Cornish Thread - Page 99

Those are beautifully colored !!
 

oh i wish i could sell them...most of the time i am flat out giving them away if someone shows they care. hoping to sell 20 pullets at a produce store as layers for somewhere between $A25 to $A30 each but i think i will be dreaming. roosters just have to go into the freezer or to my hmoung friend. i am too far away from my internet associates to have them go to people who will breed them as a colour. i am hoping to insert the lavender gene into the general population of indian game bantams unbeknowns to everyone where hopefully it will pop up as a 'sport' oneday in some top breeders pens

Quote:

Originally Posted by Schipperkesue 

To heat or not to heat?...that is the question.
We get temperatures below -30 Celsius. At that temperature when you breathe in through your nose, the hairs in your nostrils freeze together. Single combed birds have their combs completely frozen, turn black and fall off. If you do not provide heated water or the birds stand on metal, their feet freeze as solid as an icicle. When they thaw the feet turn black and fall off. When the chickens breathe, frost from the moisture in their breath condenses and freezes on their feathers around their faces. They look like they have frozen beards. I go into the barn with my blow drier and thaw and dry the silkie and Houdan poofs. They have frozen spikes from dipping them in water. Outside the barn their feet freeze to the ground if they are wet.
I don't provide light until I need eggs. Today they sun came up around 8:00 and went down around 5:00. Egg production and breeding is almost at a standstill. However, I do give a heat lamp to birds so they can warm themselves when needed.

My LF survive in the climate here without added heat or even a coop designed to stay above outside temperatures, but they don't truly thrive and certainly don't enjoy themselves in temperature extremes. They are not going to wander far from their shelters when the temperature gets much below freezing or there is snow cover unless they have to, and do need some extra care under those conditions compared to some other breeds.  [My juveniles do have a heat lamp and 1/2 of their pen is covered in clear plastic to keep it slightly above outside temperatures]  There are some heritage breeds better suited for the temperature extremes we have here [occasional short periods from +100F with high humidity to others at -20F], but I prefer Cornish and they can adapt with a little effort on my part to help them through. I'm sure you're correct in that they need a little more pampering during your winters up there just to survive. 

If I wanted to keep adults ready for spring shows, or breed Cornish in an effort to time the hatches for showing, I would have them under artificial lighting and heated to see if I could produce some chicks. I don't do that. Instead I keep a pen of a project birds I'm working at without heat or added light. They have slowed laying under winter conditions but lay, and the cockerels are proving to be active winter breeders with good fertility....................  they're actually way off topic on this thread other than pointing out I keep some to produce eggs because I know my Cornish are poor layers and don't lay at all in winter. Cornish were not developed to be good layers or winter breeders and I have no intent to try to change that. I did set the eggs from the two that did lay last month but so far there hasn't been any develop; I figured that would be the case because my past experience is that true Cornish males just don't breed during our cold season even with artificial lighting.  

i am in canada :( booo or i would be all over that! LOl

Hello:

I am trying to get back into chickens after a 30 year hiatus. I used to raise both Large Fowl and Bantam cornish and I'm trying to get some foundation stock to start again after recently purchasing a small farm. I have some WLR eggs coming from a good breeder and a few hatchery chicks from Ideal, but I'd really like to get some good breeding stock of the other varieties, preferably dark and white bantams or LF. I tried to place an ad in the classifieds, but apparently i am too new here and need more posts before I can! Thanks for any help you can give me, I've been pretty succesful with other breeds, not so much finding Cornish!

Bud

that's a neat color... what color are her parents???

Can't seem to find the Cornish Cross thread, and was thinking about getting some cheap from Schlect's hatchery. The only way I could have them is if the free ranged with limited access to feed.