Seems like in my brain things get done faster than in 'real life' --- here's the current stage of progress:
- Both houses for the breeders are cleaned out as of yesterday.
- They are all wormed. What I use is Cydectin, a cattle pour on. The application rate I use is about 1 drop per pound of chicken. This would drive a scientifically minded medicalally oriented person crazy -- because a drop can vary in size.
- To introduce the cockerel, I confine him in the pen with the females for a day, put him in the house on the roost with them overnight, and the next morning, they wake up as roommates.
So in the first "breeding pen" - the Twin line, if you have been following this thread from
the beginning, and "
Iris", who is the only one of these 5 that lays a tinted egg is in that pen. She's the one that is my "ideal" look. This is based on type, small comb that doesn't flop, and a good barring indication plus a cream color in the neck hackles. She has a pink leg band. In future I would select for her type, comb, coloration and seek a clear cream hackle, and any chicken that has the deepest light salmon on the breast feathers.
He's safe from them, and they are safe from him -- in his little pen. Notice that the females ARE curious though.
Now the next day, he's free to roam the pen
This one is the more saturated of the two cockerels that are breeders, and you can see his duckwing band is very straight across the bottom, and his wing triangle is definite.
Remember way back when we first started this thread, we were concerned that multiple generations of lavender bred to lavender would fade the colors to look like an off white color.
So here they are going about their chicken business in a very nonchalant way. All good.
Now pen two -- remember pink band = the Twin line, and blue band = the Jackson line....
So when the females went to roost last night, I pulled the Jackson line and put them in the other pen, that I had just cleaned the house that day.... The other male is on - be in the show cage day of his new residency:
The second cockerel has a better tail, and is a tad larger, although the little one weighed 5-pounds (hence 5-drops of wormer)
So I will give them a week, and that will allow the cydectin to work through their systems, and the roosters to fertilize the hens...and then start collecting eggs for the incubator.


