Got 4 new squeakers, and one may be sick--please advise

[biophiliac]

I think your Silver is also known as Ash Red Bar. Ash Red being dominant and sex linked. So if you breed an Ash Red Hen (only carries 1 color gene) to any other color cock then you can sex the youngsters by color because all of the cocks will take the dominant Ash Red color from the hen and hens will get their single color gene from the cock. Breeding for sex-linked color is done more commonly with chickens. Someone please correct me if I've got his wrong.

 

[biophiliac]

Then also if it's a cockbird it could be split for blue or brown and if so could throw 50% Ash Red offspring I think...

quoted from FranK Mosca's website...
As breeders, we happen to find the color effects pleasing so we keep the mutation around and try to raise more birds carrying it. Since this particular mutation is a sex-linked dominant, that's very easy to do. All we need do to get more Ash-red birds is to pair an Ash-red with any blue/black or brown bird. If one pairs an Ash-red hen with such a cock, allAsh-red youngsters in the nest will be cocks and all non-Ash-red birds will be hens. If one pairs an Ash-red cock with a blue/black or brown hen, one gets Ash-red youngsters of both sexes, as well as other colored young of both sexes if the Ash-red cock happens to be carrying any other color factor (i.e., if it's heterozygous, rather than homozygous, for Ash-red.)

Please note, and this is important, with Ash-red, the bird's pattern is still visible. We can look at an Ash-red bird and see if it's a barless, bar or checker. Unfortunately, we again meet one of those worms caused by the difference between genetic jargon and fancier jargon. What many racing homer breeders call "barless mealy" is almost certainly not a barless pigeon. Rather, it's usually an Ash-red bird, barred or checkered, which happens to also carry a second mutation called Spread.

 

[biophiliac]

I'm trying to pick out #3... is that her front and center?

 

[LamarshFish]

I'm trying to pick out #3... is that her front and center?

I really can't tell from the pic, since at least one of my new squeakers sort of looks like her. She used to be my only blue bar (I guess technically she's a smokey blue bar?), but now I have a few more. I could have sworn I heard her cooing yesterday, so her sex is now again in question, but maybe hens coo sometimes? Her head is still quite hen looking, but I know that is not always dispositive as to sex.

That is so cool what you showed us about the genetics. I had heard that what I called "silver" is technically what is called an ash red. I thought that bird was a hen at first, just by physical appearance, but that bird has recently been getting big and its head is filling out and squaring off, so I'm not sure about it. It still gets bullied around a small bit, but it has become very tough, it likes to eat peanuts from my hand through the cage mesh, and when others come to try to get them that silver bird does a VERY good job defending what it thinks is his/her's.

I really just have to wait to see once they start doing the dance this fall!

On a side note, I fed them quite a few peanuts last night, I was just having fun with it, and oh man did I notice it this morning with the poop factor LOL.

 

[barn206]

Thank you. I sprinkled food grade diametaceos earth all in the nest boxes of my loft. The floor is wire, so I only spread it where there was wood framed spots.

What does lyme do?

Hi Lamarsh
First your screen looks excellent, great carpentry work. We
We used lime in the coops after we cleaned them. It kills the bacteria and handles some of the smell. There are 2 kinds of lime, we used the garden lime. It won't hurt the birds/ burn their skin.
Sorry for the late post . I finally finished the roof on my coop and bought a steel 6 ft. Welded screen( dog run) for the birds. I'm trying to make it predator proof especially for weasels so I screwed in wire lathe that you would use on a tile floor. I screwed this lathe into the roof of the coop. I really don't know what else to do for them . I'm getting attached to these 19 chicks. They are really in good shape but they are naive. I'm training them to go in and out of the coop. When they get bigger, I'll free range them late afternoon with a cup of coffee in my hand

 

[barn206]

View attachment 1043819

A silver, 3 blue bars and 3 blue checkers.. beautiful birds. Very healthy looking

 

[LamarshFish]

A silver, 3 blue bars and 3 blue checkers.. beautiful birds. Very healthy looking

Thanks! Thankfully, my neighbors think the silver is so pretty, which I am hoping gets them to like my pigeons even more. So far no neighbor issues, most seem interested in my loft.

 

[biophiliac]

Take some terramycin ointment on your thumb , rub your thumb and your index finger together. Then place your thumb and circle the birds eyelid gently. The bird will close her eye automatically. Since it's not advanced. Do it once and leave it alone. If it gets worse then you may have to repeat it. Don't mix a lot of stuff and put it in her eye. Just get the ointment. It's not uncommon

I know this is an old thread but I found this video that might relate.

I've never heard of a 'one eye cold',... ?