Some 2011 Youngsters
Same pairing here as 2010 is the Yellow /Blue /Cinnamon cock with a Normal Red/Yellow/Blue hen.
She came off a Silver cock x Cinnamon /Yellow hen, but didn't produce any Yellow.
They produced 6 fertile eggs, but one chick, the last hatched egg, had to be hand reared, and has grown well but is a week behind the other 5 in development.
(pics of this chick, a Normal Red/Yellow are below). In 2010 they produced a similar varied nest.
She came off a Silver cock x Cinnamon /Yellow hen, but didn't produce any Yellow.
They produced 6 fertile eggs, but one chick, the last hatched egg, had to be hand reared, and has grown well but is a week behind the other 5 in development.
(pics of this chick, a Normal Red/Yellow are below). In 2010 they produced a similar varied nest.
Progression showing chick growth at various stages.
5 Young just showing colour, there are 2 Yellows, 2 Silvers and a Cinnamon /Yellow/ poss.Blue hen, bottom left of pic. -- Approx 10/12 days old.
Good growth rate, now about 22 days old. left is the Cinnamon and the others speak for themselves, 2 Yellow and 2 Silvers.
Good growth rate, now about 32 days old. 2nd from right is the Cinnamon and the others speak for themselves, 2 Yellow and 2 Silvers.
This 6th chick, sibling of the above, was found very limp, and thought to be dead, probably 2/3 days old, but 'twitched' as I was removing it to prevent contamination for the remaining chicks, -- so I gave it some lookwarm water from an eye dropper and put it in an incubator, within an hour it was moving freely and obviously going to survive, but lucky to be found at that time. Then 3 hourly feeds of finely ground eggfood and finely ground sunflower kernals, with grated frozen spinach, fed through a bored out hypodermic syringe, and now it is almost fully feathered, and even knows the sound of the microwave timer, heating the food for 14seconds,that it is feed time.(clever !!)
Here it's in a small carrying box (not now needing 39 degF heat) and just beginning to eat egg food from a dish, the feathers are quite well developed.
I'm hungry 'AGAIN'
I'm very pleased I persevered with this little fellow, it's 'imprinted' now but a great little character.
I'm very pleased I persevered with this little fellow, it's 'imprinted' now but a great little character.
Looking good, -- and HE thought I was dead in the box, the adage is
- 'Never say die' -
and even now starting to feed itself.
- 'Never say die' -
and even now starting to feed itself.
---- and the same bird, much more mature now, and fully self supportive, -- probably a hen, from its rounded head, and a pleasure to have, -- even though it still gets very excited at the microwave pinger and door opening for our own use.
Opaline Orange Redrumps
Parents to the 3 young (above)
Pennant Youngsters
This nest had 5 fertile eggs, with 4 chicks hatching, parents are Blue Pied cock to a Normal/Yellow/Blue hen, (sister to the hen, that has the young pictured above)
These should be 25%Blue and 25%Red with 25% Pied of each colour also. The 2 chicks with their backs to us, seem lighter than the other 2 even at this stage, colour as yet unknown.!!
These should be 25%Blue and 25%Red with 25% Pied of each colour also. The 2 chicks with their backs to us, seem lighter than the other 2 even at this stage, colour as yet unknown.!!
Same chicks as above
It now appears that I have, ---
(2) Red/ Blue Pied,/ poss. Yellow, (as both parents are carrying Yellow), -- the middle 2 chicks, which with a bit more development could still be visual RedPied.
(1) Blue (maybe Blue Pied), but if not, definitely split for Pied, and poss. Yellow.
(1) Silver Cinnamon split for Pied, it's the chick on the far right, (as it's visual Silver but has chocolate outer wing feathers which can be easily seen.)
This now means that the cock (father) is split for Cinnamon and also split for Yellow, as Silver (genetically Blue Yellow) would not have been produced and further, that this chick is a hen.
Cinnamon is sex-linked, so a hen can't be split for that, and her mother can't carry it either, even though her mother was a visual Cinnamon) - it's amazing what can be learned, I didn't know the genetics of the cock, only it's visual make-up at time of pairing.
The unhatched egg is visible.
(2) Red/ Blue Pied,/ poss. Yellow, (as both parents are carrying Yellow), -- the middle 2 chicks, which with a bit more development could still be visual RedPied.
(1) Blue (maybe Blue Pied), but if not, definitely split for Pied, and poss. Yellow.
(1) Silver Cinnamon split for Pied, it's the chick on the far right, (as it's visual Silver but has chocolate outer wing feathers which can be easily seen.)
This now means that the cock (father) is split for Cinnamon and also split for Yellow, as Silver (genetically Blue Yellow) would not have been produced and further, that this chick is a hen.
Cinnamon is sex-linked, so a hen can't be split for that, and her mother can't carry it either, even though her mother was a visual Cinnamon) - it's amazing what can be learned, I didn't know the genetics of the cock, only it's visual make-up at time of pairing.
The unhatched egg is visible.