Rusty Bucket Farm

[CoopBoots]

9/25 Updates:

1 of Daisy's 4 eggs hatched midday yesterday. No signs of life from the others... Guessing Rusty wasn't covering all his hens this late into the season. Not really a surprise.

So far it is the quietest chick I have ever seen from under a broody. Daisy barely responded to it until I played her some active chick sounds and got it to start peeping as well.

I'm concerned that it is TOO quiet, but I doubt anything good would come of interference. Daisy is a great mother, and it will stand the best chance with her.

 

[CoopBoots]

10/24 Updates:

With winter fast approaching, I've been spending more time and thought on this year's offspring and, specifically, all of Rusty's descendants. We finally have a better idea of what his bloodline will produce!

Here's Peaches, his daughter, going on 2 y.o.:

She still clings to the crazy 8 pullet group even though I've forced her to live in the main flock. However, she lays a *beautiful* darker brown egg and has a bit of that extra fluffiness I admire about the English Orpington compared to my hatchery quality stock. Not ready to give up on her genetics, at least for female offspring, in future.

Here's Dusty, Rusty's daughter from this year, a pullet:

She is floofiness personified, even moreso than her grown sisters like Peaches. Holding her, even when she protests, is THE most satisfying thing. She's maturing about as fast as a snail trying to run a triathlon but she's too beautiful for me to be impatient with her. She is only about 21 days younger than my crazy 8 pullets that have been laying at least two months now and look like full grown birds!!

Gusty, Rusty's son and grandson (our first 3/4 Niederrheiner) next to Dusty, his near relation:

He and his hatchmates (all raised by Peppa)are quite aggressive with one another and I've seen them draw blood. Gusty in particular is almost the most antisocial of the entire clutch. I'm seeing that "behavioral" genetic handmedown in all of Rusty's male offspring but I haven't quite given up on them entirely.

Here's Fluffy, the second daughter and granddaughter of Rusty (another 3/4 of his bloodline):

I've spent more time hand feeding her and her hatchmate, both raised by Blue, and she seems less fearful and antisocial than any other of Rusty's babies. At least so far.

Misty, the first mix of Rusty with one of the Orpington x Leghorns:

She's still wild, but hand feeding is also taking the edge off of her flightiness. I see no floof yet, but her almost paint feathering is quite unique in my flock and I'm a big fan of the dark eyes on such a light colored bird. She and her hatchmates are younger than Dusty, but I'm almost convinced they will lay first as their maturation has been so much quicker.

Finally we have Daisy's last boy, Rusty's son, Musty:

Of course the last chick of the year was a cockerel!! He's only 1/2 Rusty, of course, but his fluffiness is a bit more pronounced than in Gusty, I think. He's a singleton with no hatchmates, like Circle before him, and is incredibly shy. At least there are other juveniles around that he may bond with later; that is an advantage that poor Circle never had.

As for non-Rusty descendants, the rest continue to blossom.

Mage, Yorvir's daughter (probably) with Jubilee:

Sorsha, Yorvir's daughter from the same clutch as Mage and Misty, who frequently limps and is the wildest of the bunch:

Fluffy, who I posted above, with her only hatchmate, Yorvir and Daisy's son:

He's got an almost bigger comb than EVERYONE, even Peppa's boys, who are I think over 21 days older! I'm not sure I've ever seen a boy so obvious...

Grande, one of Grumpy's sons with a Barred Rock hen:

I'll admit I have a soft spot for this goober. He's brash and bold, which is pretty much every red flag I've ever read on here, haha. But so was my Yorvir and he's somehow the best boy I've had yet! So I won't be too prejudiced against his courage just yet. I'll say it once more: There's just no room for more boys on the farm! But I can't stop falling a little in love with them. Why are roosters so charismatic?!

Anyway, Thanksgiving is coming and meat prices aren't going down. I also shouldn't feed extra mouths through the winter nor overfill the coops when ventilation is so important to preventing frostbite and disease. So I have plans to harvest some birds soon. There's even a grown hen on the list, which is a first, and I feel a little worse about than usual. But I have too many nice birds to keep bullies around, no matter how many eggs they might lay or how pretty their feathers are. Peace in the flock is priority and we have too many better options for keepers.

 

[fuzzi]

Thanks for taking the time to share pictures and bios.

I like the look of Musty, pretty boy.

