Hatching with 2 broodies

[16 paws]

My eggs are in the home of the guy who is incubating them!

you may now resume your regular activities.

That got me.......
Cracking up here in Calif.

 

[MistyMountain]

My eggs are in the home of the guy who is incubating them!

you may now resume your regular activities.

 

[16 paws]

No problem Teila,

I also have a hard time remembering who has what when it comes to broodys, chicks, roos, layers, incubators....oh my!

 

[Pooman]

No problem Teila,

I also have a hard time remembering who has what when it comes to broodys, chicks, roos, layers, incubators....oh my!

Its impossible isnt it lol

Edit, 2 eggs today both from the new girls, Charlotte and Bluey, they both laid yesterday too

good girls

 

[Pooman]

Its amazing how different the roosters are to the hens that are laying. Letting them eat finding them treats. With 3juveniles and 1 old guy in there is quite amusing

 

[ItalyChickie]

I have also noticed that roosters feather way slower. Nearly regardless of breed. If all the chicks have tails except 3 or 4 those 3 or 4 are the boys everytime. Weird how roosters have bigger tails but are last to grow tails...

Yes, I actually happened to find that post I linked to earlier just as I was starting with chickens, so I did think it was universal knowledge... it has been true in most cases for me, but not with my last hatch, which feathered out pretty much at the same rate for both boys and girls. They have some silkie blood, wonder if that messes up the feathering rate...

So the 7 eggs i had in the new 48 egg incubator were no go. Candled again at day 5 and ended up cracking them all open to find nothing. The eggs look to be fertile, so were gonna save some more and try the old incubator. Also getting a thermometer to check the temps in the incubators.

Good news, the 2 new layers are approaching 1 per day so getting 2-3 eggs per day which is great. From what ive read the you should wait until a hen is a year old and been laying a while before hatching her eggs. So only viable eggs are from the bantam australorp Betty x Rocky in the avatar. At least we can try those and still have some eggs to eat. It will be interesting to see what we get when they work, small black with large golden mmmm

Sorry to hear about non-developing eggs, but it's a good thing you caught it so early and can start over!

I have used eggs of hens younger than a year and never had any problems, why is it advised to wait.?

But I miss having eggs to eat... I've been hatching every egg I get.

LOL! I can relate to that.

Good morning Team Broody … TGIF!

IC, hhhm, OK, while not 100% accurate, the wing-thing seems to have quite a degree of merit and I am interested to see how it goes if everyone is happy to document/participate.

Thank you for the link also, definitely some good comparison pictures and there does seem to be some evidence that this is a pretty good method.

If I do cave on the broody thing, I will definitely be getting some more eggs from Blondie’s breeder so I will also be able to check it out on that hatch also.

16 paws, sorry, I did not intentionally mean to not include you in the theory testing. With all our chickens and lots of Team Broodies now, it is a bit hard to keep track of who has what.

The first picture of your little one is ideal as a test because you are thinking pullet because of the comb size but if the theory works, wings are saying rooster. Same as Tammy/Tommy. Definitely interested to see what that little one turns out to be. By the way, very cute!

My somewhat-educated guess (based on some research because I tend to obsess about things, but I can't remember where I got the facts to link to them) on the wing theory is that it applies to breeds and mixes that are slow to feather out to begin with. In fact, the person that posted those great comparison pictures claims that it always works for her breeds - Cochins, Light Brahmas, and Orps - all slow featherers.

I'm also going by the fact that it did not seem to work for me with the broody triplets hatch (Leghorn mom, fast feathering), one of whom feathered out much quicker than the other two, and they were stuck in that patchy teenage stage without any kind of a tail for weeks.

It also did not work on my previous hatch this year... these are mixes, obviously, so hard to predict, but I had thought for the longest time that the brown one was a girl, based on the fastest feathering out, but, alas, he isn't...

However, I am assuming this is because they inherited fast feathering genes...from somewhere... Here are a couple of pics of them at exactly 12 days (orange one is the only girl in those) - I'm about to post the Cochins and Orps today's pictures, they are exactly 2 weeks today, and you will see that overall, the Cochins and Orps have much less feathering - which hopefully means that the wing/tail theory does work for them...

My eggs are in the home of the guy who is incubating them!

you may now resume your regular activities.

YAY!!!!!!!!!!

Actually, it's kinda hard to resume regular activities now, I'm tempted to go hang out with the chickies instead.

 

[ItalyChickie]

For Teila, Tommysgirl, Marie and anyone else who is interested in seeing and documenting if/how this works...

Telling gender by wing/tail feathering theory (Cochins and Orpingtons) - exactly two weeks old in the pictures below.

Documenting as promised, though pictures are far from perfect, and I don't have them of everyone yet - I'll try to take some better ones over the weekend.

First up - Buff Orps, since these are the easiest to see the difference. Remember how I said I had 2 boys and 2 girls? I am trusting the wing theory over comb development. Only one of the 4 buffs seems to have a slightly bigger/brighter comb than the others. He also has short wing feathers. However, the other one with short wing feathers has the same comb - or lack thereof - as the two girl candidates.

So, I am pretty confident that the two on the right in the photo below are girls... and the one on the left is a boy. (Plus another one with exactly the same wing feathers. )




Two girls, if the theory works:



This is what 3 of their combs look like:







Again, two buff girls, buff boy (in the middle), and one of the other Orps, this should be the penciled one. His wing feathers are also short, though not as short as the buff boys'.... still, there is a brighter comb as well, so I say boy. (He was also the first to hatch, and his comb was rather bright yellow... just remembered that I noticed that at the time.)


somewhat better pic:



Blue Orp, even shorter feathers than the penciled... actually pretty much no feathers at all except for the very tips.



and a raised orange-y comb. I say boy.




