The Wyandotte Thread

[ki4got]

Quote: all my roos get tossed in together when they get between 4 and 5 months old and start harrassing the girls mercilessly... they figure out the pecking order pretty quick and i haven't had but one bloody bird and he was the instigator (and is gone).

 

[DMRippy]

Quote:
I think the gap of 2-3 months might be too much.... don't you? I have 2 roos the same age raised together till they started fighting. I move the better looking one with the pullet and he is the only one that has given me fertile eggs, BUT his tail is odd... so I don't really want to use him. His tail on one side kinda caved in... IDK what that is but not liking that. The next roo is about 2-3 months younger.

 

[ki4got]

Quote: I think the gap of 2-3 months might be too much.... don't you? I have 2 roos the same age raised together till they started fighting. I move the better looking one with the pullet and he is the only one that has given me fertile eggs, BUT his tail is odd... so I don't really want to use him. His tail on one side kinda caved in... IDK what that is but not liking that. The next roo is about 2-3 months younger.
lol my roos range from 4 months to almost 2 years old... any new boys just get dumped in. granted they've been free ranging before they go in the pen, so they've at least met each other thru the wire...

 

[CottonGinWaste]

I would go with Duane Urch..he has most of the varieties.

7961 . . . . with that avatar or crawly bug or whatever . . . my guineas are SO gonna get that thing . . . .

 

[CottonGinWaste]

I have read that the fertility is lower during the winter months in cocks. Maybe your cockerel has a favorite that he only likes to breed...or maybe there are to many hens for him to cover. It could be many things, just a process of elimination.

I'm hoping its the lighting even though we still have 11 hours natural light without artificial lighting. He only has 7 pullets; the other subgroups are juvies (the 'locusts' - 3 1/2 months), orphans (4 weeks), and newbies (1 1/2 weeks). Umm . . . darn chicken math . . .

 

[PeakyBeaky]

We keep 3 roosters with our hens-no matter the color. Now, granted, they usually all grow up together, so we don't get much-if any fighting. Trimming butts and adding lights also helps.

 

[slick4591]

Are y'all trimming or plucking the feathers around the vent?

 

[Texasmja]

I am not.

 

[Outlier]

This may answer some of the "why didn't my eggs hatch?" type questions. It's kind of a long but very informative and entertaining talk given by a University of Arkansas poultry professor to a group of backyard poultry enthusiasts.


https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/609855/january-incubation-seminar-meetup-arkansas

 

[HallFamilyFarm]

This may answer some of the "why didn't my eggs hatch?" type questions. It's kind of a long but very informative and entertaining talk given by a University of Arkansas poultry professor to a group of backyard poultry enthusiasts.


https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/609855/january-incubation-seminar-meetup-arkansas

Sadly, our sound system was not working. This years Poultry Breeding seminar we had sound. So turn your speakers up loud and enjoy the foremost poultry professor in the USA.