When setting eggs under a broody...

[pennyJo1960]

If your on well is starting to go dry ? Here we are on city water .. Actually cost more for the sewer .. Long time ago like early 50's they disconnected everyone's septic and abandon the wells to tie city water .. We are like 1 block in the towns system

 

[Mimi13]

If your on well is starting to go dry ? Here we are on city water .. Actually cost more for the sewer .. Long time ago like early 50's they disconnected everyone's septic and abandon the wells to tie city water .. We are like 1 block in the towns system

Well that stinks. We have been on city water for about 6 months. You talk about some ice cold water. Brrrrrr! We went ahead and got city water mainly because our power goes out way too much and when it does we have no water since the pump is electric. Now that we have city water along with our gas water heater, we can always take a bath. We have had some really dry years, but we have always been good on well water.

 

[Mimi13]

Let me entertain y’all with A Little Alabama Country Music while you wait for my chick pictures. I’m working on them, I promise.

This video (really just audio) was taken at 8:25 pm on 5/28/20, of my front pasture and ponds!

 

[Mimi13]

Well, that took a while locating, separating and tagging all my chick pics! Whew! Please pardon the cheat notes I made on the pics as I was going through them.

Here is the ‘sire’ of all my 2020 offspring. Rusty is 1 1/2 years old and is a cross between a Welsummer rooster and a Barred Rock hen. His two beautiful and long sickle feathers broke off a couple of weeks ago.

Brood #1 - Hatch Date: 4/13/20 - Mrs. Biggles offered her services to raise three, rambunctious and obviously noticeable early on cockerels.

Shells from chicks 1 & 2. Both from two of my Black Copper Marans hens. Third chick was from my Welsummer hen.

Chick #3 is in foreground.

Two week old chicks playing on their ‘jungle gym’ run roost.

Chick #1 - this fella was the first to crow and seems to be the ‘top cockerel.” He is also the one that began stalking me very, very early. He will be the first to hit the pot, too!

Chick #2 - he is a much quieter boy than the 1st one. His face is darker, but he has much more copper coloring all over his body. (Picture is at 10 1/2 wks.) <Welsummer hen in background.>

The two chicks from BCM hens have beautiful coloring and do not show any barring, which is something every other male I hatched has. They all have different shades of black and are all Barred feathered...all six of them! However, neither of these BCM mixes show any feathering on their shanks.

Chick #3 - this little beauty is the spitting image of his father and is the sweetest one of all. He is very quiet and generally does not hang that closely with his hatch mates. He is from my Welsummer hen which should make him 3/4 Welsummer and 1/4 Barred Rock. If he keeps his daddy’s sweet and calm demeanor, he will be kept as my 2nd rooster and will be named “Dooley.” His grandmother’s name is Georgia Girl, so it’s only right that he should be named after Vince Dooley, GA Bulldogs longtime coach. Go Dawgs!!! (Picture is at 10 1/2 wks.)

 

[Mimi13]

Brood #2 - Hatch Date: 4/27/20

Gabriela, my youngest black Ameraucana, lent herself as a broody for my second hatch of the year.

Before I could move her from her original nesting spot to the brooder (completely sectioned off area inside the coop) with her own food and water, she was the recipient of additional eggs being laid literally on top of her.

She was a broody that never once came off the nest on her own. Her first broodiness was most notable for me because mid-morning every day I would get her off her nest and let her go out and take care of business. After about 10-15 minutes, she would literally come running back to me to put her back with the eggs.

After a couple of days in the brooder, I put Gabriela and her chicks out into the ‘intermediate’ brooder (my original, little prefab coop with two large nests and a run now positioned in my big run), which was already occupied by Mrs. Biggles and her three 2 week old chicks, luckily only at night by now. This was really a source of worry for me because I didn’t know how they would get along, bedding down with their babies in nests next to each other. Thankfully, Gabriela eased my worries because she took her little chicks to bed early. I was shocked at how early.

The first 3 chicks to hatch all came from my BCM hens. I don’t know why I set more of those eggs under my second broody, I guess because I just love those eggs. They are my favorites, especially Molly’s, the darkest egg. The other two spotted eggs came from one of my other BCM’s, Effie. They are just gorgeous.

Gabriela’s Brood - my sweet little dark blob and her six chicks—soon to be just four. (I believe the two chick death incidents were mentioned earlier in this thread.) Both chicks that died were from the BCM hens.

