, she's been paired with a few and this holds entirely consistent. I don't know what happens in the second or third generation out, though. He's just a cockerel yet.

 

[BantyChooks]

Is he an OEGB? He looks pretty big.

He's not very big. It only looks that way because there's nothing in the image to give a sense of scale.

 

[CSAchook]

his mother looks like him, and throws all-buff females and black-and-white males. Doesn't seem to matter what the father is, she's been paired with a few and this holds entirely.

That is really cool.

 

[Conan]

Oooohhhh this is awesome to know!! And making me want them more. Seems they check all the boxes then.

My Leghorn has been a fantastic layer and I like her smaller size and efficiency and I’m assuming the brabanters are similar in stature and/or efficiency? How big are their eggs?

I don’t expect leghorn production but was hoping to add a bit more efficient layers such as sex links and more leghorns. May have to consider brabanters too.

My Delaware has been a great layer so far but she’s a bit of a fat ass and eats soooo much and she’s HUGE. Even as a chick she was almost as big as the adults at only a few months old. So not the most efficient bird. but she lays quite big eggs so that’s a plus.

My other slackers only just recently started while I was in FL so only a couple weeks ago. And I still have some not yet laying. They’re almost 9 months old.

But this is the first time I’ve had birds maturing in winter. My first batch were maturing in spring so maybe started sooner.

The Brabanters are on the small size of the standard fowl spectrum. They do not each much feed, and are excellent foragers. Despite that, they also handle confinement really well. They do not pick on my small birds at all.
Eggs are medium sized and white.

 

[Conan]

They are gorgeous.

Thank you.

 

[FortCluck]

I would suggest a ceramic heat emitter (for reptiles) over an actual bulb.

For outdoors? I don't want it to stop working like most heat bulbs.

 

[CSAchook]

For outdoors? I don't want it to stop working like most heat bulbs.

I think it would work outdoors as long as it doesn't wet

 

[FortCluck]

I think it would work outdoors as long as it doesn't wet

They'll be in the shed until they're fully feathered. I'll never do chicks in the house again.

 

[CSAchook]

They'll be in the shed until they're fully feathered. I'll never do chicks in the house again.

You could always do MHP or a radiant heat plate or something instead. I just think that if you are going to use something in a bulb fixture, ceramic heat emitter is best.