Brian, this one is for you, the beginning of the hatch

[Brian D. Bray]

The single comb is the trait of an Orpington or an Austrolorp (aka Australian Orpinton) whereas the pea comb is a trait of the Braham.

If you want big chickens keep the biggest roosters and the biggest hens regardless of breed.  As you know it is impossible to tell the sex of an egg before it hatches and strait run eggs can create an big imbalance of hens to roosters or visa versa. 

Other things to look for in selecting which chickens to keep for breeders:
1.  Size
2,  Weight
3.  Preferred comb type.
4.  Body conformation.
5.  Feather pattern.

All of those things have to do with the standard desired in the birds you're trying to produce.  You want as much conformaty as you can get within those parameters.  Once you get what you have selected you can name the breed and put in for acceptance to the Canadian Poultry Standard.  If that's what you want to do.

[Cindi]

Brian, hmmm...thanks for that information.  The pea or rose comb would seem to me like it would be a more winter hardy bird, as far as any type of comb damage.  I remember Roquefort's poor comb got so black on the tips from the freezing temperatures.  I have to make some hard decisions as to what roosters I am going to keep.   How many roosters to 16 hens?  That is how many hens I have left now, I have sold a fair number of layers.  These are all about 7 months old.  Beautiful day in the great life.  Cindi

[poka-bee]

Cindi, I have 16 too!  Well, at least till March 4.. :evil: Then 25 little fluffballs arrive!  I would think that 2 would be sufficient.  You will want the heavier for winter in the interior, soooooo much colder in the winter.  Those Brahma are sure pretty!  J

[Brian D. Bray]

Roosters to hen ratio is dependent on how much egg fertility you want.  If you want garanteed fertilization run them in trio's 1 rooster 2 hens, every egg will be fertilized.  In the chicken yard I try to run 1 rooster for every 5-6 hens.  The problem though is that there is always one hen all the roosters like and she soon has a bare back and some of the others get ignored. If you take that hen out for a while, until her feathers grow back, the roosters and the other hens will treat her different that they did before.
To get fertilized eggs for hatching 1 rooster to 4-6 hens should work pretty well.  For eggs to sell one rooster in a flock of 20 will do but the fertilization becomes spotty and often limited to those 1/2 dozen hens the rooster likes best.

[Cindi]

Brian, ha, great information, I am listening.  I know what you mean about a beat up looking chicken.  When we had Antonio and Roquefort, they both seemed to really like this one particular gal.  I felt so sorry for her, and never thought about removing her to let her feathers grow back.  It was summertime when I noticed her with so many feathers missing, noticed that she was as happy as all the other girls, so just thought it was the hens picking on her.  In retrospect, I think it was the boys picking on her.

Now, this is important to me.  Can you tell me why the roosters pick a certain couple of hens that they like so much better.  I need a scientific answer (smiling, not just mambo jambo).  I would really like to know why certain hens are desired.  It really makes not much sense to me, but then I am not a chicken.....smiling.  Have that most wonderful, beautifully awesome life, day, love our lives, health.  Cindi

[Brian D. Bray]

Brian, ha, great information, I am listening.  I know what you mean about a beat up looking chicken.  When we had Antonio and Roquefort, they both seemed to really like this one particular gal.  I felt so sorry for her, and never thought about removing her to let her feathers grow back.  It was summertime when I noticed her with so many feathers missing, noticed that she was as happy as all the other girls, so just thought it was the hens picking on her.  In retrospect, I think it was the boys picking on her.

Now, this is important to me.  Can you tell me why the roosters pick a certain couple of hens that they like so much better.  I need a scientific answer (smiling, not just mambo jambo).  I would really like to know why certain hens are desired.  It really makes not much sense to me, but then I am not a chicken.....smiling.  Have that most wonderful, beautifully awesome life, day, love our lives, health.  Cindi

I'm sorry but you're going to have to settle for the mumbo jumbo.  Why do men prefer blondes?  Why do some men prefer women with large Melons?  Why do some men prefer women with backsides like Jennifer Lopez?  Why do some men prefer women with a little meat on their bones, while others like them as skinny as twiggy?   It's all in the eye of the beholder, what one man finds sexy another man might find banal.   I have one hen in my pigeon coup that every dude in the place wants to mate with, and she will readily mate with any dude I put her in a cage with.  My most productive hen pigeon and the mother ir grandmother to about 50% of my pigeons, but don't ask me why they'll strut for her and ignore all the other hens.  She's now on her 4th or 5th mating.....the bleep.

