Brian Bray, look!!!

[Cindi]

Brian, you gotta get a load of the picture of the two brothers (your eggs I incubated).  THey were having a sparring off the other day.  Look at how immature the Light Brahma still is.  He hasn't began crowing, he has not a single interest in any girls yet.  Now on the other hand the brother, whom is I presume, Buff OrpingtonXAustralorpe, has been having his way with the girls for quite some time, probably a month.  I know I have read that the Brahmas mature more slowly, but....jeepers creepers, he is really taking his time.  That Light Brahma sure is a beauty, and he is gonna be enormous!!!  You should see how tall he is compared to his AustralorpeX brother.  I have my internet back so I will be posting lotsa pictures eventually.  I have a great shot of how a pea comb and a regular comb look on a young chick, get a load of them too.  Beautiful day in this great and awesomely wonderful life.  Cindi



THis is my newest addition (right, I thought I was downsizing).  A two year old Barred RockX with something (any guesses what?  I have no clue).  His name is Jackson!!!



A lovely rooster, with no a single mean bone in his body, and he treats the girls as such too....gentleman, right clean through



A Silver-Laced Wyandotte poulet, that pea comb truly visible



A single comb

[Natalie]

The rooster looks like he may be crossed with a golden cuckoo maran.
It looks like those chicks you are holding are little roos too, how old are they?
Those combs are pretty prominant on such little things.

Nice picures cindi, thanks for sharing.

I just downsized and sold off 12 roosters, some were 6 months but most were very young.
No one even knew I had them over here yet because they were still living in the brooder but they were maturing enough that I could tell they were roos.
Now I have the ratio for roos to hens that I want. I actually might sell off one more rooster to make the neighbors happy, none of the ones I have right now ever crow in the morning and you may only hear a crow once or twice in the afternoon,but he is weirded out by the fact that I have roosters living next door to him.
I asked him straight out if he hears the roosters crowing and thats what is bothering him but he said no I just don't want roosters here. Bizzare.
 I do have a favorite at this point a blue laced red wyandotte, so I may sell off one of the others to shut him up. The one I really need to keep is my son's.
He has a pair of blue cochins that walk all over the yard together like a couple of lovebirds and its just the sweetest thing I have ever seen.
I don't have the heart to break them up, plus its the only 2 eggs that hatched out of the whole batch that he incubated, so I may have to part with one of mine so he can keep his.
Also, he has been so sick lately with asthma that I just feel bad for him because he has to lay low and he enjoys going out in the yard and hanging out with his chickens so I really can't take his away.
I am hoping that I can keep the black copper marans rooster long enough to breed him for some offspring then sell him, the BLRW is gorgeous but if I have to choose between him and my son's cochin...
So there is my unsolicited rooster story, geez I had only planned on telling you about the mix that I think your rooster is and I started rambling... kind of like someone else we all know...hmm who is that?

[Brian D. Bray]

Cindi,

Here is another lesson in genetics.
Both roosters are Brahmas the darker rooster is from an Astralorpe hen and Brahma Rooster and the Light one is both parents are Brahmas.  Astralorpes on one of the fastest maturing chickens and will start crowing as early as 6 weeks, while Brahmas won't start until weeks 10-12.  That is why one is already sexually active and the other is still an adolescent.  Brahma roosters can over 20 weeks to mature.  The coloring on the darker rooster indicates the mother was Astralorpe as the body feathers a re mostly black and the Cape and tail dress feathers a more white.  If the parentage had been reversed you have seen the coloring reversed. 

That dark one is a beautiful rooster.

[Cindi]

Cindi,
Here is another lesson in genetics.
Both roosters are Brahmas the darker rooster is from an Astralorpe hen and Brahma Rooster and the Light one is both parents are Brahmas.  Astralorpes on one of the fastest maturing chickens and will start crowing as early as 6 weeks, while Brahmas won't start until weeks 10-12.  That is why one is already sexually active and the other is still an adolescent.  Brahma roosters can over 20 weeks to mature.  The coloring on the darker rooster indicates the mother was Astralorpe as the body feathers a re mostly black and the Cape and tail dress feathers a more white.  If the parentage had been reversed you have seen the coloring reversed. 
That dark one is a beautiful rooster.

Brian, well shiver me timbers!!!  Now you have totally confused me.  These two roosters are from the eggs that I got from you.  Remember this story?  Out of the 15 eggs that hatched, only one was a female, and that was the Australorpe X something-or-other, smiling.  There was 14 roosters, eeks!!!

