Pekin bantam thread!

[Teila]

G’Day Pekin Bantam friends

Laurarose congratulations, they are beautiful!

Tina, my Silkie, is currently sitting on 5 eggs, one of which is from a Frizzle Rooster over a Lavender; I have everything crossed for a Lavender Frizzle pullet but I know there are some huge odds to get exactly that. I will be happy if any one of them hatch and Tina gets to be a first time mum. We will know in 9-10 days.

FourteenChicks I am so sorry to read about the loss of Dudley

Loobyloo88 I am far from an expert when it comes to picking the girls from the boys and just my humble opinion; if it was me, I would not be putting a tick in the box marked rooster on either of those two just yet

 

[loobyloo88]

G’Day Pekin Bantam friends 

Laurarose congratulations, they are beautiful!

Tina, my Silkie, is currently sitting on 5 eggs, one of which is from a Frizzle Rooster over a Lavender; I have everything crossed for a Lavender Frizzle pullet but I know there are some huge odds to get exactly that.  I will be happy if any one of them hatch and Tina gets to be a first time mum.  We will know in 9-10 days.
Loobyloo88 I am far from an expert when it comes to picking the girls from the boys and just my humble opinion; if it was me, I would not be putting a tick in the box marked rooster on either of those two just yet 

I know! I get over excited about guessing, just to see if I'm right! Its my own little game I'm sure ;0)

But out of curiosity do pekins combs develop before other breeds? I have 4 other chicks of various breeds whos combs aren't showing get (of the same age).

 

[Teila]

Hey there loobyloo88

I do not have a lot of experience with chicks, only having two hatches here to date and one in progress

My first hatch was Silkies and we all know there is no point in guessing with them unless they are crowing or laying eggs! lol.

But, for fun, some other BYC friends who have Cochins and myself have been doing some 'experimenting' with Cochins and bantam Cochins regarding wing feathers. As I said, only for fun and not always right; but there is a trend for the girls' wings feathers to be longer than the boys'. For example .................

This is Blondie who grew up to be a beautiful pullet; note the long wing feathers right down to her tail:

3 weeks and 4 days old:



These two have shorter wing feathers but their combs are different. The front one, obviously a roo, the back one I kept for a bit longer as the comb was sort of hinting pullet but note the short wing feathers .. also turned out to be a rooster!

3 weeks and 4 days old:


Definite rooster and again, note the shorter wing feathers compared to Blondie:


Definite rooster again with short wing feathers:


Another one that had short wing feathers and turned out to be a rooster:


Note Blondie's wing feathers wrapping right around her little bottom? Boys in the background.


and again, rooster!



I stress again, just for fun, but 5 of 6 chicks in that hatch had short wing feathers and those 5 turned out to be roosters, the only one with long wing feathers turned out to be a pullet

 

[loobyloo88]

Oo thats interestig Taila mine are still feathering out so might give it a week. Those combs should start to tint pinky red too I imagine if I am right. It's all purely fun, I'm not a breeder so it doesn't 'matter' but at the same time im not keeping any boys but I wont be removing them until I'm certain.

 

[Teila]

Yeah, it will be interesting to see what your little guys and gals feather out like and if they follow the short/long wing feather trend .. I would definitely be interested to know

Also, what better excuse to look at pictures of cute little bubbies!

I am also not a breeder and my gals are just pets that I love to bits! So, it is just fun for me also. I am not allowed to have boys here because of the zoning but, like you, I do not rehome my boys until I am sure. As I mentioned, I kept little Tammy for a bit longer than her brothers because I was not sure, but Tammy eventually turned out to be Tommy but I found him a wonderful home... he turned out be a beautiful little boy

 

[Zimbabwefarmer]

Lovely, great buy, will be nice to see what colours you get out of the lavendar rooster!

 

[laurarose]

Managed to get a better picture of the new pekins today, they've been here a week now and seem to have settled in nicely.

Am I right in thinking that my lavender cockerel and cuckoo hen would produce lavender cuckoo chicks? I think the two lavender hens may be lavender cuckoo hens?
I won't be breeding for show so colour doesn't matter! Just curious

 

[Zimbabwefarmer]

Hmm sorry I wouldn't know, possibly... makes sense... that's the fun part hey... getting to see what comes out! One thing for sure - they will still be part of the UK

 

[loobyloo88]

Laurarose I'm afraid I have no clue as to breeding colours! Tho lavender cuckoo would be so pretty! Best of luck breeding colours! Would love to see the chicks when that time comes!

So my lavender pekins are now 4 weeks old...have more certainty I have one cock and one hen. One seems to have much more developed comb which is reddening and I can see red wattles starting. I also have caught him 'chest bumping' with my wyandotte chick, in a cock fight manner. Would both be cocks to be doing this?

]

 

[laurarose]

I should probably do some research about breeding for certain colours but at the moment I'm happy to have a nice surprise when I get chicks!

I three lav cuckoos (one rooster and two hens) I have are young and the hens are not currently laying (not entirely sure how old they are). I love their colour and they have great temperament, only downside is that none of them have the lovely round tails (they have a tint of roundness), will they fill out and get a better shape after a molt or as they get older? Or are they just poor examples?


loobyloo88 your chicks are gorgeous, can't wait to hatch some of my own. I'm not sure about the cockerel behaviour since I'm relatively new to this, if it were me I'd go by the comb and wattles but in my experience I've realised there's rarely a for sure answer!