[ANHBUC]

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.   

[splash101]

A few more cycles then and you should get all females  wishfull thinking

[New shoot]

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 

[ANHBUC]

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.   

[devonbarmygardener]

Is that because of the noise issue??

I know people will complain about cockerels crowing.

[ANHBUC]

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. 

[devonbarmygardener]

I'll say hens are noisy!! And nosy too!

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!

[ANHBUC]

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.   

[devonbarmygardener]

They are beautiful. I love the colours on the paler brown one - so pretty.

[ANHBUC]

He is a beauty, hopefully I will breed off him before he gets too noisy.

[ANHBUC]

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.   

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.

[ANHBUC]

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.   

[splash101]

Very Handsome boy.

[ANHBUC]

Well Snowy is certainly her mothers daughter!  She has gone broody at the ripe old age of 20 weeks.     

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.    

[JaK]

I'm sure she will be, she seems a determined little thing.