Selecting Mutts To Create the Perfect Flock

[Ruthster55]

Today was rather eventful with the flock.

First, Tiffanii hatched 4 very cute baby chicks!! Here you see her attempting to be a basketball! I'll try to get more pics of the babies soon that include the one that was camera-shy!

Tiffanii was the very first chick that hatched back on March 18th. You can see that she is almost all gray, and that she is also a toppy!

The other thing that happened today is that the cockerel with the wry tail is now part of a meal. The cats were acting really obnoxious as he was being processed.

CONTENT WARNING: SLIGHTLY GRAPHIC PICTURE BELOW - PLEASE DON'T SCROLL DOWN UNLESS YOU'RE WILLING TO SEE A PROCESSING CONE IN USE, ALONG WITH A COUPLE OF OBNOXIOUS CATS. MY THREAD INVOLVES SELECTING A FLOCK, SO CERTAIN NOT-SO-PLEASANT THINGS OCCASIONALLY HAPPEN. THE CHICKEN IN THE CONE IS THE ONE THAT HAD THE WRY TAIL.
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[Ruby Rogue]

Lovely storybook thread about your flock. I just read the whole thing. Do you DIY your dinner chickens? I hope to someday have the mental strength that must take. Thanks for all the cute chick pics!

 

[Ruthster55]

Thanks so much for reading the thread!! I'm glad that you are enjoying it!

Yes, I process my own chickens, and it's often to feed other people who are bigger meat eaters than I am. I eat a little meat, but I like my chickens' eggs better.

Processing isn't really a thing that I enjoy doing, but the meal afterward and the flock management results are rewarding. I learned how to process several years ago when I had another flock. I have a tendency to indulge chickens. The flock grows, and eventually the feed costs add up, so there's gotta be some sort of production aspect.

In addition to the cockerel with the wry tail. we will eat an approximately 16-17 week old Cornish X that was still walking OK but getting awfully big. One thing I am finding is that those Cornish X can be easily feed-restricted when they're young, but if they are let go with the regular chicken flock, they become real feed hogs.

 

[Ruthster55]

Got a few pics of Tiffanii's baby chickies. One or two were camera shy...
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[Ruthster55]

Miss Velociraptor's chickies are growing quickly and some have little wings. One actually gave me a peck while I was taking photos!

With that much boldness, he's almost certainly a cockerel...and he's white. He doesn't match a Black and Blue Broody Flock...

Miss Velociraptor almost certainly carries recessive white.

Miss Velociraptor was sitting on a couple of the other chickens' eggs, so the black chick with dark legs is probably not hers, but the three white ones and the brown one are certainly hers.

I am out of cage space, and I have two broody hens going right now....so, I have a bit of a problem that will be solved soon.

Did you know that a litter of bunnies and a clutch of chicks are called the same thing in Spanish? They are called una camada. Tengo una camada de pollitos means "I have a clutch of chicks."

I like to think of it as a litter of chicks, even though that's not quite the correct terminology.

 

[RainbowHen]

I enjoy reading your flock adventures

 

[Ruthster55]

Tiffanii's little cuties are doing great! She had a few late eggs, and one hatched in the incubator, so she now has 5 chickies! (I gave the chick to her at night the day after the others hatched, and she accepted it). Tiffanii has a great personality, unlike Ms. Velociraptor who is...grouchy. Tiffanii protects her chicks and still looks like a basketball, but is overall pretty mellow. I love black eyes in chickens!

And yes, they all lost their marbles....

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[Ruthster55]

Guess who got culled by being sold? Miss Velociraptor and her chicks! There is a chick that I normally would have kept (from an egg from one of the other hen). However, the whole lot had to go together because the chicks are only 12 days old.

Here's one last look at Miss Velociraptor and her little ones that are on their way to a new home with José and his family. I cleaned their cage.

By the time the person to whose brother I sold them was halfway across town...something else was happening!

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That cage only stayed vacant for an hour and needed to be clean for some new occupants who wanted to move in....

 

[Ruthster55]

Champ Mom is coyly hiding the reason she had to move into Miss Velociraptor's old cage so quickly. Champ Mom is the same hen that hatched 20 chicks back on July 18th.
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[Banty crazy]

On June 9th, three chicks hatched.
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View attachment 2345212
On June 30th, the first chick to hatch was the gray pullet in the picture.
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View attachment 2345220

Looks a lot like my little girl except mine has a much lighter head and neck. Very pretty