Progeny from heroic rooster

[sakerobot]

That's amazing she got a 100% hatch rate her first time! Yeah I'd like to try hatching with a broody this spring for the same reason. Brooders are too much work and mom can take care of them way better than we can anyway!

The only "difficulty" that we had this time was that on occasion she would produce chicken clay in one corner of the nesting box, away from the eggs which remained clean. It was relatively simple to address by removing the chunk of straw containing the offensive matter and replacing it with fresh straw. This happened maybe 5-6 times throughout the 3 weeks, at other times she went outside the box. I'm inclined to assume that this had to do with the low temperatures.

What we learned from our first hatching attempt is that other hens messing with the eggs can become catastrophic. We also don't like the idea of separating the hen from the flock for the entire time. Having the broody pen inside the coop but protected from unapproved access seems like the safest and socially stable approach.

The adult chickens posed for a nice picture yesterday:

On the right side are the 4 JGs next to Goldie, who adopted and raised them last year. Ares is in the center on the roosting bar facing us, Aristotle is next to him facing away, Aristophanes is on the ground, and Alcibiades is on the distant bar facing away. Jessica is the Buff Orpington on the left.

I think we can tell which one comes from the Arctic Blue Egger by the blue feathering. It wasn't as apparent in the dark.

The chicks were drinking water already yesterday.

 

[sakerobot]

Here are some good shots of all five:

To recap, the possible mothers are:

1 Jersey Giant
1 Buff Brahma
1 Speckled Sussex
1 Arctic Blue Egger
1 Undetermined: aside from one of the above (minus the blue), possible mother could be: Dominique, Columbian Wyandotte, RIR, Partridge or Buff Chanteclers, or Salmon Faverole. I doubt it's from the Chanteclers or SF as their eggs have unique shapes.

The fathers would be either DExBR or DExBuffOrp.

 

[NatJ]

The fathers would be either DExBR or DExBuffOrp.

Checking abbreviations:
DE = Delaware
BR = Barred Rock
BuffOrp = Buff Orpington

If I've got them right, any chicks with no barring would have the DE/BuffOrp as their father (not-barring inherited from the Orpington side of that.)

And any chicks that show gold in their coloring would also have the DE/BuffOrp as their father (red leakage can be something else, I'm thinking of big areas of actual gold/brown/red shades.)

To recap, the possible mothers are:

1 Jersey Giant
1 Buff Brahma
1 Speckled Sussex
1 Arctic Blue Egger
1 Undetermined: aside from one of the above (minus the blue), possible mother could be: Dominique, Columbian Wyandotte, RIR, Partridge or Buff Chanteclers, or Salmon Faverole. I doubt it's from the Chanteclers or SF as their eggs have unique shapes.

If the Jersey Giant is black, she produced one of the black chicks. The black chicks both appear to have barring (light dot on the head), so the father could be either rooster (DExBR has two barring genes, DExBuffOrp has one barring gene.) I think her chick is probably the one with the clearest "penguin" pattern and the light dot on the head, rather than the black one with sort-of stripes on the side of the head.

The DExBR rooster could have a produced a black chick with white barring from any hen, so color alone won't tell us which hen is the mother of the other black chick.

The Buff Brahma should have produced a chick with feathered feet. I think it's the lightest one, lots of yellow with gray on the head and a bit of black on the back. I can't tell yet whether it it's got barring or not (no barring means the DE/BuffOrp father, barring could mean either father.) Her chick should also have a pea comb (heterozygous pea comb, also called "modified pea comb." probably grows up to be bigger and less tidy than the comb she herself has.)

I've lost track, did you already post a picture of the Arctic Blue Egger anywhere? I'm not sure what to guess about her chick as regards coloring or comb. If she's got blue feathers, and if no other parent has blue in the feathers, then there's a 50% chance that she gave that blue to her chick-- that would make it relatively easy to recognize. If any of the chicks have blue, I'm guessing it's the one that looks like a sort of muted chipmunk stripe pattern to me. (Not either of two "black" ones, not chipmunk striped, and I don't see any feathered feet.)

By process of elimination, I'm thinking the Speckled Sussex produced either the chipmunk chick or one of the black chicks, and the mystery hen produced the other one. Comb type and foot color might help sort those out (when you can see the combs, and when they are old enough for the foot color to be clear.) Speckled Sussex would produce a chick with white feet (not yellow) and a single comb (not pea, rose, or walnut.)

 

[sakerobot]

I've lost track, did you already post a picture of the Arctic Blue Egger anywhere?

Good point, as I've noticed it's not easy to find pictures of this "breed". Here are pictures of the ones we have:

They're varied, but they each have some Blue and some kind of orange. I think the hatched blue egg was from the last one pictured, who seems to be going through a spring molt for some reason.

And we're pretty sure one of the chicks has blue, but the camera doesn't quite feel like it matches reality. Tomorrow should be a nice warm day, we'll try to get a better look for that and leg feathers.

 

[NatJ]

Good point, as I've noticed it's not easy to find pictures of this "breed". Here are pictures of the ones we have:

Thanks!

They're varied, but they each have some Blue and some kind of orange. I think the hatched blue egg was from the last one pictured, who seems to be going through a spring molt for some reason.

And we're pretty sure one of the chicks has blue, but the camera doesn't quite feel like it matches reality. Tomorrow should be a nice warm day, we'll try to get a better look for that and leg feathers.

