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I’ve correctly sexed 11 birds with pea combs. This one just stumps me. Experience Ameraucana breeders are saying cockerel as well as the gender thread here. I’m thinking with the way it fights with Pig it has to be a cockerel. I’m still prying at DH to build another coop. Fingers crossed I get him on board.
I think you could find homes for them.
Are both parents Ameraucana?
People really want the blue egg gene so I feel like Ameraucanas even more than EE are sought after as roosters.
They sound like a couple of ruffians though lol.
Conan, Loki & Angus would play spar but not all the time.
They would actually spend a lot of time together and would lay down together a lot.
I’m really hoping you can find a housing solution for your guys! :fl
 
Now that Cricket is done being broody she is as bad as the other girls to the poor chicks. I think she might be one of the worst offenders at chasing them off. I found them all inside roosting around 3 this afternoon. Poor little guys, they come out in packs to eat and drink. They aren't violent towards them just pecking order stuff and showing who's who.
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My chick is now 13 weeks, things have calmed down a lot but we still have days where they pick on her relentlessly :barnie - they seem to feel the need to remind her not to get too big for her boots. One thing I found puzzling is that the previous lowest of the flock is the most vicious - I'd of thought she would have been less aggressive havibg experienced what its like at the bottom :idunno
 
Now that Cricket is done being broody she is as bad as the other girls to the poor chicks. I think she might be one of the worst offenders at chasing them off. I found them all inside roosting around 3 this afternoon. Poor little guys, they come out in packs to eat and drink. They aren't violent towards them just pecking order stuff and showing who's who.
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Awwwww little darlings, they are gorgeous :love
 
DH will not build another coop right now. I have all the materials aside from roofing and a few 2x4’s. But because we spent a little extra on the last coop than anticipated he won’t spend anymore. I cried so hard about it today. I’m sure that’s why they’ve been fighting since the getgo. My cousin actually suggested Manchineel was a cockerel during the first week. My MIL is trying to convince her husband to let her take him. She has a thing for animals that desperately need homes.
Awwwwww I'm so sorry for you, so hard to have to go through :hugs. Lets hope your MIL succeeds in convincing her husband :fl
 
Well I poked a hole in the duck pool trying to break the ice. I tried being so careful. I'm so mad at myself. So I loaded up the pool with straw. They have their dunking bucket and I put a bigger bowl they can stand in out there. I will have to add a second one because Ricky is hogging it. I ran to the store and got my buckets, the hose is officially frozen--I didn't even get to turn it off before it froze--in fact I forgot to turn it off. Will be my first thing to do tomorrow.

I got the rabbits litter boxes cleaned, added more bedding and some straw to duck house, scooped some poop and added bedding to coop.

I took the nipple waterer out, they are not using it, so I put a heated dog bowl in the run and they lived it. I was going to put it in the coop, but they are using the heated water bottle in there. Same concept as the nipple waterer(may be slightly easier).

I thought it would be cold out there, but at 25 degrees I didn't feel it because I was moving around, I was actually hot..lol

Still have to add some stone and mulch--that will be next week. I'm really bummed about the pool. I still can't believe I did that :(

I move to my new location for work Monday. I took a half day on Monday so I'll go in at noonish. At least I'll not worry about the dark morning and letting them out on Monday.

If I were to leave them in the coop in the morning and let them out at lunch when I come home--would they be ok? The chickens got food and water in there. I worry about the ducks being in there to long without food and water. I will not put food and water in their house, I'm not cleaning up that mess in 20 degree weather.
Personally, I wouldn't risk leaving them without food and water, I recognise the difficulty you face with the mess and freezing conditions, but imo its a big risk to take. As for pool/water bowls freezing over, I put a couple of tennis balls in the pools, one in water bowls b'cos they won't freeze onto the ice, so I just lift them out then use the hole as a starting point to put in a tool and crack the ice, or when its only top layer can lift it off.
 
Idk...regardless of what others may say I’ve noticed that EE and AM can be very different than other breeds.
Skye seemed like she could’ve been a male very early.
I was worried about it because her comb was pink at an early age.
And she was friendly and confident.
But she’s 4 months now, the comb is still pink but her feathering shows she’s clearly female.
Lately I’ve been worrying about Taka because her feathers almost look like they could be saddle feathers.
But when I compare them to Oliver and Angus I know they’re not.
Yet they’re not as rounded as the non-EE pullets or even Skye’s!
:barnie
And Taka has never had a pink comb.
Both of these EE are extremely independent and love to investigate and explore which has seemed to be a male trait with my other breeds.
The EE and Ameraucanas are very hard to determine sex, even for experienced folks, in my opinion.
I have never known you to be wrong at sexing chickens, that fact that you have doubt, makes me wonder if your intuition is picking something up.
 
Well. It didn’t take long... DH is picking up lumber and roofing tomorrow. Looks like I’ll soon have three coops. With three different flocks. Come Christmas I want an incubator so I can hatch more to fill out the big coop.
Didn't see this until after I'd commented on your other post - this is fantastic news! Absolutely has made my day - great news indeed! :woot
 
Personally, I wouldn't risk leaving them without food and water, I recognise the difficulty you face with the mess and freezing conditions, but imo its a big risk to take. As for pool/water bowls freezing over, I put a couple of tennis balls in the pools, one in water bowls b'cos they won't freeze onto the ice, so I just lift them out then use the hole as a starting point to put in a tool and crack the ice, or when its only top layer can lift it off.

Well the tennis ball thing would have been nice to know yesterday...lol
 

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