Hatched a lot of pure Bourbon Red babies this year, then towards the end of the season I set a couple from my cross pair. Wish I had done so sooner! These are neat!
The unknown black/tan Tom came from a batch of supposed pure Bourbons, shipped eggs and only two hatched, the other a richly colored red hen that I paired with a Tom from another batch, who also had good rich color.
Another hen, from the batch that the good Red tom came from, turned out dusty/light in color, so I housed her with the black tom for the season.
The first baby from them was Chocolate at hatch, getting a lot of tan ticking in it now. Likely female.
Color coming in now...
Out of the last batch, the cross pair contributed two babies, with silver? Wings coming in a pretty grey with the lighter ticking. No chocolates this go around.
The pure red Tom was aggressive to us, so he has since gone to the freezer and his hen now lives with the Black tom. Looking for one now with looks AND charm, since I don't want to start breeding from a son right off the bat.
But... I could retain all females from her, and then put them with the black tom too, and do all crosses next year with this variety of colors going on. He is bigger, and has a great attitude. We're raising them for meat, not exhibition, though I did only use the best looking ones for breeding. I can at least afford to be picky on locating another pure Tom, since the other has size, temperament, and fertility going for him.
I've retained 11 pure babies, hoping for 3-4 females to keep on for next season. Plus the token brown baby, and will keep the 2 Silver as well to see what they color out like. I'm sad the light hen is done laying! But the nicest hen is not done laying, so I'll get to see what she produces with the black tom. She started back to laying 2 weeks after I moved her in with the nice Tom.
The unknown black/tan Tom came from a batch of supposed pure Bourbons, shipped eggs and only two hatched, the other a richly colored red hen that I paired with a Tom from another batch, who also had good rich color.
Another hen, from the batch that the good Red tom came from, turned out dusty/light in color, so I housed her with the black tom for the season.
The first baby from them was Chocolate at hatch, getting a lot of tan ticking in it now. Likely female.
Color coming in now...
Out of the last batch, the cross pair contributed two babies, with silver? Wings coming in a pretty grey with the lighter ticking. No chocolates this go around.
The pure red Tom was aggressive to us, so he has since gone to the freezer and his hen now lives with the Black tom. Looking for one now with looks AND charm, since I don't want to start breeding from a son right off the bat.
But... I could retain all females from her, and then put them with the black tom too, and do all crosses next year with this variety of colors going on. He is bigger, and has a great attitude. We're raising them for meat, not exhibition, though I did only use the best looking ones for breeding. I can at least afford to be picky on locating another pure Tom, since the other has size, temperament, and fertility going for him.
I've retained 11 pure babies, hoping for 3-4 females to keep on for next season. Plus the token brown baby, and will keep the 2 Silver as well to see what they color out like. I'm sad the light hen is done laying! But the nicest hen is not done laying, so I'll get to see what she produces with the black tom. She started back to laying 2 weeks after I moved her in with the nice Tom.
