Photo Update - Pullets and Cockerels Ages 2 - 4.5 months

I took advantage of the day off and lovely weather to sit in the pen and photograph the juveniles from Batch #1 and 2. Included in these are not only the chicks highlighted in the individual updates, but all their hatchmates as well.  From these birds at the time of this post, I have one silver pair available, one red/blue pair available, and a trio of straight Phoenix that consists of the 2 BBR pullets and 1 gold duckwing cockerel. I will be keeping about 10 cockerels to grow out and probably 6-10 pullets.  Aside from these, there are another 30 chicks coming up that are still in the brooder, including 4 more blue splash chicks.

One of the two silver cockerels with long gamey legs. I'm keeping one.

One of the nicest cockerels from the first batch. He's one that I'm keeping to grow out.

They are raiding the treat bag.

One of the younger cockerels from the second batch.

Group busy finding the treats on the ground.

My nicest cockerel who always refuses to pose..and one of the nicer pullets.

They are checking out whether I am distributing anything else tasty.

Blue Silver Cockerel Update

This is the blue silver cockerel that I followed via photos from a chick. He is 4 months old in these photos. He shows less fullness of feather than the blue-red cockerel below, but he does have a great stance and nice long legs. I may keep him as an outcross, as the hen that he came from I culled, as I didn't think she was very nice compared to the BBR's and newer hens.

Four Month Old Cockerel

This is BBRC1, the oldest cockerel from Howl, and out of a BBR Phoenix hen. He is 4 months old and has some very nice feather development, although his feather style is certainly more Phoenix than Howl's is. He is very docile and calm, however, and prefers to just hang out in a separate pen from the other birds.

Batch 2 Update

Time for the 2 week interval photo updates on the second batch of chicks. Two of these chicks are by Howl, and possibly two - but definitely one - are by one of Amanda Stewart's non-molting roosters that are recessive white over black.

First, we'll start with the chick we know is not Howl's, the one with Sumatra-type features. She has black shanks, yellow pads, but a straight comb. She may well be silver birchen and not black, it's hard to tell at this point. She's a huge chick.

BSP1 I really do like the way these pullets grow nice longer tails with hen saddles.

BSP2 Seconds before she launched off to fly back to her pen.

My pretty cockerel refused to face the camera. I want to get a bunch more of these red blue splash birds, I just love the color.

Culling Notes

My grow-out pen simulates as close to free ranging conditions as possible while still containing the birds and protecting them from predators. They are exposed to normal environmental germs and weather (although with shelter, of course) and have plenty of room to fly and scratch. This exposure will tend to reveal birds with poor immune systems within a month or two of being transferred from the brooder, and is an essential part of selecting stock for future generations.

So far, my average is about 10% of birds that I will cull at this stage, either by killing for cases in which I don't believe the bird should breed on for any reason, or by sale for birds I do not want to raise, but might have value for someone else. 

As I mentioned at the early stages of this blog, if I choose to cull any of the birds I've followed for any reason, I would report it here. Spike (BBRC1) was culled this week for unthriftiness. While he showed the best potential out of the straight phoenix birds, he was never one of the most robust chicks - always holding a stiff posture, but never really being sick. After awhile in the grow out pen, he still appeared stiff, but developed lethargy to the point of looking like a chicken-zombie, and not engaging in any normal chicken behaviors other than eating and drinking just enough to keep going. He was removed and quarantined, treated with antibiotics with no improvement, and finally culled.  None of the other birds ever showed similarities; I suspect he was simply a weak bird.

Second Batch Update

Here is the growth update for the newest batch of chicks. These are late December through mid January hatch.

Red Blue-Splash cockerel. I really do love this color. RBSC1

The mystery chick looks a lot like she has some Sumatra in the gene pool. Yellow skin, black shanks, and a dark face. Will be an interesting pullet to use for projects. BP1

This batch is heavy on the pullets, and out of the new hens, there are many more golds and silvers, whereas out of the straight BBR's I hatched strictly dark gold/reds in the last batch. BSP1

BSP2 - Blue silver pullet.

Batch #1 Update

They continue to do well outside, and are now beginning to leave the house and explore. Here are some photos of the first batch of chicks - the only chick not included here is Spike - BBRC1 - he was not inclined to come out of the shelter for photos.  