The next three picks show the chicks that didn’t have a BCM mother. I’m not sure which hen laid this medium brown egg, but I’m thinking my Partridge Barnevelder or possibly my Welsummer hens. This chick has yellw

This chick hatched from one of my Olive Eggers.

I am going to guess this baby hatched from my White Rock. I had two chicks from her in my first hatch last year that were identical to this chick.

Gabriela and her five, 5 day old chicks all bedded down. So cute.

Here are my sweet babies at 5 1/2 weeks old on the first night their moma returned to the roost and left them. The chick on the far right is from the BCM (feathered shanks) and a definite cockerel with a bright red comb and wattle.
The chick on the far left has had me puzzled for a while. It has had a good sized comb, to be a pullet, but the comb has never been red like the other barred bird. Of course the two in the middle are pullets, but I keep holding out hoping my little Chick #2 is a pullet with a big old comb!

Another picture and three weeks older, Chick #2’s (on right) comb is still not as red as the other one, but it is much much larger than the two for sure pullets.

Here’s a good shot of the combs and wattles and also of the coloring of their feathers. I guess there is a possibility the orange comb on Chick #2 is coming from whatever is causing the gold or red leakage in the feathers. I don’t know anything about genetics and I wish I did.

A good shot of the different leg colors of barred babies.

My two definite little girls.

Her feathering looks just like my Cream Legbar, but without the crest. She came from a green egg which would be one of my Olive Eggers, but they have white legs. But since they are a mixed bird maybe the yellow legs came through as dominant. Again, I do not know. She’s very pretty though.

Just another picture showing the difference in color between the two barred birds. I know, I know, they’re both cockerels, but hey, a girl can hope can’t she?

 

[NatJ]

She came from a green egg which would be one of my Olive Eggers, but they have white legs. But since they are a mixed bird maybe the yellow legs came through as dominant. Again, I do not know.

Yellow legs are recessive. Chickens with white legs can produce chicks with yellow legs, but two yellow-legged parents should always produce yellow-legged chicks.

Recessive genes are the ones that are more likely to pop up unexpectedly. In this case, a chicken with one gene for white legs and one gene for yellow legs will have white legs--but can pass the yellow gene to his/her chicks. A chick that gets one yellow-leg gene from each parent will have yellow legs.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Great way to say it there basic dna breakdown but works every time

 

[Mimi13]

Yellow legs are recessive. Chickens with white legs can produce chicks with yellow legs, but two yellow-legged parents should always produce yellow-legged chicks.

Recessive genes are the ones that are more likely to pop up unexpectedly. In this case, a chicken with one gene for white legs and one gene for yellow legs will have white legs--but can pass the yellow gene to his/her chicks. A chick that gets one yellow-leg gene from each parent will have yellow legs.

Thank you! That is wonderful information. I just wish I understood more about all the genetics regarding recessive and dominant genes and which were what. Maybe one day, huh?

 

[NatJ]

I just wish I understood more about all the genetics regarding recessive and dominant genes and which were what.

The most basic point: each chicken has two genes for a particular trait.
If the two genes match, then of course that's what trait the chicken has.
If the two genes do not match, then the dominant gene determines what effect you see.
The recessive gene is there, but you cannot see any effect from it.

Of the two genes for each trait, a chicken inherits one from the father and one from the mother. The chicken passes one gene to each chick.

So the gene for white legs is dominant over the gene for yellow legs: you see a chicken with white legs, but it can still pass a yellow-leg gene on to its chicks.

Not all genes are neatly dominant or recessive, but it's easiest to start by understanding the ones that are

 

[Mimi13]

The most basic point: each chicken has two genes for a particular trait.
If the two genes match, then of course that's what trait the chicken has.
If the two genes do not match, then the dominant gene determines what effect you see.
The recessive gene is there, but you cannot see any effect from it.

Of the two genes for each trait, a chicken inherits one from the father and one from the mother. The chicken passes one gene to each chick.

So the gene for white legs is dominant over the gene for yellow legs: you see a chicken with white legs, but it can still pass a yellow-leg gene on to its chicks.

Not all genes are neatly dominant or recessive, but it's easiest to start by understanding the ones that are

Oh yes, you’re correct. I remember the Punnet Square fun I had back in school. It’s just all the details of what is dominant and what is recessive that I don’t know...or can’t remember! Arthritis has taken over my body and CRS has definitely taken over my brain.

I do appreciate all your descriptions though. Reading them has brought back a few memories of what I once knew.