8 week old BLRWs!

[PeakyBeaky]

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Awesome, you guys have made me feel a lot better! I hope I get pleasantly surprised. I'll take some better shots at some point, maybe in a few weeks when hopefully it will be more clear who is what. lol

Question- how early do BLRWs lay? I heard they typically are early layers and wonder if there is any truth to that.

Late layers

Ours are very late, 9-10 months! But it's winter and I'm not lighting them right now(I give them a break) so their growth and egg production is less than it could be.

 

[cluckcluck42]

Funny all the things you hear about chickens from word of mouth, a lot of it ends up not being true at all. Oh well, should be worth the wait.

 

[kristip]

Peaky Beaky... you mentioned telling them apart more by color... how do BLRW differ in sex by color?

thanks

 

[PeakyBeaky]

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We have a BLRW 8-9mo old pullet that has the burgundy wing coloration like our Rooster. She shouldn't have it at all, which worried us for awhile that she was a boy. Chickens can be so weird sometimes!

 

[HBuehler]

There could be some early layers but without a doubt hatchery stock since they breed for egg production.I'm getting 1 egg from 3 7-8 month old's every other day but no added light. They take around 18 months to mature so there is nothing quick about them
You can't sex them by color unless you really know your stock because so many feather in with poor color and lacing those roo looking feathers could be a pullet..but then it would be a pullet only good for laying eggs. More will hatch with less desirable lacing and color than with "ideal" as both Jerry and Paul will tell you they hatch a few hundred to keep less than a dozen.It's very hard to get type and color all in the same bird.If you want real nice BLRW(or any other) you have to cull cull cull and not breed those with quality issues.
Your blue has the best red color of all of them the others have an orange shading to them which is common but not burgundy but are nice enough to grow up further before making any decisions on them.They may end up with great type

 

[cluckcluck42]

Thanks for that info Hbueler. I can't wait to see what they all finish out like. They are from good lines and carefully bred, but that doesn't mean all I get will be breeding worthy by any means. It's important to remember that in any breed, you're absolutely right. I think these will be one of the breeds I continue to work on though, I just think they are the most gorgeous birds. I look forward to showing you guys what they look like in a few months and seeing what you think. In fact, I'm not that happy with these pics I took so as soon as me and the fiance have some time I'd like to get some pictures in nature lighting. Would that help get the true colour of them? Because we took these photos in a dark coop with flash on. I will take pics of a few more of the males too, there are some nice ones I didnt bother with because I was so sure they were boys.

 

[MissD'uccle]

First is pullet for sure, and the second sure looks like a boy, but the third I wouldn't jump on the roo bandwagon yet. I've had several BLRW fool me for months... until we got a crow or an egg

 

[HBuehler]

The camera flash could be making the color off..natural light is much better with any and really so with these. They are a great breed/color that still needs lots of work but they are so pleasant to be around it's just fun. The culls are still so pretty there has been no problem getting rid of them as yard chickens I just hatched some from the byc boards and they feathered marbled people loved them.We lost our aviator roo after Christmas so now I'm working with my second roo which is still a real nice roo but changes my plans some for this year.My first thing to work on is raising a second breeding roo as back up..more good pullets are always needed