The Old Folks Home

[ronott1]

Good Question. Some breeds are easy to wing sex shortly after hatching. There are two rows of feathers on the wing edge. One with staggered or uneven in length would be a female while those with mostly even (in length) would be males. It doesn't work for all breeds.

Like I posted above, feather sexing is accurate for sexlinked crosses with one breed being fast feathering and the other slow.

There is a lot of mis information out there! While being fun to do, it is not reliable for selling since the error is very large for gender.

 

[Sally PB]

I managed to successfully incorporate some 15 week olds in with the 12 week old chicks. My trick was moving the older ones into the pen with the younger ones who had already established their territory. The older pullets were now in unfamiliar territory and would take some time to get accustomed to. Still there was the scraps and squabbles, but they all do fine together now.

I'm going to be doing an integration next week, probably. I have (4) 1-1/2 year olds (1 roo, 3 hens) and (3) pullets, about 12 weeks old. The bottom hen pecks the pullets through the fence, the rest don't seem to mind them. They've been in a "look, don't touch" (but pecking can't be helped) for about a month now. Their snack time in the afternoon is mash scattered on both sides of the fence, and I think that's been helping.

My plan is: one morning before I open the coop, take down the fence, add some more clutter stuff, and rearrange just about everything else. Then when I open the doors, everyone will have somewhat unfamiliar surroundings. I plan to have 4 or 5 totally new things in there. The usual reaction for the adults to anything new is to look at it, back away, and not go near it for awhile, in case it's dangerous. Hopefully that takes bottom hen's mind off the littles.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Morning Old Folks. Your early @Beer can
Thinking all my 5 are cockerel now

 

[silverhair67]

opened the gate between the 2 pens, gonna see what happens

 

[silverhair67]

Morning Old Folks. Your early @Beer can
Thinking all my 5 are cockerel now

maybe not penny,

 

[pennyJo1960]

Ya not certain awful dark combs but maybe 2 are pullets no tail or hackle feathers ?

 

[Beer can]

Just enjoyed a Rutgers tomato sandwich.
Pretty funny was mad when DW accidentally bought them . Was supposed to get two four packs of early girl, and one of sweet 100 cherry. Saw one pack she said looked better so swapped get home and see its rutgers... I almost didn't even bother planting them, never heard of them. Supposed to take 20-30 days longer to ripen. Matured right along the early girls. Very good matter.
Early girls are my fave mostly cause get tons of them before frost. Super sweet and juicy. Those rutgers also super sweet and juicy but with a acidic twang.

 

[Beer can]

Garden still not so great. All summer seems like two days of sun every five of rain.

 

[pennyJo1960]

We have been getting no rain to speak of here dry as a bone already chewed..
We have early girls so getting tomatoes now more ripening daily my kale is doing great so are the herbs

 

[Sally PB]

Major score at the hardware store. I was looking for a stackable plastic chair to put in the run. I'm about 3 months too late. Except this one store had them. Not the cheap little ones; this was $30, but good sized. It'll be upside down in the run, so it's a perch and a hideout. Then I can turn it over and have an unpooped on seat.