There were two roosters in this group that had the Australorpe mother, (dark roosters), crossed with either Brahma or Orpington.

I kept the AustralorpeX rooster with the single comb.  The other AustralorpeX rooster had that pea comb.  I sold him to a woman that bought some red layers.

In the cobwebs of my mind, I thought that I recall that the rooster governs the comb type.  If that holds true, then I am not sure why you say that the above pictured black rooster would be a Brahma.  The pea comb is indicative of a Brahma rooster, right?  This rooster does not have a pea comb, hence I gathered that his daddy was a Orpington.  I am now totally confused.....not smiling.....smiling.  You need to help me out here and more deeply elaborate....help!!!

Brian, those birds that were incubated from your eggs were born on September 28.  That would make the two roosters that you see, lets see, I have to get my mind working to do the math....hold on.....hold on....not working too well yet.....OK...that purebred white light brahma is 6 months old as of March 28, that is 24 weeks old.  His name is Ivan, after Ivan, warrior (Ken thought of his name).  All our special birds have names.  The Brahma is not even close to mature yet, he hasn't started to crow, he hasn't showed any interest in the girls.  He is still that adolescent.  I think he is going to take more like 7 or 8 months (28 to 32 weeks) to mature.  But... holy smokes!!!  He is going to be the most beautiful rooster on earth.  He is massive already.  He has those feathers on his feet and legs and shanks and back and everywhere that are going to make him king of the world.  He is simply BEAUTIFUL and getting more beautiful by the day.  Can't wait for him to mature.

Oh dear, ramblin'.....can't stop myself.  Have that most wonderful and awesomely great and wonderful day, great health, take care.  Cindi

[Cindi]

The rooster looks like he may be crossed with a golden cuckoo maran.
It looks like those chicks you are holding are little roos too, how old are they?
Those combs are pretty prominant on such little things.
I asked him straight out if he hears the roosters crowing and thats what is bothering him but he said no I just don't want roosters here. Bizzare.
 I do have a favorite at this point a blue laced red wyandotte, so I may sell off one of the others to shut him up. The one I really need to keep is my son's.
He has a pair of blue cochins that walk all over the yard together like a couple of lovebirds and its just the sweetest thing I have ever seen.
I don't have the heart to break them up, plus its the only 2 eggs that hatched out of the whole batch that he incubated, so I may have to part with one of mine so he can keep his.
Also, he has been so sick lately with asthma that I just feel bad for him because he has to lay low and he enjoys going out in the yard and hanging out with his chickens so I really can't take his away.
the BLRW is gorgeous but if I have to choose between him and my son's cochin...
So there is my unsolicited rooster story, geez I had only planned on telling you about the mix that I think your rooster is and I started rambling... kind of like someone else we all know...hmm who is that?

Oh Natalie, that part about your Son and the rooster and the asthma is breaking my heart.  I am serious, I have those tears of sadness for him in my eyes  :'(  Asthma is such a debilitating thing for a child....but...I am sure that he is a trooper  :) :) :), so that then makes me feel happy, smiling.  Keep his birds for him as you are doing, that is the most beautiful thing you can do as that Mother, yay!!!  Good for you, smiling.  Mamma.....such a gift to be given in life, to be Mamma.

Getting back to the young birds in my basement, smiling.  They are getting pretty big and going nuts down there.  Look at this picture now.....

These chicks are two weeks old (Friday last).  I was told they were all poulets, smiling.  BUT.....I don't think they are either, smiling, there are some bleeperals amongst the gals, I am positive, smiling, oh well......



This was when they were firstly here, they would have been 3 days old in these pictures:



THis is my youngest Grandson when they were here at spring break.  There is one Australorpe and he loved that little gal, he made a point of trying to find her fast amongst all her Barred Rock pals that looks somewhat similar.  He was like a proud daddy, smiling.  He is 9-1/2 years old, one of the loves of my life.



It seems to me that the Rooster that you think is crossed with a Maran may be.  But I thought that the woman may have said something like Barred Rock crossed with a Polish.  I will try to find out more about his genetics.  Boy do the girls love him.  He is a very nice rooster, so sweet and not a bad or mean bone in his body.  I think that is cool.  He hangs out with people too, to a degree, boy has he commanded the roost though.  Saturday I let him into the main chickenyard, and he put the black rooster right into his spot in the pecking order, I got a real kick out of it.  THe only trouble that he had that day was the turkey hens putting him in his place on the pecking order.  Got a video of that, a very short one, but it was funny.  Life on the farm, so much fun.  Have that awesome and wonderfully great day, health, Cindi