What did you do with your flock today?

[ChicksnMore]

I've been playing with the chicken calculator and think I'm finally figuring it out a little. I played around with breeding what genes I think I know for the blue dwarfs and got this for expected babies:

I'm very excited to have learned a little. I was expecting dwarf splashes to be white with black splotches...lol. So little Kirin should be a dwarf splash. It says I should expect to get some pure white hens and some white with red breast hens too, though I haven't yet. I'm sure I'm not getting all the genes right yet...but at least I know what a dwarf splash looks like now I've seen people post pictures of dwarfs that are mostly white with red shoulders in a dwarf site I joined...but no blues. Now I'm wondering about that.

I feel like the guy in this video my kids showed me once..."double rainbows across the sky...what does it mean?"

 

[TropicalBabies]

That does look like a winner! Reminds me of a fish trap!

Amazing job on the bags! I think you definitely could use some helping hands. Any chance the $$ recipients might have some volunteers that could help?

Yeah, I am going to have to figure something out ♡

 

[TropicalBabies]

I've been playing with the chicken calculator and think I'm finally figuring it out a little. I played around with breeding what genes I think I know for the blue dwarfs and got this for expected babies:View attachment 3378673
I'm very excited to have learned a little. I was expecting dwarf splashes to be white with black splotches...lol. So little Kirin should be a dwarf splash. It says I should expect to get some pure white hens and some white with red breast hens too, though I haven't yet. I'm sure I'm not getting all the genes right yet...but at least I know what a dwarf splash looks like now I've seen people post pictures of dwarfs that are mostly white with red shoulders in a dwarf site I joined...but no blues. Now I'm wondering about that.

I feel like the guy in this video my kids showed me once..."double rainbows across the sky...what does it mean?"

That whole thing is super cool. What a great tool

 

[Shetland lover]

Did I tell you guys about poor Bruno, my OD rooster, hurting himself? I was out doing chicken chores and as I neared the gate to the run I found him hanging upside down from the bird netting by one leg I untangled his foot and set him down and re wouldn’t put weight on it and was hiding in the corner…so I brought him inside so he could rest without harassment. I’m hoping he just sprained it and with some time will be back to normal. He’s back outside and roosting and such, but heavily favoring the hurt leg. Poor Little Dude. I swear, being a chicken is hard.

Peggy used to sprain her legs often - and had a few leg breaks too - in the time we had her. She had osteoporosis from being a caged hen and her legs were pretty weak. I used to either bandage or splint her injured leg using a piece of gauze then a small piece of sheet foam, gamgee, or quilt batting, a wooden popsicle stick if it needed a splint and finished up with vetwrap or sports injury tape. It gave her enough support to keep her comfortable and moving around. Maybe you could do the same with Bruno?
I'd give her a once daily dose of either baby aspirin or some meloxaid (depending on what I had) for the first couple of days if she'd badly hurt it.

I had a pet hedgehog who had been trapped upside down in bird netting. He was dangling from one leg much like Bruno. I had to cut him free and it was pretty apparent his leg was dislocated from struggling to free himself. Might be worth checking Bruno for a dislocation injury, just to rule it out. Sure it will be just a sprain though that will resolve in time.

 

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

That whole thing is super cool. What a great tool

It is...i just can't understand a dang thing on it! Glad @ChicksnMore is understanding it!

 

[Shetland lover]

This round my incubator has different age eggs so only 4. Next eggs will hatch around the 25th. The dwarfs are little birds...just a bit bigger then the oegb's and a lot fluffier. Most of them are mottled over black breasted red colors or Millie fluer colors.View attachment 3377750View attachment 3377751View attachment 3377752View attachment 3377753View attachment 3377757View attachment 3377771

I sure hope the Shetlands make it long term. They sound delightful. My friend wanted these guys true breeding and to become a recognized breed. I'm not so sure...I think part of what I love is the diversity. Mainly I worry they'd be bred for looks over all else and end up poor layers. My oegb's lay less than half the number of eggs these guys do and they're not quite as healthy as a breed. If it happens, I hope the breeders remember to breed for the whole chicken package even in the bantam sized.

Gladys sounds like a stunner So does Stan and his relatives . When you describe Stan and families colors ..I wonder if they're lavender rather then blue. Both dilute black to shades of grey. Blue leaves the brown colors alone and doesn't breed true, and lavender dilutes the browns to cream/straw colors and breeds true. The roos show more black then the hens ...take black breasted red...the roos have a black breast and the girls a chocolate, reddish brown colored breast.

I know exactly what you mean re losing the essence of them if they do become a standardised breed. Diversity is a great thing in any population.

The two photos of Alice - the grey bird - show how huge her crest was compared to Gladys ( the black hen). It's not uncommon to see this variation between Shetlands yet I'm

sure it wouldn't be permitted if they were to become a recognised breed for showing. Given the issues in breeding chickens with vaulted skulls together, surely this variation can only be a good thing, as breeding two crested Shetlands together doesn't seem to result in abnormalities as far as I'm aware.

