Broooody!!!!! and Some french sounding chickens

[Bramble-Poultry]

Yipee - well done you, fingers crossed

[walldanzig]

there will be pictures once hatched just hope I don't get too many cockerals

[Bramble-Poultry]

well they are easy to sex when the hatch. if you do get some cockerels, give us a shout as we will always have millie cockerels to bring in some new blood lines.

Our daughter is intending to show some this year and already has two trained up to sit in your hand!

For future note, the millefleurs are not huge egg layers, probably around 150 a year in their first year, smallish light brown, but when the girls are on lay (usually around may/jun they come thick and fast!

there are developments on the barbu d'uccle - you can get columbian, pure black, pure white and lavender. I fancy having a go at some new colours as well. see if i can get a chocolate one, what do you think???

[Nicos]

Bramble- just a thought...if there are any breeders near me I'd happily collect some fertile eggs and pass them over to you on a trip up to Cheshire. That is if you want completely different blood stock!
( I know different countries expect different points for Marans- is that the same with yours???)

Well done walldanzig on getting the eggs- I'm really excited for you! Hopefully I'll be doing exactly the same with some Marans eggs in the next few weeks!!!
How many eggs did you get?

[walldanzig]

Thanks Nicos I got 6. Bramble if I get more than one cockeral theyr'e yours I have no problem with cockerals it's just I have four already.

[tlck9]

this cockerill thing is my worry if I ever decided to do this, I dont actually want or need cockerills, can you usually rehome them pretty quickly?

[walldanzig]

I rehomed one that was on here. I kept a couple of the others and fattened the others up for the table.

[MaureenHall]

this cockerill thing is my worry if I ever decided to do this, I dont actually want or need cockerills, can you usually rehome them pretty quickly?

Unfortunately cockerels aren't always that easy to re-home Unless you're prepared to "do the deed" (or get someone else to do it for you) spare boys will become a problem. I wish there was a way of incubating to make sure that the majority were girls - maybe there is, but I don't know the answer yet

[RichmondHens]

It's a "nuisance" of nature that hatches are generally predominantly male, yet while you can keep large groups of hens together, you cannot do the same with cocks. The maximum number of mature cocks I have together (with hens) is 3. Younger cocks can be kept together in larger numbers in a fattening enclosure but by the time they are ready for the table (5-6 months) the bickering has started and there's always a certain degree of fighting and the smaller ones get chased about alot.

There are many theories on what may affect the sex of the chick - weather conditions, temperature etc, but my hatches have almost always been at least 50% male, often much higher.

[frias]

I got 75% male and although pure Welsummer and very very beautiful, they were impossible to rehome.

[Hilary B]

It's a "nuisance" of nature that hatches are generally predominantly male, yet while you can keep large groups of hens together, you cannot do the same with cocks. The maximum number of mature cocks I have together (with hens) is 3. Younger cocks can be kept together in larger numbers in a fattening enclosure but by the time they are ready for the table (5-6 months) the bickering has started and there's always a certain degree of fighting and the smaller ones get chased about alot.

There are many theories on what may affect the sex of the chick - weather conditions, temperature etc, but my hatches have almost always been at least 50% male, often much higher.

I found a similar sex-distribution problem with goats... until I had a billy permanently on the premises. After that I was getting slightly more than 50% female kids, whereas when they went to the billy 'on the day' it was at least 70% male.
I wonder whether nature has an idea of 'ideal distribution' and if there are more females per male than this, finds a way of producing more males. With the goats I have a strong suspicion it is that only when the billy is always around do the nannies get 'covered' at the ideal time. If it is a bit late (because she has to be taken to see him when she seems ready) something in her metabolism increases the likelihood of male kids.

[Nicos]

3 clutches ...7 lads:4 lasses - from 4 gals and 2 cockerels....so mine don't seem to fit in with that theory

[walldanzig]

here we go folks one set of eggs which are now sat under a broody. 21 days and counting.

[Bramble-Poultry]

Heres hoping!!!

[walldanzig]

just been up to see the chickens it's day 21 and I can hear cheeping