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[rebrascora]

@jemini212

Hi Terri

Sorry for the delayed reply.

Interested to hear that you got your pullets from Ouston. My neighbour is looking to buy POL black sex links.... did they have any? Do you mind me asking how much you paid?

Not sure I would call myself a breeder. That sounds much too formal and organised for my set up. I have hens and cockerels and they sometimes produce chicks.... mostly farmyard mutts but I recently acquired some pekins and I've just had my second hatch of those. They are cute as buttons! I have 9 from the first hatch (6 cockerels and 3 pullets

) and 6 hatched yesterday leaving 4 infertile eggs (I didn't candle) Hoping I have a better female percentage this time. I have two more clutches due to hatch on Monday. One is more Pekins and the other is farmyard mutts but of my choosing rather than random eggs.. My flock has been steadily increasing over the past couple of years (our American cousins call it chicken math) but I am now getting to the stage that I need to think about selling some and may be taking some to Hexham Mart Fur and Feather sale in the autumn.

Those cockerels might look pretty and be friendly now, but once their hormones start kicking in and they are harassing and raping your hens all day long, their beauty begins to wane and it makes it easier to cull them. Juvenile cockerels are jerks in my experience, especially if you don't have an adult rooster to keep them in check. Hope I'm wrong in your case!

Regards

Barbara

 

[jemini212]

...

@jemini212


Hi Terri

Sorry for the delayed reply.

Interested to hear that you got your pullets from Ouston. My neighbour is looking to buy POL black sex links.... did they have any? Do you mind me asking how much you paid?


Hi Barbara.The guy only had the type of pullets that I bought.I Was told they were commercial brown hybrids and the better ones for egg production and temperament.
I paid £6 each and they were 17 wks old. I can't say anymore because I didn't ask any more questions unfortunately. I don't have his number at hand because I got it through one of the guys nxt to my allotment but if your neighbour is interested you could PM me and I will be able to get it.

Regarding the roosters they are being exchanged on Saturday. Hope there are some colourful ones left.
Sounds like you have a lovely mix in your flock.

 

[jemini212]

And you could always PM me if you have any females for sale. I'm not too fussed about pedigree, just want to add a little colour to my flock. I don't have space at the moment but once I integrate them I will do. My allotment neighbour is interested in pedigrees though so there's an extra option if you don't want to travel to Hexham.

 

[adrian cobb]

That's great news

I've had a move round with some of mine and some pecking has been going on. Not too bad so once they have their order sorted I'm hoping things will settle down.

Mesmerising aren't they!! Chicken business is great to watch

peace and tranquillity

 

[GGBEAR]

hi all I'm feeling extremely sad I made a horrific judgment call earlier !
I'm not sure if the last time I posted I mentioned my ducks had all gone broody basically one went and they all followed suit any why I removed a lot of eggs as there was 18 they were sitting on left them with 7 one of which got booted out of the nest all 4 ducks were sharing!!!
Anyway long story short I decided tonight I was going to see if they were fertile or not as none of them are layingme any eggs anymore, went out there the eggs were totally filthy every other day they ave been kept clean picked up first one it felt Luke warm I cracked it open and it was a dud I picked the other 5 up and chucked em I looked down as my chickens were trying to eat them and 3 of them had blood and veins
I feel awful the ducks are going mad my husband is calling me a murderer what a D*ck I am!!!!!!
Hows everyone else doing????

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Oh dear @GGBEAR

Don't beat yourself up about it, these things happen. Did you candle the eggs before throwing them? That's the best way of checking for development before cracking them open. Having them all broody on one nest was going to be difficult anyway not only for you but them too.

They must have been broody for quite a while? Eggs being added after the initial set would have caused a staggered hatch and eggs would more than likely have been abandoned. Breaking them of being broody sounds like it's been the right thing to do in this situation. Having no eggs and all broody does not sound good. I would say if one goes broody again to move her away from the others so it does not encourage the others to follow suit. This way you can put eggs under her in one go and have them hatch pretty much at the same time.

You are not a murderer or a D, they may have abandoned the eggs anyway once they had a couple of hatchers. Once they think hatch is done their priority becomes the hatched and caring for them not staying on unhatched eggs.

 

[philyc]

Another update. Have built a second coop/run to be used by the leghorns as the egg flock with the two banthams and Theo chicks in the other run as the meat and broody flock. For pictures see the coop thread thing (the long one)

One of the chicks died during the night on Wednesday so down to three mystery chicks. Already getting proper feathers on their wings and doing well. Can't wait for them to get bigger so I can see what they are.

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Sorry to hear you lost a chick How did the one with the umbilical problem turn out?

Looks like your expanding there with another coop

There is a coop contest running right now that's still open for entries, how to create a coop page and enter the contest is all in the first post ~ https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...-and-run-page-contest-winter-spring-2016/0_30

Mystery chicks!

 

[philyc]

yep, well the new coop was because the leghorns were being very unfriendly with the new chicks, so had to be separated. the other coop i have won't get moved with us as it is on the way out and very old, so will do while we are here but not worth taking. For now it lets us have our meat and egg flocks seperate.

The other chick didnt make it, died on the first night with our farmer friend. oh well, the eggs were only bought to get our two bantams to snap out of their broody phase anyway!

 

[philyc]

so here are some picture of the mystery chicks, the first one, i have two of them, the second just one.
this one, dark/red/brown on the back with white and black wing tips:







this one nice and pale, white wing tips with a couple of black spots, and feathery feet.





no clue what they are, they're only a week old. any ideas?