Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Poultry and Pets => Chicken Chat => Topic started by: ANHBUC on February 07, 2013, 10:17
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:D
Well after her hatching some Light Sussex bantam chicks last April and then some Turkey chicks last August she has finally got her own brood. They will be a mixed bunch as the cockerel was a Light Sussex bantam x Partridge Wyandotte bantam (Lotty).
One hatched yesterday (day 19), three more of her eggs have hatched since last night and the other one is chirping. She also has 3 Welsummer bantam eggs but I am not sure if they are fertile.
Fingers crossed for one or more to be female. :D
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This was Dad.
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Awww they are gorgeous.
And no I am not going broody!! :lol: :lol:
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I'm not very 'up' on chickeny things but will she be able to keep them warm enough if the cold snap returns or will you have to help out? (apologies for silly question).
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I'm not very 'up' on chickeny things but will she be able to keep them warm enough if the cold snap returns or will you have to help out? (apologies for silly question).
Not a silly question at all wighty. She is in an eglu classic which is insulated and she will keep them under her wings when cold. It is freezing here today but they are toasty in their coop. She must have kept the eggs warm enough over the really bad weather as they started to hatch on day 19 instead of 21. She is such a good Mum.
I will have a 4 x 6 shed empty soon so I can always put their coop in there rather than the walk in run which has a roof. I also have heat lamps at the ready or will bring Mum and chicks indoors if need be. They do like their independence though so will leave well alone unless needed. ;)
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Thank you for your quick answer. Now I shan't worry. ::) :D
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Mum and chicks are doing fine, I have just checked and her fifth chick has hatched. It looks like 2 lemon and 3 grey chicks all Heinz 57 variety so I am looking forward to seeing them grow. :)
I have candled the three Welsummer eggs and none were fertile. I have taken them away so she won't waste her heat on unviable eggs that could explode. :unsure:
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Another success story from Dotty - she is a great mum!
The chicks are lovely - thanks for sharing the story & pics. Re the picture of the cockerel - you say this was Dad.... is he no more?
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Another success story from Dotty - she is a great mum!
The chicks are lovely - thanks for sharing the story & pics. Re the picture of the cockerel - you say this was Dad.... is he no more?
He had a short, happy and productive life just like his father. :wub:
http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=101634.0
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oh bless, they are just lovely. Congratulations
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They are beautiful and Dotty is such a great mum, I look forward to seeing their progress, are the turkeys still about? :)
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They are beautiful and Dotty is such a great mum, I look forward to seeing their progress, are the turkeys still about? :)
Only just they have just had their last meal and are settled down for the night. :unsure:
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Congratulations to you and Dotty, she really is a fab Mum.
Wishing you lots of luck and bravery for tomorrow.
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They are sooo cute and it is really tempting to hatch some.... it is a shame you can't guarantee girls :lol:
(when I got my 3 pekin girls they had a black cockrel born around the same time, I regret not getting him - he was lovely but the woman had enough cockrels already so his fate was determined)
Hannah :)
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Mum and chicks are doing really well. :D
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Three darker ones and two lemon ones, wonder if it is an indicator of sex. If it is their dad was lemon so fingers crossed for some girls.
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Lovely chicks and a proud mum :D
Hope you do have some girls there :)
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Awwwwww..... :)
H
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Awww they are gorgeous.
And no I am not going broody!! :lol: :lol:
I am!
I'd love for Genevieve (my Silver Sussex) to have chicks.
We don't have a cockerel though but I really like the idea. :)
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I started off buying in eggs for my broodies but this lot are the result of the young cockerel having fun.
Nice weather today so they came out to explore for longer.
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Aww they are so beautiful!
DBG, can't you borrow a cockerel for a week? :) :)
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I think poultry owners are wary of doing that due to the chance of transmitting diseases or pests. :(
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Aww they are so beautiful!
DBG, can't you borrow a cockerel for a week? :) :)
I have 4 chicken chums who need to agree first!
We're a collective.
It's my weekly clean day this sunday :( - going to the plot straight from work after a night shift ???
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They are growing quickly and enjoying exploring with Dotty.
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They are really hardy compared with incubated chicks, I think a broody gives them a really good start in life.
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They are lovely :D
Hope at least some are girls and you get to keep them. The colouring looks like it is going to be interesting as they grow :)
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They are lovely :D
Hope at least some are girls and you get to keep them. The colouring looks like it is going to be interesting as they grow :)
A couple of them seem to have a little comb developing but it is still early days. I will be keeping an eye on their development as I think it helps to be able to spot the slight differences between male and female.
