nicks new chooks

Blue red cockeral and hens

In an effirt to foster more responsibility and a "give in " to incecent wanting he has a nice trio of modern game bantams . I am not a game bird lover , but these are winning me over .

I swear they are standing in tiptoe

this years keepers.huge post

Silver sussex pullet..swear she's a duck

The bantam sussex cockeral I'm keeping this year .I'm pleased with him .has good markings good size and I think- good sussex type.

Sussex pullet , again this years ..with the cock bird to the right . I have the nicest ones lockedup- out out of the sun .I think it is the only way to stop bleaching .I have 4 old hens and 6 pullets now plus One old cock bird ,one cockeral suitable to show and one Hopefully to breed from{Has fine ticking ..and they are right- seems to do the job marking wise}

Still toying with keeping the silver sussex..stil not sure it will be worth the effort to refine the markings ..finding the roosters to be very aggressive....... .last years boys had to go as they were bailing up my 8 yr old .Nice big hens really sussex-y in temperament and looks.

Silver cockeral ..have kept this boy ...mmmmmm

Now the croad cockeral ....all leg and feather .He's so very tall but not filling out .I've upped their ration and am giving them all the scraps and another worming tonight .I now understand what I've been told about them being slow to mature .Ithink these must be 6-7 mnths and still big chicks.

Talking chicks ..here's Feb hatch my croad hen (recently moulted ) plus the blue pullet and I Think one of the 2 cockeral s-one of these towers over everybody else from that hatch.

Another shot of my scabby cockeral ..illustrating all the issues. Fingers crossed that a few months helps him.

MyCroad rooster , he's recently moulted as well .Spent a while looking very sad .He went into a really heavy moult- I think he has lost every feather .It's very suprising how small they are under all that feather

Same young cockeral with a silver sussex pullet from the same hatch ....she's almost ready to start laying

croads ..warning picture heavy

not the greatest rooster pictures ...you can get a general impression


glad to know a sml comb is Ok
biggest hen...she is extremely quiet and under the impression humans only exist to feed her

Gmail. is having a problem with the amount of photos I wanted to send so I thought I'd post them here for prosperity ..any way here goes.................

2 hens together..taken today ...bit thread bare in places. the smaller hen is facing the camera but it only a tad amt in height.body frame difference looking for food , any food ,taken in winter
.....................

If Wishes were Fishes

Langshan

Tails ,combs( and all that Jazz..)..seem to be my problems ...Short tails ,Long tails ???I don't know .

I think actually that none of these are what I'm aiming for .!!

Hens OK roosters ..letting the side down.

I have one youngster who is my hope ..he seems to be developing a nice coming with the Langshan "flair " and a short ..yet not dumpy tail ..

(bad hen picture ..she's..(well both of them ...). a bit wild and not wiling to pose prettily ....amazing what food will do ..they get so docile and unconcerned )

LAngshan are my other favourite ......that green sheen on black feathers gets me every time

OH, DAMN -Damn ,darn Tarnation of Feathers

Have a look at this ...

The feathers on my light sussex cockeral ..perfect in all other ways, are defective .....BAH .I have finally got beetle green black tail feathers ...Unfortunately ,the pay off is, he has lost the white defining edge on his neck markings ..thus rendering him useless in the show pen ....

I was planning to show him and have been waiting on these last feather to come ..thus fluffing out his collar ...making him "fully sick" !

Yesterday I got my show pens and chooks ready for this seasons shows ....thought I might enter some in Backyard poultry's Online show .

Oh and see ..new Langshan Quarters !!No roses on Valentines Day ..but a great shed a month later .

Others from the Chook yard

Langshan pullet ..I'm happy with the pullets coming up ..some had dark feet ..they all went to a good home ..the hen throwing it also went ...The pullets have a nice V curve .I 'm stil having trouble picking a nice Cockeral ..I think I have it worked out but I'm troubled by the ones I see in show pictures..the tail seems to long . The eggs(breeding line ) I was given 4 yrs ago (wow ..that long ) bred a nice short back ,..not stumpy but short tailed ...I think I"m going to stick with that...I asked Kenny if he'd come out and have a look one day..see if I"ve chosen well .. Tea ..and scones payment !

Above is a really bad shot of the Cockeral .... (have to say when I took the photo and looked at it on the computer..I had to go and clean the cage ....all that top debris is gone{garden mulch ..fantastic on peas /brassicas }and they enjoyed some old pasture hay to scratch about in . )
Above is a breeding hen ..light sussex bantam ..She has a few stray blackfeathers in the wrong places so isnt showable but is still a nice hen ..and has thrown some nice chicks this year ..
Same cockeral being very unhelpful ...

large lot of pictures # 3

Silver sussex ...4 months old ..Cockerals still tail-less but the tail feathers are just sprouting.

The pullets are shaping up nicely ..Of course they saw the camera and fled ....

I have no real idea wheret o go with them ..Only that they are a so called "rare " bred (light sussex are a dime a dozen but these are a lesser colour and much harder to source ...some I guess would be of a limited gene pool and others re-created ... I think these have a splash of something else in there )

These seem to have the required colur and "sussex type"but the lacing is faint ..Possibly it will come out more as they age ...

I have been given some advice to breed the mto a light sussex ..I'm wondering if If I can breed them together ..the whiter cockeral with the hen ...and then maybe use the darker cockeral over one of my old light suseex girls ..

I"m pleased to see that their legs are very light ....one less thing to get rid of .....