OHio ~ Come on Buckeyes, let me know your out there!

[Stevens21]

Hey everybody? I have some boring questions to ask. How long will our swap last Saturday? I am bringing my little girls and I have to plan for feeding them (I am pretty sure Stevens21 isn't feeding us)

is everyone packing coolers? Or would you like to do a potluck? Or will it be so short as to not require lunch?

Pot luck sounds great! Or we can all go in and order a big pizza =) I will get some extra waters to have on hand too if anyone needs drinks
You are more then welcome to stay as long as you like we have a lot to learn about chickens and find it fun just talking and meeting people!

Sorry that it doesn't answer your question though

 

[loveourbirds]

Loveourbirds, would like your opinion on my plans. Now mind you I'm starting out with a choc split (which is a cockerel) and the 4choc AM's so my stock is limited. These are 2nd generation. They were a split cock over chocolate hens.
Plans are pick the best choc or split cock and put it over my pure black AM hens to help continue with type and lessen the chances for single combs and clean face chicks. My intentions are to do this for 4-5 generations each time keeping the best cock and then try to keep some pullets and the best cock from that batch. Sound like a decent start? Any suggestions, ideas?

keep in mind i havent worked with the chocolate gene, so its safe to question any of this advice.
if i am reading this right you have one rooster with split chocolate gene, and 4 hens with a 75% pure line (split over full)

my method for this would be as follows:
due to the two sets of splits, i would breed the rooster over all 4 hens for one full season (i call 4 months a season). pay attention to what offspring comes from what hen. 2 or 3 of the hens should be full chocolate, with 1 or 2 being split. by doing this, you should come out with a good percentage of chocolates. keep your best original pair for "just in case reasons"

keep your cockerels from the more pure line, as the cockerel blood will have more influence on the line. look for the very best 2, type and color. breed these over hens selected half and half from the split lines and the full lines. keep a couple of the darker colored hens in the mix intentionally, black if you have them. use hens of the best type, dont worry so much about color on them yet. make sure your combs, eye color, and leg color are right. with this breeding i would use 1 rooster to about 4 hens in 2 groups (10 total). from this breeding you should have several "excellent" breeders.

from the previous breeding, hold some excellent roosters and hens, at a ratio of about 4-6 (maybe 5 chocolate and 1 dark) hens to 1 rooster. their breeding should yield excellent chicks with few culls. you will never breed a line that makes 100% show chicks, it just cant happen. if you can get 1 excellent show quality out of 10 you are doing great.

if i understand the chocolate gene correctly, i would cull any that are to light in color- and always breed for a few "extra dark" ones to mix in with the breedings.

additional note - when i say cull, it does not always mean to kill them. someone somewhere may want what you have extra to start working with their own flock. just dont sell them as "show birds".

 

[loveourbirds]

im not real familiar with mt orab. could we all just chip in for pizza and pop?

btw stephens im coming, i just dont know what im bringing for sure.

 

[minihorse927]

Anyone near this zip code happen to be coming the swap 44671 please let me know I found a super deal on some Silkies but I could never get my DH to go that way or that far =(

That's a heck of a drive! It's near canton Ohio. I remember going to canton for dog shows with my parents when I was younger. Are you going to Lucasville? Might be able to something there also.

 

[minihorse927]

Thanks Mandy. It's the little Mini Eco. Readings should be about accurate as I have two each of thermometer and hygrometers packed in there. My last batch with the seramas, I ran humidity around 45 and 70 at lockdown. None hatched, figured they drowned, so this time I'm trying to run dry. Aimed for 30, but the humidity in the house won't let it go any lower than 40 no matter how much rice I throw in lol. Aimed for 50 for lockdown this time, but looks like its hanging around 60. I do have to hand turn and try to wash hands every time, though no doubt I've forgotten once or twice in dozens of turnings. Guess that could do it. I did eggtopsies tonight on a few of them. Two were fairly well-developed. One of them probably quit within the last day or so, poor thing.
Warning: Dead embryo pics:

Poor little tweet all ready to hatch:

I dubbed this one "Little Derpy":

What kind of thermometer and hygrometer are you using? Do you know how to calibrate the hygrometer? It's really starting to sound and look like a humidity or bacteria issue than a temp issue. With the exception of the one incubator that was swinging temps on you. I would expect that somewhere lost there. Loveourbirds, maybe you can weigh in too. You've incubated more than I have!!!

 

[Kourtnie]

I have more firsts!


My first double yolk



My first Araucana egg!


