Making Babies

[thegawd]

Eggggzactly! Haha yeah we're just having fun. There is a proposed standard for the legbars but I haven't really looked at it in a while. It also has nothing to do with the APA I don't think. We didn't start with very many birds so everything was bred. I think we've had them for 4 years now and we just make our selection by obvious defects and weight, these really are not very big birds. One of our roosters doesn't have the right color of chest, but he's Gages bird so I can't really do anything about it until he has another. LOL

Nope none married yet, oldest is 19 but they all have different goals. Thankfully.

[thegawd]

Heres momma out with her 7 chicks. She's a good momma!

[Killerbunny]

I had 3 turkey hens hatch Fri/Sat and my Wellie last wednesday = chaos!

[thegawd]

Well out of the 60 eggs that mostly came out of the fridge, LOL, 26 hatched. At least 20 eggs were not viable and about a dozen didn't hatch or were early quitters.

26 chicks is more than enough for us to handle at a time so its perfect. We're very happy with the results. We also have the broody hens 7 chicks and the chicks from our first hatch that have now been set free.

[Jaye]

So cute! What's your male : female ratio, do you think?

[thegawd]

Thanks Jaye! Most if not all of the chipmunk stripped chicks are pullets. I haven't actually counted males vs females but its around 50/50 which is perfect for us. We will keep 1 new rooster and process the rest. These birds are layers so not much meat on them but nothing goes to waste around here.

Our first hatch is finally roosting at night. It only took 1 training session and the next night, they were all up on a roost. I'll get a pic later if I remember lol.

[Jaye]

Well, 50/50 is better than a ratio favoring the cockerels, for sure. A roosting pic of your first hatch would be great!
Legbars are on my list of favorite breeds, although we've never actually raised any. When they were newly introduced to Canada, we couldn't afford them, and when they came down in price, we were at capacity in the coop. Any time we had room for more chickens, they've been difficult to source in our area. This year we do have two little Bielefelder chicks (another auto-sexing breed), supposedly both girls, in our grow-out pen, though. We had been on a local breeder's list for a half dozen to be picked up in late April/early May, but when the time came, he said he couldn't fill the order because his Bielefelders weren't laying well enough to fill his incubator. I asked if he had any at all to spare, so that's how we wound up with just the two. So far, I'm really liking the breed!

[thegawd]

Bielefelder are next on our list! I haven't searched very hard but I couldn't find any. They are pretty and I really like the auto sexing breeds. Hey I did get a pic! Some of these are rsl legbar crosses.

[Jaye]

Aww! Such a cuddly little group!
I will try to get a pic of our two Bielefelders on my break this morning if they will stand still long enough for me. Being able to go check on everyone during the day is one of the perks of working from home that I really appreciate.

[Happy]

Aww! Such a cuddly little group!
I will try to get a pic of our two Bielefelders on my break this morning if they will stand still long enough for me. Being able to go check on everyone during the day is one of the perks of working from home that I really appreciate.

I would never get anything done!
Chick tv is too entertaining!!!