Bantam chickens.. a friendly discussion about all pure and mixed breeds.

[Arbutus Peregrine]

@DelaneyMGB25, do you have any pictures of this lovely Lemon Blue boy?

Never was a name more fitting....I'm giggling like crazy. They generally exhibit enough attitude to match!
It sounds as though your remaining OEGBs are stunning! High quality, too.

@pipdzipdnreadytogo
Oh my, please tell me I have nothing to do with this! On second thought....ignore that first sentence. Creles are an absolute must, as they throw gorgeous, endless variety in colors. Not to mention that the roosters are STUNNING beyond words. Beast and Sleepy Scott are my babies. I'm dying to hatch Crele X Red Pyles from of these two.....
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Awww, I'd love to see pictures of them sometime.

Never be ashamed!!!! Before you are chicken lovers ready to ooh and ahh over the next generation of lovely, fluffy babies!

Oh my goodness, that adventurous Ihi! (I read through your entire thread a year or so back, therefore, I likely recognize most "characters" in the story ) She obviously intended to give her poor caretaker a heart attack! I'm sure you put a stop to that in a heartbeat. As for Altair and Vega, OEGBs tend to use their diminutive stature to their advantage. It's almost impossible to stay upset with them, and they know it. Just look at those precious, innocent little white faces.

Thank you! Why, yes, she is. The little brat decided to disappear again, but this time, with Beautiful by her side. Thankfully, Sweetheart found and brought them both back before dark, like a diligent gentleman should. He's on my side.

~Alex

stunning!!

 

[Arbutus Peregrine]

At 4 months of age, they're still quite young, and may or may not have reached maturity. Most likely, this isn't the extent of their interest in pullets (wouldn't it be nice if I'm wrong, though? ). I'd monitor them closely in another month or two, just to ensure the girls aren't in distress. Some chasing is normal (and will hopefully subside after time), but I, personally, don't put up with feather loss, drawn blood, or pursuit of pullets to the point of misery. Best of luck with your boys!

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I won't put up with any wounding, either... I'll keep a close eye. It would be soooo nice if they didn't have any more interest than what they are showing now!

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You've liked d'Uccle cockerels thus far? Sadly, I didn't, but this was my own doing. We live and learn. I'll probably give them another, fair chance in the near future.

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Yes, the d'Uccle boys are nice...but no, not my favorite of the boys. It's just the one d'Uccle is really beautiful and so far a very good leader/rooster. He is very gentle with everyone--not very tame--but I hope with time that improves. The Sebright boys were the worst!! I think it would be smart to only have Sebrights, not keep them with other breeds. They were lovely on their own, but not nice to the others. I love all my other boys and yes, just as much as the girls. Why can't we just neuter them like dogs?!! Grrr...annoying. I wish there was a humane capon surgery because I would get it for all of them and keep them as pets.

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Goodness, it sounds as though every breed has their individual personality! And how nice you've encouraged them all to enjoy human interaction. It's a breath of fresh air to associate with people who love their cockerels every bit as much as pullets.
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Thanks for all the great advice!

 

[Arbutus Peregrine]

@Alexandra33
I didn't reply to that last one correctly, but hopefully you see what I wrote!
Thanks again

 

[chickens really]

Fantastic pictures everyone...
Sadly my Pullet Rosebud is sick. I'm not thinking she will be alive this morning when I go check on the birds this morning...

 

[ariri30]

Fantastic pictures everyone...
Sadly my Pullet Rosebud is sick. I'm not thinking she will be alive this morning when I go check on the birds this morning...

I’m so sorry. I hope she recovers soon

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

@pipdzipdnreadytogo
Oh my, please tell me I have nothing to do with this! On second thought....ignore that first sentence. Creles are an absolute must, as they throw gorgeous, endless variety in colors. Not to mention that the roosters are STUNNING beyond words. Beast and Sleepy Scott are my babies. I'm dying to hatch Crele X Red Pyles from of these two.....