I agree about peace, I am so glad that my Little Chick, now Zacchaeus, appears to be not only a nice Speckled Sussex specimen, but has a good temperament (so far!).

I'm planning on breeding next Spring, seeing what I get from crossing Zacchaeus and the darker pullets that are no relation. Silas is not in my breeding plans even though he's gorgeous. He's too orangey for the Standard.

Zack and Priscilla, in September:

Prissy is the best looking of the pullets. Zack has the proper dark mahogany hackles and saddle.

Silas (rear) and Zacchaeus, see the color difference?

They're getting along, so I don't mind keeping Silas for now.

 

[CoopBoots]

Thanks for taking the time to share pictures and bios.

I like the look of Musty, pretty boy.

I agree about peace, I am so glad that my Little Chick, now Zacchaeus, appears to be not only a nice Speckled Sussex specimen, but has a good temperament (so far!).

I'm planning on breeding next Spring, seeing what I get from crossing Zacchaeus and the darker pullets that are no relation. Silas is not in my breeding plans even though he's gorgeous. He's too orangey for the Standard.

Zack and Priscilla, in September:
View attachment 3978362
Prissy is the best looking of the pullets. Zack has the proper dark mahogany hackles and saddle.

Silas (rear) and Zacchaeus, see the color difference?
View attachment 3978366

They're getting along, so I don't mind keeping Silas for now.

Wow, I really can see the color difference--chestnut vs. mahogany. They are both gorgeous in their differing ways. I'm surprised there isn't a recognized color variant for more redness, because Silas is also very pretty!

I look forward to seeing chicks in the spring

 

[CoopBoots]

11/24 Updates:

Things are mostly going well for the chickens as we head into winter.

Of Peppa's six hatchlings, the cockerels are now equal to her in size. Here's a screenshot of Dingdong, her yellow-legged barred boy, next to Peppa for comparison:

He is probably mine and my husband's favorite of this bunch. He's getting "frisky" with human hands when you reach to pick him up but I haven't seen him try anything on an actual lady yet. Between Yorvir and Kloud I'm hoping he'll settle for third place on the farm, but I won't be holding my breath.

Musty/recently renamed Gubbles, because it is much cuter, is no longer a baby. He may be smallest on the farm, but I've seen him run off pullets twice his size for food access. Here he is with momma Daisy, who still very kindly tolerates him at the feed bowl. This is especially fortuitous as he has no siblings to spend time with as he transitions into a full flock member:

Of the crazy 8 pullets, only Daphne (left) and Dora (right) remain.

Unfortunately the entire group of crazy 8s has an escape complex, thanks to young Yorvir disciplining them relentlessly in their adolescence. I'm trying my best to retrain these girls and their brother, Kloud, but it isn't going well. The other two pullets are unfortunately contributing to Thanksgiving this year as I don't have proper soace to continually isolate so many escapees. It was a truly somber affair and I do blame Yorvir for creating this problem. However, he's doing a MUCH better job fathering and mastering the current horde of babies and teenagers, so I'm willing to put this initial failure down to his inexperience. None of the other younglings are developing bad habits and he readily shares food and space with them; even the bigger cockerels.

One other full grown hen was voted off of the island for drawing blood over nest box space; Chara. Such a pretty girl, but space is at a premium and I favor easy going birds who promote peace in the flock. She will still be missed.

Sad news aside, the flock continues happily along. Yorvir seems to have settled upon Blue as his favored lady and I look forward to her hopefully going broody again in the spring. I have a hypothesis that a rooster's favorite (and I don't mean overly submissive, low ranking hens that roosters "use", but hens that roosters spend more time and energy escorting and feeding) is more likely to go broody regularly, although I don't really have evidence to support it yet. He and Peppa, my other newer broody, also are pretty close. The outlier to this hypothesis would be Daisy, but she was originally bonded with Rusty and I think I have done her a disservice by forcefully separating them. Her dislike of Yorvir remains firmly in place, but it has not stopped her from happily raising as many chicks as I'll allow her to hatch.

Dusty, Rusty's first pullet from this summer, is finally laying! I was expecting her to wait until spring, but here she has surprised me. Despite being a mere 21ish days behind the crazy 8 clutch, she has taken 2-3 months longer to reach sexual maturity. Rusty's genetics must include the slowest maturation speed. I wonder if there is any health advantage to this...

