He's a very pretty boy! What is he a cross of?The mystery is solved, and the truth now revealed....the little chick I'd hoped was a pullet but suspected was a cockerel is, in fact, a cockerel. I have a feeling he's going to be stunning as he matures.I'm also now completely certain that "Clyde" needs a more feminine name (at the top of the photo):
Really good info. Thanks! Next hatch I'm definitely going to try the pine pellets.
I rarely keep my chicks in the brooder for longer than a week anymore, mainly because they grow so quickly that my brooder, an over-sized tote, starts to look way too small for them. Plus, the bigger they get and the more they eat....the more they poop! They spend the first week in the brooder in my office where I can monitor them closely and then I move them out to the "nursery pen" in my chicken cabin. After 3+ day in the nursery, I open the pop door to their outdoor run so they can begin exploring and scratching around in the dirt. They seem to grow up hardier and healthier when I don't "baby them" by keeping them in the brooder longer. AND....my house really doesn't have a chance to start stinking.
I have them in a Living World small animal cage. Amazon says the dimensions are "46-8/9-inch length by 22-4/5-inch width by 24-inch height" I concede that my sniffer may not be 100% either lol.
One downside is that they still try to eat it, especially when it starts dissolving into sawdust. And then when they kick the pellets into the water, it obviously expands. Really though, I can't see where that's too far off from using the flakes either.
I wanted to make an in-coop brooder for them and probably could have fabricated something if we didn't want to keep all of them for a whileSo we're having a carport delivered tomorrow and will be making that into a new, jumbo coop. I'm planning on having a section special for new chicks/broody mamas. I wish I could have moved them outside this past weekend, but I wasn't ready. And now this weekend looks like a bunch of rain and severe thunderstorms. And then by next weekend, the temps will drop again. I'll put their heat plate out there, but I'm worried about taking them from 72 inside to 50 something for daytime temps and 30-40s for nighttime. Not having enough daylight hours is frustrating lol.
Ummmmmm.... I have a bad feeling about this. The chicks are about 1-1/2 weeks old now. Their legs are starting to show their likely gender. If I am right, of the Olive Eggers I have 2 boys and 2 girls. But for Tank's babies with the GNHs? Looks like 8 or 9 boys and 1-2 girls.
I'm only keeping girls.
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Yeah, it's pretty bad. Hope I'm wrong, but Tank declared himself as a boy VERY early, and it seems his sons are taking after him. One started crowing at day 6 (granted, he got the idea from a Marans-Ameraucana cross who crowed at ~3 days). There's one little one. Now I'm realizing the reason there's a little one is NOT because it's a runt, but because I think she's the only little girl. Good heavens, they have some seriously beefy legs, and I swear at 9 days their combs are already starting to get a bit bigger and one is starting to pink up a bit.
BTW (please forgive the non NN digression) - I worked on the new paddock for the Eggplant coop today, so after a week of being introduced to Monkey and being locked in, they get to come back out again, probably tomorrow. And those little Cream Legbars (previously unnamed, now to be referred to as the Three Witches after the three witches in Shakespeare's Macbeth) - well two finally started laying again today. Sooooooo.... @Kev - What happens feather-color-genetics-wise when you cross a splash copper marans with a cream legbar?
After all, the incubators are already fired up, the big brooders are already built, and MY BOYS NEED PULLETS!!!!! I'll already have what looks like one OE pullet from Goodwin x Blue Copper Marans hen (the others look like boys, OF COURSE). Then I'll have an unknown number of OE F2 pullets from Goodwin x Arbequina (my OE from Luanne). The Monkey x CLs could be a third genetic mix for OE. And all so interesting color and pattern-wise!!!!!
Earl says, "Where are my pullets?"
- Ant Farm
How crazy would I be to start collecting the Tank x GNH eggs and try again?
