genetic hackle eggs on Ebay

[CajunChickenGuy]

Just updating my experience with Fly Fisher (Baxterhouse). I ordered 12 eggs, he sent me 15 and 13 have hatched! And this is only day 22, so I'm leaving the other 2 in for a couple more days just in case. The chicks are beautiful and I got a variety of colors. Excellent experience and very impressed with 13 out of 15 hatching with eggs shipped from New York to South Louisiana. A+

 

[trailchick]

OMG!!! You had excellent luck with shipping!!!
You will be VERY HAPPY with those!
Nice assortment of colors

 

[CajunChickenGuy]

Yes, lucky in shipping, well packaged, fertile eggs and an incredible Brinsea incubator. Trailchick, do you know if these chicks can be wing-sexed, or only vent-sexed?

 

[Fly Fisher]

If you are able to vent sex that would be your best bet and probably the most reliable method.

There are some clues that could help you determine sex in genetic hackle birds.

The only ones that you can reliably sex as chicks are the barred varieties. The males will have 2 barred genes which will separate the white and black about 50%. The females will have about 75% black and 25% white. ( the females look much darker) This is very reliable.

As for the other chicks you hatched. They all have different growth rates which make sexing difficult. The white birds grow the fastest. The white roos will be huge in comparison to the others within a few weeks. (somewhat reliable)

Others like blacks, duns and Badger may take a few months to identify. Their feathers develop very slowly

I usually start to separate my birds at about 4 months. At this time I can usually identify both the Cape and saddle feather characteristics of a male bird. I am usually able to go through a brood and remove most of the males at this age.


Ken

 

[trailchick]

Thanks Fly, for that answer....

I have found that my GH birds hatched a lot more K's than P's.
Do you think that was a selected trait?
But I never sexed them as chicks.

 

[Fly Fisher]

Here are some photos of young hackle birds. These photos will show some of the issues that lead to inconsistency when trying to determine sex through feathering on hackle birds.

This is a brood of about 100 chicks. These are a few weeks old. Even at this young age a few cockerels are easy to pick out, these are the colors that grow very quickly and the barred varieties.



At 4 months old I removed all of the visible cockerels from this brood and moved them to their grow pens.
One month later several new cockerels appeared in the brood pen.



This beautiful Silver Dun Cockerel was one of three dun birds that were not distinguishable by feathers one month earlier. There was also a nice golden badger as well.

Besides the inconsistent growth rates of the different colors / patterns the actual hens present some issues. To continue to improve the quality of your hackle birds and their feathers. You have to pick the best possible hens for breeding. To refine feathers you need to choose hens with similar attributes to roosters. The photos below will show some young pullets. Notice how similar the cape feathers are to a cockerels cape.



For the last few years now I don't even try to separate the sexes when they are young. They get along just fine if housed with their original brood mates. After they are separated I enjoy the few surprise late bloomers that always pop up. With the hackle birds I most always get about an even split of pullets and cockerels.

Since I had some time to put this post together, I also thought I would include some photos of 2 of the Roosters I have breeding now. I am currently doing light colors as the demand seems to be up. These two birds are absolute stunners and they have attitudes that match their looks.




Ken
www.beaverkillvalleyhackle.com

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[cwalsh2]

I have about 50 adult large fowl hackle birds, and most are quite nice. I started with eggs from fly fisher, and Toni Marie Astin. The birds were very similar, but the best Roo was from Fly Fisher, and the only one I used the next year. He was white & looked Phoenix, but had a rose comb. Most hens were blue.From this mating I got almost all colors, except grizzly. Anyhow I have a lifetime supply of hackle, so anyone wanting a start, could get a headstart from me. I like to breed and show chickens, and there is no standard for fly tie birds. I am in western South Dakota. If I quit the genetic hackle birds, I will probably be looking for some good show quality brown leghorns. Good luck Cal Walsh

 

[Fly Fisher]

Hey Cal,

How about a few photos of your birds. I would love to see how your recent broods are looking.

Ken

 

[Toplongtailfowl]

I also have very good quality Genetic Hackle fly tie birds if anyone is interested in birds or hatching eggs. Will upload pics soon.

 

[Fly Fisher]

Looking forward to seeing some photos of others hackle birds.