The Wyandotte Thread

[ki4got]

Anyone ever have fertility issues? the first 7 eggs I incubated from my wyandotte pair 6 were clear and One blood ring. These are also my hens first 7 hens eggs and she is in with an awesome roo, but should I try my other less nice roo or give them time?

give her time... typically pullet eggs are iffy at best anyways. i don't like to set any eggs until they've been laying a good 2-3 weeks minimum. if there's a blood ring, it means it was fertile at least. so probably the roo is taking his time too.

 

[BrendaJ]

This little chick was dumped at a local high school in a small plastic rodent cage. The local feed store has Wyandotte chicks that look pretty similar. What do you guys think?
I wasn't going to add to the flock this year but due to the situation .... who could resist lol.


I got it a couple buddies. They are all doing great & growing fast.

 

[WyandotteTX]

Wyandottes are known to have fertility issues. It is linked with the rose comb.

This would be a myth and a misnomer passed onto others. The actual likelihood of your Rosecomb birds causing that is miniscule.

Most of the time infertility is because of a lack of sunshine and warm temperatures and the age of the cock bird. With this very late coming of spring it has been a common occurrence for many including myself and my Wyandottes. But with the increase in sunshine and constant warmer temperatures, voila! Fertility is coming on strong.
Have a great weekend!
John

 

[heirloomorps]

what hatchery line slw do you have Hardin ? And how do they conform to the standard ?

We don't breed SLW... We use them to make red sex links. They are actually not bad in type. Their lacing could use work. I believe they are from Meyer but don't quote me on that.

 

[heirloomorps]

Anyone ever have fertility issues? the first 7 eggs I incubated from my wyandotte pair 6 were clear and One blood ring. These are also my hens first 7 hens eggs and she is in with an awesome roo, but should I try my other less nice roo or give them time?

Not with Wyandottes. My roo has great fertility. BUT we struggled with our first 4 weeks of fertility in our Orps. Give him time. It may be that either he or the girls needs a trim.

I have a question for the masses.

Do breeders use their Roosters with their own offspring and do you mate hatchmates to each other?

I'm interested in the various answers and reasoning behind those answers. Please remember that I'm a longtime boxer breeder and our breeding practices may vary.

We don't breed back to dad and wouldn't breed brother to sister either. We have two pens of everything we breed so that we can either breed offspring of pen 1 to offspring of pen 2, or we can breed offspring of pen 1 to dad in pen 2... It all depends what is lacking in the offspring. Our younger BLRW are growing and by the time they reach breeding age, our (still from foley but not directly related) pair will be 3-4 months into breeding.

 

[el pollo rey]

We don't breed SLW... We use them to make red sex links. They are actually not bad in type. Their lacing could use work. I believe they are from Meyer but don't quote me on that.

any pics of your girls ? I will be adding slw from meyer to my flock this year , I have bought and raised their stock for many years my family has used meyer stock since the 60s their heritage breeds seem to be in good conformation as compared to a larger hatchery they are a small operation in Polk Ohio (Amish country ) my kids showed several of their heritage breeds in 4h years ago and did quite well with them. I know many people bash hatchery stock but they offer a pretty good bird in my opinion

 

[dracoe19]

any pics of your girls ? I will be adding slw from meyer to my flock this year , I have bought and raised their stock for many years my family has used meyer stock since the 60s their heritage breeds seem to be in good conformation as compared to a larger hatchery they are a small operation in Polk Ohio (Amish country ) my kids showed several of their heritage breeds in 4h years ago and did quite well with them. I know many people bash hatchery stock but they offer a pretty good bird in my opinion

They are a hit or miss in my opinion. Way back when when I started out with chickens I got great SLW. Great type and even great lacing with no single combs. A year or two later I ordered again thinking I would get the same quality but rather got red sex linked looking hens with "silver lacing". I agree they can throw some nice birds but it is 1 in every few hundred in my opinion.

 

[heirloomorps]

any pics of your girls ? I will be adding slw from meyer to my flock this year , I have bought and raised their stock for many years my family has used meyer stock since the 60s their heritage breeds seem to be in good conformation as compared to a larger hatchery they are a small operation in Polk Ohio (Amish country ) my kids showed several of their heritage breeds in 4h years ago and did quite well with them. I know many people bash hatchery stock but they offer a pretty good bird in my opinion

I don't have pics of them right now... We have two and they both have rose combs. I would love to get some real heritage SLW but for red sex links it is so not worth it.

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Yay! I found my SLW bantam cockerel! His name is George and he's coming his weekend!

 

[Bush Chickens]

is she going to,i guess,"lace up",or not,since shes from a feed store?she is a SLW