- Thread starter
- #1,251
We also messed around a little with the other breeder pens. Here they are now:
Pen #1 is still exactly the same. It's the small but really bright Aloha/Swedish rooster, over three Meyer Sussex hens (Big and Spotty) plus two or three Aloha/Sussex hens (Sussex Dad was the big rooster with little spotting, so the hens don't have a lot of color, but all came out of colorful Aloha hens - mostly Ginger hens.) The hens look like small, crappy Sussex but I'm hoping the Aloha side will pull out more since Dad is half Aloha - those chicks will end up 1/2 Aloha, 1/4 Swedish and 1/4 Sussex, could be a nice mix if the genes all hit right.
Pen #2 is still the same. Pure Swedish Flower Rooster, not a lot of spotting. So we put him in with some of the most spotty little Alohas. In a perfect world, he would add size and lighten the body color, since his mom is Mille Fleur Swedish, while the Alohas would add more spotting or new colors. We'll see if it works, ha ha ha! The hen on the bottom right is WOW spotted, and the one on the front left is half Sussex (less spotty but big dad) so she has some size to her. Her chicks will look very Sussex no doubt, but at least will be big and carry the yellow leg gene. The other hens are small, but fairly colorful. Five hens, total, I think?
Next up is pen #3 which used to have two blue-tail Swedish boys. But the Swedish boys were neither large, nor did they have a lot of spotting. So we made the decision to set those aside and bring in Jorge's roo, who is tiny but second generation Aloha. The Buff girls are from the Cheeto lines (NHR/Buff Rock) with yellow legs and have a bit of "big chicken" in their background. Let's hope we get something good out of this pen. Who knows??? There is one really GORGEOUS (but crested) Swedish hen. Kind of curious to see what she makes with Jorge's roo. Hmmmm.
And now, Pen #4 is the new Sussex room from Garry Farms stock over colorful hens.
We are only going to have these pens up for 4-6 weeks, then we'll cull and shut down for the summer.
If anyone wants stock from any of these pens, SPEAK UP now or you might lose the chance later! We'll be keeping the chicks we hatch and culling HARD for the summer, so that means the "next generation" won't be ready until the following October . . .
I'm adding more hens to the Pumpkin roo pen and taking hens out of the Swedish roo pen because a bunch of the Swedish roo's eggs were "blanks". I may have to pen him in the smaller breeder pen, where he can access the hens easier, because he's a slacker! I'll post new pics of my three breeder pens when all are sorted out in the next day or two.
These pens should start to be "set" in a couple of weeks. That means chicks or hatching eggs from these pens available for May 6th onward. (But I do have to travel in May so there is some issue with shipping chicks in mid May.) We *might* be able to get away with one late May/early June shipment, but I think after that the girls will stop laying so it will be a moot point anyway!
Pen #1 is still exactly the same. It's the small but really bright Aloha/Swedish rooster, over three Meyer Sussex hens (Big and Spotty) plus two or three Aloha/Sussex hens (Sussex Dad was the big rooster with little spotting, so the hens don't have a lot of color, but all came out of colorful Aloha hens - mostly Ginger hens.) The hens look like small, crappy Sussex but I'm hoping the Aloha side will pull out more since Dad is half Aloha - those chicks will end up 1/2 Aloha, 1/4 Swedish and 1/4 Sussex, could be a nice mix if the genes all hit right.
Pen #2 is still the same. Pure Swedish Flower Rooster, not a lot of spotting. So we put him in with some of the most spotty little Alohas. In a perfect world, he would add size and lighten the body color, since his mom is Mille Fleur Swedish, while the Alohas would add more spotting or new colors. We'll see if it works, ha ha ha! The hen on the bottom right is WOW spotted, and the one on the front left is half Sussex (less spotty but big dad) so she has some size to her. Her chicks will look very Sussex no doubt, but at least will be big and carry the yellow leg gene. The other hens are small, but fairly colorful. Five hens, total, I think?
Next up is pen #3 which used to have two blue-tail Swedish boys. But the Swedish boys were neither large, nor did they have a lot of spotting. So we made the decision to set those aside and bring in Jorge's roo, who is tiny but second generation Aloha. The Buff girls are from the Cheeto lines (NHR/Buff Rock) with yellow legs and have a bit of "big chicken" in their background. Let's hope we get something good out of this pen. Who knows??? There is one really GORGEOUS (but crested) Swedish hen. Kind of curious to see what she makes with Jorge's roo. Hmmmm.
And now, Pen #4 is the new Sussex room from Garry Farms stock over colorful hens.
We are only going to have these pens up for 4-6 weeks, then we'll cull and shut down for the summer.
If anyone wants stock from any of these pens, SPEAK UP now or you might lose the chance later! We'll be keeping the chicks we hatch and culling HARD for the summer, so that means the "next generation" won't be ready until the following October . . .
I'm adding more hens to the Pumpkin roo pen and taking hens out of the Swedish roo pen because a bunch of the Swedish roo's eggs were "blanks". I may have to pen him in the smaller breeder pen, where he can access the hens easier, because he's a slacker! I'll post new pics of my three breeder pens when all are sorted out in the next day or two.
These pens should start to be "set" in a couple of weeks. That means chicks or hatching eggs from these pens available for May 6th onward. (But I do have to travel in May so there is some issue with shipping chicks in mid May.) We *might* be able to get away with one late May/early June shipment, but I think after that the girls will stop laying so it will be a moot point anyway!
Last edited: