Chicken bald back

[Chook n Boo Mum]

After all my boy tribulations over the past few weeks, I now have another.............Berry is rather well-endowed and colourful in the headgear department compared to the other babies in the Nursery

 

After a couple of phonecalls, I took Berry back to the breeder yesterday.....taking Holly , Oak & Lavender along for the ride, as you do .....after 10 min of looking at her/him, fiddling with feathers, looking at Holly, fiddling with feathers, back to Berry, more feather fiddling she said........"I am flummoxed, the head gear says boy but the feathers don't say boy or girl particularly" ....their brother from the same brood has beautiful boy feathers from his saddle already but little headwear....

 

I'm going to leave her/him another 2 weeks or so & take her/him back again........if Berry is a boy she'll either take him back & neck him or I can keep him & do what I choose with him, and I can either have my money back or have a replacement hen (with another purchased so I don't have to intro a single ) from the batch of lovely little 3 wk old furballs under the heatlamp at the mo, ready in January................. Oh the joys

 

Apparently she's not the only breeder having problems with sexing this year...............

 

Sha x

Edited December 9, 2009 by Guest

[Janty]

Tell me about it

 

[Chook n Boo Mum]

Just call me the South Coast Janty

 

Sha x

[Snowy]

Must be something in the water! I spotted a cockerel in the pen of maran cuivres at Merrydale the other week! Didn't think there would've been a problem sexing them

[mostin]

Oh dear , fingers crossed for you.

[Patricia W]

As Snowy says, it must be something in the water this year! I took my three suspected boy Polands back to the breeder yesterday - 2 hours drive away. One is crowing so no doubt there, so he stayed. I thought that the other two were boys from the fact that they were both standing up to the definite boy and I thought their feathers were more pointed then round etc etc. Basically, I became insecure and began to think of them as boys.

 

Anyway, she has convinced me that the remaining two ARE girls - which I desperately want to believe! So they came home again after 20 mins in one of her spare pens, getting a drink, a nibble and stretching their legs. Nothing like driving chickens round the countryside for 4 hours on a Saturday!

 

Telltale signs of their gender I was told, for anyone with bearded Polands includes

 

- males have a reddening around the beak ( top and sides) which females don't

- their tiny tiny wattles are visible if you part the fur and redder than the female

- the saddle feathers are more pointed ( I wasn't looking at the right feathers!)

- the back feathers have more of a sheen to them and they feel silkier whilst the females feel soft

- the head feathers on the male being to grow long at the back whilst the females remain as a pom pom shape

- their legs are stronger and thicker.

 

So, we'll now just wait and see............

 

Tricia

[Chook n Boo Mum]

I'm now totally convinced that Berry is a he.......so I've contacted the breeder & am going to take him back for another look tomorrow.

 

When I last spoke to her she admitted that as she was fully aware at the beginning that I wanted hens, she'd have him back & "neck him" as he couldn't be reintroduced to her flock, and either refund me my money or give me another hen in his place.......I'm certain she said as a further option I could keep him as he was no use to her and still have the replace/refund...........now she's replied to my email saying she needs him back to replace/refund & the only hen she has there suitable is a black Orpington

 

As I explained to her I can't go down the replace route at the mo as I have no spare housing suitable for intros due to the Rockies arriving unexpectedly last week , but I really don't want to think of Berry being culled for no good reason.

 

Maybe I'm just being overly sentimental.......or last year's crabapple brandy is having an unwanted effect, delicious as it is

 

What would you do, ladies & gents of Omletville.....and stepping away from the brandy bottle is not an option at the mo

 

Sha x

[Plum]

Knowing how hard it must be to take him back knowing his fate, I would rehome him elsewhere if you can. But only because I couldn't keep chickens for eating so not best person to reply to you. Lots of people do eat their cockerals but I think you need some more brandy before deciding.

 

She needs to give you a refund anyway on what she said before. I don't suppose you have a witness.

[Chook n Boo Mum]

Only the chooks & her hubby who probably wouldn't admit to hearing her say it either

 

Before I put the eggs under Buffie which resulted in 2 cockerels and a hen, I was adamant that I'd find a way to dispatch and eat any boys......yeah, right......one has gone to live with a friend and his own harem, and Yellow Legs is still wandering around my garden with his sister, both of them are terrified of the hybrid big girls but happy with the Orpies, one of whom is of course "mum"

 

I wouldn't have thought dispatching a diddy Pekin for the table had any great value either...........

 

Sha x

[Plum]

No what a waste but would someone want a pekin cockeral must be worth a try.

[Space Chick]

What a hard dilemma Sha.

