Cackle article claims NH and RIR autosexing?

[SheaLoner]

If I lost all my original selections, I’d start fresh again. I’m not sure how big of a deal that is for @SheaLoner, but it would be just getting another batch of hatching eggs from one county over for me.

I would need to order 20 more chicks from Freedom Ranger. And their next available order date is for the begining of Oct. That is far too late in the year for me to start chicks here. So it puts me a full year behind to start fresh.

 

[WallyG74]

So, here we are. I selected the best of the best to breed from last year’s hatches. That landed me with 1 rooster + his backup and 3 hens. It seems like more, but I’m also hatching bantam Cochins. For me, this is the goal for perfect auto-sexing RIRs. Before this batch I have hatched 20 RIR chicks this year. Some have been good examples with the females having black dots on the head and a dim but present darker stripe down the back. This is the first and only (so far) that has looked like this. Here is the start of my contribution to returning RIRs to auto-sexing status!

These are all 3 pics of the same chick. Now I know I have the stock to produce and it happened quickly. She will definitely stay with me as well as some of her sisters. Hopefully some of them will be such good examples!

 

[SheaLoner]

I did get some replacements from FR last year. Have 2 roos and only 1 marked hen left. And she is a hay eater. Set to do a crop surgery tomorrow. Lost 2 of her sisters that way in the late fall. I think it's going to be a case of breeding the Roos to my non marked females and going from there.

 

[WallyG74]

I did get some replacements from FR last year. Have 2 roos and only 1 marked hen left. And she is a hay eater. Set to do a crop surgery tomorrow. Lost 2 of her sisters that way in the late fall. I think it's going to be a case of breeding the Roos to my non marked females and going from there.

I didn’t know that could be a problem. Maybe a stupid question, but can you use shavings instead of hay?

 

[SheaLoner]

I didn’t know that could be a problem. Maybe a stupid question, but can you use shavings instead of hay?

They are semi free range most of the time. It's not so much the hay I use in the nest boxes and for mud control, its the standing old grass. Without doing a fully contained coop and run it's very hard to keep them away from it.

 

[SheaLoner]

I'm thinking it's a "learned" behavior from when they were chicks. Having to ration feed on this girls to keep them trim enough to breed makes them think Anything is food.

 

[ChickNanny13]

Finding this VERY interesting and

 

[SheaLoner]

Surgery went OK. Could find neither my suture kit nor skin glue so will have to wait and see if she heals up on her own. Pulled a baseball sized clump of compacted grass from her crop. Would have had to cull her regardless within a week if this doesn't work, .
Sun made for excellent lighting, but far to hot on black vet wrap.

 

[WallyG74]

 

[SheaLoner]

View attachment 3453023

Very Jealous. Hopefully will have some of my own by summer