So fingers crossed for some females and as you said it will be interesting to see what colouring develops. :D
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Well 23 days old yesterday and they had a little time freeranging with Dotty in the garden. A couple did stray through the fence to where the rest of my girls were but they seemed to know to leave well alone.
I have put leg rings on them as I am wanting to improve my skills at spotting cockerels at an early age. So I seem to have 2 cockerels, 1 hen and then 1 I think may be a cockerel and 1 may be a hen. I have put the leg rings on the left leg of the ones I am unsure of and the right on the others. Just have to wait and see how many I have got right.
The picture is on one male at the front and a female at the back.
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Who looks after them when you're on holiday?
They grow so fast - they'll have changed so much by the time you get back! :D
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My Aunty is coming to stay this time as she loves looking after them. When she couldn't due to family commitments last year my next door neighbour did it. She used to keep chickens so if there are any problems she can help my Aunty.
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So adorable - they pose for photos too!
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I think it is more a startled look as they still see me as a threat! ::)
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They are really fast so I get loads of photos with no chicks in! :lol:
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Most of the time they try to hide behind Dotty but they are getting a bit big for that.
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The one right behind her is lovely colours - partridge body but silver head :) Is that a 'think its a girl', a boy or not sure? :)
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The one right behind her is lovely colours - partridge body but silver head :) Is that a 'think its a girl', a boy or not sure? :)
It is a not sure if it is a girl and keeping my fingers crossed. It is the same one as in the photo with just 2 chicks on. The other chick with it is the one I think is a girl. Probably will end up with 4 cockerels though. ::)
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Fingers crossed ;) They would make a very pretty pair of hens :)
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Lovely pretty chicks!
Are you back from holiday already? It seems like only yesterday you were off! ???
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Yes just a week, Wednesday to Wednesday but had a lovely relaxing time. :)
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Well it is looking more and more like 4 boys and one girl (white one). They will be 9 weeks old this week and one of the buff ones is nearly as big as Dotty.
Her sister Lotty passed away last week so I am glad that at least I have a little of her in the chicks. :(
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glad you have some chicks to remember her by :)
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I can't keep cockerels though so I am crossing my fingers that the white one is a girl. Hopefully I will manage to breed off at least one of the cockerels before they go! :unsure:
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They are lovely colours - I like the darker brown one :)
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That is the other one I was hoping to be a girl but the comb and wattles are getting redder.
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How cute, they have grown so much! Shame about the rather disproportional male to female ratio...
Hannah :)
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How cute, they have grown so much! Shame about the rather disproportional male to female ratio...
Hannah :)
It seems to run in the genes, the first cockerel was from a hatch of 5 out of 5 cockerels. Then 1 out of 1 and now it looks like 4 out of 5. ::) All part of the breeding process and I have to accept that, treat them well so they have a short but happy life. Still waiting to breed a quietish cockerel so that I can keep him. :wub:
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A few more cycles then and you should get all females :D wishfull thinking
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They are lovely colours - I like the darker brown one :)
Drat - that was the one with the partidge body and silver head that I liked as well, but I think you are right and its a boy :(
The white one is very pretty though :)
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They are lovely colours - I like the darker brown one :)
Drat - that was the one with the partidge body and silver head that I liked as well, but I think you are right and its a boy :(
The white one is very pretty though :)
I will try to rehome the cockerels but don't hold out much hope unless someone falls in love with their uniqueness! I have been looking for some land locally so that I could keep both hens and cockerels. There is nothing available and it would have to be off the beaten track for security. :(
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Is that because of the noise issue??
I know people will complain about cockerels crowing.
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Is that because of the noise issue??
I know people will complain about cockerels crowing.
Yes, it isn't too bad when they first start to practice but once they find their voice it would be a problem. I have never had any complaints but I know that some people would just grumble and not speak out. We have lived here for 18 years so would hate to alienate any of our neighbours. The hens can be noisy at times but my closest neighbours like to hear them chattering.
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I'll say hens are noisy!! And nosy too! :lol:
It's a nice sound though all the chitter chatter they make.
They like to watch the gardeners on the plots on either side of theirs! :D
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You can say that again, they always want to be the other side of the fence and don't want anyone else to get more food than them. ::)
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They are beautiful. I love the colours on the paler brown one - so pretty.
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He is a beauty, hopefully I will breed off him before he gets too noisy.
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UPDATE - The only female out of the 5 hatched (Snowy) has started to lay. Her eggs are so small they are not much bigger than my quail eggs but they do taste superb. :tongue2:
The picture shows one normal hens egg, two white normal size bantam eggs then Snowy's tiny white bantam eggs and a few quail eggs.
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Here is an updated picture of the cockerel we kept, we have named him Henry after Henry J Heinz as he is a 57 variety bantam cockerel. :blush:
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Very Handsome boy.