[Cindi]

Brian,  :shock: :shock:, oh my goodness, smiling!!!  That was pretty blatant, and being that blatant type of gal, your answers to my questions were pretty ding darn funnnneeee!!!  I never thought that birds could be equated to any human emotion such as this type of attraction, but that writing is clearly on the wall. Cool.  Always wondered what it was about this beat up ol' hen that they liked, mystery still not solved.  I would still love to know, so maybe I'll prose that question over at a chicken site and see what comes up from the nation.  Have a great and most awesome day, Cindi

[Cindi]

Brian, here goes some more pictures.  There are two roosters that are AustralorpeXBrahma.  Both look pretty much the same in colouring, but totally different combs and waddles.  I am so curious as to why each rooster has a different type of comb.

I get the impression that a typical Brahma rooster has the pea comb only, that is the Brahma trait, is that correct?.  It then looks to me like one of the roosters the comb of the Australorpe is dominant and the other rooster has the comb of the Brahma which is dominant.  Can you tell me why this has happened.  These genetic things are driving me nuts!!!

This is a picture of the two roosters outside today, the pea comb one is the one in the back of the picture, where you can only see the body.



The following is a picture of each of those BrahmaXAustralorpe, totally different looking heads, bodies and colours are the same.





This is the rooster that I think is the only purebred light brahma.  He is slowly maturing, much more slowly than all the other roosters (along with the Brahma/Orprington, which are slower too).  I have been reading about the Brahmas and it seems they take a little longer to mature than many breeds.



Oh, and guess what.  That brahma, whom I call Heather, the one that has the crossbill that has been nurtured in the house for the past 2 months.  Well, Heather must be called Heathcliff.  She has been crowing the past few mornings in the house.  What a racket!!!  I took her/him outside today to meet her fellow chickenyard friends.  Ooops, that was a mistake. She got into a fight with everyone that she could find.  She/he was brought back into the house.  IT cannot go back out there, it will die really fast. It thinks it is too big for its britches....I cannot believe how dwarfed it is.  It is about 1/2 the size of all the other critters, totally small.

Have an awesome day, life, health.  Cindi

[Brian D. Bray]

The difference in the comb is the result of the comb of the father.  A single comb on a rooster will result in a single comb on the offspring and visa versa.  Body conformation is inherited from the mothers which is why that Light Brahma as a longer neck than most light brahmas, its mother was pure or part oprinton.  When breeding chickens it can be important to know which trait is dominate and from whic parent, it makes a big difference when culling the flock.  You want to have you goats written down and select stock that well reach those goals.  Breeding for specifics in any aniimal (or insect) is not as easy as it seems, it's much more than putting a male and female together, you need to put a male with specific dominate traits you want with a female with the specific domenite hen traits  you want.

After a dozen or so generations you should be getting real close to your ideal fairly consistantly.

[Cindi]

Well, Brian, great job, smiling, you have totally confused me, hee, hee.  I don't have any real intent to breed for anything in particular, just growin' some chickens, smiling.  Don't worry about explaining things, I just don't seem to get it.......I remember you telling me to get a book (I think it was) from McMurray hatchery on raising chickens.  I will be taking that duty on one day, becoming more informed and knowledgeable about genetics and things.  But for now, just moseying along.  My goal in life right now is to keep the chickenyard numbers to a reasonable level to facilitate that eventual move.  I don't want to move too many birds, and I want to have a breed that is the most coldy hardy.  We are moving to a very frigid wintertime place, the summers are hot.  I am really leaning towards the Buff Orpington and Australorpe, don't know why, but kind of really, really like those two breeds of birds.   I really like the brown Orpington/Brahma cross rooster that I have and have chosen the biggest one to keep (there were 7 or so of them, identical in most ways, except for size) because he is so big and beautiful.  I think that I will also keep the Australorpe/Brahma rooster with the "regular" comb, he is the biggest as well (and the prettiest).  Beautiful day in this great life.  Cindi