Have read a few posts over time saying 'but she has a dark brown cere- she must be old enough!!" Took a few pics today- finally got my camera working okay. These hens are 3 months old- just starting to moult out and have had these coloured ceres from 8 weeks

 

And for anyone interested, have noticed a few posts on this too- a light green pied cock, with blue rump- not a YF. Not a real good picture either but you get the gist of it. He is a true green just very 'blue'!!

 

mmmm bored again hey?? Oh well some of you may find it interesting, some of you probably already realised this!!

 

****oops forgot to flip it!!***

Edited September 16, 200717 yr by the pie

Very good point about the dark brown cere Pie. A lot of our new and younger members see that as a sign of old enough to breed. Which, as we learn, turns out to be incorrect and often hazardous to the young birds health.

Hi Pie,

 

thank you for that - very good points, especially the cere colour in hens.

 

 

Feathers.

Pie excellent point that is so TRUE!!!

Very, very true... i've also noticed baby hens in the aviary will "mature" quicker than a caged baby. I think it has to do with the stimulation from the flock, they got dark ceres much faster than the hens inside that were the same age, same clutch.

Great point with the Ceres they can change colour at any time and as like your hens before the first moult.

 

It's not just hens that do that both genders will. I remember Daz posting about his first bubs one boy he kept inside and the brother out with the flock (who was the younger of the two) and the one in the flock gained the adult cere colour before the one inside.

Edited September 19, 200717 yr by Nerwen

Very true... i was just talking about hens, since the thread was about them.

That's okay I would just adding the info so people would realise this applies to both sexes

 

 

Also I move the other talk about the colour of the bird to Here

Edited September 19, 200717 yr by Nerwen