Alternative Chicken In A Box

[dinosaw]

Yesterdays hatch, they already look like troublemakers.

 

[foxy]

Lovely healthy chicks! What breed are they? 08 08

 

[dinosaw]

Thanks Foxy . A bit of a mixed bag as there has been a bit of experimenting on my part here which I know isn't everyones cup of tea. They are all from my Faverolle boy, 4 are Welsummer crosses 4 are Goldline and 8 are White Star. My aim really is too see if I can produce some productive hybrids which lay over winter. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of shared gentics in the breeds and even if there is a substantial drop in production compared to the orignal hybrids the White Star and Goldline crosses should still be pretty good layers. Obviously will be next year before I find out. The Welsummers went in to fill up the incubator if I'm honest and just happened to have a 100% hatch rate!, but as far as I know their only genetic link with Faverolles is via the Cochin so it will be interesting to see how they turn out.

 

[ncotb]

Aww! so cute, look forward to seeing how they look as adults.

 

[dinosaw]

I will try to remember to post up more photos of them as they grow, have a mind like a sieve at the moment. They certainly aren't camera shy, when I cleaned out the brooder today I put the camera at chick level and they charged it.

 

[foxy]

Lovely photos, recognize the fluffy cheeks of a few of your faverolles in there!

 

[BabyBantam]

They are soooo adorable and the camera angle is fantastic.

 

[dinosaw]

Thanks for all the lovely comments!. They are now ten days old and feathering up quite nicely, in the picture of them scrumming down to feed the four welsummer crosses are the most obvious, they are the darker birds, fairly sure that 3 of them are girls though I have been known to get sexing badly wrong in the past . The golden headed chicks are the goldline x and the lighter ones white star x. They pretty much all have little beards and fluffy legs like their dad but only five of them have the Faverolle five toes split between the white star and goldlines. Really pleased with them (as you can probably tell :lol: ) as they are full of beans unlike my last hatch who were a timid bunch.

 

[Marigold]

These eye-level photos you are taking are fantastic, Dinosaw They would make lovely birthday or Easter cards.

 

[foxy]

They are beautiful, I can see the cute fat cheeks of the faverolles crosses in there!

 

[dinosaw]

That's a really good idea Marigold 17 , will have to get some photo paper in.

 

[animartco]

Oh Dinosaur they are lovely chicks. and it'll be fascinating for us to see how thy tuen out. But ar you not breeding any pure faverolles? I absolutely loved the photos when you first got them. Was so tempted to get some myself. I hope you get a hybrid strain that's just as beautiful.

 

[dinosaw]

The chicks are 4 weeks old now and have gone outside which they are absolutely loving, they are flying around so much that at times it resembles an aviary in their run. First night they predictably needed some ahem 'encouragement' to go into the house to roost but second night was delighted to see them go in by themselves a process that took weeks with my last lot of chicks. Starting to get an idea of the split sex wise which is looking to be 50/50 so 8 girls hopefully though I will need to grow them on for a few weeks yet to be sure.

 

[Marigold]

They look a very happy, healthy bunch, Dinosaw. They are so sweet when still retaining a bit of chick fluff whilst trying to look grown up in their new feathers!

 

[animartco]

Hi Dinosaw. I agree about the eye level photos. I've tried lying down in the grass but it doesn't seem to work, and I get awfully wet. Presumably you can lift them to eye level. Wish I could. Lovely healthy lookng chicks and should have lots of hybrid vigour.

 

[dinosaw]

Here are some photos of the chickens taken at 14 weeks, they are coming along quite nicely and are a lively little lot.

 

[chrismahon]

They look a really healthy and happy bunch Dinosaw. You do take some fantastic photos, without a doubt.

 

[dinosaw]

Thanks chris, would also like to say thankyou for a post you made a couple of years back with regards to feeding yoghurt to birds suffering from cocciodisis. The bird on the right hand side of the last photo, Phoenix, came down with it at 8 weeks, she had obviously hidden it well as by the time she was showing sick chicken posture she was already pooing lots of blood, we had no coxoid in stock and it was a Saturday afternoon and so we were unlikely to be able to get any till Monday at the earliest, I searched the forum and found your post about feeding yoghurt and while she wouldn't touch anything else all we needed to do was dip her beak in a little yoghurt and she was lapping it up, we also mixed sugar into her water for a few extra calories. I think that and a huge will to live pulled little Phoenix through, for 3 days she passed so much blood that I thought she had to be a goner but at the end of the three days she had started to chirp again and was soon wanting out of isolation, though it took her a long time to fully recover her strength and she seemed tiny in comparison with her friends who had remained healthy she is now doing fine and seems nowhere near as stunted as I would have expected.

 

[chrismahon]

Very pleased it helped Dinosaw. Stories like that make writing all these posts worthwhile. Lucy Legbar had her crop filled by syringe as she was too weak to eat herself. She died in the nestbox a few weeks ago, a very happy hen to the end, at the ripe old age of 6 and a half! Having survived two weeks of blindness after being attacked by a hunting dog and the subsequent internal infection, she started laying again. In fact she was so happy she laid more in her last few months than she ever did in the same period at any previous time.

 

[dinosaw]

Sorry to hear that Chris, but good to hear she died happy and very good that she lived so long, hope that Phoenix can emulate her