Hatching with 2 broodies

[Pooman]

16paws, im new at this so still learning.

Ill share what has happened here. Ill just start with all roos here have never shown any aggression to people. If they do i have several axes and a couple of chopping blocks. Although recently, Rocky II and Blacky have been little buggers, i shooed Blacky off one of the smaller chooks the other day and he stood upto me, so i continued to gently shove him around the yard until he yielded and started fleeing, then i kept walking after him for,a while, you have to show them whomis boss or issues can occur. Boss them but gently you dont want to hurt them if your keeping them. Edit, well you dont want to hurt them either way

Rocky the big boy in the picture is a fighter. He fought like a maniac against Goliath RIP, it takes two to tango. He was chasing Blacky around the yard when he jumped the fence a few weeks back. Lucky i was home. So he lives with his 5 girls by himself.

The other coop and run has 4 roos in it. 2 sons of Rocky (Blacky and Rocky II) as spares, Stripey the Plymouth Rock we hatched from a breeder, and Rambo the mature Indian Game. So far no major issues which is surprising given the Game bird would tend to be a fighter, but he is quiet and rules by intimidation mostly. Stripey is the friendliest chook i have, he always runs over to me when i go in there. Soon however they are going to be separate with Blacky and Rocky II doing some sneaky mounts i cant guarantee what im gonna get. (sounds like a chance to build another coop lol). So Rambo is going to go off with Charlotte, Bluey and Wilma. Everyone seems happy in there. But they have plenty of room and the only ones that hang together are the brothers. Growing straight into this environment may have helped. We will see how it progresses.

Also, bare in mind. Its very easy to get blood out of the comb. Some stouching through a fence by Rocky and Goliath RIP produced blood everywhere and torn up,combs on both sides. So i dont think they have the hardest skin there. On the other hand it is very easy to lose an eye when roos fight so it better to keep it separate if it goes on too much.

 

[halfbakedtulip]

So we just had an interesting evening and not really in a good way sigh. Chipmunk and grey butt (I seriously need to come up with some names lol) were chest bumping non stop. Chasing each other and being little brats. White butt kept trying to get away from them. I even witnessed Chipmunk try and take a run at Dot. She is lucky Mom stepped in...Dot is lovely but she doesn't take crap from anyone. It is interesting because these are the 2 that are always together who I thought may be boys. Tell me it is too early for roster behaviour...please?

 

[halfbakedtulip]

@MistyMountain is Elsa the white one? What is she ...she is beautiful!!

 

[Pooman]

Oh no, i see chest bumping and stand offs in the brooder lol. But at that age they all seem to do it, they just copying each other i think.

 

[halfbakedtulip]

Thank you @Pooman I will hold out hope!

 

[MistyMountain]

@MistyMountain
 is Elsa the white one? What is she ...she is beautiful!!

Yup! My boys love Frozen and the names fit. She is a splash lf cochin. She is super shy, i was lucky to get a picture of her standing still!

 

[Farmer Viola]

Yup! My boys love Frozen and the names fit. She is a splash lf cochin. She is super shy, i was lucky to get a picture of her standing still!

she is sooo pretty, I think I have a cochin chick too, I wasn't told the breeds but it looks like a cochin and it's blue... I will try and go get some pics for you guys later today

Oh no, i see chest bumping and stand offs in the brooder lol. But at that age they all seem to do it, they just copying each other i think.

I recently moved about 32-36 chicks from their indoor brooder to their outside pen and they are all inspired to chest bump now. I discovered them yesterday a good 6ft from their house structure (pretty far for a lil chick on day 2) all in a huge circle while one of the bigger chicks (a week older) got a beat down from one of the littlest chicks, who has the BIGGEST comb. it's seriously so big already I can't even believe it, I have never had a rooster so obvious so young. I will get a pic of him too. he is a little firecracker, the chick he was beating on was previously the leader! even after submitting and putting it's head down, he would come back to "remind" him every couple minutes.

later, it started to rain, and the newly elected leader didn't lead them back into the house. where did he go? into a makeshift corner with his harem of 30 who proceeded to make some kind of chick umbrella by condensing into a tiny circle and trying to get underneath each other. nevermind that the rain shelter this time was no more than 2 ft away.... sigh...

 

[ItalyChickie]

I asked about it on the sex link information thread when these guys first hatched and was assured that they were sex links but there was some question about cosmo and his cohort. the person who was telling me this was one of those..."I know a lot and I am going to tell you a lot about what I know because I really know a lot and I don't really care if you follow me I am going to bombard you with alleles and F2s and splits and dominants and recessives until your brain hurts and you acknowledge that I really know a lot...and thank me for my trouble." types. Any disappointment I feel at finding out they aren't sex-linked will be surpassed by the joy of knowing this person was just blowing smoke.

