How About a Jumbo Co Op

[rjs55555]

Buttercup,

Finished reading through you document! Lots of good stuff in there! Thank you!

 

[rjs55555]

C'mon Spring!!! I want my eggs but this weather is too frigid up here! UGH!

 

[mhwc56]

Quote:
i know . same here for maryland. it doesn't help that we've had 2 days of above 40* temps either .....i realize it's only feb. but spring wheeeeeere are you?LOL

 

[Fat Daddy]

Quote:
i know . same here for maryland. it doesn't help that we've had 2 days of above 40* temps either .....i realize it's only feb. but spring wheeeeeere are you?LOL

I know what your talking about, its 4 deg in Kansas with the normal breeze wafting down from the north at about 1000 MPH. Wind chills are WAY below 0. I'm ready to hatch quail instead of planning where to put the snow they say is on the way.... Bill (Who, on days like today, would love a inside job!!!)

 

[Buttercup Chillin]

I was just going to send this article to each of you. But it has very important information for all, so here it is. Check it out.

http://jhered.oxfordjournals.org/co...html?sid=b25a2f2d-763d-4a47-b14f-5b8f884754c7

 

[Fat Daddy]

Hey Buttercup,
Have your big girls, likely to be giant girls, started laying yet? If my math is right, and it rarely is, they are just barely over 6 weeks. My jumbos are just over 8 weeks and average just over 10 oz. I got my first egg 2 days before they were 5 weeks old. Most were laying by the time they were 6 weeks. I'm wondering if the fact I had a white, heat light on them 24 hrs a day made them mature early, thus rushing them thru their high growth phase. These do not have the genetic history of large birds yours do but it seems they started laying early. What do you think? Bill

 

[Buttercup Chillin]

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I think my girls start laying early too. That's why I change their feed brand at 4 weeks to slow them down. They go from 30% down to a whooping 28%. I have 3 eggs from the growout pen, started laying a few days ago. But you know I won't set adolescent eggs, not until they are fully mature at 10 weeks old. Patience is needed for big birds. 4 more weeks for eggs from those girls and for me its going to be around 13 weeks before I can set for the F3's. Sorry, but I have 3 colors to work with, not one. Right now I am working with Whites and I only have 1 incubator, and I am waiting too.

But I have 24 others that they came from for the CO-OP. They are laying winter eggs, should be ready to start laying their Spring eggs in a few weeks. Then I set, F1's from P2's to match up with these girls for my F3's. Remember, 2 sets of parents to cross and recross later, set up 2 pens from each hatch. Once I set my eggs, then the other eggs can fly, when they are ready.

Lights?. Mine stayed in the Brooder with lights up to 5 weeks this time, (I was really late clearing out the 1st batch of whites from the sports). They have only been in the growout pen for 1 week and most nights (when freezing) I leave the light on for them. Just a little spoiled. Probably just ate more cause the light was on.

Follow through, pick out your breeders at week 6,7 and 8 weeks. Pick the best and eat the rest. You won't know if you have the genetics until you hatch your own eggs from them. Shipped eggs get rattled as I understand it.

 

[srsmith69]

I never formally committed to joining the COOP, but I am getting some of Buttercups eggs. I'll gladly join the Coop and share the results of my hatches. Count me in.

 

[diggypaws]

….No, I didn't fall off the world, sometimes I go into the twilight zone for a few weeks….

We had both computers crash at home, and hardware and internet problems, and have gotten most of it straightened out, but I'm still having problems with my email at home.

We finally got the oil leak fixed in my car, but not the radiator leak, so I was putting in a cup or two a day, and one day when I opened the cap, oil floated to the top, so I parked it and was hitching rides for a week until we found another vehicle.

My daughter's car slid off the road and down a ditch - nobody was hurt, but her car was out of commission for a couple weeks, my husband was in his company's work truck when one of the snowstorms started - he slid off the road, down a ditch, and into a tree. He said he wasn't hurt, but the truck was totaled so he started driving the older one again, until the gas tank fell off that one.

So it's been a REALLY bad month to be a computer or vehicle anywhere near anybody in my family…

(Not to mention two hours in the dentist chair for a root canal and crown prep - and I HATE dentists.)

And dealing with the cold and ice, and carrying water before and after work.

I'll try to post this on the co-op page, and PM some of the folks.

I don't know if there is a way to keep it current, or if there is much of a plan, I hope to be able to keep with things at least a little bit

Thanks for all your help Buttercup Chillin

 

[Fat Daddy]

Hold on lady, springs just around the bend!!! Everything is better in the spring. Bill