Ok so my daughter LOOOOOVVVEEES the Phoenix. I purchaced some silver hatching eggs for her. I purchaced 6 recieved 8. Had 2 not fertile, had 1 quitter, had 1 not hatch, had 1 hatch and was deformed and died . So now have 3 is this a breed you can sex easily at hatch? I have ZERO experience with these guys please help with anything ! Tho they are cute lil boogers!!
They are great birds! I had some for a while, I sold them when I scaled back. Mine lived in my barn and stayed mostly on perches. Most of mine would perch on my arm like parrots. I kept food off the ground and they only got down for water. This kept the roosters tails in great shape and long. I had BBRed. Silver and White. I showed my BBRed rooster and was Grand Champion. You can't sex them easily as chicks, but it becomes apparent pretty quickly. They are also fairly broody and great mothers.
as chicks in fuzz no you cant sex them, but as soon as they start to feather out, the HEN's tail feather will explode in length and the male will stay short, it's actually backwards from what you would think. Once about half grown the males will catch up and surpass them pretty quick, but the initial feathering is more dramatic in pullets, mainly due to the fact that most all chicken pullets feather quicker than males, this is the same reason you can feather sex some day old chicks by the wing feathers in some breeds. The pullets will already be opening up as soon as they dry where males will be solid pin feathers, same concept in phoenix tail growth. As for info about them, well they are one of my favorite breeds of course, I have them in bantam size in 11 different colors and counting. I agree, they are very gentle birds, actually I keep multiple males in all my breeding pens and they get along just fine, never been spured by one, and do have many tame hens that will ride on my shoulder. They are very calm, never seen a flighty one. With mine, they arent broody at all, but then I never give them the chance either, take the eggs daily. If tail lenght is a concern to you, the males need to be kept high and dry. Fully covered pens and high roost with heavy straw beds on the ground of the pen. If you have pens that get wet when it rains, all you'll get is ground length feathers as the mud will break them off. Also keep as few birds as possible with him, for best tails, actually keep NO birds in there with him. Others will step on his dragging tail and pull out , fray, or just break off sections of it. Those are the 2 main things to do different , keep them dry and clean, and very few pen mates. Aside from all that, to me there is no better breed out there, well maybe d'anvers, hey I got nearly 30 colors of them, so I'm kinda partial to them too. But phoenix are a great bird, very beautiful, and a joy to keep and watch
At hatch, I don't even bother trying to figure it out. But by 2 weeks its obvious based off the tail length. Its longer than that of a female. If you have atleast one male and one female you should begin to see differences. The tail development doesn't just instantly grow longer, its a very gradual process. I have quite a few, and to date I've never had one go broody on me. Congrats on your new hatchlings!
I am now the proud owner of one LF Silver Phoenix pullet chick, Molly. Got her as a companion to a single hatchling. She's super friendly, was roosting the first day she was in the brooder and saw that bar, leaving her chubby Orp companion in the shavings, LOL. They fly really well, don't they? I may have to house her in the covered pen with the D'Anvers if she is prone to sailing over the fence.
Quote:quite a few of mine go broody, but no dont count on them, they arent reliable some times. You have the tails backwards though, the pullets feather up quicker at first, after a month of so, the males will catch and pass them pretty quickly.