Cream Legbars

[dretd]

Anybody ever hatch a chick in a...trashcan?

I had a broody hen who collected some eggs and successfully hatched five this past Thursday. There were a few eggs left Saturday that didn't have any movement etc and the hen was getting off the nest, so I discarded them. Then my husband came running in this afternoon yelling about peeping coming from the outside trashcan and he fished a little guy out of the bottom who had made his way out of the sealed ziplock bag I had thrown the eggs out in!!! So crazy. We got him cleaned up and warm, gave him some water with vitamins and a drop of ivermectin...there were maggots in the trash...and snuck him under the broody this evening. He peeped the whole time he was inside and went absolutely silent as soon as I tucked him under the hen. I hope she accepts little "Lucky", 'cause he sure needed a Mama.

I remember reading a BYCer talking about pulling a chick from their rubbish heap, so it does happen. I think that sometime an egg sits on the periphery of the clutch and gets incubated at a cooler temperature so they naturally hatch a little later than the center ones. I hope Lucky turns out well for you. Amazing that he made it out of the ziplock bag and was able to breath under the nasty gross-ness in the bin!

hope it works out for the little chick, I just lost my 1 CL pullet to a dog, sad day today

So sorry to hear about your loss--its hard to lose a chick, but especially hard to lose a little pullet :-(

 

[jerryse]

Hi Jerryse. I am with Chickat and have always used the term Duckwing as a synonym for any wild type bird (e+) and so from my understanding it was a genetic term. The APA does not have an actual definition for the word Duckwing in their glossary and Miriam Webster defines it:
noun

Definition of DUCKWING

: Modern Game fowl having wing coverts that form a bluish black bar across the wing

Which in my mind really shouldn't be exclusive to the Modern Games, but does describe the black barring on the coverts which is what I had gone by. I had not heard of the term being used as a visual description before--you have a very keen eye to spot the difference between the Golden Leghorn as not using the word duckwing in their variety name. Ever keen to learn--could you tell me where you learned the info from--I would love a link to read more!

It seems this goes back to the discussion about what the word Cream means. Some folks like me, view it as a genetic state the manifests itself in a range of phenotypes from an off-white to rich lemony color depending on the other genetic modifiers the bird has (barring, melanizers, autosomal red, mahogany etc) and other folks think of it as strictly a color description that can be achieved through several combinations and its the color, not the genetics that are important. I hadn't thought that there were other colors that had different meanings depending on whether you are talking color or genetics. Very interesting!
I always use wild type to describe wild type . Not sure Webster knows much about SOP terms as coverts are not involved .It is the color of the secondaries . Yes I checked the SOP on page 20 to be sure and I grabbed a chicken to compare . To define Duckwing as used in the SOP look at a mallard ducks wing . See that blue green area that is Duckwing . Called the speculum on ducks .So a chicken with that area colored silver or gold as a contrasting color is called Duckwing . There is a crow wing family of colors in game also . These are Brown Red, lemon blue and Birchen . Look at the wing it is black in this area . Like a crow's wing . To distinguish between Silver and Silver Duckwing look at the hackle and saddle feathers . Clean silver in Duckwing and black stripes in the center of the feather on silver . Same for BB red and light brown . So silver , silver Duckwing , BB red and light brown all have Duckwing is only used to differentiate the clean hackle and saddle varieties . It is the same gene in both cases just different expression . Much like the range of colors in cream .
So where or how did I learn this . Well the hard way 40 + years ago while developing the Ameraucana breed . I liked silver and was responsible for its inclusion in the breed . I chose to leave the black stripe as IMO nature wanted to put it there . So I had to read the standard to find the difference . Mike Gilbert liked wheaten which does not have the stripe . I wanted light brown but the majority wanted wheaten . In hindsight I should have chosen salmon . Then they could have been crossed without issues . As it is silver can not have red shoulders and has no compatible colors to cross to .
Yes there are other colors with terminology problems . Currently we use the genetic term lavender in Ameraucana and not self blue that the APA insists on . This is a sticking point on both sides and part of the reason we have not gone for recognition on that variety .
So Ameraucana , Leghorn , Phoenix ,and Dutch bantams have silver as varieties .

 

[caychris]

Lost the second chick that I assisted out today. Just a failure to thrive scenario. Always undersized and slower development. Didnt make it to 3 weeks. Im done helping them out lesson learned. (the hard way) I gave them a chance at life but I think they were just not up to it. With such poor hatch rates I figured the chance was worth it. Sad as it is it doesnt discourage from having a breeding flock.

 

[chicken pickin]

Lost the second chick that I assisted out today. Just a failure to thrive scenario. Always undersized and slower development. Didnt make it to 3 weeks. Im done helping them out lesson learned. (the hard way) I gave them a chance at life but I think they were just not up to it. With such poor hatch rates I figured the chance was worth it. Sad as it is it doesnt discourage from having a breeding flock.

Sorry you lost another one. I think we all learn the hard way unfortunately. I am also glad to hear that your not discouraged from the breed. I remember having a moment after so many bad hatches I almost was ready to move on, but I really really enjoy CL. I am having a great time raising them. I pretty much just hatch enough chicks for myself. I don't sell chicks and I hardly sell eggs. Raising a clutch large enough for me to grow out and continue my breeding program has been satisfying enough to keep me going forward.

A good dose of new blood might help hatches (even though it brings unknown genetics). I forget if you are already working with more than one bloodline..

 

[caychris]

Sorry you lost another one. I think we all learn the hard way unfortunately. I am also glad to hear that your not discouraged from the breed. I remember having a moment after so many bad hatches I almost was ready to move on, but I really really enjoy CL. I am having a great time raising them. I pretty much just hatch enough chicks for myself. I don't sell chicks and I hardly sell eggs. Raising a clutch large enough for me to grow out and continue my breeding program has been satisfying enough to keep me going forward.

A good dose of new blood might help hatches (even though it brings unknown genetics). I forget if you are already working with more than one bloodline..

The hen I have and the cockerel that is about 17 weeks now are different blood lines.

I have 2 females (one the same as the cockerel)

Im probably also going to house my Barred Holland pullet with these guys till I can get some more of them just so the boy will have more females. (Cross might be very interesting)

 

[KPenley]

The hen I have and the cockerel that is about 17 weeks now are different blood lines.

I have 2 females (one the same as the cockerel)

Im probably also going to house my Barred Holland pullet with these guys till I can get some more of them just so  the boy will have more females. (Cross might be very interesting)

If you're set up to hatch during the Winter months you may find that you have better hatch rates then. Best wishes with your birds!

 

[KPenley]

Update on Lucky, aka Oscar. Creampuff took him in and he is good to go. I do worry about this heat though. He spent most of his second day following his brothers and sisters peeping his head off, but they took turns nudging him toward food or Mama. Occasionally I think Creampuff decides to sit with him just for a moment of peace and quiet. I'll give them all a few more days to grow then try to take some pics.

 

[ChicKat]

Update on Lucky, aka Oscar. Creampuff took him in and he is good to go. I do worry about this heat though. He spent most of his second day following his brothers and sisters peeping his head off, but they took turns nudging him toward food or Mama. Occasionally I think Creampuff decides to sit with him just for a moment of peace and quiet. I'll give them all a few more days to grow then try to take some pics.

Good news! Looking forward to photos -- and glad to hear it is working out well. (Love your name Creampuff---)

 

[badflash]

What do you do with the extra roos? They don't seem to gt any meat on them, even if you feed them meat bird food.

 

[ChicKat]

eat them