A Cornish Cross (Breeding?) Journey

[DemeterAD9]

Have weighed Jr. lately, if so what did he tip the scales at?

I promise I will weigh him…someday If I had to guess I’d say he is about 6-7lbs? He looks well built but I think he’s still pretty lanky due to his age.

A few days shy of 20 weeks. He and his bro are now crowing! I’ve also seen him try flirting with the girls and making the rooster coo sounds. No one respects him yet. A touch of black on his l left wing feather and a few reddish feathers on his shoulder.

 

[ABQ chicken keeper]

I promise I will weigh him…someday If I had to guess I’d say he is about 6-7lbs? He looks well built but I think he’s still pretty lanky due to his age.

A few days shy of 20 weeks. He and his bro are now crowing! I’ve also seen him try flirting with the girls and making the rooster coo sounds. No one respects him yet. A touch of black on his l left wing feather and a few reddish feathers on his shoulder.
View attachment 4277654View attachment 4277655View attachment 4277653

He looks great in the first Pic with the turkey, as if to say ... How was your holidays??? Glad to see you made it!

 

[DemeterAD9]

Okay I finally had to put hands on Jr. to look his feet over. He had a bit of a limp on his left foot. Come to find out it seems the nail on both his back toes is broken off. Hopefully it’s not frostbite or something, everyone else seems to be doing well with the up and down temps.

Anyways, he weighs a whopping 7lbs 10oz. Not bad for a young fella. Hopefully he gets to about 9-10lbs fully grown. I was going to weigh his buddy but everyone started panicking on the roost.

 

[ABQ chicken keeper]

Okay I finally had to put hands on Jr. to look his feet over. He had a bit of a limp on his left foot. Come to find out it seems the nail on both his back toes is broken off. Hopefully it’s not frostbite or something, everyone else seems to be doing well with the up and down temps.

Anyways, he weighs a whopping 7lbs 10oz. Not bad for a young fella. Hopefully he gets to about 9-10lbs fully grown. I was going to weigh his buddy but everyone started panicking on the roost.

Thanks for the update.
I was a little worried that next time we saw Jr. would be in shrink wrap freezer bag.
Have you selected hens to breed him to yet?

 

[DemeterAD9]

Thanks for the update.
I was a little worried that next time we saw Jr. would be in shrink wrap freezer bag.
Have you selected hens to breed him to yet?

Yup he’ll be with a barred rock, 3 Wyandottes of different colors, one or two of my bresse mixes and possibly my barred/laced hen to see what patterns I can get. Hopefully the sore toe doesn’t slow him down. Still haven’t seen him successfully breed a hen but I’m also not watching them 24/7.

 

[DemeterAD9]

Junior and the rest have been treated for northern fowl mites and will be treated again in about a week. Coop has been cleaned as well. Hopefully no one was too terribly effected by the mites. In 2 more weeks I plan to move Jr and the girls to the spare pen and they need to be in good shape! Today they got some vitamins and minerals in their water, plus they've been eating chick starter along with kitchen scraps and a bit of canned suckers (carp).

That being said, all the wyandotte girls and many of the other hens have stopped laying though I'm guessing it is due to that cold spell. They've all been staying in/under the coop and deck so I'm sure they weren't soaking up much sun. Good thing it will be a bit nicer this coming week so I expect egg laying to pick up.

I should also mention Jr has been trying to breed some of the girls! But he has taken to waiting for them to come out of the nest boxes before ambushing them... At least he's trying I guess.

 

[DemeterAD9]

Second mite treatment completed. I didn’t see any around their vents but I didn’t look all that hard either. I did however see Jr. taking advantage of the time it took me to grab the more dominant roos out of the coop. Saw him finally successfully breed a hen so that means there won’t be issues from his sore toe.

After handling all the birds I’m second guessing my hen selection. The GL and SL girls are rather petite, not necessarily thin but just small. BBS is more medium sized as is the barred rock. Simply because I want to see the feather patterns and stick with the rose combs I’ll still use all the Wyandotte girls. I’ve decided to do 7 hens total, the 3 Wyandottes, barred rock, barred/laced, large fowl mix, and a light brahma cross who feels very fleshy.
Large fowl mix, she’s a big girl who lays big eggs

Light brahma mix, a recent new layer

Barred/laced hen, she’s also pretty big

BBSW

A bresse mix who is a backup if someone doesn’t start laying in time.

Junior’s sore foot

And junior looking handsome

Birds will be moved over to the pen this weekend. Still need to kick the ducks out and clean it up, cover the top with chicken wire, and somehow get the duck pool full of ice out… might involve a sledge hammer and result in a broken kiddie pool. Have to figure out a couple quick nest boxes and perhaps an extra roost bar as well. I should also get back to preventative trapping of the coons that are sure to be roaming around now that the weather is getting warmer. I smelled a skunk this morning too.