Newyears baby chicks

[Kristin Brown]

Thank you for sharing all the pictures! Your barnyard brood looks great. The chicks seem to have a variety of color patterns. Their digs ain't too shabby either, I love that enclosure of yours with the poultry wire. I may try that with my next broody hen. My Black Cochin's first hatch was last October, which she did well. However she went broody again come December... as for that time it was an epic failure! My rooster crushed her eggs in an attempt to mount her while she was on the nest about 50% in to the brooding period. Only one egg survived the massacre but it got cold when she abandoned the nest. I sold that pain-in-the-rear rooster, so I am now left with just a bantam rooster. Does anybody know the fertility chances he has with standard size hens?

 

[cluckcluckluke]

The chicks still look super cute! I love how chicks follow mum's beak around. The highlight of my day today was the little peeps snatching a piece of grass they weren't going to eat and running around with it while the rest gave chase. chickens are crazy.
Yeah, I have the same feeling about the striped ones here, but i guess I'll wait and see. Sorry to hear you lost one, we lost one to, was white with black speckles, only one so far with those markings, so I really wanted to see it grow - sadly, it got out under a tiny hole and couldn't get back to mum, so died of exposure, poor wee thing. Now we lock them in at night to make mum's job easier. Hehe, if you lived near me i would let you borrow my roosters anytime!
I'll see if I can talk my husband into a few ducks, they are adorable.
7 broody hens! far out, crazy chickens - I thought 3 was enough! Haha. the problem with 40 acres is that you can fill it with chickens, were one so inclined. Believe me I am tempted!



The oldest were born 8 days ago today, the youngest was yesterday. So the oldest have these lovely little wing feathers and tail feathers growing out. the striped ones have some interesting patterns on their wings. The white ones I wonder if they will get the cream color like two of the hens. It'll be interesting in 4 mo's to see which ones have the blue gene for their eggs.
Still two broodies left to hatch - so I'll get a good idea of the average genetic traits.

I'd love to see your chicks playing with the grass, so cute (always is though). Sorry to hear about you chick I just lost another one today (sad face) so now I only have 1 chick left, I lost the chick to a goanna, which now I have to deal with

. I would love to borrow your roosters to bad I live over the other side of the world to you.lol.(Aussie).
You definitely have to get ducks, believe it or not they have even more personality than chickens, they are great the only cons they have is they are very messy and use a lot of water but their pros easily out weigh their cons.
I just had to break my 4th and 5th broody today that makes 7 over this Spring and Summer

, they are so annoying all I hear when I come into the pen is constant clucking.
If I where you I would fill my whole 4 acres wit chickens and goats hahah.lol.
Love your little chickas and your broody hen.

 

[GroveChickerynz]

Kristin - my pleasure sharing pics, it's fun to see everyones pics, and get to share your own. I have a little obsession with crossbreeds. We have xbred cats, horses & now xbred chickens too! I love genetic variation. So these little chickens are fascinating. My husband is pretty handy with his tools and renovated one of the old coops, and made a new one, we put smaller gauge chicken wire on the front as the old one had really big sized holes and we discovered that at 4 days the chicks were learning to jump up and through the holes. The little chickens look through it alot, so the "wild" won't be such a shock lol. On that coop the roof lifts up in both parts above the chicken house and the run, very handy.
Oh no! I never realized the roosters would do that - we were lucky, my husband made a laying pod out of half a plastic barrel over a tray, with cutouts for doors, so thankfully no room for roosters to get in and be a pain. Good to know for future reference, sad that you had to teach from experience though. Not sure about the bantam x standard size; my uncle mentioned one time they crossed bantams and standards, and the wee things hatched but progressed to being weak and sickly - although don't take this as the law because there may well have been other factors there they overlooked. Maybe there is someone on here knows forsure? lol, for all I know I have just bred bantams with a heavy, I can't be sure as all I know is they are probably Easter Eggers of some sort.

CluckcluckCluke - Aw, so sad about your other chick! that's gutting. Stinky Goannas. Do they have goanna traps? I live in New Zealand, so not that far away, but Rufus may not like being stuffed in a box with holes being sent to yours. However, if he keeps crowing and being a pain I will send him anyway. lol.
That's fantastic that ducks have more personality than Chickens - Chickens are a hoot. I will look into these ducks you talk of. haha. Can't be too much messier than ponies, right? Goats are cool too, we have had a few nubian x's they were really fun. Well, I will keep posting pictures and maybe in the years to come the farm will be filled with chickens and goats ...

 

[Kristin Brown]

Thanks for the response! I would imagine if a bantam rooster crossed with a standard size hen, that the eggs would be the large size however the chicks may only grow to be smaller than average size? What do you think? My rooster is a Red Pyle Old English Game. I have 10 laying hens - Minorca, Ancona (2), Barred Rock, Golden Laced Wyandotte, Dark Brahma, Black Cochin, Ameraucana, Silver Laced Polish, and White Plymouth Rock. Not sure if any of these would make for a good barnyard cross. Any suggestions?

 

[cluckcluckluke]

GroveChickerynz




CluckcluckCluke - Aw, so sad about your other chick! that's gutting. Stinky Goannas. Do they have goanna traps? I live in New Zealand, so not that far away, but Rufus may not like being stuffed in a box with holes being sent to yours. However, if he keeps crowing and being a pain I will send him anyway. lol.
That's fantastic that ducks have more personality than Chickens - Chickens are a hoot. I will look into these ducks you talk of. haha. Can't be too much messier than ponies, right? Goats are cool too, we have had a few nubian x's they were really fun. Well, I will keep posting pictures and maybe in the years to come the farm will be filled with chickens and goats ...

