Patridge bantam chicken poorly foot?

[Tamsin]

You could have brought them back for me Clare - I could find them a nice pot........ sorry, home!

 

[Lesley]

You naughty lady!

 

Now I know I'm getting old

[theherd123]

You are as old as the person you are feeling!

 

Old shmold, who cares any how! Some days i feel 90 others 19!

[Mel (& Paul)]

[buffie]

Welcome back Clare and i'd have had a couple... Perhaps I need to wait abit and leave additions until spring. Had enough stresses here. Hard to resist though so well done you

 

Our Devon 'chicks' and now about 16 weeks old ( I think), voices are breaking and everything

 

Have to search for your new pics now

 

BBxx

[buffie]

It's lovely to see them outside Clare - I'll be glad when mine can go out on the grass instead of a cardboard box.

 

Herbert is looking very well - more corn required I think

 

I am giving them Indigo Wheat (with some sunflower seeds) as a treat like I do for the other chooks - it's got loads of protein, but less fat than corn, I get it from Wiggly Wigglers. I find that it gives them better condition than just corn, but in the winter, I mix in a bit of corn too for the energy they need to keep warm. Every once in a while they also get a handful of Omega seeds.

 

Spoilt chooks!

 

Hey Lesley how about letting him off as the festive season approaches. I'd get too attached Clare and be hanging onto lesleys Legs to stop her

 

BBx

[Lesley]

Hey Lesley how about letting him off as the festive season approaches. I'd get too attached Clare and be hanging onto lesleys Legs to stop her

 

BBx

 

Let him off for the festive season?????? - surely that's what he's for??

 

We are woken now by 3 cockerels

[Mel (& Paul)]

lucky lucky you....................

[The Dogmother]

Oooo, I don't think my neighbours would like that - try earplugs Lesley.

 

The chicks have grown loads while we were away, especially the barnies. Will try to get some photos loaded tonight.

[Lesley]

Please post photos Clare - ours have just started feathering differently. We appear to have three of one kind and one of the other - probably 3 cockerels

[The Dogmother]

Sorry lesley - didn't get time to download and resize them last night, will do it this evening though.

 

I'd be interested to see the difference between the two sorts you have though. My two barnies have slightly different colouring and the lighter one has little cream tips on the wing feathers, which the other doesn't have.

[Jools]

We are woken now by 3 cockerels

 

I know what that feels like - we've got five at the moment. Not for much longer though!!

[The Dogmother]

Well, here's the promised set of pictures. Sorry it's taken me so long; I just haven't had the time at home to download and re-size them

 

We got back from along weekend away to find that the Barnie chicks have put on a growth spurt and have really grown. Their markings are a lot more pronounced now and their botty fluff is being replaced by darker fluff.

 

I gave them a bowl of shopped up tomatoes and they went mad for them - you should see the state of their run - they are real teenagers now and have been pulling the straw out of the Rablu into the run

 

What a total mess!

 

The Barnies with Herbert - you can see the size and shape difference

 

You can see the Barnie markings quite clearly here

 

 

The back of one of the Barnie chicks

 

The little Barnie chicks both look like girls - what do you think Lesley?

[Aunty e]

Aren't they CUTE!!!!!! Want more chicks mutter mutter.

 

Apologies for a hijack, but does anyone have an opinion as to what Chick is? I think it's a boy looking at the comb (Chick is eight weeks or so old)

 

 

 

[Lesley]

I think Chick looks like a hen, Aunty - but then I'm totally confused..............

 

I'm even more confused by our chicks now - I'll try to take some photos later, but I moved them out to the spare Eglu yesterday - and they haven't been seen since

[The Dogmother]

Oh dear Lesley - what's happened - have they done a total bunk, or are they just hiding inside?

 

Auntye - I'm no expert - try posting photos on the pekinbantams.com forum - there are plenty of experts there. We provisionally used a theory that Lesley had read somewhere; on wing feather shape. If the primary flight feathers are all the same size or smaller than the other wing feathers, then it's male. If there is a step in the feather size, with the primary feathers being longer, then it's a female. Other people can tell by the neck feathers..... Myself, I reckon that it's a bit of a lottery until they are about 5 weeks old....

[Lesley]

Mine are 5 weeks old

[Lesley]

Hijacking your thread Clare, but here is a photo of ours for comparison.....

 

 

They are slowly venturing out of the Eglu. I put them outside in the Eglu yesterday afternoon as it was such a nice day. I hung the water and feed things at the door end of the run to entice them out. Then I was awake most of the night worrying because I suddenly realised that they hadn't come out of the Eglu at all and wouldn't have had food or water. We were out at first light to check on them and they were fine. One came out and so we decided to leave them as they were. An hour later they were drinking.

[Trish]

They are sooo cute when they are at this inbetween stage. So scruffy but soo cute, ta for the pictures all

[theherd123]

Birlliant pictures folks!!

 

They remind me of young teenagers at that gangly stage!

[The Dogmother]

Mine both look like the one on the left Lesley, although one of my chicks is darker and bigger than the other. It will be interesting to see what they turn out like.

[chocchick]

The one on the right (Lesley's) definately looks different to the other two. Wonder what sex it is......?!

"chick" is cute as is the ever expanding Herbert who's dwarfing the others now

 

I've been reading my book. Is it primary feathers you are looking at-longer than the other wing feathers in pullet, same/shorter in cockeral? The book seems to be doing this for very young chicks under 3-4 weeks with fluff and feather stumps and a ruler rather than the real wings feathers in your pictures.

The tail feathers of pullet are supposed to grow faster too at 3-4 weeks.

the professional way is to look at the vent apparently a professional sexer requires at least a year's experience to get some accuracy

Aren't the neck feathers between head and back supposed to be rounded in one and more pointed in the other sex?

[The Dogmother]

Cockerels are supposed to have more pointed neck feathers, but some of my hens have pointy neck feathers, so without a boy to compare with, I'm not sure on that one.

[SeramaSilly]

All sooo cute!!! All the barnies are so pretty! Herbert is like a big teddy bear (bit like Biscuit and George Clare)! Aunty E - do you know yet what kind of breed Chick might be?

 

Sophie

x

[Lesley]

The one on the right (Lesley's) definately looks different to the other two. Wonder what sex it is......?!

"chick" is cute as is the ever expanding Herbert who's dwarfing the others now

 

I've been reading my book. Is it primary feathers you are looking at-longer than the other wing feathers in pullet, same/shorter in cockeral? The book seems to be doing this for very young chicks under 3-4 weeks with fluff and feather stumps and a ruler rather than the real wings feathers in your pictures.

The tail feathers of pullet are supposed to grow faster too at 3-4 weeks.

the professional way is to look at the vent apparently a professional sexer requires at least a year's experience to get some accuracy

Aren't the neck feathers between head and back supposed to be rounded in one and more pointed in the other sex?

 

That sounds like the book I'm using. We did check the wings at around 3/4 weeks. We have 3 like the one on the right in my photo and the 1 on the left.