[fuzzies]

Yes, white is recessive in Cochins. I had one White hen that hatched out with Gus and his girls, but she sadly passed on at the beginning of the year. None of those genes are sexlinked, so it shouldn't matter which is white in that sort of cross.

I'm not looking forward to that part, the choices! I'm having a hard enough time picking between two cockerels let alone a big batch of growout chicks. 😬



Not much going on here still, but I did move Gus's group and the younger pullets out together to the empty coop in preparation for spring hatches. That didn't go quite as I had planned as far as integrating them together smoothly, but they all seem to be getting along great now! And Athena's already laid an egg out there (from the roost as I stepped in to make sure everyone made it to roost properly last night--thankfully there's lots of bedding so it didn't break!).

 

[robin416]

So much drama from the feathered ones. It's bad when the human keeps having to check in on them to make sure they're not tearing each other up.

How many girls does Gus have now? Even more waiting to see if the progeny from this new group of girls improve with him. Do you realize how much waiting goes on when it comes to these guys?

How in the world did you get a white from Gus? That kind of kills the recessive white idea.

 

[fuzzies]

For sure, rotten birds! They seem to be getting along well out in their new coop now, though Myrtle's being Myrtle and sassing the pullets any chance she gets.

At the moment, Gus has his pick of 6 girls; his two that he's been with and the four pullets. Within the next month or so I'll be fixing to split up that coop and with that split off the three Blue pullets with one of the Blue cockerels. That leaves a pullet with him to hopefully add some youthful vigor to the group and maybe help him father more chicks. 🙏


Not out of Gus, the white hen hatched alongside Gus, as well as Zinni and Myrtle. Recessive white fits perfectly there, it can be carried unseen as a recessive gene. That means that it's possible that Gus, Zinni, and Myrtle could carry it, too.

 

[robin416]

This is what we were playing with. No one would believe that he was white. Until someone said he carried the double silver gene. So I put a what I was guessing was a black hen with him. All the peeps hatched black. If I hadn't been so close to getting out those chicks carrying that silver gene could have been a plus for breeders.

How old are the other girls with Gus? They can't be that old. Will you hatch any/all eggs that get laid before you move the three girls to other pens?

 

[fuzzies]

Gus, Myrtle, and Zinnia are 3 years old this year, so not super old, but approaching middle-aged for a chicken especially for breeding purposes, and from what I've read 3 is when fertility starts reducing naturally in roosters anyway. Hopefully Gus is able to father some good, strong chicks this year as I do adore him and want to keep some of his blood going in my birds. 🙏 But I have several cockerels to choose from if I'm still seeing fertility issues in that pen this spring.

I haven't decided on hatching from the pullets while they're with Gus... I may just, just to see if fertility's good, but I'm not sure if I'll keep the resulting chicks as they'd be essentially a mix between two of my 'clans' for rotational breeding and I'm not sure how that works for that breeding system since it relies on each clan being individual from the other clans. 🤔 Maybe I'll hold onto a pullet or two for my mixed flock, though. If any hatch.

I have pictures of the kiddos for their 8-month update, just give me a little bit to post them. Been having a touch of stomach flu today and I've got to drag my butt out to close coops anyway because I don't have anyone else to do it for me. 😩 Be back soon!

 

[fuzzies]

Here are the kiddos at about 8 months old!

The boys, starting with Dean:

Levi:

Wyatt:

Look at this cute butt

Zeke:

And the girls, miss Athena, who continues to be difficult to get good pictures of:

Boba:

Inara:

Ottilie:

Also, here's Trixie, who is 10 months old:

I'm headed to bed now as I'm wiped out. Good night! ❤

 

[robin416]

I was going to tell you don't make me choose. All of the boys are stunning. But then I saw Inara and Otille. They are fantastic.

Feel better soon. I had that GI thing a month ago. It wasn't fun. And like you, it's just me here.

 

[fuzzies]

They are! To think I had Ottilie down as a cull a few months ago! Inara is definitely filling out beautifully, too! Can't wait to see how their babies look!!

I do feel a lot better today, just tired. Thankfully I just had to scoop the coop today and nothing else, so I've spent most of the day resting and relaxing.

 

[robin416]

Wasn't it me that said don't be too hasty? Give them time to fill out? Fill out they did.

I'm so over being sick. I've had covid multiple times. I don't go anywhere and still have gotten the virus the few times I venture out.

 

[Poultry Judge]

Handsome birds!

 

[robin416]

Eye candy!

 

[fuzzies]

Wasn't it me that said don't be too hasty? Give them time to fill out? Fill out they did.

I'm so over being sick. I've had covid multiple times. I don't go anywhere and still have gotten the virus the few times I venture out.

Haha, you did! To be fair, she's always been lovely and round, it's just her middle toes are poorly feathered which is a disqualification for the breed, so I assumed she shouldn't be bred because of that. Some reading on leg feathering genetics has reassured me that you are right, that's not something that should be overly difficult to breed out.

Yuck, sorry that you've dealt with it so much! My niece and nephew have come down with something respiratory and I've started having similar symptoms to them, so hopefully it's nothing too serious. They have a doctor's appointment to find out in a couple hours and their mom will keep me posted on what their diagnosis ends up being. 🙏


Editing, oh, I forgot to mention--Ottie's acting like she'll lay an egg today, and Boba was looking at the boxes as well! 😁 Won't be too much longer before I can start setting eggs to test for fertility!

 

[robin416]

Is it a DQ? Or just a mark off? Seems a DQ would be rather drastic for light foot feathering.

