Smart Feeder - Light sensor values

[Chook n Boo Mum]

OK having sent Clover back to his breeder & he didn't even look back ungrateful little tinker I am now having doubts about Copper..................perhaps you'd be kind enough to cast a set of eyes over these pics & let me know your thoughts....................

 

 

and just for good measure here's Jasmine...........

 

 

is she a she or not

 

If they are boys, I shall be taking them all back & not having any more from her, sweet as she is

 

Sha x

Edited October 28, 2009 by Guest

[abwsco]

Sweeping tail feathers shout out to me again Sha

[Chook n Boo Mum]

Thank you, I was hoping not....how blind can a girl be when she really doesn't want to see something..............very , how about Jasmine, I think she actually could be a girl

 

This is Copper & Clover squaring up to each other a few weeks ago, having watched my Lt Sussex boys this seems to be a fairly boyish activity

 

 

Sha x

[abwsco]

Jasmine looks like a girl to me. BTW my girls sometimes square up. Meant to ask how old are they?

[Jools]

Copper is a boy and Jasmine a girl.

 

I wouldn't bother doing the lottery with the luck you've had with chickens!!

[Slim]

I would say girl

[Redwing]

I came to the same conclusion as Jools

[Chook n Boo Mum]

They are about 19 weeks old now Anne....if Copper is a boy I'm seriously considering taking them all back to the breeder, the newbies included and just writing them off to experience, they weren't an expensive purchase financially...unless you count the which they are all living in ...... but emotionally they are now

 

Blossom, who they were purchased to keep company, will either have to live on her own for a while until the babies are big enough (13 weeks old), or maybe shack up with the Bufflings also 13 weeks but enormous by comparison

 

Sha x

[Chook n Boo Mum]

I love the support you can count on on here Well maybe the lottery would be the turning point

 

Sha x

[abwsco]

Good luck whatever you decide to do Sha.

[Patricia W]

Wild Mum - you're not alone. I have this horrible feeling that 3 out of the 6 Poland " girls" I just bought are cockerels. One just crowed and I'm seeing sweeping tail feathers.....

 

And the breeder won't take them back and change them. She'll have them back but doesn't do exchanges. Must have seen me coming.... Oh well, I may be wrong......

 

Tricia

[Chook n Boo Mum]

The trouble is I tend to get slightly "tunnel-visioned"........ I concentrate on a perceived problem (Clover), then once that's solved (swapped) I notice something else which has been staring me in the face (Copper).........by which time I have two other potential problems on my hands too with the newbies .............DH has just popped past & thrown in " perhaps buying them so young is a bad move".......you don't say

 

Sha x

[abwsco]

Must admit it never entered my head when we got 12 weeks old last year that we could have had cockerels. However, they were bought from a big breeder so I just assumed they'd be able to tell very early on. We could have bought an Orp instead of one of the others we got in January but the breeder said they were difficult to sex. She would have swapped though. Can't believe your breeder will not swap Tricia

[Chook n Boo Mum]

Aaaargggh I think the little ones came with extra baggage.......I felt thoroughly itchy & rather than just rub one itch away once I realised, I went upstairs to inspect in a mirror only to find a pesky louse walking up my chest ........I whipped out to check the newbies who are of course plastered in red mite powder, but couldn't see anything obvious, not a huge surprise given the lack of strength in the torch , & having had them in the with the pekins they'll have shared anyway, so I'll treat everybody in the morning & blast that house to within an inch of it's life............DS & have just had the hottest showers we could manage & our clothes are in a 60deg wash, including my favourite little black jacket which will probably fit DS by the time it's done...........he's not complaining

 

I've poultry shielded the wicker cat basket I collected them in & left it outside to dry

 

Anyone want a share in my luck today .........no ............... thought not

 

Sha x

[Falkor]

Copper def looks like a little chap... for putting a spanner in the works.....

 

Jasmine looks girly though!

 

How about some profile, side and back pics of the newbies and we could cast doubt on those too! Meant cast our expert (well some of us ) eye over them.

 

xx

[Chook n Boo Mum]

Don't worry Em, you only said what I suspected & didn't want to admit

 

I now need to get to the "take the whole lot back" phone call.... will my luck never run out

 

Ok girls & boys, decision time..... Jasmine is the most nervous chook I've ever come across....do I keep her as the Omlet Collective Oracle has spoken on her gender & she will keep Blossie company until the babies are big enough to integrate & master the cube, or take her back and have her bothered by the multiple cockerels at the breeders (most of which she's liable to be related to anyway ) and become thoroughly miserable... though I won't ever be there to witness it

..........and having got the newbies in place of Clover do I keep them or take them back too, the maran x was taken from her mum ( one tiny black pekin with 23 multi-sized bitzas ) to come home with me, though she's 11 weeks old so plenty old enough to leave her & she cried pitifully all the way home, then again at bedtime, they are both smothered in red mite powder too........hindsight is a terrible burden

 

All words of advice are very welcome.....even if I don't want to hear them

 

Sha x

[Jools]

Nope, definitely give the lottery a miss for a week or two!!!!

 

Seriously, if someone is experienced with a breed, they should be able to sex reasonably accurately from a fairly early age, though it will of course differ breed by breed. I've got all of mine right this year (Silver Sussex bantams and some FCB Marans x RIR crosses) from around the 2-3 week mark, so it can't be that difficult. I think you either need to find another breeder, or maybe take someone with you.

 

Was it the same breeder that sold you your newbies with passengers?

[Chook n Boo Mum]

Yup they were the replacement for Clover.............. trouble is I think her lot are such a mish mash of breeds that they are difficult to tell.......I know I'm making excuses for her......... I'm sure she'll take them all back & I'll just keep Jasmine.

 

I've never had such young birds so I tend to trust other people's judgement............won't be doing that any more....and perhaps I stick with POL ...and adopt the dunking routine for any featherball daft enough to consider broodiness

 

Sha x

[Chicken Shirl]

I came to the same conclusion as Jools

 

Me too. Sorry Sha.x

[Chook n Boo Mum]

This morning I went out to let everyone out...the pekins were picking on the baby maran x, the mini Jasmine was as far away from the others as she could possible get........and lo & behold a deep throated (by bantam standards at least ) attempt at a crow coming from Copper .... I'd heard it yesterday for the first time as we basketed Clover but couldn't pinpoint the beak it came from.......now I of course can pinpoint it with total accuracy

 

I rang the breeder at 8.01, feeling that was a fairly reasonable hour for a weekday morning & left a message on her answerphone saying that I need to bring Copper back and I will also be bringing the babies back as I can't got through getting attached again & having to bring them back in 6 weeks time..............I await her response

 

Sha x

[Chicken Shirl]

This morning I went out to let everyone out...the pekins were picking on the baby maran x, the mini Jasmine was as far away from the others as she could possible get........and lo & behold a deep throated (by bantam standards at least ) attempt at a crow coming from Copper .... I'd heard it yesterday for the first time as we basketed Clover but couldn't pinpoint the beak it came from.......now I of course can pinpoint it with total accuracy

 

I rang the breeder at 8.01, feeling that was a fairly reasonable hour for a weekday morning & left a message on her answerphone saying that I need to bring Copper back and I will also be bringing the babies back as I can't got through getting attached again & having to bring them back in 6 weeks time..............I await her response

 

Sha x

 

Oh Sha, I do feel for you. {Hugs}x

[Falkor]

Oh sha

[cluckingmad]

Oh Sha, what a shame *hugs*

 

Any word back from the breeder?

[Egluntyne]

I agree, Copper is a boy and Jasmine a girl. Sorry.

[Cooks]

sorry to hear this Sha xx