[sue anne]

Awww they are lovely pictures. Makes me want to have some more.... don't tell Mr Mole...
How many breeds of hen are there where you can tell that they are male or female when they are still little chicks?
sue anne

[bantam novice]

Lovely pics, GrannieAnnie, they look gorgeous.  I can see that Rocky jnr will be a chip off the old block whether it turns out to be a hen or a cockerel! 

[GrannieAnnie]

I'm hoping its a hen, or 'he' may not be allowed to stay as we already have 6 cockerals here!

Sue Anne, I dont know all the breeds that are colour sexed, but Cream Legbars are one, and the brown hybrids, and these little black ones.  And don't worry Sue Anne, my lips are sealed!!!

Also usually Welsummers are supposed to be, but Joy and I got her 2 wrong, we thought they were girls! ooops! lol

Can't think of the others at the moment.

Also got another 6 Rocky/LS eggs due to hatch next Saturday!!  

[JaK]

Lovely little chicks. They must be keeping you busy.
 
I'm going to see some orps that are just  hatching tomorrow  Some of them may well be coming to live with me when they are bigger, really can't wait to meet them.

[GrannieAnnie]

I love orps!  Do you know which colour they are?  I've only got a buff Orp, but she is a lovely girl!

[JaK]

I've been told that the ones hatching now are buff and a few black. It would be nice to have some different colours I think. 

[GrannieAnnie]

I can't remember if it was last year or the previous one, but a lady asked us if we could re-home or cull 4 orpy cockerals for her.  They were splash and one blue.  They were lovely boys, so instead of culling them, I put them on lincspets4life and re-homed all of them to one place, where the last I heard they were wandering around an apple orchard chasing their new girlfriends!!   

[NormandyMary]

I am SOOOOOO getting broody again!

[GrannieAnnie]

No you're not, you've got the goats to look after now! 

[JaK]

An orchard must seem like heaven to them! Good job you didn't dispatch them. 

[GrannieAnnie]

Aww JaK, even Brian who doesn't have much sentiment about dispatching said it would be a shame to cull them.  So they were lucky someone gave them a lovely home!

[agapanthus]

They are lovely Annie!!!!.....I've never heard of them before

[GrannieAnnie]

Hi Aggi!  Shaver Blacks are the same parentage as the Black Rocks and Bovans Nera hybrids.  RIR cockeralxLS hen, but the 2 cockerals we got with the 20 girls are taller and a lighter brown than Bertie our RIR boy, so goodness knows what other genes they have in them.

So when they are grown up they will look the same as the Black rocks, with the browny gingery down their front and round the neck.

Although the Black rocks are a special strain, I'm hoping tht these ones will turn out just as hardy as the BR's!   

About 65 hatched, But unfortunately more than 50% cockerals! 

[GrannieAnnie]

Final count was:

37 males (now dispatched unhappily by me!) 
28 females
8 unfertile eggs
6 dead in shell (which after reading a post Casey answered, I think may have been because once they started hatching which took over 2 days, the humidity was VERY high and I had trouble lowering it.)

So some sadness, but the 28 girls and Rocky Jnr are doing well!

[joyfull]

Grannie this is a good and timely post to point out to all those who wish to hatch chicks that the majority of those that hatch will be cockerels (something I keep shouting about), at least with yours you can sex them straight away with others you have to wait until they either crow or lay eggs  .
Thank you for posting the totals