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clarksr said:
Anybody here anything on avian flu a friend in deleware heard from the deleware af center avian flu is coming are way and there were to no chickens at this years farm show
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The PA Secretary of Agriculture gave the 4-H poultry club kids a little speech about AI last Saturday at Farm Show. Although other states have lifted their ban on shows PA is not ready to do so. They feel that the warmer weather has postponed the migration of sick birds through our state and they want to wait before lifting the ban.

I am currently in Massachusettes at a huge show. Looking forward to seeing the kids participate in showmanship with actual birds tomorrow. My son usually avoids competing at the bigger shows as it is stressful. I feel that it's an activity for pleasure and he doesn't have to participate if he doesn't want to. DH put his foot down this weekend, 'if you're missing school to go to a show, then you're participating in showmanship'. Wish us luck, I sure hope he does well, and has fun.
 
Blarneyeggs said:
The PA Secretary of Agriculture gave the 4-H poultry club kids a little speech about AI last Saturday at Farm Show. Although other states have lifted their ban on shows PA is not ready to do so. They feel that the warmer weather has postponed the migration of sick birds through our state and they want to wait before lifting the ban.

I am currently in Massachusettes at a huge show. Looking forward to seeing the kids participate in showmanship with actual birds tomorrow. My son usually avoids competing at the bigger shows as it is stressful. I feel that it's an activity for pleasure and he doesn't have to participate if he doesn't want to. DH put his foot down this weekend, 'if you're missing school to go to a show, then you're participating in showmanship'. Wish us luck, I sure hope he does well, and has fun.
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I would love to get my kids into something like this. Just out of curiosity though, what do you do to show a bird? Like, how do you participate in showmanship? Not that we have any chance of doing it if they never lift the ban.
 
Auroradream26 said:
Blarneyeggs said:
The PA Secretary of Agriculture gave the 4-H poultry club kids a little speech about AI last Saturday at Farm Show. Although other states have lifted their ban on shows PA is not ready to do so. They feel that the warmer weather has postponed the migration of sick birds through our state and they want to wait before lifting the ban.

I am currently in Massachusettes at a huge show. Looking forward to seeing the kids participate in showmanship with actual birds tomorrow. My son usually avoids competing at the bigger shows as it is stressful. I feel that it's an activity for pleasure and he doesn't have to participate if he doesn't want to. DH put his foot down this weekend, 'if you're missing school to go to a show, then you're participating in showmanship'. Wish us luck, I sure hope he does well, and has fun.
Click to expand...


I would love to get my kids into something like this. Just out of curiosity though, what do you do to show a bird? Like, how do you participate in showmanship? Not that we have any chance of doing it if they never lift the ban.
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It really depends on the judge. Usually, when the kids have done showmanship in PA, they are expected to demonstrate that they can hold and control their bird correctly and answer questions about care, anatomy, classification, faults and general animal husbandry. The kids do this one on one with a judge. Here at the Poultry Congress, I've seen judges line up all the kids in an age group at the same time and have them demonstrate their knowledge of anatomy all at once. No seperate interview. I'm curious as to how it will go tomorrow.

Ugh! Can NOT Believe the AI is back.

 
theemerichfam said:
sorry everyone, haven't been on in a couple days. Found out some bad news about my blood sugar, so I have been dealing with that. 


But, in other news, I am ready to get me some turkeys!
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I hope your diabetes gets under control!
I too am thinking of getting turkeys again. Maybe I have the hatching bug, or maybe it's just because I miss my turkeys. I believe that I will learn how to process a bird on my own before I need to get it done.
I'm also fighting the urge to hatch out some chicks. I don't really want any more cockerels, however I will take that chance. Studying a picture of my rooster yesterday, made me realize just how gorgeous he truly is. I can't wait to see what his children will look like!
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Time to test the new incubator - loaded it with 75 turkey eggs and 29 chicken eggs. I intentionally selected some breeds with good fertility and some with bad, so I can compare the performance between the 2 incubators. I will know in a week (when I candle) whether it is safe to add more eggs.

The first hatches of the year of several breeds is underway. First of the "hopefully truebreeding" Welbars are out. The real test is whether they are truly autosexing now
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I am very impressed with the parents, I get almost as many eggs each day from that pen with 7 pullets as I do from the pen with 30 purebred Welsummers. To be fair, some of the Welsummers are too young to lay and some are second year birds and maybe haven't come back into lay -- and I'm obviously biased in caring most about the strain I created.

I was thinking today about making a new, intentionally designed laying flock for next year. Our main laying flock is an eclectic mix of purebred hens I no longer use for breeding, and mixed breeds (some intentional hybrids, some really mixed up). I think I know what chicks I'm hatching will be the most productive layers, so this is what I am planning:

Black Sexlinks (for blue eggs)
Welbars (dark eggs)
Rhodebar x Bielefelder hybrids (light brown eggs)
Cream Legbars (green eggs)
California Greys (white eggs)

Presuming they are all roughly equal in productivity, what proportion of the various color eggs do you think would be the most appealing to people buying eggs?
 
I would think these are all very good chicken breeds, and should sell well. If you can breed some flighty out of california greys, they would be great addition for your customs for white eggs. Are the welbar eggs as dark as welsummer eggs? Will you consider rhodebar X ameraucana (sexlink?) For green eggs?

Cannot wait to see how the new incubator work.

How is your recent hatch? Any more bielefelder?
 

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