Sapphire gem and barred Plymouth rock rooster

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

This is the other Plymouth. He is also a very nice bird. This is the one from TSC.

That mixed rooster above is absolutely my favorite though. He was a gift from a friend. He is the sweetest thing, and he is very nice to his hens. His name is Teddy.

This one is a pure Barred Plymouth Rock!

Aww, I'm glad about Teddy! I love a good flock rooster!

I'm honestly not upset. I knew what I was getting into with TSC birds. Ideally I'll breed my own now and trade with others locally but after the risk of the flu dies down. Probably no more from tractor supply unless I rescue a pastey chick.

They are just 10 minutes away, it's convenient and chicks are just so stinking cute

Haha, yeah, those peep-peeps can be hard to resist! I only make a feed run about once a month, and by then I've usually hatched some chicks at home, so it makes it a bit easier to resist. The Easter-eggers and bantams are the ones that get me every time. I can't resist the fluffy cheeks and the tiny-eensy-weensy babies!

 

[alexanye]

This one is a pure Barred Plymouth Rock!

Aww, I'm glad about Teddy! I love a good flock rooster!




Haha, yeah, those peep-peeps can be hard to resist! I only make a feed run about once a month, and by then I've usually hatched some chicks at home, so it makes it a bit easier to resist. The Easter-eggers and bantams are the ones that get me every time. I can't resist the fluffy cheeks and the tiny-eensy-weensy babies!

Chickens are just the best, I love everything about them except poop, and I have my tractors designed so there is almost no cleaning involved. The poo feeds my grass, they also get to free range when it is safe. I love watching them run around

 

[alexanye]

Some of the chicks from this hatch have much more erect tail sets, would it be safe to say they are most likely roosters? There have been some squabbles among them already

They are 3 weeks old.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

I have never noticed a definite connection between a chick's sex and the angle at which they hold their tails, so no, that's not necessarily a safe assumption. Most likely you won't have any definite answers on who is male and who is female for a few more weeks.

 

[alexanye]

I have never noticed a definite connection between a chick's sex and the angle at which they hold their tails, so no, that's not necessarily a safe assumption. Most likely you won't have any definite answers on who is male and who is female for a few more weeks.

Thank you! I hadn't noticed such high tails on any of the pullets we have gotten from tractor supply and this is my first time incubating and hatching chicken eggs. I have always done Guinea eggs in the past. Basically the only way to tell them apart for sure is that females male an additional sound that the males can not make. There are some other slight size differences but they are slight so you really have to wait.

I wonder if there would be a way to selectively breed so Roosters tails are set higher when they are young? Probably not but

I'm trying to work out what all I want to breed for with my flock. I have some things figured out, but I have a lot to learn yet about breeding. I did a ton of research before getting started but now that I have hatched the first batch I have more questions.

My guineas are basically wild, so I hatch their eggs when I find them. No planning in that.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

It's an interesting thought! I'd keep an eye on the ones with high tails, just to see if they do turn out male. I think high tails will be pretty likely in both males and females based on the tail angles of the adults you hatched these from, but who knows!

It can be a lot of fun figuring out what you're doing with your flock! Production was never really important to me, so I started out just trying to get as many different egg colors as possible from my flock, but so many years in I decided that the temperaments and looks of the birds are more important to me than anything, personally, so I mostly have fancy bantams now.

Ah, I had Guineas for many years. I definitely remember the 'squeaky wheel' female Guinea sound. Crazy birds, they were!

 

[alexanye]

I will definitely be keeping an eye on this. Personality is very important to me, that is a big one on my list. I want them to be super friendly and easy to handle.

I love my guineas, they have definitely gotten rid of our tick problem, and oh boy was that a problem. I was pulling ticks off of myself and my dogs daily when we moved in here. Now it's surprising to find one on someone.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Do your Guineas coop up or do they just sleep wherever? I would let mine free-range occasionally, but I was always afraid they'd never find their way back if they were free all the time and that they'd end up eaten by something. Every now and then they'd get lost in the woods and I'd have to hike out, find them, and herd them back to the coop at dusk. The last one passed on last year and I've converted their coop to house chickens now, so no more Guineas for me, but I do remember them taking care of a lot of the ticks in the spring!

 

[alexanye]

They have "home tree" during the day they scatter to the winds, but at night they come back to a tree by the house to sleep. They do not coop up though, when I need to catch them I set out wire dog crates with paracord so I can pull the door shut from far away.

They do their job

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Maybe I worried too much about my Guineas, then. That's usually what I end up doing, of course! They are really interesting birds to me, but man, they were so frustrating to herd around.