 

I agree with Plum though, someone must want a Pekin Cockerel

[sjp]

Must be something in the water! I spotted a cockerel in the pen of maran cuivres at Merrydale the other week! Didn't think there would've been a problem sexing them

from what i gather hybrid cockerals are not that uncommon. the place I got mine from has at least 3 on they're list at the moment from 3 differant hybrid types

I think it's because they're sex linked not autosexing

[Janty]

Just call me the South Coast Janty

 

Sha x

 

Just seen this.

 

[Chook n Boo Mum]

I know how you were feeling with your cockerel tribulations Jan, not pleasant at all Did your breeder take them back & keep them or dispatch them? At least I know Copper & Clover went back to the same mad woman they came from & will live out their natural lives with her & her many creatures Berry appears to have a death sentence hanging over him..........

 

Sha x

[Janty]

My original two brahma cockerels are breeding merrily at a local farm with similar sized girlies so a happy ending there!

 

 

My rescued chick from the lorry crash that turned out to be a cockerel is living in Norfolk with six ex-batts.

 

 

I re-homed a chicken that we called Shelley and after he turned out to be a cockerel we re-homed him again and he is living somewhere near Norwich with a group of girlies.

 

 

The three Shanklies all went back to the breeder to go into the pot.

 

 

He/She, my ex-batt who embraced a lesbian lifestyle after growing spurs, a huge comb and massive wattles is crowing and enjoying life with four ISA browns at my in-laws. She has abandoned egg laying in favour of other pursuits.

 

 

 

The curse of Janty has struck again. At five weeks old, I have three pekin cockerels but not to despair...I have found homes for two of them so no despatching here just yet.

 

 

I would like to apologise at this point to all the cockerels that I have probably missed out. I think I've covered them all but it feels like there were many more!

[Chicken Shirl]

I have just seen this. Oh dear, I am so sorry Sha. What an awful dilemma for you again. You poor girl We need a piece of land to put all the excess cockerels in, I have the very place, but it's over here. I hope you can place him, I can't bear the thought of them being culled. {{{HUGS}}} HUGE ONESxxx

[Chook n Boo Mum]

Thank you Shirley, I needed that hug..........I've had an email back from her...policy is refund/replace when bird is returned...............fine, but I must have misunderstood at our last meeting mustn't I ...and what a waste of a young healthy life.

 

When I was there last time, she said she could sex them at a few days old..... there was a batch of new-hatches under her lamp......why not sort them & cull them at that stage if she's going to have problems later on & have boys left over with nowhere to go.........it's not as if Pekins are a good bet for the pot...much more feather than meat

 

Sorry rant over, I just need to decide what to do with him, I'll try & get a photo of him posted later............camera memory stick is full again !!!

 

Moral of the story Sha is don't buy young birds.....POL is much safer!!!

 

Sha x

[Chicken Shirl]

I'd bring him over here if I could. xx....... We have 43000 square meters of land further up the mountain doing nothing. We are seriously thinking that when David retires we will do some ex batt rescue. We have seen from the camel park near to us, that is possible for cockerels to live together, so would do some saving of those poor little fellows as well....Thinking of you.xxx

[skye]

Really sorry to hear about Berry Sha. How disappointing for you, and upsetting that the breeder has gone back on her word... no matter what she's now claiming it says 'in writing'

 

skye x

[Chook n Boo Mum]

Well I think we all know what the outcome of this is going to be don't we ............Berry is going to either stay here or find another "forever home" with some girlies of his own

 

Holly, Berry, Oak & Lavender have just returned from another visit to the local hospice to see the day patients.........the chooks are all exhausted with all the chatter & have had their egos boosted no end, they are much loved little feather balls there....especially Berry who was beautifully behaved & sat on my arm for ages....I think they've been adopted as mascots in the day hospice

 

Sha x

[Falkor]

I thought as much!

 

Any piccys of the little man in question?

[Chook n Boo Mum]

Once I've sorted my memory stick on the camera I'll get one posted

 

You didn't think I could really go any other way did you

 

Sha x

[Falkor]

Once I've sorted my memory stick on the camera I'll get one posted

 

You didn't think I could really go any other way did you

 

Sha x

 

Nope, I didn`t think so but you had to process it all before you finally decided.

 

I am sure he will be a quiet little chap and sleep in until 8am every morning!

[Chook n Boo Mum]

mmmmm what's that low-flying pink thing just gone over the garden !!!

 

Both my boys are lovely at the mo........I bet it won't last though

 

Sha x

[The Dogmother]

mmmmm what's that low-flying pink thing just gone over the garden !!!

 

It's the one in my signature! Popular here at work too

 

Once spring comes, he may get a bit more *ermmm* 'talkative'