It seems I didn't get a decent pic of the lavender Orp today, but his wings are about the same as the blue's, comb not quite as prominent, but behavior the most roo-ish, so I say boy.


The Cochins are harder... both to guess and to take pictures of, because of very little contrast between black fuzz and black feathers that the camera refuses to capture I am thinking I may need to give them a couple more days... that, or I have all roos!

No, I refuse to believe that.

Anyway, they are all somewhere in between, no striking differences as in the Orps yet... there is one that obviously has slightly longer ones and one slightly shorter ones, but even between those two there isn't that much difference. Most are around the same as this white-tipped one (easiest to see in photos) - the comb and behavior on white-tipped Cochin say girl:




I did my best, but it's really really hard to see where the feathers end and the fuzz starts:






This is the one with shortest feathers and most obvious comb out of the Cochins (both pics below are of the same one)... I'm choosing to think, for now at least, that he is a boy and the rest are girls...

(Though probably I should just wait a few days and try again.)






I don't know how helpful this is for the moment, but maybe it will be in a month or two once we know for sure.

 

[ItalyChickie]

In other news, I just witnessed a very convincing scary broody ball impersonation from noone other than Pallina!!! Yes, the bouncy, clumsy, to-heck-with-pecking-order Pallina who laid a grand total of 8 eggs to date just growled and spread her wings at the top hen Red Star... and is apparently considering motherhood... heeeeeeelp I don't know whether to laugh or cry!

 

[missnu01]

For Teila, Tommysgirl, Marie and anyone else who is interested in seeing and documenting if/how this works... Telling gender by wing/tail feathering theory (Cochins and Orpingtons) - exactly two weeks old in the pictures below. Documenting as promised, though pictures are far from perfect, and I don't have them of everyone yet - I'll try to take some better ones over the weekend. First up - Buff Orps, since these are the easiest to see the difference. Remember how I said I had 2 boys and 2 girls? I am trusting the wing theory over comb development. Only one of the 4 buffs seems to have a slightly bigger/brighter comb than the others. He also has short wing feathers. However, the other one with short wing feathers has the same comb - or lack thereof - as the two girl candidates. So, I am pretty confident that the two on the right in the photo below are girls... and the one on the left is a boy. (Plus another one with exactly the same wing feathers. ) Two girls, if the theory works: This is what 3 of their combs look like: Again, two buff girls, buff boy (in the middle), and one of the other Orps, this should be the penciled one. His wing feathers are also short, though not as short as the buff boys'.... still, there is a brighter comb as well, so I say boy. (He was also the first to hatch, and his comb was rather bright yellow... just remembered that I noticed that at the time.) somewhat better pic: Blue Orp, even shorter feathers than the penciled... actually pretty much no feathers at all except for the very tips. and a raised orange-y comb. I say boy. It seems I didn't get a decent pic of the lavender Orp today, but his wings are about the same as the blue's, comb not quite as prominent, but behavior the most roo-ish, so I say boy. The Cochins are harder... both to guess and to take pictures of, because of very little contrast between black fuzz and black feathers that the camera refuses to capture I am thinking I may need to give them a couple more days... that, or I have all roos! No, I refuse to believe that. Anyway, they are all somewhere in between, no striking differences as in the Orps yet... there is one that obviously has slightly longer ones and one slightly shorter ones, but even between those two there isn't that much difference. Most are around the same as this white-tipped one (easiest to see in photos) - the comb and behavior on white-tipped Cochin say girl: I did my best, but it's really really hard to see where the feathers end and the fuzz starts: This is the one with shortest feathers and most obvious comb out of the Cochins (both pics below are of the same one)... I'm choosing to think, for now at least, that he is a boy and the rest are girls... (Though probably I should just wait a few days and try again.) I don't know how helpful this is for the moment, but maybe it will be in a month or two once we know for sure.

with buffs I definitely go by the tail. I have some mixes now that are sex linked so I know who is who, but I knew they were roos before I knew they were sex linked because they are just feathering so slow...I also have some easter egger BO mixes that have the exact same markings and colorings, but some have full on tails and others still have fluff...The fluff butts are my boys...just now their combs are starting to rat them out...weird how with ees the colors will usually clue you in, but with this mix boys and girls have the same markings. Mostly orange with what looks like leopard print on their wings and tails--well the ones that have tails, and the spot between their shoulders down the middle of their backs looks leopardy... they are neat in a sort of boring way. I guess I can say the feather rate clues me in with every one of my birds so far because all my birds are slow feathering straight run, or fast feathering sexed pullets, or mixes of the 2... I know the faverolles the boys are slow to fill in, but it isn't like you need that to sex them...I Mean the boys feather in black and the girls tan...so... Either way I'm sure it doesn't work for every breed but it has worked for every breed I have personally dealt with so far.

 

[ItalyChickie]

Thanks for the additional info, I've never had buffs or orps of any kinda before, so definitely filing that away for later, once the tails are a bit more obvious - probably just a few more days.

And it has worked for me in most cases, too, just thought that a theory on exceptions would be helpful... somehow I managed to create barnyard mix exceptions to the rule! Lol.

If you had pics to add to the theory gallery, I'm sure it would be even more helpful.