The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[ki4got]

A comb that size and that light color on one of my reds would lead me to think pullet. But I have no experience with SFH. The brown one's comb is bigger than the black two's combs. That might point to a roo.

you really can't compare different breeds, since they develop at different rates, some have larger combs than others, etc. so it's like comparing apples to oranges.

my bantam cochins are often crowing by 4 weeks old, while I may not be able to sex the sfh until they're 6-8 weeks old or more and cockerels don't seem to crow until at least 12 weeks most often.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Quote:
That is what I was thinking. I have the worst time trying to pull out my EE roosters. That is one of the main reason I'm starting out in the CCL breed. I want blue eggs from some of my hens and I want help pulling out the roosters early on. You can't get much earlier than the day of hatch. But the SFH are really really pretty hens.

 

[Leahs Mom]

I wanted some cream legbars until I saw they were crested. So if you have some experience.... are they all crested? Do they have the issue of breeding huge crests with crest to crest breeding?

I had come to the conclusion that I didn't want any more crests at all.


On the SFH kiddos -
They are all the same size - not much variation. Legs are about the same diameter on all of them. I can often tell by looking at leg sizes but there isn't much variation.

 

[subhanalah]

I wanted some cream legbars until I saw they were crested.  So if you have some experience.... are they all crested?  Do they have the issue of breeding huge crests with crest to crest breeding?

I had come to the conclusion that I didn't want any more crests at all.


On the SFH kiddos -
They are all the same size - not much variation.  Legs are about the same diameter on all of them.  I can often tell by looking at leg sizes but there isn't much variation.

I have a pale combed, 8 or 9 week old that has a huge comb. I think it's safe to say that's a pullet...The coloring seems pretty drab to me too.

 

[lalaland]

I wanted some cream legbars until I saw they were crested. So if you have some experience.... are they all crested? Do they have the issue of breeding huge crests with crest to crest breeding?

I had come to the conclusion that I didn't want any more crests at all.


On the SFH kiddos -
They are all the same size - not much variation. Legs are about the same diameter on all of them. I can often tell by looking at leg sizes but there isn't much variation.

how come no crests? just curious.

Your sfh kiddos are gorgeous! love that coloring on the first pullet.

 

[lalaland]

hot and windy today - with the new fences and run configuration I've had to do some jury rigging to get shade for the tiny chick run and for the broodies - I'm trying the wire cage in the air method of breaking broodies. Out of the 9 chicks from last spring, 7 have been seriously broody this spring. its tiring! right now there are two in the wire cage. I'll keep trying for a week, if that doesn't work I'm going for the cold water dip. SHould feel really good to them as it is hot and humid.....

 

[armorfirelady]

Leah's mom the kiddos are beautiful

Found another fart egg under Stella last night. Told my mom something is up with her. Stella is one of her favorites. She is still acting normal. She is currently pacing in the compost bin. She knows I'm sitting on the deck & is voicing her opinion on the fact I haven't brought dinner out yet lol

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote:
And they will keep changing in color. What you see now won't look at all like when they are adults.... except may the "brown".

Crests....
I've had a couple birds that had what I would consider excessive crests. Both of them were hawk fodder. To be totally fair, however, it is a known fact that breeding crest to crest on SFH has the potential to cause problems and often death before they mature.

I don't know for sure, but I suspect that my first crested sfh pullet was a crest to crest breeding. Her personality was totally unlike any sfh I've had and totally unlike what others describe their behavior as being. My second crested pullet was quite mistakenly a breeding between the first girl and a crested roo (Mister). Produced another quite excessive crest and that "crazy" personality but with even more extreme of personality. That was the one that I cut back her crest. Her personality was causing all kinds of havoc for me and I finally gave her to a young lady in Indiana that wanted to keep her with more of a "pet view" of chickens - though she has many chickens. She will take good care of her.


I do have 2 crested girls that are "Mister's" children but they were a cross SFH and possibly BA....not full SFH and not excessive crests. They don't have the crazy personality and their crests aren't so large as to hinder normal chicken life.

They say w/SFH that if you keep a roo, keep one that is non-crested so he can breed with either without causing any excessive crests. "Mister" - who is awaiting his demise - is crested. I would not be unhappy if one of the kiddos turned out to be a roo as long as it is not crested. I chose those specific kiddos for the black coloring and that none of them appeared to have crests at hatch. The brown I took because I wanted a third and he/she was also not crested.


The 2 blacks here are Mister's mixed daughters; gray was full SFH and also his daughter - crest to crest breeding.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Leah's mom the kiddos are beautiful

Found another fart egg under Stella last night. Told my mom something is up with her. Stella is one of her favorites. She is still acting normal. She is currently pacing in the compost bin. She knows I'm sitting on the deck & is voicing her opinion on the fact I haven't brought dinner out yet lol

Are you still giving free-feed calcium? One thing I've read just recently is that high acid items like ACV can lower absorbtion of calcium and it seems to be more noticeable in the summer than other seasons. For that reason, if folks put acv in the water it would be smart to offer plain water in one waterer and ACV in another so they can take it free-choice as they desire. (That's always my preferred way of giving those types of things anyhow unless there is an illness and something needs to be forced.)

Knowing that properly lacto-fermented feed would also be high acid, I have decided to offer the same feed I ferment dry as a choice for them as well. I just started doing that about 2 weeks ago and I was quite surprised to see that they really love the dry feed. This is similar to what you are feeding if you're still making your own mix. They eat both, but they seem to take a lot more of the dry than I thought they would.


As an interesting side-note ... My BR has had quite light-weight shells since starting up again this spring. I had originally thought they were all that texture but this morning I cracked eggs from each of the birds while making breakfast and realized that hers it the only thin one. Not sure if that means she has a greater need for calcium, or if it's her breed/age, etc. She was 2 yo in March of this year. They are not soft-shelled like you describe - just very thin and lightweight.

One good thing w/your girl is that she IS laying them and they aren't staying inside. And if she isn't taking the "upright penguin" stance...and is acting quite normal...it may pass.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

I wanted some cream legbars until I saw they were crested. So if you have some experience.... are they all crested? Do they have the issue of breeding huge crests with crest to crest breeding?

I had come to the conclusion that I didn't want any more crests at all.


On the SFH kiddos -
They are all the same size - not much variation. Legs are about the same diameter on all of them. I can often tell by looking at leg sizes but there isn't much variation.

They are not all crested. I have one cream legbar hen right now without a crest at all. The others are not anywhere close to the silkie puffs. But even without the crest, that hen may produce crested chicks if mated with the right rooster. I'm not the best at genetics yet. It is where I need to put more time in for preparing to breed and not just hatch. I got my cream legbar with out a crest from Racin on the IN thread. I would offer her to you but she is in the iso / hospital pen just know as she got bit by a mosquito in her eye. I expect a full recovery but only if she is allowed to heal peck free. I have a couple other hens in with her that have the same issue. gnats and such are a bit too much here. We had to hang a couple of those blue zapping lights.
I have to say that while the CCL roosters are very pretty to me, the hens are a bit on the not eye catching side. But I do love the benefits of the blue eggs and the rooster pulling.