BRC1 in front, Football (BRH1) right behind him, a BBR Phoenix pullet in back, and another red-blue pullet with a nice tail for her age walking away from the camera. In this batch are chicks hatched from Nov 7th through the beginning of December, so these are from 2-3 months old in this photo.

BSC1 looking up in the rear, along with several other pullets and cockerels from this batch around the water.

Everyone's Out

The first batch are doing well outside - I snapped this photo the other morning as I was feeding. In it are almost all the chicks I was following with photo updates. First, the original photo, then the one with ID marks:

 

Sunday will update the new chick photos, and if the weather is good, I will get conformation photos on all the older chicks as well. 

5 Month Blue Sumatras....All Cockerels

I was positive at least two of my blue Sumatra chicks that hatched at the end of August were pullets...everything about them said pullet, from their build to their complete lack of comb/wattle....but alas, over the past month they both have developed saddles. They are far behind in development from the ones I knew were cockerels, who have had the pointy feathers since they were 8 weeks old, but one even has good sized multiple spur buds, so I fear I am out of luck.

The good part of this is that I have a great variety of cockerels to choose from. I think I have made my pick for number one, but am still undecided on the second cockerel that I will keep. Here's some photos taken last week.

This is the largest cockerel, and he's also the first I chose to cull. He has slightly too much red and growth in his comb and wattles for me. Otherwise, he's pretty nice, with multiple spur buds on both legs.

This is a runner-up.  Nice bare, black face, multiple spur buds...feathering is ok at this point but not great.

This is my favorite cockerel right now. He has excellent feather development and his tail will come down to horizontal as it fills out. His face is very black and minimal.

These are my two "former pullets". They look like they are going to turn out to be nice cockerels, with good contrasting and lacing. I will probably keep one of these two, right now I am favoring the one in the background, strictly on feather quality. They have the same posture and size, although one has bigger legs and more evidence of multiple spurs than the other.

Longtail Chick Update

I will be phasing out the chick updates on the first batch as they move to the grow out pens. I will continue to update them about every 1-2 months, however, for the first year or until a decision is made to cull, at which point I'll do a final photo and reason for cull.

At this point, it is my thought that the Blue-Silver cockerel that we've been following will likely be a cull, but I will wait to see how the other blue silver cockerels turn out. The silvers came from a lesser quality hen than the blue-reds and blue-golds but it's all I really have as far as silver longtails, so I will still keep some of them for now.

I am also starting a new batch of chicks this week to follow, I chose 4 chicks out of the next batch of 15. At this point, I can't tell with certainty about whether I have cockerels or pullets in these, but I am fairly certain the two oldest are pullets.

So this week we have an update on BBRC1 - the BBR Phoenix cockerel, BRC1 - the blue-red cockerel by Howl out of a BBR Phoenix hen, and a blue-red hen that we HAVEN'T been following to show what some of the rest of the younger part of the batch looks like.  BSC1, BRH1, and BRH2 are all doing their first week in the grow out pen outside and they will be updated in another few weeks on a 1-2 month update schedule along with the others we've been normally following.

Here's Spike, BBRC1. I've noticed that I have a sister to him that is showing very comparable tail growth.  I like the green legs for breeding towards Onagadori standards, but in his case I do wish they'd have been slate, as I think he's going to be an awesome representation of a Phoenix...except for that leg color.

BRC1 - And he's still my favorite cockerel personality-wise. He's very docile, and already does a bizarre chick-trill-crowing song in the mornings and evenings when they are fed. He seems to have extra tailfeathers coming in and has new ones that are very very slim like Howl.

This is sister to BRH2, they are very similar.  Football, BRH1, is still shaped like a football, unlike the rest which are becoming longer.

This new batch of chicks are MOSTLY all out of the two new hens from Amanda - all 4 of the ones I am following are. At least 2 of these 4 are by one of Amanda's roosters, not Howl, as they are from eggs the hens laid immediately upon arrival here. I believe this will be a blue-silver pullet. Hatched late December.

Isn't he/she ugly right now? I have no idea what this chick is, the dad was a recessive white non molter over black or silver birchen, and the hen is the blue-red hen pictured on this blog. I'm leaning towards this chick turning out a dark birchen, but we'll see. I do hope it is a pullet.

I believe this is a red blue-splash, but I do not know the gender yet. Hoping for a cockerel here. It is by Howl, out of the blue-red hen.

I think this will be a blue-silver pullet.