Midnight B/S

[frenchblackcopper]

Arbor,,I was just out with the flashlite doing a roost check,and specifically remembered your post here about darker wing feathers on B/S Midnight hens,two was on the roost and one had very dark brown primaries and the other hens was much lighter tan colored.Big diffrence between just those two hens.

 

[Arbor]

Thats exactly the difference I noticed in my two hens. tHough I have not kept more than one IB b/s hen at a time, so I can only go on the differences I note on the b/s hen and midnight b/s hen that I do have. Someone may be able to let us know, but there may also be quite a bit of variation between the colour of the IB b/s hen flights from one bird to another. But it would confirm what I have noticed myself, and I really hope your hen is midnight. I know you don't really want to breed them, but I would still try - you should get 50% midnight offspring if your male is split and the hen is midnight b/s. If none hatch out that are midnight b/s, then when you know your male is definately not split.

The only other difference I noted between my bs and midnight bs hens is that there is a lot more black streaking on the midnight hen, but again, variation from one bs hen to another might be seen anyways, but I don't know.
Thanks for letting us know that there is a notable difference between your two hens

 

[frenchblackcopper]

Arbor,I have spoken to Craig Hopkins and secured a 3-4 year old Midnight B/S male from him,,this should increase my chances even if my hens now are split to Midnight,yes? Compared if the male I have now is only India Blue split to Midnight.If I still hatch India Blue looking chicks at least 1/2 their blood is Midnight,,breeding these back should increase the chances.But as written before,,I don't buy intentionally mixed eggs,causing me to then breed the offspring to get what I wanted 2 years before.I have bought twice knowing the eggs could be either way,,,one was for Emerald spaldings split to silver pieds,,and the other ended with the results of hatching out my Charcoal split to pied male,,I remember that auction went skyhigh.

 

[Arbor]

Generally speaking from my own experience, and now from yours, I think it wise for people that want something specific to purchase birds (not eggs), and preferably ones they have seen or from a reputable breeder such Craig Hopkins - I think my midnight b/s originate from his stock. I would only buy eggs from someone I trust - I've never had much luck hatching eggs bought from someone else anyways, so I stick with the already hatched version.

Yes, it will definatly increase your chances. If possible, I would separate the hens and move the male between them (one week in one pen, one week in the other) so you can guarantee what egg comes from what hen. This way, if you hatch midnights only from the hen with the dark flights, she will be midnight, and vise versa with the other hen. I often keep more than one hen in with a male, but you have to watch closely to see which one is going to lay. Once you know, you should be able to tell by the general appearance (colour and size) which egg came from which hen.

Make sure you keep us updated on the results of your breeding this year!

 

[deerman]

French with a peacock 3 or 4 you can run 4 to 6 peahen with him.

now giving away one of my tricks....to make sure what egg can from what hen.


i ran 4 hens with my bronze , each a different pattern all split to bronze. lucky for me two hens layed one day ,the other two the next day.(peahens lay every other day) peahen lay late in the day. i had two large dog cages , with straw. i would place the two hens in the cages about 5 pm. out the next day , gather and marking her egg.

if buying a midnight bs peacock you may want a pr. hard to find people selling single breeding age hens.

 

[frenchblackcopper]

I'm thinking a survellience camera that possibly records would be nice for that purpose,,,but then again,wish in one hand,and ,,,,, in the other and see which one fills up faster.

 

[Arbor]

I'm thinking a survellience camera that possibly records would be nice for that purpose,,,but then again,wish in one hand,and ,,,,, in the other and see which one fills up faster.

Thats an excellent idea

, especially if you are only running a couple of hens with the cock. I think I'm going to use that one myself!

 

[deerman]

Thats an excellent idea

, especially if you are only running a couple of hens with the cock. I think I'm going to use that one myself!

yes unless both peahens use the same nest........which they like to do.

 

[frenchblackcopper]

If your hens didn't look identical such as an IB and a B/S,,and a silver pied with possibly 4-5 diffrent nest boxes in the same area? Maybe each hen would then choose their own nest and then stay with the same one over time? Or you could individually pen each hen up late afternoon,each in a seperate laying area,,If I run 2-3 diffrent hens with the same male,,I would like to mark each egg as to who the hen was it came from.Unless all hens are the same it wouldn't make a diffrence,,but I'm not the type to guess once a chick hatches out who the hen was that laid that egg.

 

[deerman]

in my case the bronze male was with all hens split bronze......so i hatch some bronze ...reason i need to know what hen....

1. bs split bronze
2, pied split bronze
3. w/e split bronze
4. silver pied split bronze

i knew all chick would be bronze of split bronze.........be nice if it was that easy with midnight.

my case i had all these bronze and split bronze......but all split to one of 4 patterns...i did miss a few , but caging two peahen every afternoon help alot.

had a few other trick , like a swing gate in a few pens, male with 2 or 3 hens one day, then change gate so he was with 2 or 3 other hens the next day. made be a lot of work...but i like know what all birds are from.

heck i even set up breeding pens to sell eggs ,so chicks could be sexed at hatching......purple male blue hens...those where my days of selling hatching eggs.