Show off your Old English Game Bantams!!

[WVduckchick]

One of my early-June hatched pullets started laying today! Her sister started about a month ago, I think. But I have 2 SDWs that hatched in early April that still aren't laying!

 

[microchick]

WVduckchick, I finally was able to discover the origins of my little pullet's feathered legs. I was talking to our neighbors son who is in charge of the farms poultry and gave me the eggs. He said that somebody had given them two little roosters with feathered legs. He described them and before he finished I said "Cochin Bantam" He said that had been a few years back and still every now and then one pops up with feathered legs. He said they had finally butchered the two little roosters and commented how there wasn't any meat on em at all. They were just real tiny!

My four little pullets are 8 weeks old now and I started letting them and their mom out with with main flock today. One little girl is so small that she can squeeze through the chain link fence so I spent the day putting up chicken wire around the inside of the run along with snow fence to help as a wind break for them this winter.

Mom is still ferociously protective of them. Every time one of the other hens got too near there was bloodshed. Her determination to protect those youngsters was admirable.She was much more tolerant of the older roosters than she was the younger ones. I told her after watching her tangle with a hen larger than she is to remind me never to pee her off. That is one tough little Buff O hen.

Of the 4, 1 looks to be 'bantam' size. The rest are only slightly smaller than their three Buff O sisters.

Jophus. Do you ever sell and mail hatching eggs? I am in North Eastern Mo and will be looking for OEGB eggs come spring. If I used shipped eggs I'd rather get them from the nearest distance available if possible.

 

[WVduckchick]

So cochin in their background? Glad you figured it out. That makes sense. And yes these girls can be quite ferocious when it comes to their little ones. Mine have always been sweet toward me, but lawdy, they go after the others in a heartbeat! I've been letting my little self-blues out too. So far, no one has bothered them. I've only let them out with the SDW crew though.

 

[abbycrabby]

Got myself some oegb yesterday. Was told they are twelve months old? Also was told this was a grey rooster but I can't seem to find much on greys? Can anyone tell me what he is and what chicks I will breed when put over the silver duckwings. Thanks

 

[abbycrabby]

Another shot

 

[microchick]

I managed to get a few pictures today of my 4 OEGB crossed with whow knows what youngsters today and I'm hoping you can help me with one of them.

I have one 9 week old that is growing out a LONG tail. Hackle feathers and saddled feathers look pretty round to me but I haven't dealt with OEGBs in ages so tell me what you all think. Is Olive an Olive or an Oliver. In all honesty, I'm hoping for a cockerel but I'm suspecting all pullets at this point in time.

I was hoping to get a shot of the hackle feathers but man are these little ones FAST! Olive/Oliver's tail is almost 8-9 inches long at this point and what caught my attention is that two of the feathers almost look like sickle feathers.


This is Sparkle. Would you consider her a Partridge?


This is Little Dove. She actually has a Cherokee name U-sti wo and she well fits that description as she is the smallest of the 4. Her Buff Orpington sister is in the back ground...

 

[WVduckchick]

Got myself some oegb yesterday. Was told they are twelve months old? Also was told this was a grey rooster but I can't seem to find much on greys? Can anyone tell me what he is and what chicks I will breed when put over the silver duckwings. Thanks

He is a silver duckwing. The male and female silver duckwing patterns are much different from each other.

I managed to get a few pictures today of my 4 OEGB crossed with whow knows what youngsters today and I'm hoping you can help me with one of them.

I have one 9 week old that is growing out a LONG tail. Hackle feathers and saddled feathers look pretty round to me but I haven't dealt with OEGBs in ages so tell me what you all think. Is Olive an Olive or an Oliver. In all honesty, I'm hoping for a cockerel but I'm suspecting all pullets at this point in time.

I was hoping to get a shot of the hackle feathers but man are these little ones FAST! Olive/Oliver's tail is almost 8-9 inches long at this point and what caught my attention is that two of the feathers almost look like sickle feathers.


This is Sparkle. Would you consider her a Partridge?


This is Little Dove. She actually has a Cherokee name U-sti wo and she well fits that description as she is the smallest of the 4. Her Buff Orpington sister is in the back ground...

Pretty girls!

 

[microchick]

They are all girls?

Now I got to find a cockerel!

 

[WVduckchick]

They are all girls?

Now I got to find a cockerel!

Oh I'm not positive! But by 9 weeks, all the combs look small enough to be girls.

And I didn't read close enough. If one has the 2 extra long tail feathers, then that is likely a male. I'm sorry!

 

[microchick]

Oh, NO! @DVduckchick. If Olive is an Oliver I would be THRILLED! 3 pullets and one little cockerel would give me a start for breeding my own OEGBs!

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that those are early sickle feathers coming in. The tail in question is as long as Sparkles' tail but has these two or three weird pointy feathers that extend out past the main tail about 3/4s an inch now. They just caught my attention today. I've been sexing my Welsummer/BO crosses for about an year now and know sickle feathers usually mean only one thing.

I wanted to get a start of bantams when I purchased my main flock almost 2 years ago now but the breeder wasn't hatching bantams at the time. I kinda stumbled into these birds trying to help out a friend. Turns out they wanted to be sure that the birds were 100% bantam and they may or may not be so they are mine. I'm not locked into that got to be pedigree mind set. All you have to do is see main flock of Buff Os and Welsummers and the beautiful mutt chicks they have produced to see that.

As these 4 mature though I hope I get a chance if I don't have a cockerel, to find one. Or if I do have a cockerel, find 2 little pullets to strengthen the OEGB genes in them. I know I can get more eggs from our neighbor come spring. Seeing these four hatch and grow has been fun.