My first green egg



My second double yolk

 

[minihorse927]

keep in mind i havent worked with the chocolate gene, so its safe to question any of this advice.
if i am reading this right you have one rooster with split chocolate gene, and 4 hens with a 75% pure line (split over full)

my method for this would be as follows:
due to the two sets of splits, i would breed the rooster over all 4 hens for one full season (i call 4 months a season). pay attention to what offspring comes from what hen. 2 or 3 of the hens should be full chocolate, with 1 or 2 being split.  by doing this, you should come out with a good percentage of chocolates. keep your best original pair for "just in case reasons"

keep your cockerels from the more pure line, as the cockerel blood will have more influence on the line.  look for the very best 2, type and color. breed these over hens selected half and half from the split lines and the full lines. keep a couple of the darker colored hens in the mix intentionally, black if you have them.  use hens of the best type, dont worry so much about color on them yet.  make sure your combs, eye color, and leg color are right. with this breeding i would use 1 rooster to about 4 hens in 2 groups (10 total).   from this breeding you should have several "excellent" breeders.

from the previous breeding, hold some excellent roosters and hens, at a ratio of about 4-6 (maybe 5 chocolate and 1 dark) hens to 1 rooster.  their breeding should yield excellent chicks with few culls.  you will never breed a line that makes 100% show chicks, it just cant happen.  if you can get 1 excellent show quality out of 10 you are doing great.

if i understand the chocolate gene correctly, i would cull any that are to light in color- and always breed for a few "extra dark" ones to mix in with the breedings.  

additional note - when i say cull, it does not always mean to kill them.  someone somewhere may want what you have extra to start working with their own flock.  just dont sell them as "show birds".

From the birds they have in their pen this is what colors are produced from these. I was wrong when I was thinking that all blacks would be split cockerels. I forgot about the pure black pullets that can hatch from these.

Black Male carrying Chocolate X Chocolate Female = 25% Chocolate Males, 25% Black Males carrying Chocolate, 25% Chocolate Females, 25% Black Females.
I'm going to take pics of the chicks individually today for my own records. I'll add them here too. Some of them hatched out nice and big like true AM's and some were tiny like bantams.

I figured when it comes time for breeding and culling I can let the hens go as layers elsewhere and either eat the roos or let someone else get them for their project. I've done plenty of the culling thing before when I had the silkies. This is just my first color project that doesn't breed completely true. My lavenders and my porcelain silkies I had would breed on and produce true to type silkies. I just have to work out the unwanted factors in this project.

 

[maddogVince]

Well I just turned 58 less than a week ago, left Cincinnati when I was 19 for navy lived on a destroyer for long time met my wife in bath Maine we got in July 1975. Moved back to Ohio up near Findlay, Forrest, Kenton area way back raised 2 kids there and finally we moved to Florida about 6 years ago. And my wife thinks of herself as a buckeye even though she is from Maine but having birthed 2 children there, went to nursing school worked as RN, & just spent 40 years there and all that stuff I guess she is a buckeye

 

[minihorse927]

From the birds they have in their pen this is what colors are produced from these. I was wrong when I was thinking that all blacks would be split cockerels. I forgot about the pure black pullets that can hatch from these.

Black Male carrying Chocolate X Chocolate Female = 25% Chocolate Males, 25% Black Males carrying Chocolate, 25% Chocolate Females, 25% Black Females.
I'm going to take pics of the chicks individually today for my own records. I'll add them here too. Some of them hatched out nice and big like true AM's and some were tiny like bantams.

I figured when it comes time for breeding and culling I can let the hens go as layers elsewhere and either eat the roos or let someone else get them for their project. I've done plenty of the culling thing before when I had the silkies. This is just my first color project that doesn't breed completely true. My lavenders and my porcelain silkies I had would breed on and produce true to type silkies. I just have to work out the unwanted factors in this project.

I rarely advertise anything out as SQ. I typically say out of SQ parents but make no guarantees on the offspring. I won't even label the adults SQ unless they've been shown and proven themselves.

 

[big medicine]

you have had your hands full with that project. but they do look nice, especially the silver laced.

do you still have any of the white cornish? they have eluded me for years.

The white Cornish were Dad's calling. He decided last year at 79, that they were getting to be too much for him. I have been working on a home meat bird project for a few years that are mostly Cornish blood. My main goal is a blue laced red color, but still get a few throw back recessive whites. They include some Brahma and Wyandotte genetics but most more strongly resemble their Cornish heritage. I would post a picture but my computor with all my pictures crapped out this week. If you want to know more, look up kfacres here on BYC, he has gotten birds and eggs from me. He is mostly on the meat bird thread and is not bashfull about extolling the vurtues of "his" magnificent meat birds.