Just remember the hard things are type and wings. Those two have both. Trixie is working on it. The rest can be easily bred out.

I didn't know I had it. It was my heart doc that figured it out. I didn't have the fever, I didn't have the lung involvement. I had brain, heart and sleep. Second time I got it, same thing. Heart doc figured it out but more because of the never ending sleep going on. Not a lot of heart or brain in the second round or the third.

I hate being on this side of the keyboard waiting to see what is going to pop out of those eggs.

 

[fuzzies]

Is it a DQ? Or just a mark off? Seems a DQ would be rather drastic for light foot feathering.

Hmm, I'm not sure now. I looked at the standard again and it says bare middle toe is a disqualification; her middle toes are not bare, but very lightly feathered, only a tuft toward the tip of the toe and a few sparse feathers along the rest of it.

Just remember the hard things are type and wings. Those two have both. Trixie is working on it. The rest can be easily bred out.

Inara and Ottie are definitely the stars for type in this group. Boba's pretty solid in that department, too. Trix and Athena aren't bad for type, just not as good as the other pullets. It's so hard to capture either of them properly standing because Trixie wants to fight the camera and Athena wants my undivided attention, so they both run toward me when I crouch to snap a shot of them.

I didn't know I had it. It was my heart doc that figured it out. I didn't have the fever, I didn't have the lung involvement. I had brain, heart and sleep. Second time I got it, same thing. Heart doc figured it out but more because of the never ending sleep going on. Not a lot of heart or brain in the second round or the third.

Well, I'm glad someone figured it out at least. Hope you're feeling better now, or at least starting to!

Not covid, flu, or strep throat for my niece and nephew, so I guess it's just a run-of-the-mill cold. Definitely relieved that it's not any of those, but I'm still not terribly happy that I seem to have caught their cold as well.

I hate being on this side of the keyboard waiting to see what is going to pop out of those eggs.

Haha, it's not easy to be on this side of the keyboard, either--that 3-week wait kills me every time!

 

[robin416]

That's harsh since it's so easily remedied.

But you know now what you're looking for. You've got a perfect template. Now the challenge is pairing them with the right males to keep that look going. That is such a crap shoot.

I had no clue. I was in a really bad way brain wise. I'm still suffering from the over tiredness. They're suggesting that's my long hauler remains of the virus. I've also noticed I've lost a lot of what I knew about drugs for chickens and their dosages. I've been hollering for dawg53 a lot because he still has his full faculaties. At least where the birds' health is concerned.

Spring has sprung. Even if we're going to get nailed again at some point with more cold. 80's in Feb is a bit odd. Are you far enough south that you're seeing those temps?

 

[fuzzies]

Not seeing temps in the 80's yet, no! I think the warmest we've had so far this year has been around 60° F. Today's nasty, rainy, and stormy, though, and we're meant to get another winter storm by the end of this week, so I guess winter's not done quite yet. 😩


Some notes on the birds to add to the thread, I have confirmed that Ottie and Boba are laying now, so that's 3 of the 4 pullets out in the outer coop for sure laying. I haven't confirmed on Inara yet, but she's the only one who's squatted for me so maybe? Anyway, not sure if I mentioned here or not but Zinnia is also laying now, so I'm thinking this week I'll collect eggs and set them toward the weekend to start testing fertility in that coop. Any birds that hatch from the pullets will be fathered by the wrong male so I likely won't keep any of them just to keep things simple for the clan breeding system (maybe a pullet or two for the mixed flock out of sentiment, we'll see), but I can tell Zinnia's eggs from the pullets' eggs by size so if any of them hatch they're potentially keepers. 🙏 Technically Boba's would be keepers as well, but I don't really have any way of telling Boba's eggs from the other pullets' eggs until I separate the groups out for breeding, unfortunately. All I want is a solid keeper or two out of Gus!

 

[robin416]

I just told a friend in OK that the storm they're watching, they're watching for us. Supposed to hit us at the end of the week like you.

That's just too soon. They were just babies. Wrong roo? In what way? If it's his type things might work out well with the peeps that are forthcoming. Especially with Otille and Anara.

 

[fuzzies]

I haven't split the Blue pullets out with a Blue cockerel yet, so they're still with Gus. Since I will be using a rotational breeding system wherein Gus is from one 'clan' and the Blue pullets from another, it complicates how those chicks would be placed in that breeding system. Essentially, they're chicks of a combination of two clans instead of from a specific clan. So do I call them chicks of clan A even though they're half clan B as well, or vice versa? Maybe one generation wouldn't make a huge difference for that, but it still muddies the water a bit. The simplest thing would be to sell off those chicks and only keep back chicks from the pullets once they're covered by the proper male. That's my point of view, anyway. And I could use the funds earned from selling the chicks to put toward some coop improvements, or even just toward the monthly chicken feed bill. 🙂

 

[robin416]

I probably shouldn't be managing your flock from the other side of the computer screen. You're the only one that knows what is what and how much you can handle at one time. Sometimes I let my curiosity about things get in the way of what the ultimate goal should be.

 

[fuzzies]

Oh, no, you're fine! Ask away! At minimum, it reminds me to really think things through before doing them.


Wanted to pop in and say I'm setting eggs soon, probably tomorrow! I did set some last week, but fertility is looking bleak in them, so I trimmed their feathers around their vents a few days ago and am trying again with this next batch. 🙏

Also I haven't forgotten the monthly pictures of the youngsters, the weather's just been so cruddy that I haven't been able to get out there and get them. 😩