Brabanters and Spitzhaubens--The Differences PIC HEAVY!

[CrazyTalk]

The second one is definitely a hen. My birds are from Cackle, and any of them with polishy looking crests were hens. My hens also all seem to be significantly darker than the roos - mostly in the back.

 

[PhoredaBurds]

Pics... Gender guesses?

I'm leaning toward thinkin pullet on this one, but really on the fence. Need a couple more weeks to see if those waddles grow & redden. Second pic certainly looks like a pullet. They both have nice spangling. Will be fun to see how they grow out.

 

[PhoredaBurds]

Might be a hen, not 100% sure. I just looked at some pics of mine at 9 weeks, and there's a lot of variation in the roos - 

Crazy, ur avatar roo is gorgeous. Do u have any more now pics of him?

 

[CrazyTalk]

Thanks Phoreda,I don't - that one is from 11/8, and he was born on 6/8 - so it's time to go out there and take some more - it's tough with the early sunsets though - light is terrible when I get off work.

He's a hatchery bird from Cackle - they imported a bunch of roos from Switzerland a year or two back, so their birds have improved quite a bit - the roos atleast. My hens were pretty terrible. I ended up keeping 4 of the 12 cockerels I started with. None are perfect, but they're all pretty good, and all have something that I like - the pic makes this one's crest look wider than it actually is.

Here's the full size:

 

[alisar]

What are the personality on the ones from Cackle?

 

[drumstick diva]

Crazy WOW what a spectacular roo !!

 

[CrazyTalk]

What are the personality on the ones from Cackle?

They're about what I expected from the breed - a bit on the wild/flighty/skittish side - not real friendly, but not standoffish. When the feeders are empty - they come and get me - but they're not really 'sit on your lap' birds. They seem to get along fine with our ducks and geese - no real fighting when ducks come into their pasture, or when they move into the lawn the ducks use. They free range, and seem to forage well, and do a pretty good job taking care of themselves. I've got four 6-month old roosters out there, and they haven't killed each other yet, and there's very little skirmishing - they don't seem to be real hard on each other. I wanted pretty birds that would mostly take care of themselves, and put a dent in the tick population in my pasture, and they've done that.

When I was raising the chicks, I also had a dozen ducklings in the house (along with the 16 spitz), and a couple goslings, so none of them got a ton of attention, which may partly explain why they're not real friendly.

 

[CrazyTalk]

I think this is the other Roo that's going to get to hang around:



His tail is a little beat up (and has some smut in the white), and his eyes are the wrong color - but he was a good breeding lesson for me - if I'd culled early, he would have been the first bird to go - was the ugliest chick in the bunch:

 

[PhoredaBurds]

It really is amazing how much their looks change in the first 6 months. I wonder about a couple of the roosters I rehomed & if I chose the right ones to keep.

 

[LaylaFlora]

I love brabanters!

I have a cream roo, a cream hen, and two golden hens. I am hoping to start a breeding program with my 4H-er daughter in the spring.
This is our black half-moon spangled cream bearded hen.