Selecting Mutts To Create the Perfect Flock

[Ruthster55]

By this time, the level of inbreeding in the flock was really high. I hated to do it, but it was time to say Goodbye to ol' Silly Rooster and let another rooster take over as flock rooster.

A son of Silly Rooster that was hatched on April 10th is taking over as temporary flock rooster. That does not really solve the inbreeding situation, but I am aware that some inbreeding in chickens is OK, for example when people do linebreeding.

Here's the Silly guy one last time!
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[Ruthster55]

Here is the new rooster waving to say hello as he brings the girls over to look for worms in an excavation related to building a pig pen. On the right in the picture is the champion mother that raised 20 chicks! I'll bet she is happy to be an independent lady (hen) once again!

Pictures of some of the chicks as they have grown will be here tomorrow. Plus, there is news regarding the very first chick that hatched on March 18th! Stay tuned!
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[Ruthster55]

The gray hen that was born on March 18th is a broody girl!!
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[Ruthster55]

If you have read this far, you are probably wanting to see some pictures of the peeps as they have grown! The crowd of little peeps that hatched on July 18th haven't grown quite large enough to see what they will look like, but a lot of them are cute! Here are some from the earlier hatches.
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I hope to use this hen hatched on April 10th for breeding with a mostly-blue rooster. She is also toppy. You can see more about crossing a blue chicken with a black chicken here - https://scratchcradle.wordpress.com/2012/07/22/gms4-incomplete-dominance-of-blue-feathering/
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Here she is, along with the hen hatched on March 18th, who is currently broody!
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These guys hatched on May 15th are enjoying a dust bath! I really like the gray cockerel and the black toppy pullet. Look at her eyes and earlobe!!

 

[Ruthster55]

Not all the chickens have names, but when a strong personality shows up, I occasionally name them.

One of the hens who isn’t in any of these pictures is Miss Velociraptor. She is a brown chicken with both the personality and the head of a Velociraptor!

Last night, I was checking the old nest boxes, because there has been a bit of disruption. There has been a pig staying temporarily in the hen house and I have had to open the door for the chickies to go up to roost at twilight. I was afraid they were starting to roost in odd places.

I knew not to bother a middle box because the gray hen born on March 18th is busy there.

However, it was dark and I thought that someone was roosting by mistake in the right-most box. I don’t want them pooping in the nest boxes.

When I reached up there, someone pecked me hard! I decided just to leave her alone and see what was going on in the morning.

This morning, I went out to check that box. No poop in the box, but there were 4 eggs. Then I saw Miss Velocirapter go up there...

I’ll let Miss Velociraptor brood this time. She’s the one that I broke a couple of months ago when she was on only one egg.

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

Got to love determined broodies. I have one hen sitting right now as she is a nightmare to break and i just gave up. Out of curiosity what color egg does the grey hen lay?

 

[Ruthster55]

The gray hen lays a light brown egg. Here is her clutch, including a staggered-hatch contribution or two....

Most of the flock lay brown eggs, but I have recently had a nice result from a pullet that is the daughter of a blue egg layer! Vaguely green!

 

[Ruthster55]

Look at Ashley's eye!! Her eyes are so big!

She knows she's pretty, and she's letting you know, too! She says, "I hope you like my green eggs!"

Yes, Ashley, your eggs are wonderful!
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[Ruthster55]

Here are a few of the eggs from the last few days.
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Ashley is just as lovely as her green eggs! No portraits today....just a shot with the garden hose...
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[Ruthster55]

Creating the perfect Black and Blue Broody Flock involves some culling, and sometimes that has to happen quickly. I am selecting for gray and black colors, and I prefer gray or slate colored legs to match.

This guy had MAJOR orange leakage and white legs and he was doing something I didn't think he was ready to do (the gloves are just related to some construction).

I hadn't seem this orange rascal crow yet, but there he was, humpin' the hens this morning, and I had to cull him quickly.

This thread about Blue Andalusians is quite useful - https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/would-these-blue-andalusians-be-disqualified.1422796/

(Mine are definitely not Andalusians, but I am wanting Blue and Black colors).

We allowed the guy on the right in the second and third pictures to run with the flock, because he's got some nice gray color.
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