2021 Chick Order

[JacinLarkwell]

He's this handsome stud. Him and one of the females I just can't figure out. The other two are obviously mystic onyxes since they've got an extra toe on one foot, but Big Boy and the other pullet don't. 2 out of the 3 pullets are lying little tan eggs, but I'm not sure which two.
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Also on another note, I believe all three are laying now (should probably lock everyone up for a day or so and color their vents to be sure) and if they are, looks like 2 tan layers and a white. Thought I was getting green eggs, but I think my EE was trying out a slightly different shade for a few dayz

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Still waiting on eggs though from anyone else really. But I know my oldest birds will be 21 weeks tomorroe amd thar still less than the 6 months bantams tend to take, and I mainly just have banties and ornamentals.

But I want new eggs .


One last question (might make a seperate post just so I can get some opinions since I know most people aren't watching anymore: I have had quite a few projects not work out. My Yokohama got taken out in the rabbit tray incidents, which also took out my male d'Anvers and likely (with my luck) a male sebright with the right comb.
I have a group of bantams now I'm thinking of keeping away from the main groups, which is an elderly Japanese (I say that moreso because she be lookin' rough than her actual age, think shes only 3 or 4 honestly), a d'Anvers female with everything right, a sebright that looks great and a sebright with a few wrong colored feathers:

I also have a sebright cocerel, same color, good color, but a single comb.
Would you keep him with the sole intention of being able to just offer mixed guaranteed bantam sized chicks? Right now I have standard and standardxbantam mixes and that's it for my barnyard coops, and I know some people solely want bantams, nothing else.

 

[NatJ]

a sebright with a few wrong colored feathers:

I wonder if that Sebright has only one copy of Dominant White, instead of two. I've seen photos of "white" chickens with a few black feathers, and I think your photo may show the same kind of leakage, but it looks different because the Sebright is laced instead of solid colored.

I also have a sebright cocerel, same color, good color, but a single comb.
Would you keep him with the sole intention of being able to just offer mixed guaranteed bantam sized chicks? Right now I have standard and standardxbantam mixes and that's it for my barnyard coops, and I know some people solely want bantams, nothing else.

I would probably try it. I have no experience actually selling chickens, but your reasoning makes sense to me.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I wonder if that Sebright has only one copy of Dominant White, instead of two. I've seen photos of "white" chickens with a few black feathers, and I think your photo may show the same kind of leakage, but it looks different because the Sebright is laced instead of solid colored.


I would probably try it. I have no experience actually selling chickens, but your reasoning makes sense to me.

Just curious, would she still have so few of those odd feathers then? She only has like 3 or 4 now, but I've noticed occasionally one will seemingly pop up
I don't exactly care, cause she's my baby out of that breed (she was the only one from the first batch that survived and she thought she was one of my bresse for the longest time since she was raised with those big chicks), but my brain is convinced that she would have way more black feathers if she only had the one gene. But that gene also confuses the heck outta me, so...

 

[NatJ]

Just curious, would she still have so few of those odd feathers then? She only has like 3 or 4 now, but I've noticed occasionally one will seemingly pop up
I don't exactly care, cause she's my baby out of that breed (she was the only one from the first batch that survived and she thought she was one of my bresse for the longest time since she was raised with those big chicks), but my brain is convinced that she would have way more black feathers if she only had the one gene. But that gene also confuses the heck outta me, so...

I'm not entirely sure.

I've seen photos of chickens with just one copy of Dominant White and a few black feathers, and other chickens with lots of black feathers (Paint) that appear to have the same genetics. So I think there must be other modifiers that haven't been studied and we don't know about.

If you wanted to check that by test-mating, just cross that Sebright to any rooster that has some black on him. If half the chicks show black and half show white, then you know the hen has one copy of not-Dominant-White. But if you get very many chicks and they all have white, then she's probably pure for Dominant White and there would have to be some other explanation for the odd feathers.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Lost a polish pullet today, Pretty Bird. Not sure what happened, but she wasn't in the shed last night and never found her today. She was there yesterday and we were home all day yesterday and no one ever gave an alarm cry about her being taken so I'm really not sure.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Started washing some of my mosaics (polish and leghorns are next), to pick out my two males. Already found one to cull out of the apparently 6 boys though, he's got something up with his eyes, like the gland is trying to squeeze between the eye and the cavity. Not sure if it's an injury or genetic as admittedly I have not kept a close eye on them individually, more so just making sure all 9 stay around.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Also anyone have experience with washing tractor oil off birds? Mine apparently love to go under ours and they're just saturated. I only managed to wash 4 and a half before the tote of water literally was brown and starting to not act like water anymore. We had dawn soap mixed in to help cut through it. The 5th one doesn't even look like it got washed, his skin is still covered in dried oil too, which I know isn't great for them.

On the bright side, I have 3 pullets including a light one (think they're called starbursts?) And all I've looked at have decent blue and black skin.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I'm getting pullet eggs!

One from wither my frazzled or my older barred Cochin bantam, and one from who the cluck knows. The oldest bird I have in this group is 21.5 weeks old, and is a bantam. I'm thinking it's either from my D'uccle, who's the same age as above, or my sebright, who is a week younger. Maybe my lavender or a Cornish now that I think about it since they're also the same age?

I need to go and see what color eggs these different birds are claiming. It's a light tan, so .....

Oh, it could also be my silkie, I guess. She's 21.5 too.....

 

[NatJ]

I need to go and see what color eggs these different birds are claiming. It's a light tan, so .....

That sounds right for Cornish bantams, but also for quite a few other kinds of bantams.