I actually read a whole bunch of those threads (though didn't dare ask anything), and if I am understanding it correctly, the main, most dominant characteristic that a Silkie will pass on is dark skin and feet/shanks (ok, there was an argument about terminology on that, I believe the consensus was shanks, so the bit above the foot).

There is a catch: it only works if the other parent has yellow or white feet/shanks. Or possibly it simply wouldn't be as recognizable with slate/greenish, not sure... Anyway, if the roo is a Silkie and the hen has light shanks, girls should have dark shanks and skin, and boys light. Vice versa with Silkie mom and light-skinned dad... at least I believe so.

Down/feather colors are more complicated because of "hidden" colors and blah blah something... my brain was hurting at this point so I'm just retelling as much as I did understand, in simple terms, though probably not genetically correct terminology.

I think there were 1 or 2 people saying it didn't work for them, that everyone had the same color skin, boys and girls - I think it was in cases similar to mine though, where the parents may not have been pure...

I don't know what color skin/feet the moms have in your case, but if light, then you should be able to test that theory as well.. would love to hear if it works or not!

her name is Bertha. Broody Bertha now! I desperately want to candle, my husband says I shouldn't since it's supposed to be hands off. But I would like to know if they're developing or not.. I'm thinking either on day 10 or day 14.... I will probably only candle once, so the longer I wait the better I guess. when do you candle?

I candled a few times last time around, and I could see quite well on day 10, not as well on day 7. I'm a total rookie though! Might have been just me doing it wrong the first time.

@tommysgirl
Wow that makes it so easy!! You can clearly see who is silver and who is pumpkiney...Oh I hope that it is true for you! They are all so lovely

I just went and tok a couple photos of Chipmunk...they NEVER STOP MOVING!!!

They are SOOOO cute!

I think I am seeing dark feet? Is their skin black? If mom's feet are light, then the theory posted above applies to you too. Would love to hear if it works and if it's just my roo carrying some strange genes...

Hi Friends

Stopping by for a quick visit. Love all the pics. Day 15 for Momma MJ today. I have plans to tighten up the maternity ward so that it is all ready for babies this weekend. My hubby and I have a date to see Travis Tritt and The Charlie Daniels Band on Saturday, which is day 20 so if there are any early arrivals we won't get to see them. That is probably a good thing because I would get all caught up in the coop and forget my chores in the house! So, big day is Sunday. lots of work then, too, so hopefully I can give them some privacy (riiiiight). My little man has his 4th b-day party the next weekend, so got to clean this place up. Lots of cousins so it will mostly be outside. We'll have the slip-n-slides going and a bucket of squirt guns at the bottom of the driveway. No one is off limits here!

I am really reconsidering the number of chickens that I have right now. All these leghorns lay eggs like crazy, but I am not overly fond of them. I am thinking about selling them to make more room for the girls in the grow out coop. My husband is not too keen on that idea, since we have put so much money (food) into them, but I find they do not free range well enough. They always linger around the feeder for more food. Decisions. I added another roost to the big coop. I might attempt to integrate the pullets in about a week leaving the rowdy leghorn cockerels in the grow out coop for now. Wait. That's an idea. I can sell the leghorns as pairs!! Hah! Honestly, I can not even give those food monsters away. They are going to eat me out of house and home.

Hi! Good to hear from you, was wondering where you disappeared to. Love your plans for the new arrivals and can't wait for pictures!

And lol, totally hear you on the leghorns! Though I only have one... but I'd exchange all my layer hybrids for Cochins in a heartbeat too! (Ok, when I say all, I really mean 4.)

I do think that a lot of people just want hens for eggs... at least that's the case over here - anyway, definitely worth a try. Good luck and let us know how it goes!

Italychickie,

Loved the group shot of mom and all her babies, she looks so proud, like Yes, I hatched out all of these kids, too cute.

Thank you! And yep, she really does carry herself like the most proud mom in the universe... and she totally should be, she is an amazing mom! (even if she didn't really hatch them all, lol) Love watching them together...

If I posted all the pictures I take, this thread would be at least a couple thousand pages long by now!

I have a question for anyone that keeps more than 1 roo.

I have 3 roos and I have to keep them separate. They kind of grew up together but after a while they started fighting. I came home one day to find the 2 banty cochin roos all bloody. They are brothers and I thought they were going to fight till one died. My other roo is a polish. He fights both of them. It is funny because they are not aggressive to people at all, just each other.
How do you guys keep your roos from fighting? Any hope for keeping them together someday?
thanks for any advice...
Marie

As always, it seems to be a chickenality thing... I have 2 roos (father and son, not that they care) - they will sometimes fight over a favorite hen, but it usually ends within seconds and no blood drawn... very rarely, in any case.

