Farming and Homesteading Heritage Poultry

[chickadoodles]

I agree that is is natural. If it happened in the wild it would be natural. I liked the fact that I can raise some chicks and have them come into lay about the same time the older birds go into molt.
It works with out having to use lights and stress the birds out. And I get to keep eggs going out to my customers.

 

[colburg]

Now back to looking for a dexter cow.....

Have you asked on the Keeping a Family Cow website? There are quite a few people on there that have Dexter's. Several in East Tx I believe.

 

[capayvalleychick]

The mulberry tree which the lady thinks is the parent donor of all the little ones she has had wasn't a large tree at all. Maybe 15-20 feet and had a lovely spread, made lots of shade! It was about 20 years old, if I remember correctly. She said she planted it when she first bought her place. She wondered if it was so short because she didn't provide lots of water for it.

I certainly don't want or need a 75 foot tree. We get too much wind here and there are not enough structures or other trees to help break the brute force of our winds... shorter trees for me will be just fine. So long as I can walk underneath them without banging my head or getting a branch tangled in my hair.

A note about mulberry trees ... prune them to a single trunk or they may stay shrub size. I haven't had this problem with my fruitless or curly mulberry trees but my mulberry "trees" that produce fruit are over ten years old and 4 feet tall. I did some research on them and found that you have to prune them to a single trunk in order to encourage them to grow tall. If they develop multiple branches low to the ground, they become shrubs rather than trees.

Now back to looking for a dexter cow.....

I'm a Dexter breeder. Here are some registries with breeder lists:

http://www.purebreddextercattle.org/
http://www.dextercattle.org/
http://www.legacydextercattleregistry.com/index.php

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

It is good to see the hens with their chicks. I enjoy that, and have a couple here. But . . . what I do not understand is why want to hatch so late. June hatched chicks will not come into lay until November at the earliest, possibly December (the shortest days of the year), and as a result, not fully come into lay until February, March, etc.
To me, that is out of any seasonal rhythm, "unnatural", especially not productive, etc. etc. POL pullets in December is not farming. Farming is full of practical considerations, and practically speaking, December is the worst month of the year to come into season for a bird. There is a lot of waste involved when we do not flow with the seasons. Ironic considering.

I hatch using broody hens, so I have to wait for hens to go broody ... usually the first one is in March, with about April 1st being the first hatch date. Then I have a trickle of broodies, which I set up in isolation cages with eggs as I have the clutches gathered. I just set my last clutches of the season this weekend, a little later than I had hoped but earlier than last year (and I'm hatching more chicks this year than last, still getting the flock built and still getting the hang of how to manage hatching season for better culling/breeder selection). I sometimes have a hen or two still broody this time of year. I've got two still broody now ... birds that have resisted settling on nests in the broody isolation cages. I'll keep trying, but probably with mutt eggs from the laying coop.

Lots of considerations have gone into our decision to use broody hens as incubators and brooders. There are tradeoffs for sure.

We sell eggs, so I do like having pullets reaching POL in the winter months when the older hens are not laying, then by spring their eggs are a better hatching size. The breeding I'm working with is super slow to mature, and last year we had several weeks with very few eggs to sell.

For cash-flow purposes, what I *should* do is jack up egg prices in the summer by taking advantage of the crazy $/dozen I could get at Farmer's Markets, then cull down to just breeders for over winter. BUT ... I'd sacrifice the potential for a decent supply of broodies when I want them, and I'd sacrifice the Jumbo eggs of the older birds. I could solve one of those problems by having a "broody flock" of Silkies or something, but then I'd have to change up my housing to keep them from growing moss during our wet season.

 

[ronott1]

I'd say natural. It's not like anyone is forcing laying by extending daylight hours with lighting. If the bird's body is doing this without any unnatural interference, I'd say it's as natural as can be. A pullet won't molt fully in her first year anyway and will do a light molt in the spring.

It does seem to let them move better into laying large eggs. They do slow down a bit in the winter and then pick up in the spring.

I agree that is is natural. If it happened in the wild it would be natural. I liked the fact that I can raise some chicks and have them come into lay about the same time the older birds go into molt.
It works with out having to use lights and stress the birds out. And I get to keep eggs going out to my customers.

I try to keep 5 to 10 in that age range each year. Last year I missed the time frame and had a big slow down in egg laying. My egg customers were very sad.

 

[chickadoodles]

Quote: I know that's right, last year I raised a dozen to keep eggs in supply. This year I am only doing a dozen. lol I probably messed up and should have raise another dozen or so. lol

 

[RIR-YELLOWLEGS]

I know that's right, last year I raised a dozen to keep eggs in supply. This year I am only doing a dozen. lol I probably messed up and should have raise another dozen or so. lol

I agree with each one of the about on the issue of if its happening naturally then that best this is why in the old days they had hen in difference syages of growth laying brooding and molting as so to keep eggs and meat on the table .

 

[chickadoodles]

I think they must have or they would not have had eggs all winter.

 

[RIR-YELLOWLEGS]

Ye

I think they must have or they would not have had eggs all winter. 

yep I agree BTW your BYC name i have 20 six week old chick when i day chickadoodles they all come running I just

that nickname and i just had to tell ya!!

 

[chickadoodles]

Ye
Quote: Thanks I like it. I just call all my birds my babies and they all answer. lol