they'reHISchickens :
Can I get an opinion here?
This is our BlueCM roo who is a year and a half old. We put our 2blacks and 1 blue laced hen with him this year and hatched what we could. We still havent' figured out how to hatch more than about 35%, but are working on it. Hatches were heavily roo but we have some young pullets now: 2 pure powdered blue, a few blue laced, a couple black and 3 splash. Only 2 splash have reached laying age.
Should we keep him for another year? He doesn't get along with our other two roos ( an Orp and an Arcauna). The other two roos are good together and excellent flock protectors as we do free-range. He is also rough on the girls, but we admit, he needs more than 3 to keep him busy. If we keep him it would be in isolation for the winter, then put the girls with him in late winter for breeding.
In an ideal world, he would replace the Orp as head roo, but we are afraid he would kill both roos and they are proven flock protectors and good to the ladies.
Is he good enough quality to keep him around or would it be fairly easy to replace him in late winter by purchasing/rehoming a FBCM roo?
Of the roos we hatched this year, there were really only one or two that I thought were close to this guy. Many had mossy chests fairly early. ( The mama hens are not mossy at all.) I have one black young roo that I want to grow out because we would really like to lean towards blacks with a few blues/splashes.
His leg feathering is a bit sparse but the black hens are well feathered and the powder blue pullets are well feathered- moreso than the blue hen. The splashes are both feathered and nonfeathered.
What's the verdict-- keep or replace?
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/17886_mature_blue_roo.jpg
The part that I personally am not a fan of on him is his hackle color. For me its too straw colored.
Some of the others that raise blue coppers hopefully will come by and chime in for you on whether he would be good to hold onto and how easy it would be to find a good blue copper replacement if you didn't keep him. I have heard several people say its hard to get a good blue copper boy...
Can I get an opinion here?
This is our BlueCM roo who is a year and a half old. We put our 2blacks and 1 blue laced hen with him this year and hatched what we could. We still havent' figured out how to hatch more than about 35%, but are working on it. Hatches were heavily roo but we have some young pullets now: 2 pure powdered blue, a few blue laced, a couple black and 3 splash. Only 2 splash have reached laying age.
Should we keep him for another year? He doesn't get along with our other two roos ( an Orp and an Arcauna). The other two roos are good together and excellent flock protectors as we do free-range. He is also rough on the girls, but we admit, he needs more than 3 to keep him busy. If we keep him it would be in isolation for the winter, then put the girls with him in late winter for breeding.
In an ideal world, he would replace the Orp as head roo, but we are afraid he would kill both roos and they are proven flock protectors and good to the ladies.
Is he good enough quality to keep him around or would it be fairly easy to replace him in late winter by purchasing/rehoming a FBCM roo?
Of the roos we hatched this year, there were really only one or two that I thought were close to this guy. Many had mossy chests fairly early. ( The mama hens are not mossy at all.) I have one black young roo that I want to grow out because we would really like to lean towards blacks with a few blues/splashes.
His leg feathering is a bit sparse but the black hens are well feathered and the powder blue pullets are well feathered- moreso than the blue hen. The splashes are both feathered and nonfeathered.
What's the verdict-- keep or replace?
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/17886_mature_blue_roo.jpg
The part that I personally am not a fan of on him is his hackle color. For me its too straw colored.
Some of the others that raise blue coppers hopefully will come by and chime in for you on whether he would be good to hold onto and how easy it would be to find a good blue copper replacement if you didn't keep him. I have heard several people say its hard to get a good blue copper boy...