I used to have 3 roos, before this son was born - 2 of them had grown up from chicks we had gotten hoping for hens, and they got along fine. The original roo though was not at all happy with the new additions and harassed them every chance he got. I had to rehome two of them, keeping the most docile (Silkie) - it wasn't so much the fighting among themselves that got to me, but the fact that the hens were suffering... there weren't enough, and the enormous yet the least courageous Brahma roo was bottom of the pecking order, so he was pretty desperate... when I saw him grab a 3-month old pullet by the hair (Bonnie, my current broody), I knew it had to stop...

I choose to rehome roos rather than buy 20 more hens at the same time - I don't know if sometimes more hens might be the solution... many people say it can, but I haven't tried.

I have to say that none of the others had ever been quite that desperate.

Cielo <3

Elsa and Anna

How gorgeous!!!!!!!!!!

All of them of course, but I am in love with Elsa! And now I want more Cochins in different colors. Chicken math!

So we just had an interesting evening and not really in a good way sigh. Chipmunk and grey butt (I seriously need to come up with some names lol) were chest bumping non stop. Chasing each other and being little brats. White butt kept trying to get away from them. I even witnessed Chipmunk try and take a run at Dot. She is lucky Mom stepped in...Dot is lovely but she doesn't take crap from anyone. It is interesting because these are the 2 that are always together who I thought may be boys. Tell me it is too early for roster behaviour...please?

It's too early for rooster behavior.

Really, it is. And even when it isn't, some pullets do it too. My broody twins were constantly fighting among themselves, pretty much until they started laying and I could finally stop doubting their genders.

she is sooo pretty, I think I have a cochin chick too, I wasn't told the breeds but it looks like a cochin and it's blue... I will try and go get some pics for you guys later today



I recently moved about 32-36 chicks from their indoor brooder to their outside pen and they are all inspired to chest bump now. I discovered them yesterday a good 6ft from their house structure (pretty far for a lil chick on day 2) all in a huge circle while one of the bigger chicks (a week older) got a beat down from one of the littlest chicks, who has the BIGGEST comb. it's seriously so big already I can't even believe it, I have never had a rooster so obvious so young. I will get a pic of him too. he is a little firecracker, the chick he was beating on was previously the leader! even after submitting and putting it's head down, he would come back to "remind" him every couple minutes.

later, it started to rain, and the newly elected leader didn't lead them back into the house. where did he go? into a makeshift corner with his harem of 30 who proceeded to make some kind of chick umbrella by condensing into a tiny circle and trying to get underneath each other. nevermind that the rain shelter this time was no more than 2 ft away.... sigh...

Oh that is adorable!!!

Would love to see the pics!



In my news, the broody twins are on day 7, so I attempted candling and... it looks like while there is development in all of Pallina's eggs, there is NONE in Cenere's!!!

I am going to give it a couple more days, just in case the shells are harder to see through, as they are darker... but if it really is the case, and they aren't fertile, that would explain my previous hatch percentage with my eggs, since a lot of them were Cenere's (and those that weren't got scrambled by the broody twins stealing them).

It's not that surprising, really, given that the roos are smaller than her, but I always see them trying, so I figured at least some would be fertile... guess not... Of course now the problem is the broody twins... I'll have to either divide Pallina's eggs between them, or make one of them wait longer - though I worry it might be too long, as it has been over a week... Thoughts?

Pallina is officially broody (she was still laying and only setting for half a day or so until today, now she is sitting tight), and the eggs for her will be on their way tomorrow or Thursday! Yay!

Here, I just have to share her scary broody ball impersonation after Cenere got in the nest by force to lay her egg:

 

[Farmer Viola]

ok get ready for picture time!!!

these babies are 4 and 5 weeks old, there's around 30 of them and I don't know all of their breeds. eggs were from a lady with a mixed flock, and some from my own!

everyone


this is my huge comb boy. he is almost 4 weeks old and I am so surprised with how obviously red and huge his comb is! sister next to him.


this is a BCM hen cross with blue laced red Wyandotte rooster (his mother is Broody Bertha!). another obvious male, kinda cool looks like a BCM with a rose comb heh


I think the blue one in the center might be a cochin, the comb is kinda weird and flat though. can't tell what type of comb it is. I think this one is female


i think this one is male


cochin? pullet?


this girl hatched from a green egg, and her dad is a lavender copper marans so I'm hoping olive egger?! and I love the blue color anyway


I don't know what breed this is, any ideas?

 

[Teila]

Wow .. busy, busy Team

Quick visit for me also; the start of the working week always seems so much busier than the end of the week so hopefully I will be able to catch up in the next couple of days.

Luv all the pictures also! Just adorable ... everyone should be so very proud of their beautiful chickens

Quick update from Bambrook Bantams .... everyone is well and Blondie's foot is healing nicely.

The egg drought continues and I am pretty sure we are at 4 months now

For those who have bets on who is going to break the drought; Blondie is definitely a candidate as she is maturing into a beautiful girl every day

I do not think LuLu is ever going to grow up .. she is the cutest little clown and does not have a serious bone in her little body

Take care and stay safe my friends; hopefully I will have time to catch up soon