Barnevelder breeders lets work together and improve the breed

[Happy Chooks]

Quote:
I hatched mine in a hovabator 1602N. The first thing is get the Brinsea Spot check thermometer. It's super accurate, and my hatches have been great since I got it.

99-100 is the proper temp for a still air.
I let mine rest for about 8 hours - get them in the morning, set them in a carton wide end up on the counter and set them in the bator at night.
I start mine off at about 35%, but honestly, I don't worry about humidity until lockdown. My last few hatches, I didn't add any water (and it got down to 23%) until lockdown. At lockdown, I bump it to 65%.
I use an auto turner and I hatch in cartons (wide end up). I have hatched with the eggs lying on their sides, but the chicks that hatch first play soccer with the eggs, so I started hatching in cartons.

I've had 100% hatches on shipped eggs before, and my last hatch (with 3 lines of barnies in them) went through 3 major power outages. I still ended up with 23 chicks. (13 of them barnies)

 

[RachaelS]

Thank you both.

 

[tls_ranch]

I finally got a picture of the promising blue pullet. She looks double-laced and doesn't seem to have "brassy" hackle feathers. I have two more blue pullets from this hatch, but one is kind of small for her age. The other is really nice sized and colored, but I don't like the shape of her head.

This is her brother, he's pretty nice too. Looks like he'll have good coloring and a nice head shape. He's also really calm with a nice personality.

I'm getting a lot of blue cockerels from this generation. But, I guess it's good to get so many to choose from because I can pick the best to cross back to some of my pure barnie hens. But geez all these cockerels, I think I only got ONE blue pullet from my most recent hatch

 

[Happy Chooks]

Wow Trisha, they are stunning!

My barnie cockeral that is pure Johan (from pinkchick) is the sweetest, most mellow guy I have ever had. I certainly have a lot of boys to choose from though!

I can't wait for mine to grow up!

 

[tls_ranch]

Thanks, I'm so excited about how well this project is coming along

This blue guy is by a half Johan roo

He's a sweet chick and lets my son carry him everywhere.

Trisha

 

[enggass]

Hey Trisha...
About how old are these two?

 

[tls_ranch]

They are a little over 5 1/2 weeks old if I counted right

Trisha

 

[tls_ranch]

Here's a picture of the younger blue chicks. These hatched around April 8th. This picture helps to show feathering differences between pullet and cockerel chicks.


Girl= longer wings with shoulder and back feathers coming in early. Boy= shorter wings and bare shoulders/back. He's also bigger, but was "chicken" and refused to stand up. LOL

Edited to add: Here's a pic of the breast down differences. The girl on the left has a darker breast vs boy on the right with a whiter breast. Also look at the leg thickness. Huge tree trunk legs on the cockerel chick.

 

[enggass]

Thanks Trisha,
Very helpful...!

 

[oconnorfamily25]

Our chicks from Johan are also very sweet and calm. They come running to us and don't mind being handled. The one larger boy loves to sleep while being held. We are so excited to have them.
Those blue babies are lovely. Thanks for sharing the pictures.