WitchHazel Posted June 2, 2010 Share Posted June 2, 2010 Our second hatch this year are now 5 weeks old. They've been going out (on warm days) during the day for the past couple of weeks. They weren't out for long yesterday because of the rain (we have the run covered, but as they aren't fully feathered we didn't want to keep them out). They all love dustabthing and despite me providing two seed trays, they decided they wanted to bathe together today... 5 of them are Sassos and are incredibly heavy for their size. One is an Australorp, and one a Welsh Black (Australorp X Indian Game). Hopefully they'll be out all the time by the weekend. Our 3rd hatch (Sasso x Welsh Black) will be a week old on Saturday and we'd like to get them out of our lunar module brooder and into the big open pen in the shed. I just love watching the chicks grow! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chook n Boo Mum Posted June 2, 2010 Share Posted June 2, 2010 How sweet Sha x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madchook Posted June 3, 2010 Share Posted June 3, 2010 ooo, have you raised a welsh black before Hazel? I have been trying to get some Australorp eggs so I can add them to my dinner breeders - just hatched IG. I'll be interested in how it goes, the pic I have seen of a dressed bird on was immense in size! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WitchHazel Posted June 3, 2010 Author Share Posted June 3, 2010 ooo, have you raised a welsh black before Hazel? No, we bought two Welsh Black 2nd year girls from castlefarmeggs (leghorn on PracPoultry forum) in April as we needed two big, well established girls to go in wth our gorgeous Sasso cockerel. He's a lovely tempered boy, just huge, and far too big for our second pen of girls. One of the Welsh Blacks laid an egg on the way home and, as we were just about to put some Sasso eggs in the incy anyway, we popped that in too. I also brough home 6 Australorp eggs (from the same place) as I wanted an Australorp for the my Garden Girls, but sadly only one was fertile. (It was on a bit of a whim on the day, he gave us the eggs and so it's not an accurate reflection of his normal fertitlity success rate) If the Welsh Black is a girl then we will probably keep her and put her in with the other Welsh Blacks and our Roo. If he's a boy, he'll be destined for the table, so I'll be able to tell you about it then. If the Australorp is a Girl she'll join my Garden Girls as planned. If he's a boy, as they seem quite rare and he's from (apparently) good stock, we'll either keep him and put him in with our other pen of Girls, or I'll sell him. I'm not sure that we really want to have a second breeding flock, and I'm also concerned that having another cockerel nearby will upset our Sasso Roo. We'll see. We've just hatched some Sasso x Welsh Blacks destined for the table and - obviously, as we're running Welsh Blacks with a Sasso cockerel - I'm hoping that this cross will work well for its intended purpose. I'm hoping that we'll get the best of both worlds. They're less than a week old and at the moment they look like the Australorp chick did (not the Welsh Black, strangely), but with legs set wider apart. It's going to be very interesting seeing how they develop! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Posted June 6, 2010 Share Posted June 6, 2010 Really lovely pictures WitchHazel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
