2021 Chick Order

[JacinLarkwell]

Anyone know when it's normal for boys to start instigating things? I had to run down and check on butts and the new ones and had to first stop two frizzles that were jumping on everyone while sparing and then a barred and a silkie. Poor new ones and tiny ones (tiny silkie, tiny Frizzle and golden neck) kept getting stomped durking the horseplay. They're like a week and a half now, that's it.

Could it be all the red lights making them irritable? They seemed fine earlier today. They have food and water and a cooler space to get away if they're too warm.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Also I'll look at the combs and wings of the new ones and see if there's anything besides normal feathers and single combs

 

[HomesteadNowhere]

I've got mcmurray 3/29 (could ship Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday apparently). I'm in Ohio and hoping for timely shipping.
Brown egg layers hens and All heavies roos. Same breed assortment but wanted to make sure I'd get at least as many hens as I wanted to pick from. The roos will be in competition for breeding rights and the rest will be for freezer.

Then freedom rangers from freedomrangerhatchery in PA. Which should ship 3/30 and arrive 4/1. I went with straight run because I want to keep some hens for breeding experiment and roos for freezer.

 

[NatJ]

Anyone know when it's normal for boys to start instigating things? I had to run down and check on butts and the new ones and had to first stop two frizzles that were jumping on everyone while sparing and then a barred and a silkie. Poor new ones and tiny ones (tiny silkie, tiny Frizzle and golden neck) kept getting stomped durking the horseplay. They're like a week and a half now, that's it.

Could it be all the red lights making them irritable? They seemed fine earlier today. They have food and water and a cooler space to get away if they're too warm.

Sounds like normal behavior to me. I've noticed they do most "chicken" behaviors from a really early age if they have the oportunity, including dustbathing, scratching and pecking in the dirt, and "fighting" to establish the pecking order.

I'm not sure what you're using for bedding, but you could try to give them something more interesting ot scratch through (maybe a shovel of dirt.)

Just separating the smaller ones might be safest, if the big ones are getting rambunctious.

And you might double-check how much space they have. I've seen recommendations for 1/2 square foot per chick the first two weeks, and 1 square foot per chick for the next few weeks. When you've got a lot of chicks, that adds up to large areas really fast.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Sounds like normal behavior to me. I've noticed they do most "chicken" behaviors from a really early age if they have the oportunity, including dustbathing, scratching and pecking in the dirt, and "fighting" to establish the pecking order.

I'm not sure what you're using for bedding, but you could try to give them something more interesting ot scratch through (maybe a shovel of dirt.)

Just separating the smaller ones might be safest, if the big ones are getting rambunctious.

And you might double-check how much space they have. I've seen recommendations for 1/2 square foot per chick the first two weeks, and 1 square foot per chick for the next few weeks. When you've got a lot of chicks, that adds up to large areas really fast.

I use shavings for bedding. I don't have problems with them eating them like everyone claims, and they like to scratch for their crumble in it as they get older, which helps with waste a bit. Plus no towels to clean then

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Ooohhh goodness

Had an early morning for class so popped in to check real quick and everyone was sound sleep. Those are the moments I crave watching them.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Over a day with no losses yay! I'll add pictures tonight when I get home. I checked the mystery combs, all look single, but they're itty bitty for their size.

Already looking over my frizzles to pick out who has a chance and who isn't staying at all. I need a male, preferably blue but splash will work too. Black if I have no other choice. A few have feathers on the middle toe like they're supposed to, but one of the black doesn't and one of the others i don't think have it. They may be for a sex link cross, but I'm still wanting them to look proper so the offspring look proper

 

[JacinLarkwell]

My mom has already decided though if we have a splash girl Frizzle that she's staying so she will probably go in the self blue pen and I'll have to just mark those eggs since I'm not sure what the chicks would look like enough to be able to pick those things out of a hatch

 

[VeryHappyHens]

My mom has already decided though if we have a splash girl Frizzle that she's staying so she will probably go in the self blue pen and I'll have to just mark those eggs since I'm not sure what the chicks would look like enough to be able to pick those things out of a hatch

Just like mine Don’t ask I have alot splash frizzled currently. Trying to breed more spashes.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Just like mine Don’t ask I have alot splash frizzled currently. Trying to breed more spashes.

Just like your what?