Awww, I'd love to see pictures of them sometime.

Never be ashamed!!!! Before you are chicken lovers ready to ooh and ahh over the next generation of lovely, fluffy babies!

Oh my goodness, that adventurous Ihi! (I read through your entire thread a year or so back, therefore, I likely recognize most "characters" in the story ) She obviously intended to give her poor caretaker a heart attack! I'm sure you put a stop to that in a heartbeat. As for Altair and Vega, OEGBs tend to use their diminutive stature to their advantage. It's almost impossible to stay upset with them, and they know it. Just look at those precious, innocent little white faces.

Thank you! Why, yes, she is. The little brat decided to disappear again, but this time, with Beautiful by her side. Thankfully, Sweetheart found and brought them both back before dark, like a diligent gentleman should. He's on my side.

~Alex

Handsome dudes!! Crele x Red Pyle should make for a very interesting cross! So, when are you setting the eggs?

Pictures? Of my Cochins? Well, I have so few, but I suppose I could pull some up...

Oh, my condolences at you losing all that time to my endless rambling. Yes, Ihi's road-egg-laying days were cut short. The lunatic! She has calmed down quite a bit as she's aged, thankfully. At 6, she's actually pretty tame! Not in the sense that I can just walk over and pick her up, mind you, but in the sense that she doesn't do coo-coo crazy stuff all the time anymore. And yes, I'm pretty sure the OEGB girls know they could get away with just about anything. One look at me with those big eyes and I just melt.




Good rooster! And so gorgeous in those pictures of him!! I can't help you with when his tail will come in, unfortunately, but wow, those colors!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Sadly my Pullet Rosebud is sick. I'm not thinking she will be alive this morning when I go check on the birds this morning...

Oh, no! I'm so sorry! I hope she pulls through somehow!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Some pictures of my bantam Cochins. I have both silkied and smooth Cochin bantams at the moment and am looking forward to eventually crossing them and producing more silkie-feathered varieties. Yes, another breeding project.

Bunch of last year's pullets perched together (with two large fowl Dorking pullets on the end). Gosh, they look so different now I don't really remember who's who here! The silkied Red girl is Roxanne, I know that for sure!

Vira. She's an oddball. She didn't get any of her mottling on her back until this year with her first adult molt. She now looks like a completely different bird!




Rowena Such a cutie.




Roscoe, my li'l hairy dude, showing his two sons, Rufus and Russell, where to eat when I first introduced them to him.




Bunch of the Mottleds; this is Ida, Jasper, and Sylvie:




And lastly, Abra (sort of partridge-colored?) and Ida (mottled) during an uneasy truce over the nest box they both wanted to use. Ida was there first, but Abra managed to boot her out not long after this picture was taken.

 

[john_wrightson2003]

SO i have a question about SDW. If you have just plain SDWs, and breed and hatch, will you eventually end up with multiple varieties of SDW or not?

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Plain, 'black' Silver Duckwing is true breeding. What that means is breeding SDW to SDW will always net you more SDWs. Other varieties were crossed into SDWs to produce variations like my Fawns.

Fortunately, a lot of people have worked over a long time to cross colors and produce new varieties, giving us all a greater understanding of the genetic components behind those varieties. In the case of OEGBs especially, this gives genetic enthusiasts like me, who just want to produce pretty birds, not only many options for a foundation to start off of with the sheer volume of varieties that OEGBs are found in, but also what's basically a map for us to follow to reach our end goal. Basically, since I know the genetics behind my Fawn SDWs and behind the other varieties I've mentioned, I know how to cross them to make other colors, like Blue SDW and Silver Crele (which genetically is Barred Black SDW), and I know I can intercross the varieties I've chosen without spending more than a few generations on 'mixed color' birds before they're back to a true breeding variety.

And that was way more than you asked, so I'll shut up now. I tend to get just a little overly enthusiastic when it comes to this topic.