Chantecler Thread!

[The Farmers' Daughter]

Breeding partridge is so tough! I'm happy trying to improve structure and feathering on the whites.
This spring I had the flock separated for three + weeks so the Chanties would be purebred, and NONE of the eggs hatched under my broody hen! Now I have two broody wannabes, and no way to tell which eggs are the right ones.
Maybe later?!
Mary

I can't get my whites to hatch
I've got one roo that is a perfect example except his back end is too narrow. So far I've only got 2 chicks from him (1 died).

 

[Folly's place]

Most of my birds are from Cackle, and last year I had no problems with hatching their eggs. Unfortunately, I didn't keep the right cockerel from that hatch, so my original 2015 rooster is my only boy. This year I ordered from Cackle again, and have two cockerels to choose from. Maybe one of them will do!
I may try to hatch more chicks this summer too, later.
Mary

 

[The Farmers' Daughter]

Most of my birds are from Cackle, and last year I had no problems with hatching their eggs. Unfortunately, I didn't keep the right cockerel from that hatch, so my original 2015 rooster is my only boy. This year I ordered from Cackle again, and have two cockerels to choose from. Maybe one of them will do!
I may try to hatch more chicks this summer too, later.
Mary

I'm going to keep trying a few more times.
I got mine from a breeder who built up her own line, from the ground up, going through all of the steps that Brother Wilfred did. I'll add some Quebec blood once I get my flock larger ( right now I have 2 roos and 3 hens).

 

[3riverschick]

good for you!
Karen

 

[Sharon Moreno]

We got Partridge Chantecler hatching eggs from Shello (Old Time Farm) and had 6 cute chicks hatch the past couple days. These are our first Chanteclers.

Five of the chicks have the typical "chipmunk" coloring I've thought of as typical of Partridge chicks. The 6th is darker, with dark legs. It's a beautiful little chick, but I'm wondering if the coloring would predict that this chick will not have typical coloring as an adult, is more likely to be male/female, etc.

We are not planning to keep a rooster or breed chickens, so SOP is not so important to me. I chose to get some of this breed because they seem so well suited to our Montana winters. I hope to have a few chickens who lay reliably in the winter, to make up for the others that stop paying the rent when it gets really cold.

Here are photos:

This is the darker chick:
View attachment 1432454

Here's a photo of all six:
View attachment 1432456

Any comments are appreciated! Thanks.

That black chick is not a partridge Chanticleer. I hatched out eggs from Shelly last year, and got 3 nice pullets and too many cockerels (). I hatched out eggs a few weeks ago as well, but there is something different about this years chicks from these eggs. I also assumed that a different cock bird somehow got in with her breeding hens, because they do not look right, and I won’t be keeping any of them.

 

[bruceha2000]

That is very unfortunate.

 

[Folly's place]

Darn!
Mary

 

[BigSkyBird]

That black chick is not a partridge Chanticleer. I hatched out eggs from Shelly last year, and got 3 nice pullets and too many cockerels (). I hatched out eggs a few weeks ago as well, but there is something different about this years chicks from these eggs. I also assumed that a different cock bird somehow got in with her breeding hens, because they do not look right, and I won’t be keeping any of them.

I clarified with Shelly what happened. She has a few six-year-old black jersey giant hens, which she bred in the past, and somehow one of their eggs and it up in my batch. The eggs were fertilized by a Partridge Chantecler rooster. Shelly was quite apologetic!

We plan on keeping the black cross, as she has a friendly, inquisitive personality, it sounds like black jersey giant hens have some of the same functional strengths as Chanteclers, we only have hens for laying and we don’t plan on breeding. According to Shelly, the black one is probably a pullet based on leg color.

The other five chicks we hatched look exactly like partridge Chanteclers are supposed to, as far as I can tell!

Have you contacted Shelly about your chicks?

 

[Folly's place]

I've had a very few black Jersey Giant hens, and really like them. I'm looking forward to seeing your partridge chicks grow up!
Mary

 

[bruceha2000]

I don't think one can sex a BJG by leg color.