The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: plumseverywhere on February 19, 2012, 04:51:12 pm
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Bought hubby an Araucana (well actually I fancied green eggs but thought I'd get away with it better by 'gifting' it to him) - been here since December. no eggs yet (that I can find)
couple of days ago I was bent over, finger in hole of drinker while filling it up so good opportunity to study my chooks when I noticed said 'hen' has a nice pair of spurs growing there.
her feathers are rounded not pointy, the cockerel we do have isn't keen on her but I'm not sure if that's because she is a 'he' or becuase 'her' comb is still pale and she's young so he's not getting his wicked way yet.
what are they odds of this being a confused hen, a haemaphrodite or just another blinkin cockerel (agh!)
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wev have an araucana cockeral and he is pretty and qit fluffy tho not typically cockeral physique compared to our sussex but still very handsome. we crossed him with our sussex hens and now have a great supply of green eggs from their offspring.
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this one is fluffy and girly looking too :-\ maybe we now have 2 boys then ;)
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Some of my hens of various breeds have short spurs.
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it should crowing by now if its last years hatch. our sleeps up high in the leylandi tree...lol. i love getting the green eggs tho i confuses my daughter as she thinks they are duck eggs!
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that's a good point - it definitely not crowing so hopefully is a girl. wish she'd hurry up and lay! neither of the green egg layers have given us an egg yet!
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It took ages for us to get out first egg from our auracana, one day i found a nest of about 20, is it possible she is laying else where??
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Very good chance Cameron, you might have a point there. I did try and follow her the other day as she flew over the netting (yep, needs wing trimmed!) and scouted about the goat shed. I have a feeling there might be a pretty clutch of green eggs somewhere, having said that, her comb is very immature and still pale like a very young pullet.
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I have a chicken who is a cross between an ex-batt layer and a Cream Legbar cockerel. She has just started to lay, and lays eggs which are identical to pheasant eggs - smallish and a lovely dark green colour, which I'm delighted with! No spurs, though.
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feels like i've had these 2 ages though dizzy and still no oefs. maybe I'm being impatient? probably!
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when was she hatched? ours were april and jusr started laying boxing day.
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I bought her in, she must have been about 15 weeks in December.
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Does the house she's in have light - I find that makes the biggest difference to when they start laying, at this sort of time of year. My houses have 14 hours light and my pure-breed pullets have just begun to lay. I think hybrids lay earlier. I don't have any Araucanias but I do have hens with short spurs and all my cockerels hatched last spring have been crowing for ages :D
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Yes we raised 4 bl"""dy cockrels from day old chicks in May and they were crowing by July and trying to mate with the hens too. Very vocal, before they looked fully grown. Needless to say we ate them (with gritted teeth, they were not tastey!)
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probly a bit young to lay or crow....good luck
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Mine was 22nd Aug, Plums. I write their hatch dates down! Bit OCD, I know. :)
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Our Friesian Fowl hens have reasonably long spurs but they dont seem to get them until they are in their second year. They do look very much like the spurs of a cockerel.
I was given an arie hen by my friend. She is a last year, late summer hatch and is yet to lay. My friend says that they are quite difficult to sex and she cant do so until they are fairly mature. She is sure that mine is a hen and my cockerels certainly think so!!!! I will have a peek at her spurs tomorrow!!
I have been told that they like to lay where they shouldnt ..........so keep searching!!!
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we've got 2 hens with spurs
had a cockerel that didn't crow for about 10 months till the other boys had left
then he started
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Some of our dominant hens have spurs, only small mind. Except a very nasty RIR who has 1" spurs needle sharp which have to be trimmed regularly -lays quite well though.
Often only the dominant cockerel crows, the others are not allowed to without a fight ensuing. But I have noticed if different cockerel breeds are mixed together in the same run it's the dominant cockerel of each breed which crows. So there may be several crowing in that case. Our latest didn't crow when we got him. Took a few days to realise he was now master of his domain and started, rather badly but getting better. He will never outcrow the Wyandottes!