Kraienkoeppe Thread!

[DTchickens]

I figure I am going to have to have a covered run with them I'd they're anything like m American games.

Been a while since I posted, I thought I had subscribed so I'd get email updates but apparently not. You will need a covered pen for the Kraienköppe, I kept some cull hens around once to put in the egg laying flock I had (now I have no need for cull hens or a egg laying flock my young hens I'm not breeding tend to lay so much) and even with a clipped wing they still managed to fly on top of the fence.

I liken them a lot to my American games I kept all of my life. The cocks (usually) have a very cocky personality even when near other roosters which are top of the pecking order (which many breeds I've seen will go under-hack around.) They free range about like a American game, crow as much as a American game (Also sound similar to AG; mine don't crow much like your typical yard fowl.) When most people see them they even think they're a game until told otherwise. If anyone were looking for a game-like bird but without the gameness, the Kraienköppe is the breed in my opinion and they lay better to boot. Now that I've culled through most of my old breeder birds, I've turned them out to free range mostly and just keep my stock for this year penned (as I don't want the hens being bred by the other birds) and all of them get along fine; even the Malay crosses will run around the yard together- quite the site to see on a warm, sunny afternoon and a bit of scratch to toss out in front of you. I just need more color, wouldn't mind picking up some silvers once money permits. I was hoping whites would crop up last year as some have had happen, but I got all BBred except for the Malay crosses which about 50% of came black or brown red. Maybe this year I'll get some whites?

 

[orumpoultry]

Well unfortunately we didn't get silvers. Apparently they had a terrible hatch, I.e., no hatch at all. So I opted fro BBR. They even LOOK like game chicks. It's funny to see them.

They're already pretty flighty, they dash when I'm in the brooder. I'm going to have to handle them a lot to keep them tame.

Next week starts the process of pen building for these birds. Since they're going to be confined all the time and rarely let to forage, I'm probably going to throw them up a 10x20 per quad. Hopefully I don't get a lot of excess roosters, they're to pretty to eat... And probably wouldn't do well in the bachelor pad.

How tall are your pens? Are they just covered with netting or completely enclosed?

 

[DTchickens]

Well unfortunately we didn't get silvers. Apparently they had a terrible hatch, I.e., no hatch at all. So I opted fro BBR. They even LOOK like game chicks. It's funny to see them.

They're already pretty flighty, they dash when I'm in the brooder. I'm going to have to handle them a lot to keep them tame.

Next week starts the process of pen building for these birds. Since they're going to be confined all the time and rarely let to forage, I'm probably going to throw them up a 10x20 per quad. Hopefully I don't get a lot of excess roosters, they're to pretty to eat... And probably wouldn't do well in the bachelor pad.

How tall are your pens? Are they just covered with netting or completely enclosed?

I keep my KK just like I did my American game. Singles are oftentimes kept in round pens which I believe measure out to being somewhere around 3X3, height is usually 4-5 though we do have some 6 foot pens; I also have some pens which are about 4X5X4/5' that I keep singles or pairs in. These are the pens even my grandfather used that have just been patched over the years and are solid wire with something like tin, tarps (I suggest tin), (etc) laid on top to keep the rain off.

Recently last year we built some pens in the barn which are 3X9X7'. I've kept some cocks which were difficult to handle sometimes on tie cords as well to make it easier to catch them, it helped gentle them down some but now I try to cull anything that isn't naturally pretty tame. It can be used for breeders too to ensure you can catch them once it's time to go back to their pen after "Free ranging" for the ones who don't always return to their roost.

One way to help gentle them down some (some I have found will always be more on the flighty side) I like to do is when they're still chicks, buy some oats (or wheat, whatever; even a wildlife mix will work and maybe cheaper in some cases) and ferment/sprout them; after that you can toss it in the pen with them or even feed them out of your hands. My chicks go nutty over soaked/sprouted oats and it's a lot better for them than a lot of other treats.

