DIary of a novice, shipped egg, broody hatch

[maddogdodge]

My Australorp is one of the biggest birds in my flock. She loooooves her food, especially kitchen scraps. As soon as she hears any plastic bag rustling (thats what we put scraps in) she comes running in hope that she'll get first choice of the scraps

 

[K Spot]

I love your photos, Aaaps. Too cute

 

[MrsBrooke]

I have enjoyed this thread very much! I have Australorps and an incubator that I'm currently trying to hatch quail eggs out of for the first time! Eek!

I'm nervous and excited all at once! We're on Day 10 of 19... At least I know there's no point to candling... It's REALLY hard to see anything in quail eggs, so I'm sitting on my hands and waiting! We put 15 eggs in after a five-day-on-the-counter wait for the incubator to arrive and run. We shall see the results!

Thanks for posting your hatch! Your splash Lorp is beautiful, and I just know SHE will be a great addition to your flock.

Congrats!

MrsB

 

[appps]

@Mrs B. Thanks! Good luck with your hatch hopefully you have lots of teeny balls of fluff running round soon

 

[appps]

Here you go CG, little peep at 3 weeks old.

And you can imagine me here with my fingers crossed chanting "please be a girl, please be a girl"

Ive read you can sex by tail feathers arriving early and comb staying yellow. So tried to get photos of body parts in question LOL Not an easy task at all as peep is currently under review as a name and speedy is a distinct possibility. Its so funny, you open the little box they sleep in in the morning and its out the door, past you and out in the yard before Ive even got the door all the way open. Seems to be a game we like to play

So know we are really on the very edge of being old enough to sex an australorpe but gimme your best guess Might post this on the Australorp thread too, any excuse to share my cutie LOL

 

[CB and CG]

Hi Appps, Peep has grown a lot in the last week. Usually I'm able to tell at this age however peep is still borderline for me. In saying that peeps comb is a little thicker then a stereotypical pullet comb however not as thick as the average cockerel comb either. At this stage I would be leaning towards the girly side for peep however that is only really a guess at this age. Perhaps I will be able to make a more educated guess in a weeks time. I often hatch chicks with combs like peep (maybe one chick from every dozen) and more often than not they turn out to be pullets (whilst this is a positive sign there are still a few that swing to the cockerel side). Peep does have lovely thick legs however i find that this is a characteristic of well bred large Australorps rather then a sexual characteristic of cockerels.
All in all peep is still very much borderline and will need another week (or even 2) before we know for sure however looking more girly at this stage (this can change). Don't get your hopes up but at the same time definitely don't lose hope either.
Everyone keep sending peep those girl vibes!!!

 

[appps]

Thanks for having a look for me . Will wait patiently but (hope I don't jinx it) I have my money on girl too. Not sure why, maybe wishful thinking

I'm loving the colour coming in. It's such a nice soft grey, she is going to be very pretty.

 

[appps]

Feeling a little bummed, last couple of days the comb seems to be going more pink than it was before and still not much of a tail to speak of

This is peep at 4 weeks and 2 days.




Only ray of hope is that this is also a 4 wk old male australorp from another thread and it has much redder comb and bigger wattles (not sure if its purebred though). Its so hard having just one so no hatch mates to compare it to. I think its the only little tufts of a tail that worries me the most
Will be very sad if it turns out to be a boy. It is just so sweet, nothing rooish in the behaviour.

 

[maddogdodge]

Oh dear

A few more weeks and you'll know for sure... My Aussie boy got a bright red comb fairly early, it was totally unmissable, so there is still hope! Different lines of birds mature differently too.

No matter the gender, peep is completely adorable!!

I've got chicks due to hatch tomorrow! In a perfect world, they'll all be girls, but I know that won't happen

 

[cwrite]

Teila, I wouldn't loose hope just yet. I'm no expert, but it still doesn't look that red to me.

Two more week & it should be clear. She's so pretty!