Consolidated Kansas

[Trish44]

HeChicken, wow, I didn't know there was a difference.

 

[HEChicken]

Sexlinks are produced by putting a specific breed of rooster over a specific breed of hen, and the resultant chicks will be born one of two colors. Males one, females another and therefore, easy to accurately sex at hatch. The females tend to be good layers, and the males usually end up being fryers.

There are multiple breeds that when combined produced sex-linked chicks. For example a RIR rooster over certain hens will produce a Red Sexlink.

However because they are essentially a "mutt", they don't breed true. So even if you keep a sexlink male and breed him back to a sexlink female, you won't get sexlinked chicks - you will just get more mutt chicks that can only be sexed in the usual way.

Its possible this guy knows what he's doing and your chicks will be easily identifiable at hatch, but equally possible that the eggs were just laid by black sexlink hens in which case you'll probably get some good layers but you'll have to wait to figure out whether you have boys or girls just like with any other hatch.

 

[rvroman]

rvroman, how are the chicks doing you got from me? The ones still in the brooder are growing like little weeds, some of them are starting to fly around in there. I'm waiting for Keena to come get her Ameraucanas either today or tomorrow, so a few more will go. I won't have too many from the first hatch left after that, then it's just the waiting for the next batch.

they are doing pretty good, WAY more sociable than the guys I got at Atwoods! We play with them as much as we can! It looks like the ameraucana will be a mix of lavender and black, the way she is feathering out is really awesome so far! i will post pictures as soon as I get a chance, this week is REALLY crazy!

 

[Hawkeye95]

Hawkeye-Anything done to cover up a DQ is wrong, and I am surprised to hear that one of the leaders would be encouraging something like this! I don't have rules and regs handy, but maybe Checoukan could find something and post it. Granted, the 4-H shows are much more lenient than a sanctioned show, but it is my opinion that you should teach the kids to strive for the optimum, and showing and breeding birds with DQ's is just not right. It's one thing if you are breeding these for your own purposes or simply backyard chickens, but to show them with DQ's concealed is not right. APA judges compare each bird to the standard based on it's own merits, and how close that bird comes to the standard or ideal is part of what makes it a good show bird or breeder.

I just think it teaches the kids the wrong ethics to try to conceal flaws. What's more important? Winning a show or learning good animal husbandry? When you get above the 4-H level it actually makes no sense to conceal flaws, either. The idea is to breed and work toward the "Standard of Perfection" and you sure aren't doing that if you are concealing and perpetuating flaws.

Danz-Thanks for checking in. We've been thinking of you. Everything is worked out for picking up the birds for you tomorrow, and I may even have some extras if you are interested.

A lot of this is left up to the Poultry leader to tell us what to do. We don't have a local one here, so I'm relying on what I'm reading and hearing from everyone else. I don't know that I want to get into another breeding project. I think so far, the BBS silkies are complicated enough with worrying about the gold leakage coming out. I think we'll give our Polish a shot this year just for fun and think about next year what to do. I doubt any of them are worth breeding... but maybe a couple of them are. We'll see.

Well I just almost filled up my hovabator incubator today with eggs. I figured I would go ahead & set them & when the other cabinet one gets here I can transfer them & add some more. I got my Welsummer eggs I won on eBay today & will let them rest today & put them in tomorrow. I left just enough room in there for those & then the whole thing will be full too. I put Ameraucana eggs in that have been waiting, some may have waited a bit long, we'll see, the Royal Palm turkey eggs I got yesterday, & some of the black sexlink eggs I got yesterday. The guy I got the turkey eggs from offered me the sexlink eggs for $3, so I figured what the heck I might as well see if I can hatch some. I've been wanting a couple of those, so if I get some I will be happy. I also have been wanting some Welsummers, so we'll see how those do for shipped eggs again. The guy I got the turkey eggs from said he started all of his from shipped eBay eggs & he was rather happy about it. Mine I got off eBay seem to be developing for the most part, there might be a couple that are questionable, but I expect that from shipped eggs.

rvroman, how are the chicks doing you got from me? The ones still in the brooder are growing like little weeds, some of them are starting to fly around in there. I'm waiting for Keena to come get her Ameraucanas either today or tomorrow, so a few more will go. I won't have too many from the first hatch left after that, then it's just the waiting for the next batch.

You could probably stack your eggs until your new incubator comes along. I've seen pictures of people doing that with our Brinsea-- stacking eggs in there like crazy. Sounds like you are going to be busy with your projects! It sounds really fun, honestly!

 

[Ivywoods]

Bama-I will be picking up some pullets from KSU tomorrow. These have been raised at the KSU poultry facility and have been vaccinated for just about everything under the sun. I ordered more than I want to keep (what was I thinking?) but I have offered the extras to Verna if she is interested. I just don't know the answer to that yet. If she doesn't, you would be welcome to purchase some from me. These will be great layers, and they are nearing the point of lay. I will try to let you know soon if I will have any extras.

Thanks for the offer for the help. Mike disconnected the trailer, and it is still parked. I need to figure out how I'm going to reconfigure the barn (again!) before I unload and put them in there. I may just put one of them in for now. We will see.

 

[HEChicken]

Oh that's right - its time to pick up the KSU pullets isn't it? I was very tempted by those but am glad now I didn't get any as I had hoped by now to have my coop almost completed and instead.....I haven't even started

Baseball season kind of got in the way. I didn't count on 5 practices a week, a tournament every other weekend and starting next week, 2-3 regular season games per week.

 

[Ivywoods]

Oh that's right - its time to pick up the KSU pullets isn't it? I was very tempted by those but am glad now I didn't get any as I had hoped by now to have my coop almost completed and instead.....I haven't even started

Baseball season kind of got in the way. I didn't count on 5 practices a week, a tournament every other weekend and starting next week, 2-3 regular season games per week.

Wow! Yes, with that kind of a schedule I'm sure time can get away from you very quickly. I remember how it was when my kids were young, baseball, soccer, tumbling, karate, music lessons, boy scouts, girl scouts, theatre, not to mention regular school activities. There's just no way I could keep up with all that now.

 

[Hawkeye95]

David, I don't know if you got your nest box lid problem solved-- but I just came across this posting today!! It's fabulous and they used a shower pan liner which is made of thick rubber! Perfect, they have lots of pictures attached-- https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/654250/waterproof-nesting-box-lid They explain it step by step on what they did and used to install it. This looks like a great solution!

 

[Ivywoods]

I felt kind of crappy all day, but managed to climb out of my funk late this afternoon. I just finished getting the layer coop all cleaned out and ready for the K-State girls (pullets) tomorrow. It's going to be an interesting ride home tomorrow with 40 pullets in the back of a jeep!

 

[Nana2KJS]

Oh I feel so sorry for my Miss Nellie! She has decided to go broody! I find her every evening very carefully warming the day's bounty in the community nest! And every evening I take them all away! Poor thing - she doesn't know there won't be any babies and she is doing her best to keep everything toasty all day. No roosters = no babies

Almost makes me want to find a couple "live" eggs just to give her a real chance.