Anyway, as we prepare to go into the new year my plans are mostly limited to expanding my chicken run as much as possible, some needed coop repairs, and making sure my broodies get to hatch some of their own eggs each clutch. I'm sure I'll be complaining of too many broodies at some point, but at the rate meat prices are going it may actually become a slightly profitable venture rather than just my desire to keep my favorite birds' bloodlines going.

 

[CoopBoots]

A blurry video of Dusty wandering around, picking up potential nest material, and flinging it over her shoulders and onto her back.

She was doing this for at least several minutes straight and seemed very unrelaxed. I found a tiny, dark brown pullet egg in Noodle's coop later.

This is probably only her second egg:

 

[fuzzi]

A blurry video of Dusty wandering around, picking up potential nest material, and flinging it over her shoulders and onto her back.

She was doing this for at least several minutes straight and seemed very unrelaxed. I found a tiny, dark brown pullet egg in Noodle's coop later.

This is probably only her second egg:
View attachment 3995930

I've seen my hens do that "throw over the shoulder" move with straw.

 

[CoopBoots]

I've seen my hens do that "throw over the shoulder" move with straw.

What surprised me was her roaming the yard while doing it. I guess I thought this behavior was restricted to actual nest locations, but apparently not for this gal! XD

She's also so fluffy that my husband's says he saw Yorvir just bounce off of her instead of successfully mounting. She, on the other hand, was too fluffy to even notice his attempt at romance! Hopefully that resolves by spring so we can see some dual Rusty-Yorvir descendents next year!

 

[lightm]

A blurry video of Dusty wandering around, picking up potential nest material, and flinging it over her shoulders and onto her back.

She was doing this for at least several minutes straight and seemed very unrelaxed. I found a tiny, dark brown pullet egg in Noodle's coop later.

This is probably only her second egg:
View attachment 3995930

Awww, she is truly fluffy.

 

[CoopBoots]

12/19 Updates:

Gubbles is getting his dad's tailfeathers, although you can't see them here. He's not a baby anymore either, but still likes to peep for attention and hide up under his human caretakers for a little motherly comfort before getting an unnecessary lift into the coop at bedtime. He's almost as spoiled as Noodle! Daisy is molting and barely pays anyone any mind. He's, as far as I can tell, completely alone and competing from the absolute bottom of the flock for what he needs. So of course he gets extra love and attention to his feed status.

Speaking of his dad, Rusty is apparently too old to properly shed his spurs through use and was tripping himself quite badly. I caught him today and we dremeled just the tips, with plans to take more in about a week. The quick has grown long it will take multiple sessions to prevent bleeding. We didn't do it before now because he was molting and all kinds of pathetic. I was actually afraid this molt might get him; he was truly miserable and inactive for several months. These days he has resumed stumping around his yard after the hens, at least a little, but he's completely stopped crowing, mounting, or even "speaking" like a rooster. His comb is quite shrunken. He doesn't even glare at me! Just whines like an anxious hen if he thinks I'm going to handle him. Who knows if he will even participate in mating season next year?

Yorvir is settling into life as a two year old boss, and (while completely surrounded with next year's breeding competition, no less) seems to be handling himself with confidence.

Those tailfeathers are almost back! Just a little more molt to go...

I'm still full up on cockerels. Grande is crowing pathetically and I'm sure the rest are not far behind. No mating drama yet, but I have a shortlist of who is getting voted off next. Blue's boy, Yorvir's son, is a tiny tyrant only inhibited by the many larger boys giving him a lot of discouragement. He's terrible to poor Gubbles. So he's out, along with Gusty, the 3/4 Rusty boy who also has a skittish, angry temperament. The various barred/cuckoo birds will stay for now. I absolutely have my heart set on keeping one, for the sake of their bloodline.

Not sure if I mentioned it, but the part-time keeper I received the "bonus flock" from got a better piece of land and wanted to resume ownership of them, so I've begrudgingly let them go. I only have Ms. Helen, the outcast BSL who was moved to my flock for a break with my special needs girls, the three barred cockerels and the black and brown pullets from their lineage now. Sad, but things were getting difficult to manage and expensive to feed. At our peak we must have had a bit over 50 birds and that is just a LOT for us to manage well.

This year I want to improve the setup, not necessarily hatch much. I'll be keeping clutches to 3 eggs or so (unless I find a local blue egg provider... I will eventually bring in more egg colors if nobody stops me ) and we'll just see how many girls go broody. If it's a lot we may go even smaller.