The Moonshiner's Leghorns

[BigBlueHen53]

Here is one of my Ameraucana cockerels. What do y'all think of him? Five months old and no crow yet.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Ps sorry about the pullet that photobombed him.

 

[KF0002]

Ya I was a slow learner.
After those days I later got into Japanese bantam. Loved those crazy things but oops d@mn short leg lethal genes.
Never again. Lethal genes suck.

I think I was dealing with some lethal combination of genes in a pair of turkeys I tried to breed last spring. I only hatched one poult from the pair out of dozens of eggs, and that poult failed to thrive and died. All of the other eggs died during incubation or did not develop at all. It is interesting for sure. The turkey eggs from other brood pens all developed and hatched fine.

I also did not know Japanese Bantams had lethal genes. That is good to know. But they are so stinking cute!

 

[KF0002]

Here is one of my Ameraucana cockerels. What do y'all think of him? Five months old and no crow yet.

View attachment 4262782

Ameraucanas are a slower maturing breed, so just give him time. They are slow to mature and the pullets don't usually lay until they are 8-9 months old. My Splash hen was closer to a year old before she finally laid her first egg. I had just about given up on her entirely.

 

[KF0002]

They are nice looking birds though! Just don't expect them to lay/crow early like Leghorns. lol

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Ameraucanas are a slower maturing breed, so just give him time. They are slow to mature and the pullets don't usually lay until they are 8-9 months old. My Splash hen was closer to a year old before she finally laid her first egg. I had just about given up on her entirely.

They are nice looking birds though! Just don't expect them to lay/crow early like Leghorns. lol

Thank you, that's really good to know. The two boys are VERY respectful (even a bit fearful?) of the OG hens, some of whom are still molting and very crabby, and are not doing any juvenile shenanigans toward their sisters yet. I'll be patient and won't worry.

 

[The Moonshiner]

Those are so cute, I don't know why they selected for a lethal gene in that breed. I can get some pretty short d'Anvers without it XD

Ya I don't know. I did like the stub legs but I really liked the tails and humongous combs.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

Ugh I haven’t been getting notifications and I will never catch up now. *sigh* One of my Buckeyes has been spending extra time in the nesting box. It occurred to me today she might be going broody. This is a terrible time of year to do such a thing but I suppose it’s possible…

 

[The Moonshiner]

Ugh I haven’t been getting notifications and I will never catch up now. *sigh*

We'll wait...

 

[KF0002]

Ugh I haven’t been getting notifications and I will never catch up now. *sigh* One of my Buckeyes has been spending extra time in the nesting box. It occurred to me today she might be going broody. This is a terrible time of year to do such a thing but I suppose it’s possible…

I would recommend putting her in broody jail for a couple of weeks and breaking her up. This is a horrible time of year for a broody to try to hatch and tend chicks. I am brooding chicks indoors and they do fine with heat lamps, but even with a mother hen, winter is really hard for them to try to raise chicks outside.