BlackCoffee
In the Brooder
- Aug 12, 2016
- 19
- 2
- 14
The rooster in my profile picture is a pioneer! He was 1 year old when the picture was taken, and weighed 10-11 lbs. He has the best disposition you can ever find in a rooster. Laid back, calm, and non-aggressive. Takes care of his ladies and is very gentle with them. Isn't aggressive to new birds in the flock.
Our hens are White Rock, Delaware, Buff Orpington, and Black Australorp. Haven't had any problems breeding with his size, except once I saw him loose his balance and topple over the hen's head! I'm afraid I laughed out loud at him. Lol!
We weren't very impressed with how the pioneer hens layed. Out of 6 hens, two laid eggs daily, but the others didn't do any at all.
In the beginning on August, my first batch of chicks from him hatched. I was mainly interested in crossing him with the Black Australorps, because of their reputation of being exceptional layers. But I hatched a bunch from the other hens, too. But I have no idea for sure which ones they came from, except two from the Delaware, and one from a Buff Orpington.
The pullets are going to be raised to see how well they lay, and all of the roosters are going to be butchered at 12 weeks.
I'll add some pictures to give you an idea. Some of the BA pullets turned out looking just like Barred Rocks, which I totally did not expect! The only pullet that turned out all black has some personality issues. She'll bite and twist whenever you get your hand too close to her person! I'm thinking that if she starts picking on any of her coop mates, she'll have to be culled.
I think you can click on the picture to make Just a close up.
it larger if you like. I had a total of 21 chicks
hatch out of 30 eggs. I had 10 BA eggs, and
8 chicks hatched. I thought that was pretty good!
So here's day 1. Pretty stout chicks.
The one with the frosted head in the bottom right
turned out to be a Barred Rock colored one.
This one is a Delaware X. She turned out all red with black wings and black specks. Pretty typical pioneer coloring. The other Delaware chick turned out all white with black specks, very similar to a Delawares coloring.
.
At two weeks old, the Black Australorp chicks were 1-3 ounces bigger than everything else!
That's the biggest BA, and the biggest other kind. (not sure who the mom of the white one is)
At 7 1/2 weeks, the black roo on the left already started to crow! The barred rock looking pullet is the same one in the top picture that I pointed out with the frosty head, and the red pullet peeking out is the Delaware one on top, too.
At 8 weeks, I moved all the pullets to the layer hen barn, and started the roos on meat bird feed. They are 9 weeks old now. Haven't got any recent pictures of the pullets, but did get some of the roos yesterday.
All of the white ones I don't know what breed their momma's are, but for some reason they are all roo's. No white pullets at all. All of the BA roosters are all black, too, except one has some red edging on some feathers. They are all going to be butchered the first week of November. These chicks are all so much fun because they have distinct personalities. One of them loves to be scratched between his waddles and on his neck.
Our hens are White Rock, Delaware, Buff Orpington, and Black Australorp. Haven't had any problems breeding with his size, except once I saw him loose his balance and topple over the hen's head! I'm afraid I laughed out loud at him. Lol!
We weren't very impressed with how the pioneer hens layed. Out of 6 hens, two laid eggs daily, but the others didn't do any at all.
In the beginning on August, my first batch of chicks from him hatched. I was mainly interested in crossing him with the Black Australorps, because of their reputation of being exceptional layers. But I hatched a bunch from the other hens, too. But I have no idea for sure which ones they came from, except two from the Delaware, and one from a Buff Orpington.
The pullets are going to be raised to see how well they lay, and all of the roosters are going to be butchered at 12 weeks.
I'll add some pictures to give you an idea. Some of the BA pullets turned out looking just like Barred Rocks, which I totally did not expect! The only pullet that turned out all black has some personality issues. She'll bite and twist whenever you get your hand too close to her person! I'm thinking that if she starts picking on any of her coop mates, she'll have to be culled.
I think you can click on the picture to make Just a close up.
it larger if you like. I had a total of 21 chicks
hatch out of 30 eggs. I had 10 BA eggs, and
8 chicks hatched. I thought that was pretty good!
So here's day 1. Pretty stout chicks.
The one with the frosted head in the bottom right
turned out to be a Barred Rock colored one.
This one is a Delaware X. She turned out all red with black wings and black specks. Pretty typical pioneer coloring. The other Delaware chick turned out all white with black specks, very similar to a Delawares coloring.
.
At two weeks old, the Black Australorp chicks were 1-3 ounces bigger than everything else!
That's the biggest BA, and the biggest other kind. (not sure who the mom of the white one is)
At 7 1/2 weeks, the black roo on the left already started to crow! The barred rock looking pullet is the same one in the top picture that I pointed out with the frosty head, and the red pullet peeking out is the Delaware one on top, too.
At 8 weeks, I moved all the pullets to the layer hen barn, and started the roos on meat bird feed. They are 9 weeks old now. Haven't got any recent pictures of the pullets, but did get some of the roos yesterday.
All of the white ones I don't know what breed their momma's are, but for some reason they are all roo's. No white pullets at all. All of the BA roosters are all black, too, except one has some red edging on some feathers. They are all going to be butchered the first week of November. These chicks are all so much fun because they have distinct personalities. One of them loves to be scratched between his waddles and on his neck.
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