Dreaming of Spring...

[Eps32]

I usually get my chicks around February. I incubate and order some new breeds to try out. I ordered silver laced wydottes this year and whit leg horns. My brown leg horns have been great. I never order straight run. If I'm not hatching my own I just prefer to choose what I get. Good luck

 

[donrae]

bobbi-j, I had a batch of Dark Cornish from Ideal last year. I got 4 hens and an Oops cockerel. I got them as I wanted broody hens and to add some meatiness to my mixed breed birds.

Only one hen went broody. It was while I was gone and she hatched out a dozen chicks. Barn cat got 3 before I realized they were vanishing. I sold one pullet, butchered the cockerels and have three pullets who are showing absolutely no signs of laying any time soon. They were hatched in early-mid June. The father of the chicks was a splash Ameraucana, so the cross wasn't great for either production or meat. I'd hoped the cockerels would have some more weight to them, but the carcass was indistinguishable from my other Ameraucana crosses.

The Oops rooster was a joy to be around, nice and calm and good to the hens. The hens were not flighty, but they sure seemed to eat a ton for how many eggs I got. I decided not to go for the added weight in my next generation so I sold the birds to some 4-Hers who fell in love with them

. Would I get Dark Cornish again? Not with my current goals. I did wonder how the rooster would have done over say some Wyandotte hens, something fairly meaty to start with. Since you're wanting more weight on your birds, that may be a way to go for you. I don't know why mine weren't as broody as they're reported to be, but then again I was gone from home quite a bit while I had those birds, so maybe they didn't get a fair evaluation.

 

[lazy gardener]

" egg shape gender selection"

And which shape is which gender?
50/50 chance, right?

Read that torpedos were all(ways) males......disproved(?) that when my torpedo girls eggs hatched 50/50.

Aart: I read a study that seemed to indicate that the eggs that were rounder in relation to their length were more likely to be female. (there was also a bit of correlation between egg size and gender, with the smaller eggs being more likely to be female) The results were a bit sketchy, so I decided to put it to the test. Sounded pretty hokey to me. Any how, I've heard at least one old timer make reference to the same theory, so decided I had nothing to loose. My previous random hatches were roo heavy: 60%. The following hatches (using the egg shape selection method) were 60% female. Here's my thread, if you're interested in looking at it. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/958517/nutrition-and-gender-and-inducing-broodiness

It's definitely not fool proof. But, since I'm using my own eggs, and eating/selling all the eggs that I don't set I have nothing to loose by playing the egg shape game when filling the bator. Same results in all 3 hatches. I could have completely different results when I hatch this spring. That's why I'm encouraging others to join the experiment. I hope to have a survey format set up sometime in Feb for folks to enter their data.

And, yeah, I don't think that this method is in any way, shape or form fool proof, as you point out. With your torpedo eggs, I'm guessing that those girls always lay a torpedo shape. Yes? What I'm looking for when I choose eggs to set is a subtle difference between the eggs laid by a particular hen. So, if I had a hen who consistently laid torpedo shaped eggs, and I was sharp enough to be able to consistently pick all of her eggs out of the egg basket in one week, I'd then look at those eggs, and set the 2 or 3 eggs which had the roundest profile. What I am looking for, and consider to be "a success" is having a hatch that CONSISTENTLY produces more pullets than cockrels.

 

[bobbi-j]

bobbi-j, I had a batch of Dark Cornish from Ideal last year. I got 4 hens and an Oops cockerel. I got them as I wanted broody hens and to add some meatiness to my mixed breed birds.

Only one hen went broody. It was while I was gone and she hatched out a dozen chicks. Barn cat got 3 before I realized they were vanishing. I sold one pullet, butchered the cockerels and have three pullets who are showing absolutely no signs of laying any time soon. They were hatched in early-mid June. The father of the chicks was a splash Ameraucana, so the cross wasn't great for either production or meat. I'd hoped the cockerels would have some more weight to them, but the carcass was indistinguishable from my other Ameraucana crosses.

