I have purebred barred rocks. All that the roo sires is one flavor of barring - sometimes not good barring (one gene for those?). However, when the barred rock hens have chicks by another rooster - their barring gene is sexed linked. (although I forget which) So it is either the pullet babies or the cockerel babies that are barred. So non barred roo with barred hens can give you a good tool.
Baby NNs!!!Best hatch ever! Out of 11 eggs that made it into lockdown - 9 hatched!!!! And one of the two wasput in 2 days later, so it has a few more days to go before it is declared nonhatched. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would have so good a hatch!Two naked necks that look to be sired by the barred rock roos, couple of barred rock and barred rock mixes - the grey is likely a sex linked barred rock egg that did NOT get the barred rock gene, so I need to read up on which sex does. Then the brown one probably a blrw, the white - no idea whatsoever - these were all light colored eggs - I have the br and blrw and naked necks. The white's eggs looked closest to the nn eggs - though I have one or two birds that might lay similar eggs- no silkie feet or skin coloring - so not a silkie paint (besides, I'd recognize the egg.)
My favorite! Good hatch
Yes, they do fight through the fence. They seem * more likely to fight through a fence than in the open together. But it's easy to line the fence with tin panels or shade cloth or any number of things. I've gotten several rolls of 6'x50' shade cloth on Amazon for $50. It goes a long way. They also have 4' and 5' tall rolls, I attach it with zip ties to the fence.
That said-Silkie roosters are way less likely to fence fight than other breeds. I've had better luck with multiple Silkies living together than most other breeds. So there's a good chance it would be a non-issue and even if it became a problem later you could line the fence 24" up with something to block their view. It doesn't have to be any taller than 2'.
@MrsDickey Are these the ones you're deciding on keeping? Or asking about gender?
Rabbit math is an interesting idea....who'd of thought??I'm in love with one of the little ones my husband brought home, she's super calm and cuddly like my Holland Lop.
I'm deciding on where to take them for spaying and neutering. Neutering is no more than a cat neuter but spaying is anywhere from $100-$200 each. I've banded lots of livestock but I won't be one of the people banding my own bunny boys. If one of you all try it be sure to let us know how it goes.
I'm still not sure on setups. I keep going over options in my head. I may just do 2 separate runs because I think that would be easier to expand on in the future. And lets be real here...I should definitely consider ease of expansion... We have so much to do before we can even move out there it's a little overwhelming! I'm just trying to think of ways to simplify it all but I just need to pick a design and start
aren't you guys worried about them eating the long fibers?someone asked about coconut fiber for nesting boxes well i don't know about how that would work but i did see where someone of facebook posted about theses and they are similar.
http://www.eggcartonsource.com/Excelsior-Nest-Pads-12-x-9-10221ES25.htm
