My Attempt at a Dual Purpose Heritage Flock

[peepdaddy]

I guess I sort of hijacked this thread, sorry. I'll try to start a new one

 

[peepdaddy]

Look at "developing my own breed". Thanks

 

[Tre3hugger]

Are your Delewares also Freedom Ranger stock?

Yes

 

[Tre3hugger]

I guess I sort of hijacked this thread, sorry. I'll try to start a new one

It's all good. Thank you for sharing. Those are nice looking birds. I will check out your thread for sure!

 

[Tre3hugger]

The chicks are about a week old and doing well.

Today I removed the roosters from the breeder groups and put all the girls back together in the breeding coop for easy egg collection. Already have 4 eggs collected and will be setting again once I hit 22. Going for all pure breds this time (hopefully that'll give me enough that I can then switch to sex links for a while). After hatching just 1 batch the eggs are easily breed recognizable.

I have been getting really good action on my listing in the Livestock Conservancy breeder directory, getting 2 more hatching egg orders this week, one locally and one I am considering shipping.

@SheaLoner I haven't wanted to stress the chicks by taking them all out and checking the minute differences on their wings etc. Also, at a glance, it is quite difficult telling the female sex links from the NHs right now. Luckily I will be setting another batch soon where all the red chicks will be NHs, so I will try to auto sex them then. Will likely have to mark them some how so my theory can be proved/refuted. I'll be sure to report.

 

[SheaLoner]

I tried marking chicks with food coloring from my easter hatch. I ended up more colored then they did. Resorted to mini zipties again. Thought about nail polish, but worried about the fumes.
Maybe colored perm markers?

 

[Tre3hugger]

Doubled the size of the chicks world today, and got some photos. They are now 3 weeks old. Seems like the NHs are much bigger than the sex links. To be expected I suppose. I set another batch of 22 eggs yesterday. Just heritage birds this time. Also, I have the 5 sex link girls reserved for sale. They will be going for $10 each, at 5 weeks old once I take them off heat. They are feathering out quickly and I have been raising the heater pretty regularly. Thinking in another week I can turn it off during the day, and then 1 more week of night heat. The 5 SL girls will be sold to a friend, the SL and NH boys will go into a chicken tractor to grow out, and the NH girls will integrate into the flock.

Sex link (smaller) next to NH

Some Sex Link Boys

NH in back, SL girl in fron. SL boys middle

NH back, SL front

 

[peepdaddy]

Great pictures. Good looking chicks. I have 11 survivors from my last hatch. There are currently 36 eggs in my incubator which were set 1 week ago. I'm hopeful of a good hatch as the incubator has kept a much more stable temp and humidity this time around.

 

[Tre3hugger]

Great pictures. Good looking chicks. I have 11 survivors from my last hatch. There are currently 36 eggs in my incubator which were set 1 week ago. I'm hopeful of a good hatch as the incubator has kept a much more stable temp and humidity this time around.

Thanks! Good luck on your hatch

 

[peepdaddy]

Thank you. Best of luck to you on your next hatch.