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Kya has hatched her 4 eggs successfully, bringing the 2025 blue band tally up to 9 chicks. Kya appears to have 3 Blues and 1 Black, so no Splashes this year unless I end up setting one more batch from the blue banders at some point. This is from yesterday, but here she is with baby number 1 (and none too pleased about the camera flash 
)
Opal's chicks are 4 Blues and 1 Black confirmed. Here are some cute shots of her and her babies from yesterday and today
And here are the red bander brooder babies at 3 weeks old already!
I just set a second batch of red band eggs, probably the last from that coop this year. I hadn't mentioned anything about this recently, but those of you who have been following since last year might remember that I hatched a few oddball chicks from the red band coop that ended up failing to thrive and did not live very long. Well, I had thought (/ hoped?) that those were out of Bella, who has since passed on, but unfortunately one hatched with the above batch (not pictured because, like the previous ones, it seems to be failing to thrive as well). The only difference between the red band coop and the other two breeding groups is dietary; the red coop is on the same pellets as the others, but they have no access to greens like the other two coops do. So, the last several weeks since the first batch hatched, I've been gathering wild greens and chopping them up every day for the red banders to enjoy.
This batch therefore is a test batch to see if that work made any difference. Any odd chicks hatch in this group and I'll have to accept that it's most likely something genetic and that the red banders and all chicks hatched this year and last out of them should be considered culls.
If this is the case, then I've been thinking about it and I most likely will reach out to a breeder I came across on Facebook to see if I can get on his waiting list for hatching eggs either this summer or next spring. He has smooth-feathered Cochin bantams, but they are simply gorgeous. Following my rotation trend, should I go this route, I would take the best silkied male out of the green band coop hatches from this year and last year, and put him over the best smooth-feathered pullets from these hatching eggs to infuse some better type into my lines. Yes, this will mean having some silkied splits in the program, but I do think it would be worth it to introduce some very typey birds to improve my silkied birds more as opposed to getting more silkieds and working uphill to improve their type. I have heard that this sort of outcrossing could result in less improvement than expected, but I don't forsee it putting me back any further than starting the pen over will do as is.
Anyway, long post short, this latest batch of eggs will more or less decide the fate of my red band coop birds.
Regardless of the result there, I'll be working on getting a grazing frame put together over this summer for that pen so that any birds housed there will have more available access to greens.
Oh, and I will be removing the extra birds from the green band coop this week so that I can get a batch from them set next weekend. I'm hoping if I emphasize like that that it will motivate me to actually get it done
)Opal's chicks are 4 Blues and 1 Black confirmed. Here are some cute shots of her and her babies from yesterday and today
And here are the red bander brooder babies at 3 weeks old already!
I just set a second batch of red band eggs, probably the last from that coop this year. I hadn't mentioned anything about this recently, but those of you who have been following since last year might remember that I hatched a few oddball chicks from the red band coop that ended up failing to thrive and did not live very long. Well, I had thought (/ hoped?) that those were out of Bella, who has since passed on, but unfortunately one hatched with the above batch (not pictured because, like the previous ones, it seems to be failing to thrive as well). The only difference between the red band coop and the other two breeding groups is dietary; the red coop is on the same pellets as the others, but they have no access to greens like the other two coops do. So, the last several weeks since the first batch hatched, I've been gathering wild greens and chopping them up every day for the red banders to enjoy.
This batch therefore is a test batch to see if that work made any difference. Any odd chicks hatch in this group and I'll have to accept that it's most likely something genetic and that the red banders and all chicks hatched this year and last out of them should be considered culls.
If this is the case, then I've been thinking about it and I most likely will reach out to a breeder I came across on Facebook to see if I can get on his waiting list for hatching eggs either this summer or next spring. He has smooth-feathered Cochin bantams, but they are simply gorgeous. Following my rotation trend, should I go this route, I would take the best silkied male out of the green band coop hatches from this year and last year, and put him over the best smooth-feathered pullets from these hatching eggs to infuse some better type into my lines. Yes, this will mean having some silkied splits in the program, but I do think it would be worth it to introduce some very typey birds to improve my silkied birds more as opposed to getting more silkieds and working uphill to improve their type. I have heard that this sort of outcrossing could result in less improvement than expected, but I don't forsee it putting me back any further than starting the pen over will do as is.
Anyway, long post short, this latest batch of eggs will more or less decide the fate of my red band coop birds.
Oh, and I will be removing the extra birds from the green band coop this week so that I can get a batch from them set next weekend. I'm hoping if I emphasize like that that it will motivate me to actually get it done
This is Sterling's first year with hens, so I guess he just needs more practice with his flirting.
At least one of these three is Blue, not sure on the other two yet.
