Breeding and Raising and Hatching of Barnyard Chickens!!!!!!!!!!

[uzisuzuki]

They turned out beautiful! He has quite the comb there. Congrats!

He really does! He's the only one with a huge comb (I'm guessing that's what happens when you cross a v-shaped with a rose - it's split into a v at the back). I'm so pleased that I found this thread and it made me decide to try hatching my flock's eggs. I love it when I'm not lazy and do my fringe up in a swirl and swoop so that he and I match.

Uzisuzuki, I love their coloring. All of our roosters have the really pronounced combs, also. I love the look of them unfortunately, they are not winter friendly and two suffered frost bite damage in spite of my best efforts to prevent it. We had a long stretch of icy weather where the temp would come up during the day and it would rain buckets and then drop to the single digits and teens over night. The silly chickens went out during the day, came in wet and in spite of opening more vents and turning the bedding, their pretty combs are not so pretty any longer even with vasoline and bag balm smeared on them. We finally resorted to installing a double light fixture in the coop and turning blue and red low wattage light bulbs that keep the air from being too cold for them at night. They are healed now and I want to prevent further damage.

We have a Buff O hen sitting on 7 eggs right now with a hatching date somewhere around the 27th of the month. Three eggs (I think) were laid by the Welsummers and the rest by the Buff O hens. We are looking for Buffs and Wellies crossed with either our Wellie roosters, or our lone Buff O rooster or our Lavender O rooster. I'm rooting for Larry Bird, the Lavender boy who is just a beautiful roo but has to ambush the hens when the other boys have their backs turned as he is lowest rooster on the totum pole.

I can hardly wait to see what little mutts pop out of the shells!

I did have a little frostbite scare with him early on this season. We also have the fluctuating temps and he wasn't in an ideal roosting situation overnight. I guess I caught it early enough that he didn't lose any points, even the one I was sure was going to lose a tip. Last winter, I just had to deal with my sebright's rose comb, so this has been a learning experience. Best of luck with your hatch!

 

[AmyLynn2374]

He really does! He's the only one with a huge comb (I'm guessing that's what happens when you cross a v-shaped with a rose - it's split into a v at the back). I'm so pleased that I found this thread and it made me decide to try hatching my flock's eggs. I love it when I'm not lazy and do my fringe up in a swirl and swoop so that he and I match.

I did have a little frostbite scare with him early on this season. We also have the fluctuating temps and he wasn't in an ideal roosting situation overnight. I guess I caught it early enough that he didn't lose any points, even the one I was sure was going to lose a tip. Last winter, I just had to deal with my sebright's rose comb, so this has been a learning experience. Best of luck with your hatch!

My big roo has a huge comb and it looks like the tippy top of about three of his got frostbite. This is him:




I need to put up some new pics of some of my little mixes, it's been a while....lol

 

[microchick]

I was really surprised by how fast they healed up. I had done some reading up on frost bite treatment and was expecting the worse. Must be the retired nurse in me. The two boys surprised me though by healing without any intervention at all. I kept an eye on them, especially their wattles which are big and dangly. They would shake their heads and their wattles would click together at the bottoms like castanets. I thought for sure they would develop an infection or at least drainage from the area but nope. The frost bit areas fell off on their own, the Buff O roo loosing about half of his really tall points and the Welly Roo fairing a little worse. I used bag balm on them and probably will again but the biggest aid for me has been keeping a light turned on in the coop. No recurrence of frost bite since I did that.

 

[uzisuzuki]

@AmyLynn2374 Oh my goodness, he's so big! LOL I only have the 1 regular sized chicken (my Sumatra hen), so I always forget that my flock is basically the toy chicken flock.

My little d'Uccle has a similar shaped comb (not as big) and the very tip of one point got it. I think it happened while she went broody on the golf balls in the nesting boxes.

@microchick I use bag balm on my flock, too. It's helped a lot. Or, it's put my overprotective, helicopter mom nerves at ease. It's probably a good thing I don't have kids, with the way I worry about my birds and dogs and everything in the world! My Sebright rooster had the same issues with his waddle for a little bit, too. I switched out their large metal waterer for a plastic one and with some bag balm, it seems to have helped him out a lot. He's the only bird I have with "real" waddles - everyone else is without or has tiny ones like my barnyard mix cockerel. I didn't realize how hardy chickens were in the winter. Even the peacock that adopted me at the end of summer surprised me with how well he (and his new hens) do in the cold. None of them like walking in the snow, though, so I guess there's that.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

@AmyLynn2374 Oh my goodness, he's so big! LOL I only have the 1 regular sized chicken (my Sumatra hen), so I always forget that my flock is basically the toy chicken flock.

My little d'Uccle has a similar shaped comb (not as big) and the very tip of one point got it. I think it happened while she went broody on the golf balls in the nesting boxes.

@microchick I use bag balm on my flock, too. It's helped a lot. Or, it's put my overprotective, helicopter mom nerves at ease. It's probably a good thing I don't have kids, with the way I worry about my birds and dogs and everything in the world! My Sebright rooster had the same issues with his waddle for a little bit, too. I switched out their large metal waterer for a plastic one and with some bag balm, it seems to have helped him out a lot. He's the only bird I have with "real" waddles - everyone else is without or has tiny ones like my barnyard mix cockerel. I didn't realize how hardy chickens were in the winter. Even the peacock that adopted me at the end of summer surprised me with how well he (and his new hens) do in the cold. None of them like walking in the snow, though, so I guess there's that.

lol Yes, he's a very big boy...lol Very heavy. But he's a good roo. He's very protective of his girls and lets them eat first and he's pretty much a gentle man. The only problem I have is he has just started trying to bully my Spitz roo from the other coop when I let them out to range together, and he goes after the dogs if they are out...lol Other than that he is a good roo.

 

[Wyatt0224]

I realize this thread is a bit old but I was wondering if you guys would know what a Rhode Island Red rooster crossed with a Silkie hen would look like?

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I realize this thread is a bit old but I was wondering if you guys would know what a Rhode Island Red rooster crossed with a Silkie hen would look like?

I can tell you first generation crosses with a silkie will result in normal feathers. Learned that one last year.

As for colors my guess would be they would carry the roos coloring as I think the white is recessive, but don't quote me on that because color genetics are not my strong point.

 

[WVduckchick]

I realize this thread is a bit old but I was wondering if you guys would know what a Rhode Island Red rooster crossed with a Silkie hen would look like?

This is a great thread for mixes. Some very knowledgeable folks about what genes dominate in mixes:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...-post-before-adding-content/570#post_16823611

Also search the thread for your breeds individually and you may luck out and find the same cross as yours.

 

[uzisuzuki]

Well, this little nugget hatched yesterday & is the offspring of my first two barnyard mixes!

(The parents)

So far, the chick seems to have a slightly domed noggin - his parents didn't have that. I'm excited to see if the new chick develops a fuller crest than the mohawks his parents have.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Well, this little nugget hatched yesterday & is the offspring of my first two barnyard mixes!


(The parents)

So far, the chick seems to have a slightly domed noggin - his parents didn't have that. I'm excited to see if the new chick develops a fuller crest than the mohawks his parents have.

Cool! Bet he/she's gonna be beautiful like mommy and daddy. I still can't get over daddy's big ole comb....lol