 

[Shetland lover]

This round my incubator has different age eggs so only 4. Next eggs will hatch around the 25th. The dwarfs are little birds...just a bit bigger then the oegb's and a lot fluffier. Most of them are mottled over black breasted red colors or Millie fluer colors.View attachment 3377750View attachment 3377751View attachment 3377752View attachment 3377753View attachment 3377757View attachment 3377771

I sure hope the Shetlands make it long term. They sound delightful. My friend wanted these guys true breeding and to become a recognized breed. I'm not so sure...I think part of what I love is the diversity. Mainly I worry they'd be bred for looks over all else and end up poor layers. My oegb's lay less than half the number of eggs these guys do and they're not quite as healthy as a breed. If it happens, I hope the breeders remember to breed for the whole chicken package even in the bantam sized.

Gladys sounds like a stunner So does Stan and his relatives . When you describe Stan and families colors ..I wonder if they're lavender rather then blue. Both dilute black to shades of grey. Blue leaves the brown colors alone and doesn't breed true, and lavender dilutes the browns to cream/straw colors and breeds true. The roos show more black then the hens ...take black breasted red...the roos have a black breast and the girls a chocolate, reddish brown colored breast.

You're birds are so beautiful! such pretty colours!

There's definitely lavender genes in the boys and Penelope.
Sylv was lavender out of lavender parents with blue in his ancestry as the reverse of his flight feathers was a rich, smoky blue (a dead giveaway apparently). Ferdy is a blue splash. His mom is my blue mottled girl, Clara (We think, Pru actually brooded them with eggs of her own but Clara kept laying eggs under her - the chicken calculator came out as her being the most likely biological parent). Stan looks to be going to be solid blue eventually with rusty red leakage, his mom is my black mottled hen, Pru. The leakage shows well on Ferdy but doesn't show on photos of Stan yet.
I have no idea what the mottled girls have in their ancestry. Colour inheritance is predictable but still interesting -and always capable of throwing up surprises every now and again!
Here's my ragtag mob of bantam cochins:

 

[ChicksnMore]

Peggy used to sprain her legs often - and had a few leg breaks too - in the time we had her. She had osteoporosis from being a caged hen and her legs were pretty weak. I used to either bandage or splint her injured leg using a piece of gauze then a small piece of sheet foam, gamgee, or quilt batting, a wooden popsicle stick if it needed a splint and finished up with vetwrap or sports injury tape. It gave her enough support to keep her comfortable and moving around. Maybe you could do the same with Bruno?
I'd give her a once daily dose of either baby aspirin or some meloxaid (depending on what I had) for the first couple of days if she'd badly hurt it.

I had a pet hedgehog who had been trapped upside down in bird netting. He was dangling from one leg much like Bruno. I had to cut him free and it was pretty apparent his leg was dislocated from struggling to free himself. Might be worth checking Bruno for a dislocation injury, just to rule it out. Sure it will be just a sprain though that will resolve in time.

For broken legs I used nerf bullets as a splint if the birds legs the right size. The nerf bullets come in dif sizes and make won splints.

It is...i just can't understand a dang thing on it! Glad @ChicksnMore is understanding it!

Wait wait wait....who said I understand it? But I do feel like I'm starting to learn something

I know exactly what you mean re losing the essence of them if they do become a standardised breed. Diversity is a great thing in any population. View attachment 3378752

The two photos of Alice - the grey bird - show how huge her crest was compared to Gladys ( the black hen). It's not uncommon to see this variation between Shetlands yet I'mView attachment 3378753 sure it wouldn't be permitted if they were to become a recognised breed for showing. Given the issues in breeding chickens with vaulted skulls together, surely this variation can only be a good thing, as breeding two crested Shetlands together doesn't seem to result in abnormalities as far as I'm aware.
View attachment 3378755

I didn't know vaulted skulls have a breeding problem... do all birds with topknots have vaulted skulls? Such adorable birds

 

[ChicksnMore]

You're birds are so beautiful! such pretty colours!

There's definitely lavender genes in the boys and Penelope.
Sylv was lavender out of lavender parents with blue in his ancestry as the reverse of his flight feathers was a rich, smoky blue (a dead giveaway apparently). Ferdy is a blue splash. His mom is my blue mottled girl, Clara (We think, Pru actually brooded them with eggs of her own but Clara kept laying eggs under her - the chicken calculator came out as her being the most likely biological parent). Stan looks to be going to be solid blue eventually with rusty red leakage, his mom is my black mottled hen, Pru. The leakage shows well on Ferdy but doesn't show on photos of Stan yet.
I have no idea what the mottled girls have in their ancestry. Colour inheritance is predictable but still interesting -and always capable of throwing up surprises every now and again!
Here's my ragtag mob of bantam cochins:
View attachment 3378792View attachment 3378795View attachment 3378796View attachment 3378797View attachment 3378798View attachment 3378799

Gorgeous fluffy butts! I especially love that splash hen with the cocky comb

 

[FrankieDoodle]

Favorite things. Pullets checking out (and probably tossing) the nest boxes. View attachment 3373607
Yesterday they tossed the mini coops boxes lol.
Don't think the blonde or dark EE have laid yet or if they did it is hidden.
Think today I will clean and add nesting material to the unused boxes

I love those natural perches! How do you think they compare to more "standard" perches? Do you think your birds like them more?