I usually lock the poults up either in a brooder or a reliable broody before letting them join the flock. Broodies get minimum 2 weeks, brooder poults get 2 months, usually.
No, definitely not pairs. They pretty much go where they want. Theres about 20ish hens and 5 toms, to build a pen they would be happy with costs a lot.
We can be difficult to find, everyone wants the black coppers! I can’t tell you how many times I've had to clarify that I've no copper, only silver, marans. Half of the respondents assume black copper is the only color aside from cuckoo!
The barred males have a big white spot on their heads, the females will be solid colored. In chickens, the barred genetics are on the male allele, but not on the shortened female allele, so the female legbars will only have one barring gene. They can only pass this on to their sons, and not...