Yeah, now I'm only down to one I was going to sell them anyway but still really wanted to se what they would turn out like, I think the one I have left is just going to be black all the way through it's life. Goanna's are protected over where I am so we can't kill them or even relocate them which sucks, but that doesn't stop us

. I will set a few traps out and what ever one he lands in will either kill or relocate him.lol.
New Zealand, wow I thought you where in America, you are really not that far away. Tell Rufus that if he doesn't behave he's coming to the main land.lol. I have a friend called Rufus.
My ducks are still getting used to me(terrified of me) so I'm sure when they settle down its will be great. I have 2 runner ducks, they are fantastic layers they have laid me an egg every day(one isn't laying yet), also Welsh Harlequins and Khaki Campbells lay more a year than most chickens so they are prolific layers.
I think goats are better than sliced bread, they are so cool if I was to get some I would have miniatures or Nubians like you.
I'd like to see 4 acres of colourful chickens GroveChickerynz...When the time comes.lol.
I to shall post some more pictures in the near future and keep you updated on the 1 lonely chick.
Here is just a quick snap of my Runners, will get some more up soon.

 

[GroveChickerynz]

Kristin - Your hypothesis sounds logical. I would be guessing the same about the size, just averaging out. Probably not that bad for genetics - at least my thoughts on crosses is that they are generally stronger, sounder and somewhat unique. I say try it - see what you'll get and post the pics up here!

Cluke - Your runner ducks are fantastic. Such characters. Awesome to know that they are brilliant layers also.
Flippin' goannas. Yeah, we have natives we "can't" kill and aren't really good for anything either! Around the time our first brood hatched, we came across this baby pukeko, and we decided to "save" it with our friends. It was a rail bird and after we'd moved it and put it in our hot water cupboard, we discovered you shoudn't look it in the eye, wear a balaclava and feed it with a glove. I was like, no. it's summer. Then it screeched all night long for the next 4 nights, until we called our local bird rescue and asked what we should do - they said they are hard to raise take it to the SPCA and they would send it to a specialist to be raised. So we took it to the SPCA and they took it but were adamant the rule about touching baby pukekos is a myth - you can put them back or out of the way and the mother will still raise them. I was like Awesome. To know now. lol. Moral of the story leave the native things to die. Poor wee native things.
Rufus will behave or else. He is gorgeous, but if he lived by the house I would have eaten him by now. lol. His crow is soo screechy - he is little so everything whistles out of him at a very sharp note. Captain jack is much more Bass, I like his crow.
Goats crack me up - I want to get some more so our roosters can ride in style - there are so many pictures of roosters roosting ontop of goats. Pretty entertaining.

Last Wednesday, Olive's brood started hatching - and much to our surprise her third one was black with a few small white markings, still looks easter egger to me, but we will wait and see. She has hatched 6 eggs. Most are white or wheaten colored, which makes sense as there are 2 wheaten colored hens. I've looked up typical colors and it seems the expected colors can be pretty awesome, so I'm still excited to see what they will be like.


Olive and her first 3 chicks.



Here is our only black EEx chick. Interesting white markings.


We have about 5 of this colored chick, each one has slight variation - so the end feathering will be pretty interesting.


The white/ wheaten EEx chicks look like little angels at 2 weeks!

This has been an exciting and informative breeding project so far. I'll keep posting the outcome as it progresses. Our last broodie is hatching eggs right now, so I'll put pics up of hers soon.

 

[cluckcluckluke]

WOW Love the chicks Grove, they are some funky feather colourings. So jealous.
I have NEVER heard of a Pukeko is it a parrot or something??? I'm sure you had good intentions for the little guy, I hope he's alright now.
I also prefer a deeper crow not one that screeches through the air.
If you ever try with ducks, I would personally suggest Khaki Campbell or Runners.
Khakis actually lay more a year then most chickens even the prolific cross breeds, but they are harder to find. Runners are still fantastic layers and wont go broody easily and they don't fly so you only need low fencing and they don't need a pool just a bucket deep enough to wash their eyes a bills but I prefer to give my ducks a pool but they are more of an edgy breed so harder to bond with them unlike Pekins. But for me Runners are they way to go and it's recommended for beginners to go with Runners.

 

[cluckcluckluke]

Here is my chick about 3 weeks old now.





Lovely BIG eyes.

 

[Kristin Brown]

I loved those two posts above with all the pictures! The babies seem very happy and well nurtured. Keep up the hard work! I hope to get another chance at baby chicks with my one of my broody hens this spring - either Dark Brahma or Black Cochin. The Cochin is an impressive mother, while the Brahma hen insists sitting on only an empty nest for weeks at a time! Hmm. If the hens don't gift me with any babies I may end up ordering a batch from Murray McMurray Hatchery - I love them!

 

[cluckcluckluke]

I loved those two posts above with all the pictures! The babies seem very happy and well nurtured. Keep up the hard work! I hope to get another chance at baby chicks with my one of my broody hens this spring - either Dark Brahma or Black Cochin. The Cochin is an impressive mother, while the Brahma hen insists sitting on only an empty nest for weeks at a time! Hmm. If the hens don't gift me with any babies I may end up ordering a batch from Murray McMurray Hatchery - I love them!

Thanks, I would put eggs under both of them but if you only want to use one as your first go I would go for the Cochin and you fit MORE eggs under her. Good Luck with it all.
I don't like buying just the chicks the whole point and excitement of hatching is the chicks hatching.lol.