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- #11
CoopBoots
Crowing
- Aug 31, 2022
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11/6 updates:
We lost the mostly black chick, just around two days after leaving the nest. Daisy didn't miss a beat, and the remaining three are hale and hearty:
Do you see what I'm seeing? I think blue and yellow are barred, so they should belong to the cooperative flock and therefore 25% Leghorn, 25% Buff Orpington, and 50% Barred Rock. The remaining penguin baby is the only one from my group (which wasn't carrying any barring) and should be Yorvir's offspring. That also makes it a second generation of Orpington x Leghorn, so it will be interesting to compare their performance if I get girls.
I have a tentative guess that blue is a boy and the others are girls, but this is just me betting with myself. So far I'm at 6 boys to 1 girl from my broody, so I keep hoping the statistics will balance out soon
Actually, I wonder if who is barred will tell me anything about sex? I asked in Niclandia's thread soi should go re-read what has already been explained!!
I got a new phone recently and just had to test out the camera, so of course I took about 1000 photos. Anyone else running out of google storage just because of their chickens?!
Rusty's babies:
Peckard, the boss:
Riker, the underling:
Peaches, who is just the fluffiest ding dong with so much attitude. She is much closer to the physique I imagine a real English Orpington would have; the floof is impressive compared to my hatchery orps and picking her up is like holding a weighted, downy pillow. Given my flock's history of sudden hen death her weight is definitely still a concern, but she doesn't get treats hardly at all... I may have to just institute meal times vs. open access for this group.
Puffy Muffin:
Almost Peaches' twin, but much faster to mature and with less softness in her feathers. She was laying probably more than a month before her sister!
Yorvir:
Too busy being on lookout to give me the time of day. I'm not afraid of him taking swing at my turned back; he's genuinely just a sensible cockerel with no concept of humans as competition. He's the best behaved and the best lookout of all my boys.
Peppa:
She's probably Yorvir's second-best girlfriend. I love black chickens but was worried about them in our hot, humid summers; hoping her more lithe half-leghorn build will make her more resilient. Next summer will be the real test.
A slightly older photo of Rusty, but he's still pretty much in mid-molt condition as pictured:
He's had an even rougher go of it this year than last, with a messy bottom and lethargic attitude for well over two months and counting. Had to trim the butt fluff and he's due some further attention for his continued scaley feet. He had to be kept separate from his girls a while, as Strawberry was picking his incoming feathers pretty mercilessly. Now her own molt has started, I see them laying around together. Commiserating about the experience, no doubt! Despite the initial feather abuse I haven't seen any more bad behavior, so I give them leave to be friends again as long as nothing else occurs. I feed chick starter continuously so protein shouldn't be at issue.
Edit: If I'm not hallucinating the barring, that would likely make my barred chicks male... Unbarred rooster x barred hen is supposed to create sexlinks where male offspring are barred. Yikes! So much for a late season pullet clutch.
We lost the mostly black chick, just around two days after leaving the nest. Daisy didn't miss a beat, and the remaining three are hale and hearty:
Do you see what I'm seeing? I think blue and yellow are barred, so they should belong to the cooperative flock and therefore 25% Leghorn, 25% Buff Orpington, and 50% Barred Rock. The remaining penguin baby is the only one from my group (which wasn't carrying any barring) and should be Yorvir's offspring. That also makes it a second generation of Orpington x Leghorn, so it will be interesting to compare their performance if I get girls.
I have a tentative guess that blue is a boy and the others are girls, but this is just me betting with myself. So far I'm at 6 boys to 1 girl from my broody, so I keep hoping the statistics will balance out soon
Actually, I wonder if who is barred will tell me anything about sex? I asked in Niclandia's thread soi should go re-read what has already been explained!!I got a new phone recently and just had to test out the camera, so of course I took about 1000 photos. Anyone else running out of google storage just because of their chickens?!
Rusty's babies:
Peckard, the boss:
Riker, the underling:
Peaches, who is just the fluffiest ding dong with so much attitude. She is much closer to the physique I imagine a real English Orpington would have; the floof is impressive compared to my hatchery orps and picking her up is like holding a weighted, downy pillow. Given my flock's history of sudden hen death her weight is definitely still a concern, but she doesn't get treats hardly at all... I may have to just institute meal times vs. open access for this group.
Puffy Muffin:
Almost Peaches' twin, but much faster to mature and with less softness in her feathers. She was laying probably more than a month before her sister!
Yorvir:
Too busy being on lookout to give me the time of day. I'm not afraid of him taking swing at my turned back; he's genuinely just a sensible cockerel with no concept of humans as competition. He's the best behaved and the best lookout of all my boys.
Peppa:
She's probably Yorvir's second-best girlfriend. I love black chickens but was worried about them in our hot, humid summers; hoping her more lithe half-leghorn build will make her more resilient. Next summer will be the real test.
A slightly older photo of Rusty, but he's still pretty much in mid-molt condition as pictured:
He's had an even rougher go of it this year than last, with a messy bottom and lethargic attitude for well over two months and counting. Had to trim the butt fluff and he's due some further attention for his continued scaley feet. He had to be kept separate from his girls a while, as Strawberry was picking his incoming feathers pretty mercilessly. Now her own molt has started, I see them laying around together. Commiserating about the experience, no doubt! Despite the initial feather abuse I haven't seen any more bad behavior, so I give them leave to be friends again as long as nothing else occurs. I feed chick starter continuously so protein shouldn't be at issue.
Edit: If I'm not hallucinating the barring, that would likely make my barred chicks male... Unbarred rooster x barred hen is supposed to create sexlinks where male offspring are barred. Yikes! So much for a late season pullet clutch.
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But we all know how that goes...
