Show Off Your Games!

[centrarchid]

Chilldress sent me some pictures when we exchanged eggs...

Debating if I should post them, or if I should wait for him to do it....

Let him. Doing so will enable putting on the proper spin with background information. When I post images, they are are always accompanied by explanations.

 

[JShubin]

Spurred hens I had in the past were not more aggressive or inclined to crow either. They simply had spurs and were more unpleasant when flogging you. I bottle-necked out the spur on hens trait which I doubt will have long-term implications.

It would be interesting if spurred hens popped up again in your future offspring... It might imply that its an environmentally driven variation/adaption as opposed to inherited genetics.

Do we know that hen spurs are inheritted? Or is there still debate on this subject? just curious, I do not know.

My most recent black mama hen did not show signs of spurs during her pullet years, but gained them during her second brood. This makes me think that hormones had a role in their development.

 

[centrarchid]

It would be interesting if spurred hens popped up again in your future offspring... It might imply that its an environmentally driven variation/adaption as opposed to inherited genetics.

Do we know that hen spurs are inheritted? Or is there still debate on this subject? just curious, I do not know.

My most recent black mama hen did not show signs of spurs during her pullet years, but gained them during her second brood. This makes me think that hormones had a role in their development.

Spurs on hens is heritable. If my memory serves, the spur trait is recessive. All my birds are currently in a linebreeding effort where if any of the birds I am breeding back to carried spur allele, it would have popped up in the homozygous spurred phenotype. It is possible the spur allele remains from a stag used to cover both hens about three generations back but with each generation of linebreeding back to those hens, the odds increase the allele, if it was present has been lost.

Mutation could restore the phenotype, even if not by way of restoring the original allele. There may be more than one allele out there that promotes spurs like you see with the wheaton phenotype.

 

[GhettoRoo]

Hello every gamefowl and chicken knower.
So i made there a pretty nice thread about gamefowls to enlighten me.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/942032/gamefowl-types-give-knowledge-to-me

Would be great if you join, and will answer + give some more info.

Thanks.

 

[Yahya Morse]

I have hens that crow. It's not all year long usually in the Summer.

 

[centrarchid]

I have hens that crow. It's not all year long usually in the Summer.

Are they tending chicks when doing so?

 

[flypen]

My car port that I turned into 9 brood pens

I haven't finished pen #9 yet and my mess of tools and parts haven't been picked up

 

[flypen]

6 of them are 5x17, 7' under the cover

 

[gameberds]

 

[prariechiken]

Why? I have some crowing hens when there is no cock or stag around... I think its a sign of strength and dominance. I would go out of my way to breed a crowing hen...

Nice blue legs on this one.

I think it has to do with dominance, genetics, hormones (or lack there of and presence of more testosterone), etc. The old wive's tales said that death was imminent when a hen crowed. My grandfather said that if a hen didn't know she was a hen, he didn't want her around and would kill them. You do see it more with hens without a rooster around as a cock will put a crowing hen in her place. Most that I have had that try to put out a crow do crow short and funny sounding. The hen I have the pic of would pop her wings only once, let out a horrible sounding choked crow then proceed to beat all the other yard hens off the feeder I fed the freerangers in. She was a cool little bird, Lacy Roundhead x Hatch, she kept all the yard birds in line...