Red Pile Chickens

Well, these new ones aren't pyles, I can't remember what they were called. The hen is grey with white speckles thickly covering her. I am getting doubtful of the bloodline of my redpyles though, because I've been looking on the internet and none of them look like mine. I'll post some pictures probably wednesday because I'll have my camera out for my new Corns then anyway.

Oh and thanks for the help, the warmth issue was what I needed to know. I don't feel like going to the unnessicary trouble of getting them a heat source when they have a perfectly good mother lol. Oh, another question. My pyles are not doing right. Used to when I had chickens they'd start setting at about 5-7 eggs and these have 9 eggs in one of the nests and still haven't started. I am worried they're going to let them rot.

Lol, another question, I am soon to get a snake egg incubator so I can be completely sure that I do everything right with their eggs. Would one of those work for chickens too??

My Pyles weren't much for sitting, I always just pulled the eggs and incubated them. But sometimes when you can have multiple hens laying in one nest, they will wait until there is a bigger clutch of eggs to sit on them. It does depend some on the breed too though....some breeds such as Leghorns will NOT sit on eggs....they just don't. If you aren't sure what they are, you never know.

I don't see why you couldn't hatch chicken eggs in a snake incubator, as long as you can keep the correct temp and humidity, though I think they do tend to do better in a circulated air incubator. You also need to remember that unlike snake eggs, the chicken eggs need to be turned several times daily up ( I always turn 4 times daily)until 3 days before hatch day. When I first collect the egg, I mark one side with an "X" and the other side with a number corresponding to what number of batch they will be in, so I know I'm turning them exactly halfway. I collect the eggs each day, and put them into egg cartons with the "pointiest" side down, and elevate one end of the carton slightly, changing which end is elevated each day. I don't hold them for more than a week before putting them into the incubator. Especially if you are in a hot environment, I wouldn't leave the eggs sitting outside for too long.

Here are some pics. Does anyone know what the gray ones color variation is called?

That would be a barred rock bantam, or a cross thereof.

Do my others look like red pyles to you? I guess barred rock is what it is, he said the lines were pure. Thanks!

Well....they do seem quite a bit darker in coloration than most of the Red Pyles that I have had or seen. The fact that the rooster's comb is still intact does give him a different look as well, but like I said before, I prefer them that way personally. Take a look at a couple of these.....these are what I would consider some nice quality Red Pyle, the first being the rooster, the second being the hen...


http://www.triple-h.ca/images/red_pyle_cockerel2001.jpg


http://www.triple-h.ca/images/red_pyle_2001_small.jpg

My chickens have not been producing very many eggs and I am guessing it is the roosters fault. Is there something I can do to induce breeding or do I just need a new rooster? I have 1.4 chickens now.

Does crossbreeding chickens decrease their value? I have 1.2 red pyle and 0.1 barred rock and 0.1 ?? (it is speckled black and dark glossy brown, the speckling is so much that I really can't tell which is the background color. the feet are almost blue and the comb is very darkly colored) Since I have a small assortment of breeds I thought I would ask.

Thanks a lot everyone!

The rooster has nothing to so with the egg production, the hens never even have to be exposed to a rooster to lay very well. I would guess your hens are older, their egg production really goes down as they age. The Old English are normally very prolific layers their first year or 2.

Crossbreeding isn't such a big deal with the big chickens that can be raised for meat, but in this type of chickens it really drops the value. I'm guessing that your barred rock is a bantam, not a full sized one? But if you just have them around to enjoy like I do, it doesn't really matter. I've had some beautiful mixes that have hatched here, and then some that just grew up to be butt-ugly, lol.

Yeah, I just like them (especially the eggs, which store bought can't compare to).. haha unless I had hundreds I doubt I could do anything but lose money. All of my hens are around 1 or 2 years old as well as the rooster (who I haven't saw on top of any of them which made me think it was his fault) They were laying good in the winter, but slowed down now in the heat which i thought is odd. I really have no clue of the barred rock bantams age though, but it seems to be producing the majority of the few eggs I get.

Yes, the barred rock is a bantam, they all are. The brown/black one I was talking to, I went and looked at it and I was wrong. Each feather is brown with a black outline. At the tail there is a lot of brown. The colors even out in the middle and at the head their is a lot of black.

Random though: What are your thoughts on the 'bird flu?'