INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Thanks for the ID!  I was still debating on the white bird.  Sometimes I think it looks pullet-ish and other times possibly roo.  There are a couple others from that hatch that I know are roos, but this one just wasn't distinct enough yet for me to tell.  We were guessing the wyandotte could be the hen...

How old? The comb and wattles are awfully red compared to the others, and the comb even appears larger than two of my adult Wyandotte hens' combs already, which is why I suspect boy. I can't tell for sure because I can't zoom the picture in very far, but it looks also like some shiny saddle feathers are coming in, which would mean it is definitely a boy. But age would be helpful to confirm.

Being that the bird has a rose comb, at least one parent has to have a rose comb, meaning unless you have another rose comb bird besides your Wyandotte, she would have to be the mother. Rose combs are dominant, and so even if a bird is carrying one rose comb allele, he or she will show it. I had forgotten that Kab had gotten a similar bird from a slw cross. I thought I had seen one somewhere! The genetics are there, probably in the father's genotype, so obviously it is possible. I am not 100% on it, but I believe buff and lemon Orpingtons carry Columbian, and when crossed with a laced Wyandotte (which also carries Co), they gain a few alleles and lose others, which would allow for the incomplete Columbian pattern to show up. In other words, I think the father was the lemon Orp and the mother was the SLW.

 

[hoosiercheetah]

Thank you all for the info on the Indy re-zoning. I'll read up on the links and type up a form letter for anyone who wants something to print sign and mail.

I agree that the most helpful thing for us to do is to see this as a positive, and take the opportunity to express our views - like the one-rooster thing. It may not have occurred to the drafters of the proposal that there are legitimate reasons to have several, and they may be basing the limit on preconceived notions about all roosters being loud and bothersome. This is our chance to educate some politicians. We should make the best of it.

Here are useful links if you want to write your own letter:

http://www.americantrails.org/resources/advocacy/lettersAlbright.html

http://www.johncobrien.com/uploads/How_to_write_a_letter_to_a_politician_v_1.2.pdf

I chose two that don't take long to read. :-D

 

[irtehun]

I have 3 welsummer cockerels and one hen if anyone is interested. Asking $3 each. About 3 months old or so.


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[PeacefulWalls]

Just saw the comment asking how long ducks lay for. My oldest ducks are breeder quality khaki ducks and are 1 yr old. I was told they will lay almost every day for 4 years so until they are about 4.5 yrs old. The ones I got from the hatchery, I'm estimating a 3 yr consistent laying period.
I keep debating if I want to replaace a third of my flock each year and basically keep 3-4 breeds of ducks. Then I could replace 1 breed each year.
Duck eggs are amazing. But they do require more effort. More cleaning and more refilling the water. Winter is way more work for the ducks, but this year the ducks will be in their own coop. Last year I only had 2 and they made a mess of our largest chicken area. Still even with the extra work they caused, DH asked for more ducks. That says a lot to me. He has not asked for more hens. He has not said no more hens either though.

Thanks for your info. If we don't do ducklings this year we'll need to for sure next year. I have plenty of fertilized eggs we could hatch instead of buying ducklings, if only I knew of someone who could hatch them for me...

Hey Brad -- wanna hatch some of my duck eggs???

How old? The comb and wattles are awfully red compared to the others, and the comb even appears larger than two of my adult Wyandotte hens' combs already, which is why I suspect boy. I can't tell for sure because I can't zoom the picture in very far, but it looks also like some shiny saddle feathers are coming in, which would mean it is definitely a boy. But age would be helpful to confirm.

Being that the bird has a rose comb, at least one parent has to have a rose comb, meaning unless you have another rose comb bird besides your Wyandotte, she would have to be the mother. Rose combs are dominant, and so even if a bird is carrying one rose comb allele, he or she will show it. I had forgotten that Kab had gotten a similar bird from a slw cross. I thought I had seen one somewhere! The genetics are there, probably in the father's genotype, so obviously it is possible. I am not 100% on it, but I believe buff and lemon Orpingtons carry Columbian, and when crossed with a laced Wyandotte (which also carries Co), they gain a few alleles and lose others, which would allow for the incomplete Columbian pattern to show up. In other words, I think the father was the lemon Orp and the mother was the SLW.

