Kentucky people

[shelleyd2008]

Well, I finally have figured out what my MPC babies are. There are 3 dominiques (I don't know sexes on hardly any for sure yet, but they are all supposed to be pullets), 1 buff orpington, 5 or 6 SLW, 5 or 6 white leghorns, 5 or 6 brown leghorns (I really need to get in there and count how many I have of each!

), and the black ones (I believe there are 4, possibly 5), that I thought were austrolorps, turned out to be Jersey Giants, and one of these is deffinitely a roo! He has a huge comb already!

So there ya go, no 'rainbow' in my egg layers

Or rather, dad's egg-layers. I told him we weren't keeping them all, I think I kinda ticked him off, but I'm not going to listen to him gripe about feeding a whole ton of chickens! He doesn't need that many, just a couple. Maybe we'll keep 1 or 2 of each, for a bit of variety? Idk, I'm sure that will change eventually

ETA: Add that the fact that I've been the one feeding his chickens for the past month at least, and I don't want to have to feed so many big birds. I'm talking about his RIR, he hasn't bought feed for them in forever!

 

[Mojo Chick'n]

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Make sure you keep the buff orp - your dad will love her.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Mojo Chick'n :

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Make sure you keep the buff orp - your dad will love her.

Yeah, I'm not too sure about keeping the JG, they get pretty big, and I don't think they are very good layers.

Maybe I can find out, or just wait and see. But so far, the one JG is the only one that is definitely a roo, but he was probably the packing peanut that got sent with them. Of course, the SLW and dominiques will be hard to tell, but going by the dominiques' color, I'd say they are all girls. Idk if SLW feather out differently like the barred birds do, I'll have to ask about that one.​

 

[DukeDawg528]

The best way to tell on a day old to about a week old chick is there wing feathers if they are in and out it's a hen and if they are even it's a rooster...That's how the hatchers do it...

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[shelleyd2008]

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But that's only on certain breeds, and I don't think BR is one of those breeds.

 

[Uncle T's Bantam's]

I had 5 chick's hatch this morning and 2 quail then i just had another chick hatch about 20 min ago
I hope more will hatch soon.I just had one of the quail drown in the brooder box watering bowl

 

[Mojo Chick'n]

Uncle T's Bantam's :

I had 5 chick's hatch this morning and 2 quail then i just had another chick hatch about 20 min ago[URL]https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/37335_047.jpg[/URL]
I hope more will hatch soon.I just had one of the quail drown in the brooder box watering bowl

quail are notorious for that.

I usually either put some cotton balls in their waterer (so they have to stand on it to get a little puddle) or I use a quail water ring - it is like the chick waterers, but way narrower so they can't get into it - those are cheap, they are about 1.50 at TSC - you just put them on a regular plastic quart waterer jar.​

 

[Mojo Chick'n]

Oh, the baby that hatched who is sticky... is doing a lot better now. She is moving around much better and part of her is fluffy. I thought it was a BR, but it is smaller than the other chicks, and looks like it has some brown on it - maybe from my EE hen? (would explain the dark legs)

so far none of MY keepers are hatched - pipped, moving, peeping, but not out of the shells.

The two white eggs are half out - I thought they might be from my cochin hen, but I dont think they have feathered feet, so the only other option would be Oprah which is totally weird, because her eggs have NEVER been fertile, and she has nearly stopped laying completely to boot.

Oprah is the only white egg layer I have on the whole place - but I thought perhaps they might be from the one cochin hen - I guess not.

well, hopefully some of my orps will hatch out - I marked Miss Purdy's eggs, so I know I have some orp eggs in there.

meri

 

[estpr13]

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But that's only on certain breeds, and I don't think BR is one of those breeds.

Shelleyd is correct, short feathers between long ones only works for certain breeds which hatcheries love because they don't have to pay specially trained sexers.

 

[spydertoys]

Look what followed me home from my friend Maeghans. (not really)

I've named her "Whisper"


If anyone is interested..I just got some REALLY nice Barred Rock layers..less than a year old, just started laying. They are nice large, heavy birds..$10 each.