Hatching with 2 broodies

[Farmer Viola]

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And a group pic just for fun! (I promise everyone is there, even if you can't see them!)

So, if anyone has thoughts/observations, they are welcome! If not, I guess we'll keep this as reference and revisit in a month or so... hopefully I can remember which chick was which - not easy with those Cochins!

I'm sorry I'm no good at sexing chicks, but I LOVED all your photos and especially this one!!!

argh I cannot wait to see a lovely mama and her chicks soon! why is it that 3 weeks is no time at all, until you're waiting for eggs to hatch, and then it becomes an ETERNITY!

today is day 8... she is still sitting strong, technically she's been on for 11 days. I haven't seen her get up anymore. I only saw her get up when she was on fake eggs for the first 3 days. it's as if she knew when the eggs were actually carrying living embryos. she takes it much more seriously now.

I have brought her a wet mash, a dish of vitamin water, and a scrambled egg, on different days - but not every day. I'm going on the assumption that she is getting up but I never see her. I found what looked like a big nasty broody poop so pretty sure she's been up at least once. ;-) I just worry about her....


here's a pic of my girl only 7mos and wants to be a mama already! you can sort of see a little tiny bit of copper in her neck. otherwise she's a not very copper black marans.

 

[ItalyChickie]

I'm sorry I'm no good at sexing chicks, but I LOVED all your photos and especially this one!!!

argh I cannot wait to see a lovely mama and her chicks soon! why is it that 3 weeks is no time at all, until you're waiting for eggs to hatch, and then it becomes an ETERNITY!

today is day 8... she is still sitting strong, technically she's been on for 11 days. I haven't seen her get up anymore. I only saw her get up when she was on fake eggs for the first 3 days. it's as if she knew when the eggs were actually carrying living embryos. she takes it much more seriously now.

I have brought her a wet mash, a dish of vitamin water, and a scrambled egg, on different days - but not every day. I'm going on the assumption that she is getting up but I never see her. I found what looked like a big nasty broody poop so pretty sure she's been up at least once. ;-) I just worry about her....


here's a pic of my girl only 7mos and wants to be a mama already! you can sort of see a little tiny bit of copper in her neck. otherwise she's a not very copper black marans.

Thank you! I know I am biased, but they are totally adorable, can't get enough of them. And no worries, it's actually not a sex-my-chicks question, but more of a documenting the wing growth on Cochins and Orps attempt, as we're trying to test the theory that girls feather out sooner, and I had some Cochins and Orps handy. (the discussion is a few pages back)

Your girl looks really dedicated! I totally understand that you worry, but I am sure she is getting up if you saw the poop... those broodies can be quite sneaky. And yes! The 3 weeks with the day countdown to 21 seem to take forever, but then they grow up really fast! We'll all be looking forward to your babies' arrival.

 

[tommysgirl]

Hmm that is interesting! Well they only have 1 silkie and that is the white rooster. The other roosters are straight milles fleurs except for "Charlotte" and the hens are milles fleur with 1 a milles fleur/silkie mix. Here are pics although they arent a fair comparison...and looking at Charlotte in this pic it was obvious she was a he lol The hen is Lucy who is Charlottes sister but while Charlotte was only 22 weeks Lucy is about 9 months in this photo.


Charlotte


The interesting thing to note is that Lucy has black skin and charlotte has silvery skin. Also Charlotte has the mustache but Lucy doesn't. Dot however has a mustache but she isn't a mix. Neither charlotte or Lucy had the 5 toes but chipmunk does. Sigh...

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.

The hatch was evenly split 4 silvers and 4 golds. I have the ability to follow up on the chicks and see if this group of parents...1 roo 2 hens. really are SL. We did hatch one in January but it didn't make it. It was a silver.

I wish I had a photo of Charlotte now. He is beyond gorgeous and sooooo tiny!

Me too

Okay, after stalking poor Bonnie for days, I have decent pictures of all the Cochins' wings... let's see if anybody sees the differences... I, quite frankly, am not seeing much except for the first two.

Here's my girl candidate number 1. Her comb is dark, whereas everyone else's has some yellow by now, and her wings are the most feathered out of all Cochins - but I mostly notice this by the shoulder feathers, not so much by wing feather length (front facing in first pic, close up second, then wings):






Boy candidate number 1 is code-named Blackie, as he has no white or grey fuzz on top, all the others do. His comb is defined and a rather bright orange (others are a much lighter shade of yellow), and the stance and behavior also say roo:






Then we have White Tip, whose comb is yellowish but very very flat - the second picture shows that fairly well, I almost thought he had a pea comb or something, can barely see the ridges. His wings, however are on the shorter side, although some shoulder feathers have sprouted over the past couple of days. I am thinking/hoping/praying girl:




The other three are somewhere in-between as far as feathering and combs, so I really don't know...