Genetics are so interesting! I just wish I had the time to study them more. Tonight my daughter & I were talking about the genetics involved with a Silver Fox & New Zealand rabbit cross we did & the different colors that came out of it -- nothing at all like the parents. The white bird was hatched on April 13 (I remember I was a week too early for the Easter hatchalong). So it is 3 months old. Would the comb develop faster due to hybrid vigor? The rabbit cross my daughter did sure turned out that way. Her cross babies are 4 1/2 months old and are weighing 8 1/2 lb. (doe) and 9 lb. (buck). That's senior weight for the Silver Fox buck and almost senior weight for the doe and they don't hit senior age until 8 months old. They're still considered juniors. I'm wondering if they're going to stop growing soon or end up as massive buns. I showed this picture to some people in rabbit club tonight & they thought she was holding a Flemish Giant rabbit!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

No, that's definitely too young for that comb on a girl. Especially since the two suspected parents are relatively slow to mature (especially the Orpington). You have yourself a boy. :/

Genetics are something I've only taken an interest in recently, which is why I won't say with absolute certainty on some things (like the Columbia thing above), though I do have other things down pat. I mean I grasp things like the difference between alleles and genes, what partial dominance is, etc., but the things I've been looking into are mainly chicken color genetics so that's what I apply that knowledge to. I don't know much about, well, anything else in the genetics world, unless you count the plants and fruit flies we bred in Biology class. I do plan on taking a population genetics class soon, though, just to see if it seems like something I'd be interested in doing at a higher level. We'll see, anyway.

 

[LonelyPageTurne]

No, that's definitely too young for that comb on a girl. Especially since the two suspected parents are relatively slow to mature (especially the Orpington). You have yourself a boy. :/

Genetics are something I've only taken an interest in recently, which is why I won't say with absolute certainty on some things (like the Columbia thing above), though I do have other things down pat. I mean I grasp things like the difference between alleles and genes, what partial dominance is, etc., but the things I've been looking into are mainly chicken color genetics so that's what I apply that knowledge to. I don't know much about, well, anything else in the genetics world, unless you count the plants and fruit flies we bred in Biology class. I do plan on taking a population genetics class soon, though, just to see if it seems like something I'd be interested in doing at a higher level. We'll see, anyway.

Nah. I have 2 blrw definitely females who had nice red combs and waddles at 10 weeks.

Generally rosecomb can be told by the rows. 3 rows with the middle longer and taller is usually a male. However, with mixed genetics you can end up with some funky combs. I'd suggest waiting for some more definitive sex characteristics.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

The white bird here is the one in question. At 12 weeks old, his comb is bigger than some of my adult Wyandotte hens' combs. Notice the Wyandotte beside him with a nice, small, pale comb. He also appears to have saddle feathers, though the picture is blurry when I zoom in so I can't tell for sure. Even so, I have no doubt in my mind this is a boy.

 

[Nwchickma]

Anyone in Indiana have an austerlop pullet or hen for sale, or know someone who does? Have a friend in new Indiana looking! Thanks

 

[bradselig]

Just hatched my first chick from my blue/black silkie/showgirl pen! And it's actually a showgirl! Lol. Can't wait to pull it out of incubator tomorrow after a tolbunt chick hatches who is zipping right now

 

[flyladyrocks]

Okay, so I was really bummed when I go ton here b/c our playhouse to turn into a coop has fallen thru. They finally gave us the dimensions today. It is 8 feet 9 inches wide. Anything over 8 feet 6 inches wide has to have a special permit. We could not use a flat bed tow truck we would have to hired a flat bed truck and jump through lots of hoops to get proper permits to transport it b/c of width as well as height. Permits take time AND they want it gone this weekend - the only way to do that is take it apart and reassemble, which kinda negates the idea of starting with a pre-assembled building to make things easier!! So now we are back to building the big coop. Sigh.

So then I get on here and read the rezoning Indy stuff and now I have gone from bummed to downright MAD! My biggest concern is that we start out with seemingly reasonable restrictions and then restriction upon restriction slowly gets added.

I am so tired and all worked up now! I need to go try to sleep.

I am going to go look at the pictures peacefulwalls posted. Pictures of chickens make me happy!