 

[orumpoultry]

I keep my KK just like I did my American game. Singles are oftentimes kept in round pens which I believe measure out to being somewhere around 3X3, height is usually 4-5 though we do have some 6 foot pens; I also have some pens which are about 4X5X4/5' that I keep singles or pairs in. These are the pens even my grandfather used that have just been patched over the years and are solid wire with something like tin, tarps (I suggest tin), (etc) laid on top to keep the rain off. 

Recently last year we built some pens in the barn which are 3X9X7'. I've kept some cocks which were difficult to handle sometimes on tie cords as well to make it easier to catch them, it helped gentle them down some but now I try to cull anything that isn't naturally pretty tame. It can be used for breeders too to ensure you can catch them once it's time to go back to their pen after "Free ranging" for the ones who don't always return to their roost. 

One way to help gentle them down some (some I have found will always be more on the flighty side) I like to do is when they're still chicks, buy some oats (or wheat, whatever; even a wildlife mix will work and maybe cheaper in some cases) and ferment/sprout them; after that you can toss it in the pen with them or even feed them out of your hands. My chicks go nutty over soaked/sprouted oats and it's a lot better for them than a lot of other treats. 

Thanks! I'll try that. Do they cage up similar to game? I've got a lot of empty rooster pens I can go collect up from out other property. I'll grab some of my fly cords, too.

 

[DTchickens]

Thanks! I'll try that. Do they cage up similar to game? I've got a lot of empty rooster pens I can go collect up from out other property. I'll grab some of my fly cords, too.

Pretty much just like game. I treat them just like I did my games and they do well, except I don't have to be so strict on them in terms of keeping cocks separate.

 

[RedJungleFowl]

Can they really fly far I mean if it was the hen its understandably but the rooster I mean look at that thing! Its too big to fly far.

 

[DTchickens]

Can they really fly far I mean if it was the hen its understandably but the rooster I mean look at that thing! Its too big to fly far.

The Kraienköppe are exceptional flyers, especially if spooked

. They're also very intelligent to boot, if they are flighty they are some of the most difficult birds I've found to catch- they'll squeeze through a whole you may not even see. I've also got feed cups on my pens turned so birds outside can't eat the feed with the penned birds and out of easter eggers, American game, Shamo, Malay, Leghorns, etc.. The Kraienköppe are the only ones I've ever found smart enough to figure out they can stick their head through the wire, turn it around facing backwards and eat out of the buckets.

 

[orumpoultry]

My chicks are coming up on two weeks old, and they are MUCH smarter than their brooder mates. The Lakenvelders and Hamburgs have yet to figure out how to use the ladder to get to treats and climb up on stuff. Every time I go through there these guys are all over the place! Flighty is one word for them, though... that entire brooder spooks and piles in corners whenever I walk in to put down fresh food and water. I hope to tame them down enough to walk through pens without them flying to one side or the other by adulthood.

 

[RedJungleFowl]

The Kraienköppe are exceptional flyers, especially if spooked

. They're also very intelligent to boot, if they are flighty they are some of the most difficult birds I've found to catch- they'll squeeze through a whole you may not even see. I've also got feed cups on my pens turned so birds outside can't eat the feed with the penned birds and out of easter eggers, American game, Shamo, Malay, Leghorns, etc.. The Kraienköppe are the only ones I've ever found smart enough to figure out they can stick their head through the wire, turn it around facing backwards and eat out of the buckets.

Hmm interesting although the rooster looks so big

 

[DTchickens]

Hmm interesting although the rooster looks so big

They're really not as big as they look sometimes in photos. In the Netherlands the biggest weight they are supposed to be for cocks is 6.6lbs. That's no different than many of the American game we had; we had quite a few hatch greys, McRae X Rubles, etc. Which all came around 6lbs, one came 6lbs 4oz I believe. One of our Wingate brown reds I think came out at 6lbs 14oz, or maybe he was 7lb (Very large either way for American game.) All of those birds can fly excellently, some people have spoken about American games flying for hundreds of feet. I've never tested the Kraienköppe to see how far exactly they can fly, but they can fly up into a 15-20 tree like it's nothing and when spooked will sometimes fly across the yard.

Sumatra, which makes up a part of the Kraienköppe and some American game strains were rumored to fly for miles and they are about the same size as well.