Boy vs Girls 2018.
Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2018 3:02 pm
Sooo? How did the hatches go regarding boys vs Girls? I didn't want to say it... I didn't want to jinx myself but I finished hatching in June and this was year of the hen for me!!!! In fact even though I sold many groups of little hens this year, my numbers are almost even, with 15 hen chicks and 17 rooster chicks left. I also sold some rooster chicks but certainly no where near as many as the little hens. I don't mind keeping the roosters now that I know how to quickly turn them into stew.
I separated them and it's interesting to see the difference. The boys drink a lot more water, they also make their water dirty by the end of the day, they are also much better to eat and clean everything up. They squabble a lot more, they perched on the roosts much younger and as high as they could get. However they are more active and weary of me, they are quicker to become panicked but also quicker to take cover.
The girls are much calmer, were much easier to mix different ages together, within 24 hours they were a united flock of 4 to 7 week olds. They never dirty their water, they eat a lot less however they waste a lot, I kept raising the feeder because they love scooping feed out. Unlike the boys, once it touches the floor, that's it, there is no way they are eating anything off the floor. It took about a week extra before all hens would sleep up on the perches. Fighting or squabbling doesn't happen.
My only complaint about hatching this year is one bantam hen is half standard ameraucana and she lays a nice size egg, her chicks are a good size as well. The first ones I hatched were roosters, so near the end of the hatching season I hatched a bunch of chicks off her, all roosters except one lol but I can't complain because most others were hens.
I separated them and it's interesting to see the difference. The boys drink a lot more water, they also make their water dirty by the end of the day, they are also much better to eat and clean everything up. They squabble a lot more, they perched on the roosts much younger and as high as they could get. However they are more active and weary of me, they are quicker to become panicked but also quicker to take cover.
The girls are much calmer, were much easier to mix different ages together, within 24 hours they were a united flock of 4 to 7 week olds. They never dirty their water, they eat a lot less however they waste a lot, I kept raising the feeder because they love scooping feed out. Unlike the boys, once it touches the floor, that's it, there is no way they are eating anything off the floor. It took about a week extra before all hens would sleep up on the perches. Fighting or squabbling doesn't happen.
My only complaint about hatching this year is one bantam hen is half standard ameraucana and she lays a nice size egg, her chicks are a good size as well. The first ones I hatched were roosters, so near the end of the hatching season I hatched a bunch of chicks off her, all roosters except one lol but I can't complain because most others were hens.
Those turkeys don't count though, because they probably won't be staying 
