Norwegian Jaerhon

[babymakes6]

I have had the same issues with dying and have decided to give up on the Jaerhons. They are beautiful birds, but the chicks seem to be too fragile. I have hatched 3 times from 2 different people. The last was Amy's. I had 8 chicks hatch-4 boys, 4 girls. They lived about a week and die off soon after. I don't have problems with other chicks doing that at all. It is frustrating. I had 13 hatch around Christmas-9 were girls. They lived about two weeks and just began dying one by one. If I could figure out what is happening I would be happy to try again, but it is too expensive to keep trying and losing everything.

 

[Parkmule]

That is just it...my first 2 are fine. They are almost egg laying age now. but all chicks after that are happy health and strong then they just die. No warning.

I just hatched 2, they are out in the coop with mom. I would love to let her try and raise the, but she has 9 eggs that still have about a week to go. So, these 2 girls need to come to the house.

I have had pasty butt issues with the Jaers too, but that I can see and take care off. Maybe I'll go ask Molly, who I got the from.
I know it is not just my line too, as I got eggs that hatched, lost the too.

 

[Duramaxgirl]

I have 25 Jaerhons out in the garage all from Ideal poultry and I haven't lost any. They are going on 5 weeks old at least. I also purchased from Ideal 10 pullets and 3 roosters in January all the roosters died and I have 8 hens left. It was cold out though and I blame shipping on all the deaths but one. One was just stunted from the beginning and never grew.









Here is a photo of one of my hens that has no gold color to her she is sooo pretty! can someone explain what happened here? and why shes white instead of Gold? Should I keep her in my breeding program or would it be best to remove her? Thanks!!

 

[Amyable]

Duramax, from what I understand the light color is not bred for in Norway. It does crop up sometimes, like the Flame jaers from Sandhill. I wouldn't keep her with your Jaer program, but maybe she could be a project hen. She is pretty.

 

[Duramaxgirl]

Ok thanks! I hope to add more photos soon! but they move soooo fast. How flighty are yours? I plan on moving mine to a coop and run with 6 foot fences and I'm hoping if I trim their wings they will stay in. My leghorns are staying in there right now and they don't fly out. but boy are these little jaers zippy and tiny!!

 

[Parkmule]

Duramax, from what I understand the light color is not bred for in Norway. It does crop up sometimes, like the Flame jaers from Sandhill. I wouldn't keep her with your Jaer program, but maybe she could be a project hen. She is pretty.

Thanks Amy!

That is a pretty hen! Do they still auto-sex? or would that go back to something like the black and white barring gene? I have a lighter hen, but not like that. She just has some white flecking. Very pretty Duramax!

I am thinking it COULD be an incubator thing too. The 2 older pullets I have were hatched out by a friend. So, the 2 i just brought inside were hatched by a hen...so, maybe they have a better chance. I pulled all the game bird food too...keep the protein lower for them.

 

[Amyable]

Ok thanks! I hope to add more photos soon! but they move soooo fast. How flighty are yours? I plan on moving mine to a coop and run with 6 foot fences and I'm hoping if I trim their wings they will stay in. My leghorns are staying in there right now and they don't fly out. but boy are these little jaers zippy and tiny!!

I describe mine as sprightly; not so nervous like Leghorns but really active. A determined Jaer will not be contained in a 6ft fence. Last year I watched one young roo fly from the roof of the coop to the roof of our garage, about 30 feet. And he had to gain altitude to do it. Earlier this year I had my jaers in a run covered by deer netting and one hen kept squeaking through the gaps where the netting met the wire fence. Now I have them in a tractor and no more Houdinis. But I've never clipped wings so you might have luck.

Parkmule, I wonder about the incubation too sometimes (like it can produce crooked toes.) All my hatches have been miserable this season, when last year I had some 100%. I've seen others post similar situations. Frustrating when there are sooo many variables.

 

[alpinefarm]

I like the term "sprightly"~

 

[Overoberyl]

I like the term "sprightly"~

Haha, I agree!

 

[tdhenson86]

The problem that I've run into is that, in Norway, these are considered an autosexing landrace breed. So, they don't keep a standard. They have a genebank for the breed to keep diversity. However, in Scandanavia, they have a standard for the breed, but I cannot read Swedish and you actually have to order the poultry standards book to find the standard. So, unless someone knows Swedish, I'm afraid we're stuck.