If neither rooster and none of the other hens have blue, then a chick with blue would definitely have to come from one of those Arctic Blue Eggers. Nice for identification!

 

[sakerobot]

Something happened between Apollo and Alcibiades as we found them both bloody on Saturday. Both had torn combs and wattles, but it looked like Apollo took more damage.

Apollo is normally the 2nd highest rooster after Ares. Alcibiades is 3rd/4th, but I've never seen him try to contest his ranking. Alcibiades was the first rooster to voluntarily move into the new coop where most of the pullets live. A few weeks ago, Apollo moved into the coop too, but it seems he might have been gradually bossing Alcibiades around. The latter would at times wait until it was dark to go into the coop, by which point Apollo would have his head under his wing and it would be too dark to harass him anyway.

After repairing Apollo overnight, who lost a bunch of blood, he fully recovered and quickly found Alcibiades and began dancing with the frills puffed. After a few of these iterations we responded by making an 8x8 enclosure in one corner of the yard and placing him there with food and water. He can feed the hens through the fence by offering the feed, so it's a decent setup.

In the evening I tried to place him in the adult coop. Ares kicked him out with such finality that I decided to let Apollo sleep by himself in the unused 4x4 coop. He did so, reluctantly. I let him out in the morning, then I opened the adult coop and the new coop. At one point Apollo was puffed up against Ares, which ended without violence with Apollo walking away. Ares is extremely terrifying if you're a rooster, but he's gentle to humans and hens.

It wasn't long before Apollo found Alcibiades and they were dancing again and staring to leap. I collected Apollo during such a leap and relocated him to the enclosure.

I was reading about sanctuaries getting rescued fighting roosters to not fight anymore by letting them out of their enclosure a couple times a day and locking them as soon as they would start a fight. With time they learn the cause and effect. So I'm hoping that this works, as we really don't want to make soup out of anyone in that generation. Giving away isn't a moral option with the disease history as that could risk infecting the receiving flock.

I told Apollo that I've had his blood on me more than anyone else's in my life.

 

[angc11]

Something happened between Apollo and Alcibiades as we found them both bloody on Saturday. Both had torn combs and wattles, but it looked like Apollo took more damage.

Apollo is normally the 2nd highest rooster after Ares. Alcibiades is 3rd/4th, but I've never seen him try to contest his ranking. Alcibiades was the first rooster to voluntarily move into the new coop where most of the pullets live. A few weeks ago, Apollo moved into the coop too, but it seems he might have been gradually bossing Alcibiades around. The latter would at times wait until it was dark to go into the coop, by which point Apollo would have his head under his wing and it would be too dark to harass him anyway.

After repairing Apollo overnight, who lost a bunch of blood, he fully recovered and quickly found Alcibiades and began dancing with the frills puffed. After a few of these iterations we responded by making an 8x8 enclosure in one corner of the yard and placing him there with food and water. He can feed the hens through the fence by offering the feed, so it's a decent setup.

In the evening I tried to place him in the adult coop. Ares kicked him out with such finality that I decided to let Apollo sleep by himself in the unused 4x4 coop. He did so, reluctantly. I let him out in the morning, then I opened the adult coop and the new coop. At one point Apollo was puffed up against Ares, which ended without violence with Apollo walking away. Ares is extremely terrifying if you're a rooster, but he's gentle to humans and hens.

It wasn't long before Apollo found Alcibiades and they were dancing again and staring to leap. I collected Apollo during such a leap and relocated him to the enclosure.

I was reading about sanctuaries getting rescued fighting roosters to not fight anymore by letting them out of their enclosure a couple times a day and locking them as soon as they would start a fight. With time they learn the cause and effect. So I'm hoping that this works, as we really don't want to make soup out of anyone in that generation. Giving away isn't a moral option with the disease history as that could risk infecting the receiving flock.

I told Apollo that I've had his blood on me more than anyone else's in my life.

Sorry to hear about your bloodied rooster. I would be interested to hear about your attempts to get them to not fight anymore. I have read that once roosters get it into their heads to fight each other, they will only resume after being separated. But I do not have tons of rooster experience so I'd love to hear how this experiment goes for you. I've had two cockerels living together who mostly lived in peace but would occasionally get into fights without sustained injuries. Their fighting was starting to increase as they got older, but I butchered the alpha before there was a resolution either way (not for cockfighting, he was quite human aggressive).

 

[sakerobot]

The second time that I tried to let him out was about 4pm. He immediately ran at the nearest hen or pullet in a desperate attempt at love, but neither of the attempted damsels found him desirable, possibly due to him looking like he just crawled out of an oil well. The desperation turned into a screaming hen, which turned into Adonis intervening (he always tries to rescue a screaming hen), which turned into Apollo and Adonis frilling up and going at it. I monitored for a few jumps and then broke it up and placed Apollo back into his pen.

In the evening I decided to try closing the Alcibiades coop as everyone was in, and I opened the small coop and left open the adult coop. I released Apollo into the yard, and Ares came out to remind him of his place. However, Ares then seemed to have a good talk with him, and ultimately Apollo ended up in the adult coop after sunset. They didn't fight. Ares if anything seemed to direct Apollo into the coop like he does to hens in the evening.

We'll see tomorrow, I'll open them all and wait to see if a fight starts. But maybe these events might help to distract him from Alcibiades. And the hens can help to clean him up a little.