The Oops rooster was a joy to be around, nice and calm and good to the hens. The hens were not flighty, but they sure seemed to eat a ton for how many eggs I got. I decided not to go for the added weight in my next generation so I sold the birds to some 4-Hers who fell in love with them

. Would I get Dark Cornish again? Not with my current goals. I did wonder how the rooster would have done over say some Wyandotte hens, something fairly meaty to start with. Since you're wanting more weight on your birds, that may be a way to go for you. I don't know why mine weren't as broody as they're reported to be, but then again I was gone from home quite a bit while I had those birds, so maybe they didn't get a fair evaluation.

Thanks for the input, Donrae. I found them on the Ideal site. They do advertise them as a broody breed, but I realize we're talking hatchery birds here. Mostly I think I'd like a rooster to cover my heavy hens. Part of my problem is, there are so many PRETTY breeds of roosters out there. I would love one that's pretty and meets my goals for a heavier built flock. The Cornish are.... well, colored nicely I guess, but their build is definitely different. Let's face it - if I could have about 10 different pretty roosters and meet my goals for my flock I'd do it. I love having a rooster to look at! Wellie roosters are gorgeous, but I don't know if they're what I'm looking for weight-wise. Such a dilemma. Glad I have some time to think about it.

 

[donrae]

I've never had a Wyandotte rooster, but that might be my choice in your situation. My hatchery Wyandotte hens and their offspring were always heftier than their dp counterparts--Rocks, reds, Wellies, etc. They're nice eye candy

 

[bobbi-j]

Ooh! I hadn't thought about a Wyandotte rooster! One of my favorite hens was a Blue Laced Red Wyandotte. Not the best layer I've ever had, but a sweet, docile bird and raised two broods for me before a raccoon ate her. Despite my "Chickens are not pets" attitude, she made herself a pet. She'd come up to me, let me pet her, and followed me around. McMurry only sells BLRWs as straight run - not sexed. Maybe I'll check into that and hope for at least one pullet.

 

[Folly's place]

My MMcM straight run BLR Wyandottes are lovely big birds, and the cockrel I kept was a very nice boy. He was a splash, made lovely blue chicks, and moved to another flock last summer. Big! Beautiful! Nice big chicks, and the two hens have raised several broods for me. The hatchery sent mostly splash chicks, but they were all nice, and bred to black, produce all blue offspring. Mary

 

[bobbi-j]

Thanks for the info, Mary! How were the hens as far as layers go? The one I had wasn't the best, but to be honest, I have no idea how old she was when I got her, either.

 

[bobbi-j]

As of today, I'm thinking of getting some BLRW, Black Australorps and maybe some sort of Rocks. I would keep a BLRW cockerel to cover the hens. According to McMurray, the Silver Laced Wyandottes are more sizeable, but DH did remind me that it's just the two of us, so how much meat do we really need? I told him I wanted a big enough carcass to make it worth digging out the canner. I mentioned Jersey Giants to him, but he said, "We don't need to be raising small turkeys." We'll see... Still undecided as to how many chickens I actually want to keep. I know in the future, extra cockerels will be processed, as will hens that are 2 years old and up. How many pullets and 1 year olds I keep at a time is up in the air. I really hate butchering my hens, but if I want to keep my flock fresh and going, it's a necessary part of my management plan. I can't afford to keep feeding nonproductive birds all winter, and I've found that if we don't process them they start dying off anyway at 3 or more years of age. As much as I'd like to, I can't have a chicken retirement home.

.... and maybe I'll add a few Dark Cornish hens and a couple of Buff Orpingtons. I need to stop looking!

 

[Folly's place]

My MMcM silver and gold laced Wyandottes were not very big. The hatchery hasn't had as many years to shrink the BLRW's in size (my opinion) so they were and are bigger. Same for the buff Rocks compared to the barred. My BLRW's were pretty good layers, and I do value their broodiness. I didn't like the buff Orphingtons, much preferred the buff Rocks. The MMcM black Jersey Giants varied hugely in size; Eleven years ago I got ten SR chicks. The three smaller pullets were the only ones who could fly to the 3' high lower roost, and they stayed. One died the following year on a hot day, The remaining two 'midget' Jersey Giants lived to be ten years of age, and were very sweet hens. They layed eggs for years, never went broody, and were pets. I don't keep everyone, but some do stay forever here. The Australorps are good layers and sort of blend into the flock. I love the Speckled Sussex hens, and the white Chanties from Cackle are big and very nice all around. Mary