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Well Snowy is certainly her mothers daughter! She has gone broody at the ripe old age of 20 weeks. ::) :lol:
I have been trying to discourage her for the last week or so as she has been taking all day to lay her tiny egg. I have now given up and put her in my broody rabbit hutch/cage. She was quite aggressive towards even my large hens when they were wanting to lay and gave me a few pecks yesterday each time I moved her off the nest. She is not happy being taken off her usual nest box so I have put a token egg in for her. If she settles on that I will give her some eggs to incubate.
Hopefully she will be as good a Mum as Dotty is. :blush:
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I'm sure she will be, she seems a determined little thing. :lol:
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Well Snowy was not at all impressed with her broody accommodation. She would not sit on the egg and just complained to me each time I checked on her. I let her out for a while after a couple of days and she went straight back to the nest box in the main coop. She pinched the newly laid eggs and grumped at anything that tried to get in to her nest. So it was straight back to the broody hutch for the little madam. This morning I let her out again and so far, so good, she has been mixing with the flock and has not been anywhere near the coop.
All the girls have been laying better while she has been out of the way so if she starts again she will be back in solitary!! ::)
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As Snowy went broody again a couple of weeks later I put her in an eglu classic coop and left her eggs under her. I had eggs from Henry the cockerel crossed with Dolly and Daisy (BPR bantams) in the incubator and 7 hatched so I have swapped her dud eggs for 7 chicks. She is doing quite well for a young mum but is a bit bemused and still in a bit of a broody trance some of the time. I am keeping a close eye on her and the brood to make sure they are eating and drinking. I am hoping to move the coop and run on to grass at the weekend depending on the weather as they are in the covered run at the moment.
There appears to be 3 girls (white dots), 2 boys (yellow/lemon dots) and 2 unknown (no dots), but as usual we will just have to wait and see/hear. :lol:
You can see that Snowy is not altogether there! :nowink:
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Aww bless her. :)
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She really is stunning, and well done. How do you keep up with them all :lol:
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She is beautiful :D
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She really is stunning, and well done. How do you keep up with them all :lol:
I must admit to being a bit brain addled at the moment. Not getting as much done as I should with 10 chicks in one run, 3 in another, 21 quail chicks, 6 adult quail, 7 new chicks with Snowy and my normal flock of 8! ::) I am looking forward to next year when I will concentrate on breeding my BPR bantams. That is if I can make the cockerels housing as sound proof as possible and teach him to go in without any fuss. :unsure:
Forgot to say Snowy is a cross breed, dad was a Light Sussex bantam cross (Light Sussex bantam cockerel with a Partridge Wyandotte bantam [Lotty]) and mum was Dotty my beloved Partridge Wyandotte bantam. :)
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They look adorable and its a good photo. What are BPR Bantams?
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Barred Plymouth Rock bantams, here is a picture of Dolly or Daisy (one of the Mums).
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Oh so pretty!
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I never get over the wonder of chicks hatching and the interaction between mother and chicks. Yours look wonderful and good on Dolly! She's brilliant!
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They are really getting big now but I found one of the black and white chicks dead the other day just laid on its side. :( I can not find any medical cause, its crop was full and all organs looked normal. The only thing I can think of is it must have flown into the mesh fencing. I am keeping a close eye on the others but they are not showing any signs of illness.
They are proving difficult to sex with them being cross breeds. Unfortunately I think the one that died was a girl and the other black and white ones are probably boys, the two black ones are hopefully girls.
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anhbuc, your chickens look Beautifull!!!
The colours, clean, shiny, relaxed...
I enjoyed the pictures so much! Chookies with their mum are the best.
You wrote you where looking for a quiet cockerel: I know here some people 'train' their cockerels to not crow during the day by hosing them down when they do.. It seems a bit cruel to me but they say it works.
My Truus only crows in the morning: he has 3 rounds of about 15 to 20 crows and normaly is done for the day. Ideal I wake him up a bit before he goes out so he has one or 2 of his rounds inside. He might have a fourth then but this is around 11 in the morning.. People are up and about by then and he doesn't go on and on..
Wishing you luck with finding a rather quiet cockerel. :)
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My only cockerel (barred Plymouth rock bantam) is quite at the moment Silkychicks, that might be down to it being winter though so I don't want to speak too soon. I am hoping to train him to be in a sound proof box overnight until a reasonable time and then he can crow as much as he wants during the day.
I found that the Barred Plymouth Rock Cross Bantams cockerels were crowing at 11 weeks, so they are now gracing the freezer. ;) I still have the young pullets but none of my girls are laying at the moment. Roll on the spring when we will all have plentiful eggs and breeding can commence. ;)