Here is a pic of 10 eggs from my new black trio taken just before loading them into the incubator! I'm just finishing a hatch of eggs from the farm and the last egg hatching might also be one of theirs. They weren't keeping them separate from the Bresse and RIR eggs so I won't know until it hatches. Go, baby, go!
Do your Brahmas have very fluffy hindquarters? If so, maybe trimming their feathers will help increase fertility. I only have one Brahma and she is big and wide with a very fluffy butt. She is just in my layer flock so fertility is not an issue with her and she gets to keep her fluff.
Thanks, Matt! These are from the 2 pullets from Sherry. I just had 1 egg from them hatch. It was a pullet egg that I through in the incubator with some other eggs from the farm. It took an extra day to hatch but it is doing well and catching up with its hatchmates. I'll try to get a pic of it in the next couple of days. Langshan chicks are soooo cute!
Yeah, I have trimmed those big ole' butts twice already. I guess it wouldn't hurt anything to trim again.Do your Brahmas have very fluffy hindquarters? If so, maybe trimming their feathers will help increase fertility. I only have one Brahma and she is big and wide with a very fluffy butt. She is just in my layer flock so fertility is not an issue with her and she gets to keep her fluff.
It's not my favorite chicken job but sometimes necessary. I may have to bribe my 12 yr old to help me today. It's not her favorite thing to do, either.
You're way ahead of me. I finally broke up the breeding pen I had set up. After putting together a trio of one year olds, the hens quit laying and the cock didn't appear to have any mojo. The hens were all pristine. To top it off the hens pulled off most the feathers on his right leg. I put them all back together and the two year old cock mated about five times in the first couple minutes. Within a few days I was getting Langshan eggs again, from slightly ruffled hens. I cracked six today and found three to be fertile.Here is a pic of 10 eggs from my new black trio taken just before loading them into the incubator! I'm just finishing a hatch of eggs from the farm and the last egg hatching might also be one of theirs. They weren't keeping them separate from the Bresse and RIR eggs so I won't know until it hatches. Go, baby, go!
Love the pics! Your birds are gorgeous! Is Lincoln your 2 year old cock or the 1 year old?You're way ahead of me. I finally broke up the breeding pen I had set up. After putting together a trio of one year olds, the hens quit laying and the cock didn't appear to have any mojo. The hens were all pristine. To top it off the hens pulled off most the feathers on his right leg. I put them all back together and the two year old cock mated about five times in the first couple minutes. Within a few days I was getting Langshan eggs again, from slightly ruffled hens. I cracked six today and found three to be fertile.
I'll probably find homes for two or three hens that I don't want to breed from, and go down to just the 2 year old cock. I know that's risky but noise is an issue since my nearest neighbor is only about 250 feet away. Some pictures taken today. You can click them bigger.
First picture showing that Langshan green. Second showing some fertility.
That's a normal sized two year old Legbar next to a one year old Langshan hen.
Lincoln inspecting the irrigation for a leak. (He found one.)
Lincoln having a "bad tail day" in the wind. (Yea, I'm smitten with this guy.)
Happy hen on a Spring-like day.
He's the two year old I bought at the Stockton show last year when he was 10 months old.
