Cream Legbars

[faykokoWV]

well, I'm still on my cockerel hatching craze, although a few more pullets in this last hatch - out of 24 eggs that hatched, I got 6 pullets - ugh That's six more than I have gotten all summer though. I finally switched out my roos hoping that would make a difference and I think it did.

I've narrowed down to 2 roos, but I think they both are getting a little squirrel tail look to them. I'm also not happy with the ear lobes on either of these guys. Luckily I have about 7 cockerel free ranging/growing out so I'll have a nice selection. I wish I could have kept more of them, but the yard was getting crowded with all the little buggers running around. A little to much Testosterone! I'm tired of the roos pulling the crests off the hens when mating too!!

 

[ChicKat]

Good afternoon I know this has probably been asked and answered on here but I can not find it. At what age do CCL start laying I 3 females and 1 male that are 18 weeks old, I have them in a pen with other breeds right now and they free range during the day if they are getting close to laying I want to put them in a pen by there selves. Anyone have a approximate time frame. Thanks

Hi grannychicken54,

22 to 24 weeks is really the time window for mine and what I have been hearing. -- Some folks have had earlier and some later -- but 24 weeks and a few days is the magic number for me. --

ETA fall chicks and winter chicks somtimes wait until the days are longer so they may seem to take longer for that first pullet egg.

 

[ChicKat]

well, I'm still on my cockerel hatching craze, although a few more pullets in this last hatch - out of 24 eggs that hatched, I got 6 pullets - ugh That's six more than I have gotten all summer though. I finally switched out my roos hoping that would make a difference and I think it did.

I've narrowed down to 2 roos, but I think they both are getting a little squirrel tail look to them. I'm also not happy with the ear lobes on either of these guys. Luckily I have about 7 cockerel free ranging/growing out so I'll have a nice selection. I wish I could have kept more of them, but the yard was getting crowded with all the little buggers running around. A little to much Testosterone! I'm tired of the roos pulling the crests off the hens when mating too!!

FaykokoWV--

Really like your guys. I especially like the one with the white in his sickle feathers. all the CL roosters that Have been here have been pretty gentle on the females...but then they had zero competition - as I only had one active at any one time. Sorry to hear about plucked crests...I bet that hurts too.

 

[lonnyandrinda]

well, I'm still on my cockerel hatching craze, although a few more pullets in this last hatch - out of 24 eggs that hatched, I got 6 pullets - ugh That's six more than I have gotten all summer though. I finally switched out my roos hoping that would make a difference and I think it did.

I've narrowed down to 2 roos, but I think they both are getting a little squirrel tail look to them. I'm also not happy with the ear lobes on either of these guys. Luckily I have about 7 cockerel free ranging/growing out so I'll have a nice selection. I wish I could have kept more of them, but the yard was getting crowded with all the little buggers running around. A little to much Testosterone! I'm tired of the roos pulling the crests off the hens when mating too!!

This one is my favorite! You are right about the earlobes, and his tail is slightly squirrely, but he is nice enough in other aspects (body type, comb, leg and beak color, feather color, wing carriage) he is definitely worth working with if you have the room.

FYI in case you didn't know, chickens are opposite from humans- it is the hens who determine gender of the chicks, not the roosters. So your switch-out results were more than likely coincidental as it sounds like you are using the same hens.

 

[dretd]

Quote: I too, like this one. I think there are other pictures of him from a different angle? I especially like his comb (the other parts that Rinda mentioned like color and back angle are also awesome) because the points are so even, it appears straight and its not overly large. I am not a fan of a rooster's comb that goes to the tip of the beak or extends beyond I think the breed standard is calling for it to not extend and for it not to be overly large if I remember. Personally, I think the head is much more balanced if it stops short and this rooster seems to have it in the sweet spot for my esthetics.

I will have to dig up the reference material, but there is some evidence that stress hormones produced by the hen will alter the sex ratio. I can't remember all of the details but low levels of cortisol caused more of one sex and high spikes at the time of ovulation skewed to the other sex. They were studying this because you only want boy broilers and girl layers and if there is away to change the sex ratio even by a few percent it make a huge difference in overhead when millions of chicks are hatched. There was also a study about introducing an additional rooster into a flock and that influenced things as well. I'll post links once I find the studies again.

SO in a nutshell, changing the rooster could indeed change the amount of circulating hormones in the hens and that could influence the sex of the offspring.

 

[dretd]

SO here are a few of the studies regarding the skewing of sex ratios. I have not really looked at each study to determine if they were well designed studies.

In White Leghorns injected with a stress hormone before ovulation causing a spike:
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/artic...offspring-sex-ratio-in-white-leghorn-chickens
"Treatment of hens with a high dose of corticosterone five hours prior to ovulation resulted in the production of 83 per cent male offspring."

In quail implanted with a device that gave a constant increase in the level of a stress hormone:
http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/273/1590/1093.full
"Offspring sex ratio in this species was significantly correlated with faecal concentrations of the principal avian stress hormone, corticosterone, and artificially elevated levels of corticosterone resulted in significantly female-biased sex ratios at laying."

There are more, but I don't have time to find them right now--these were the low-hanging fruit. I will add to the post if I can get them looked up.

 

[Brada Puhi]

Aloha,

RE: Fayekoko's beautiful rooster. The black stuff on the comb is not so bad? I see the other guy has less but the shape not as good. Both are really nice though.

kden, Puhi

 

[faykokoWV]

Aloha,

RE: Fayekoko's beautiful rooster. The black stuff on the comb is not so bad? I see the other guy has less but the shape not as good. Both are really nice though.

kden, Puhi

the black stuff on the comb are bruises from fighting through the fence with the other roosters.

Thanks to everyone for the feed back. I thought he was the better roo, but its nice to get that confirmation that I'm looking at the right things.

 

[grannychicken54]

They seem to lay about 24-ish weeks, give or take a week or two. You are probably OK for now.

How is your little girl from me (and the others)? I'm still amazed from one extra egg you got a girl! Lucky!

They are doing great I know 1 egg and it is a girl I would say very lucky and right now she is the boss they are all doing great Thanks so much my hatch rate was great due to your packing and healthy chickens have a great day

 

[grannychicken54]

They seem to lay about 24-ish weeks, give or take a week or two. You are probably OK for now.

How is your little girl from me (and the others)? I'm still amazed from one extra egg you got a girl! Lucky!

They are doing great I know 1 egg and it is a girl I would say very lucky and right now she is the boss they are all doing great Thanks so much my hatch rate was great due to your packing and healthy chickens have a great day