Will do! My guess is Orps. I am getting eggs from him when his hens start laying again after molt. They will be all Blacks though! Leaving the Blues to you guys who are more established.
Hey, you are welcome all for the pic of Bella showing her cushion. But thanks to Kurt I learned "what a cushion" really is as I had not known before he mentioned it. I love learning things here as well.
Wow! Dragonlady, that is a huge cushion on the Orp pic you shared. Never have I seen the like before.
evening everyone!
First, I apologize for the poor quality of the pics. I had just put them into the "big girls" run for the first time today and they were being chased around a bit by my 6 month old red sex-link pullets, of course. In case you don't remember my previous posting, the smaller one was stunted by a severe case of cocci @ 9 weeks that turned out to be virulent compounded by the fact she was loaded with round worms when I got her (at 9 weeks) but I didn't know it and I didn't discover those until she started passing them several weeks later!!! Poor girl got a real double whammy and it took till just this past week or so for her to finally stop completely passing blood and tissue, so needless to say she (hopefully a she) was very stunted but has been growing at an incredible rate now to the point she is almost as big as the other one when originally she was half the other's size. Anyway, lots of antibiotics, wazine, etc. and tons of top quality feed, probiotics and proteins later, here they are.
As mentioned before, they are supposed to be off a good line, so what do you think??? Hens? Roos? One of each???? Can't tell from their behavior as they have been doing a lot of chest bumping AND squaring off tho no actually fighting, just a lot of head lowering and very funny stare downs. I am thinking they are just making up for lost time from being sick. Neither really acted like a roo today when they mixed with the other girls for the first time. (2 older hens and the mentioned 3 trouble makers).
Your expertise is greatly appreciated.
evening everyone!
First, I apologize for the poor quality of the pics. I had just put them into the "big girls" run for the first time today and they were being chased around a bit by my 6 month old red sex-link pullets, of course. In case you don't remember my previous posting, the smaller one was stunted by a severe case of cocci @ 9 weeks that turned out to be virulent compounded by the fact she was loaded with round worms when I got her (at 9 weeks) but I didn't know it and I didn't discover those until she started passing them several weeks later!!! Poor girl got a real double whammy and it took till just this past week or so for her to finally stop completely passing blood and tissue, so needless to say she (hopefully a she) was very stunted but has been growing at an incredible rate now to the point she is almost as big as the other one when originally she was half the other's size. Anyway, lots of antibiotics, wazine, etc. and tons of top quality feed, probiotics and proteins later, here they are.
As mentioned before, they are supposed to be off a good line, so what do you think??? Hens? Roos? One of each???? Can't tell from their behavior as they have been doing a lot of chest bumping AND squaring off tho no actually fighting, just a lot of head lowering and very funny stare downs. I am thinking they are just making up for lost time from being sick. Neither really acted like a roo today when they mixed with the other girls for the first time. (2 older hens and the mentioned 3 trouble makers).
Your expertise is greatly appreciated.
evening everyone!
First, I apologize for the poor quality of the pics. I had just put them into the "big girls" run for the first time today and they were being chased around a bit by my 6 month old red sex-link pullets, of course. In case you don't remember my previous posting, the smaller one was stunted by a severe case of cocci @ 9 weeks that turned out to be virulent compounded by the fact she was loaded with round worms when I got her (at 9 weeks) but I didn't know it and I didn't discover those until she started passing them several weeks later!!! Poor girl got a real double whammy and it took till just this past week or so for her to finally stop completely passing blood and tissue, so needless to say she (hopefully a she) was very stunted but has been growing at an incredible rate now to the point she is almost as big as the other one when originally she was half the other's size. Anyway, lots of antibiotics, wazine, etc. and tons of top quality feed, probiotics and proteins later, here they are.
As mentioned before, they are supposed to be off a good line, so what do you think??? Hens? Roos? One of each???? Can't tell from their behavior as they have been doing a lot of chest bumping AND squaring off tho no actually fighting, just a lot of head lowering and very funny stare downs. I am thinking they are just making up for lost time from being sick. Neither really acted like a roo today when they mixed with the other girls for the first time. (2 older hens and the mentioned 3 trouble makers).
Your expertise is greatly appreciated.
Glad to get your update and know that your two BA's are doing so good. Congrats on doing such a good job nursing your "poor girl" back to health. That sounds like quite an ordeal for you to go through.
My girls did some of that chest bumping & squaring off before their hormones kicked in to start laying. Peppa was also running at me trying to peck me for a few weeks during that time before the squatting began. She is very submissive now thankfully but she has a few scars from my old hen teaching her a few lessons. Also I gave her a few firm but humane lessons on who is the boss during that short time. Anyway, it has taken some time but they all get along fairly well now that they all know their places.
One of mine began laying eggs at 20 weeks and the other at 22 weeks so you may have eggs soon. I have been getting eggs everyday from my two lately. I still think they are the best eggs I have ever tasted in my life.
Thanks Dee and Ron! I'm thinking I probably have one of each too and that's ok. I don't have a roo and hopefully he will grow into the handsome young man I think he will. Then again, the difference could be just because the little one had such a rough start. Thank you for sharing how your "babies" behaved before they started to squat. My sex-links did the chest bumping too but not the whole hackles raising, stare down thing. I was told by the breeder they were both pullets and I was planning to get a young roo from another line but as long as they BOTH don't start crowing I'm good. I'll just add a couple pullets from another line in the spring. I have been able to locate a quality breeder of English Australorp in southern Minnesota which isn't too terribly far away.
Oh, and about laying. With everything the little girl's insides have been thru (she shed a LOT of intestinal lining!) I would be fine if she delays starting to lay to give her a chance to fully recover. They are both growing feathers like crazy! The breeder had put them on All Flock as soon as they were moved from the brooder and mixed with older birds (her Marans I think) which I think probably also contributed to them being behind in development.