Mama Heating Pad in the Brooder (Picture Heavy) - UPDATE

[COChix]

Sorry about the double post....I deleted it and added this lovely comment.

 

[junebuggena]

Hi, been awhile since I posted an update from our hatch of 04/01/16. As we kinda suspected all three are cockerels, about two weeks ago we moved them from our spot in the suburbs of Denver to our farm spot north. I split our covered run in half and gave the cocekerels the small coop, our roo and crew get the other half of run and the large coop. Things have gone well so far. We are trying to either sell or fatten them up for processing....we might keep one for breeding as they are EE and OE and they will be pretty boys.






Should have heard our BO rooster when he first laid eyes on the three of them. Boy did it make you stop in your tracks, the sound was definitely something out of Jurassic Park. Interestingly the grey one keeps escaping into the big birds area and last time when my BF went to get him our BO roo became aggressively protective over the young cockerel.

All three have matching rusty red shoulders. "Rooster" red.

 

[aart]

Bummer COChix...my batch, same age as yours, had 5 cockerels out of 15 birds.
I got lucky this year as a buddy with a new 'homestead' wanted to try out chickens on his land,
so I loaned him this hoop coop I just built and move it and the boys over there.
He will butcher them when so inclined, he helped me butcher last year and is a hunter so knows the ropes fairly well.
I still have to cull about 10 birds before fall tho, but was glad to not have to do the spring cockerel harvest.

 

[Beekissed]

Wish I lived closer to y'all....I'm droolin' your extra cockerels and I'd take them gladly off your hands!

I don't know how many I have this year yet but I'm always hoping there's more males than females out of my hatches....males finish out before fall bigger, so more meat in the jar for winter.

I don't have to worry about males around here as they split off and form their own flock, ranging out in the woods and edge of the meadow all day long, only returning to the coop for roosting. By fall they are big enough to put in the jar before they start trying to mate the main flock, so the more males I can get each season, the better.

 

[perchie.girl]

Wish I lived closer to y'all....I'm droolin' your extra cockerels and I'd take them gladly off your hands!

I don't know how many I have this year yet but I'm always hoping there's more males than females out of my hatches....males finish out before fall bigger, so more meat in the jar for winter.

I don't have to worry about males around here as they split off and form their own flock, ranging out in the woods and edge of the meadow all day long, only returning to the coop for roosting. By fall they are big enough to put in the jar before they start trying to mate the main flock, so the more males I can get each season, the better.

Thats the behavior I saw within my flock.... Cockrels went out on their own keeping the flock in sight then coming in at night to roost.

 

[dyorto]

I'm so happy.... The first egg. Looks more like a quail laid it

 

[GardenNut]

I'm so happy.... The first egg. Looks more like a quail laid it

Awwww! Sweet!

 

[COChix]

Bummer COChix...my batch, same age as yours, had 5 cockerels out of 15 birds.
I got lucky this year as a buddy with a new 'homestead' wanted to try out chickens on his land,
so I loaned him this hoop coop I just built and move it and the boys over there.
He will butcher them when so inclined, he helped me butcher last year and is a hunter so knows the ropes fairly well.
I still have to cull about 10 birds before fall tho, but was glad to not have to do the spring cockerel harvest.
[/URL]

Nice looking g hoop coop and that was kind of you to provide that too him. You're hatch rate of male to female was much better than ours. Our eggs we got from a neighbor across the resevior and her birds were younger. My understanding is that can affect the male/female ratio.

Wish I lived closer to y'all....I'm droolin' your extra cockerels and I'd take them gladly off your hands!    I don't know how many I have this year yet but I'm always hoping there's more males than females out of my hatches....males finish out before fall bigger, so more meat in the jar for winter. 

I don't have to worry about males around here as they split off and form their own flock, ranging out in the woods and edge of the meadow all day long, only returning to the coop for roosting.  By fall they are big enough to put in the jar before they start trying to mate the main flock, so the more males I can get each season, the better. 

Thanks for sharing your experiences. So do the cockerels roost with your main flock? We dont have a ton of acreage which helps when you have multiple roo's. The cockerels now don't even use the coop provided they roost in the run.

Thats the behavior I saw within my flock....  Cockrels went out on their own keeping the flock in sight then coming in at night to roost.

Thanks, are yours houses separately from the main flock of do they join them in the coop at night?

I'm so happy.... The first egg. Looks more like a quail laid it

Congrats!

Here is a shot of them today

 

[Jensownzoo]

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I'm so happy.... The first egg. Looks more like a quail laid it

 

[aart]

Quote: Thanks. I have an 'article' almost done about building hoop coop/tractor....
....it turned out pretty nice, best feature is foldable aprons.....
.....not sure why I haven't finished and posted it.
I didn't really need it at this point, and may build another for here anyway, will use it next year for meat birds or turkeys.
He's a pretty good buddy, has helped me do some heavy work around here, is a complete chicken newbie but good engineer, it's great field test situation, and I'll probably get one of those cockerels for my freezer.

That ratio is not pure hatch ratio..... 5 were purchased EE pullets....so typical 50/50 for the hatched ones.
I'll still need to cull a bunch of older layers by fall, probably 8, may try to sell/trade some, will butcher the rest.