Delawares from kathyinmo

[caychris]

Plan is to be done this weekend.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Plan is to be done this weekend.

 

[finnfur]

Here is a photo of a couple of the 11 week old chicks with one of the Delaware hens I used for breeding this year. This past week they've gotten enough nicer feathers that they are starting to look more like chickens. The change is impressive from last week to now.

The black blob in front is one of the Black Copper Marans chicks I got from Zanna and slipped into the nest while this group of Delawares were hatching. You can kinda see the BCM is still a bit ahead in size and maturity, but the Delawares seem to be catching up a bit.

Sorry about the hardware cloth, I was outside the coop early this morning before opening the door. The Teenagers were crowded down at that end, and I saw through the kitchen window it might be a good time to try to catch a photo before they scattered.

The BCM looks taller but the Dels look chunkier and might be heavier. Did you weigh both ? - Look at them breasts they looking good

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

The BCM looks taller but the Dels look chunkier and might be heavier. Did you weigh both ? - Look at them breasts they looking good

The BCMs feel big and bony ... I think they are going to have large frames. The Delawares are more compact. The Delaware cockerels feel surprisingly heavy when I lift them. The Delaware pullets still feel light. Relatively speaking. I need to weigh them to confirm.

I need to band and weigh and sort the first hatch of Mr. Fatty chicks ... and drove myself nuts picking a color of zip ties for that group. As if I wasn't nuts enough already.

I was going to move the cockerels into Cockerel Colony last week, and was going to do all the rest at the same time. But we have a little security issue in the run over there and I want to get that sorted before I count on it to keep chicks segregated.

Group 2 of Mr Fatty chicks, the incubabies that have the world's best broody ... they seem to be feathering better than Group 1 did. Group 2 has never looked super awkward.

 

[rancher hicks]

mark

 

[finnfur]

mark

You change your name Rancher .?

 

[finnfur]

Went to feed and broody B13 has one chick out of the shell - could not get a Pic in the chicken tractor. Will try when I switch brood boxes tomorrow as the rest should be hatched . could not find my chick feeder anyplace and had to make a trip to TSC.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Yay! Chicks!

 

[caychris]

Lots of progress at Neals Will most likely be sending my Kathy girls next weekend so they can make the transition. (probably wont lay for a while)

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Opinions, please. Banding. This is the first year that banding will be very useful to me, and the oldest chicks are probably ready to band with their "adult" bands. I'm just banding with different colors of zip ties.

I am trying to decide if I just band by sire (one color of bands for Mr. Fatty chicks, another color of bands for PapaDel chicks), or if I should band by hatch date (six total hatches, three each for Mr. Fatty and PapaDel).

So far the chicks are segregated into different coops by sire.