This one assumes the roo stance more often than others, I caught him at it in this pic:






This one looks girlish from comb and behavior, but wings aren't really much longer (it kinda looks like it in this pic, but I think it's because of the laying down position instead of standing tall):



This one I'm completely on the fence about, not seeing any gender signs either way, somewhere in the middle for both comb and wings:




An update pic of two buff and a lavender Orps for comparison - very very obvious wing differences, every day more so (so I'm still saying top one is girl, the other two boys):




And a group pic just for fun! (I promise everyone is there, even if you can't see them!)

So, if anyone has thoughts/observations, they are welcome! If not, I guess we'll keep this as reference and revisit in a month or so... hopefully I can remember which chick was which - not easy with those Cochins!

They are darling and I think it is great that you are documenting it here. I have no clue but I am glad you are sharing them.

Oh and I wanted to add that they have never hatched one who looks like your Stella...I asked LOL Silkie genetics I tell ya! She is so lovely

All of the silvers were similar but not the same. I actually sold the one I was going to keep but I caught her and I didn't want to say..."Oh wait I want to keep that one" with the seller standing right there so I popped her into a box with the other. I am glad things worked out as they have.

I'm sorry I'm no good at sexing chicks, but I LOVED all your photos and especially this one!!!

argh I cannot wait to see a lovely mama and her chicks soon! why is it that 3 weeks is no time at all, until you're waiting for eggs to hatch, and then it becomes an ETERNITY!

today is day 8... she is still sitting strong, technically she's been on for 11 days. I haven't seen her get up anymore. I only saw her get up when she was on fake eggs for the first 3 days. it's as if she knew when the eggs were actually carrying living embryos. she takes it much more seriously now.

I have brought her a wet mash, a dish of vitamin water, and a scrambled egg, on different days - but not every day. I'm going on the assumption that she is getting up but I never see her. I found what looked like a big nasty broody poop so pretty sure she's been up at least once. ;-) I just worry about her....


here's a pic of my girl only 7mos and wants to be a mama already! you can sort of see a little tiny bit of copper in her neck. otherwise she's a not very copper black marans.

She is doing great!!! So are you. I have eggs on day 10. Yay for hatchalongs! How many is she sitting on? Does she have a name? If you candle be sure to let us know what you find.

 

[Farmer Viola]

Thank you! I know I am biased, but they are totally adorable, can't get enough of them. And no worries, it's actually not a sex-my-chicks question, but more of a documenting the wing growth on Cochins and Orps attempt, as we're trying to test the theory that girls feather out sooner, and I had some Cochins and Orps handy. (the discussion is a few pages back)

Your girl looks really dedicated! I totally understand that you worry, but I am sure she is getting up if you saw the poop... those broodies can be quite sneaky. And yes! The 3 weeks with the day countdown to 21 seem to take forever, but then they grow up really fast! We'll all be looking forward to your babies' arrival.

thank you, and me too!

She is doing great!!! So are you. I have eggs on day 10. Yay for hatchalongs! How many is she sitting on? Does she have a name? If you candle be sure to let us know what you find.

she is sitting on 12 eggs, six are mottled javas and six are blue laced red wyandottes. I hope no one laid any extras in there! I have peeked where she will let me, but only lifting up her front feathers. there could be stowaways in the back!
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?

 

[tommysgirl]

I usually candle at 1 week to see if there are duds then I do it again on Day 18 so I know if there are any I should be tossing then too But this time I did it at 14 days too b/c one was iffy. I also ID the eggs that are supposed to be hatching so that I can tell if anyone has snuck extra eggs in. I like candling b/c it hightens my excitement while keeping me realistic. I have chicks due to hatch on Thursday...started out with 9 eggs took out 4 at the first candling. There one questionable so I candled that one a week later and tossed it...now I have 4. two ee and two AM hoping to break my boy streak and get nothing but pullets

 

[halfbakedtulip]

@tommysgirl I need to apologize. I am an idiot sigh Apparently the rooster is a buff (it looked white to me

)

 

[halfbakedtulip]

This is why the boys and girls all basically look the same colour I guess.

 

[tommysgirl]

@tommysgirl I need to apologize. I am an idiot sigh Apparently the rooster is a buff (it looked white to me

)

Idiot my hiney!!! And there is no need to aplogize. That explains why they didn't get any silvers and why both the cockerels and the pullets look alike

 

[tommysgirl]

@halfbakedtulip here are a couple of pics of Cosmo and Stella and their hatchmates others have seen them but maybe you didn't.








Here is daddy and the moms.

 

[halfbakedtulip]

@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!!!