Poultry Breeds of Spanish Ancestry

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ronott1 said:
It makes it go down. Going down is good at hatch, so if it goes down to 98.5 or 99 it is a good thing.

I should add more I suppose.

I read some research articles where they experimented with lower temps and chicks hatched fine down to low temperatures. They hatched faster and recovered more quickly.

It is probably in part due to more oxygen. O2 goes down with heat and humidity. Somewhere over 80% humidity ant 100 degrees and the chicks suffocate. If a lot of chicks hatch at one time, Humidity can get into that range quickly.
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Ok, how low is "lower temps"? and is this done on the very last day or when?

That makes sense about lower O2 with heat and humidity. Explains why its so hard to breathe in Minnesota in the summer! Ugh!


Here's what I've done with my incubator for now. Come summer, I hope to be able to do something else.

I started running the incubator with the number 6 switch toggled up, like it was before. I added a 4 watt candelabra bulb to increase the heat slightly. At first it stayed right at 100* for a while and then it started dropping and dropped to 98* I toggled 6 down and put 7 up and the performance was repeated, exactly. Then I put in a 7 watt bulb and it climbed up to 101* but then several hours later, it went back down to 98. So then this morning, I put a 15 watt bulb in there and the temperature went up to 102 and stayed there for several hours. This afternoon, I went in and toggled 7 down and put 3 up. The temperature dropped to 100. So, I left it there for several hours to see how it would do and around 10pm tonight it was still at 100 so I loaded it up with eggs. I'll be watching it closely to see what happens. I really hope this temperature can be sustained. I cannot afford a new incubator right now.


I need to get another thermometer/hygrometer for my hatcher, which is in "lock down" now. Not really, but I won't be messing with them. I've learned to keep my paws off! After I'm certain the incubator is staying steady, I'll take that little instrument and put it in my hatcher... gotta keep track of two places with one machine!

Oh, by the way, I candled all the eggs in the hatcher tonight and there is only one that doesn't appear to have survived the 102, but if I remember correctly, that one didn't look exactly right before that either so, it probably won't hatch. That means there are 18 of them in there that should hatch. If they all do, I'll be shocked and amazed! Playing with the humidity and whatnot over the last couple weeks, I have gotten them to where they are underweight by about a half ounce, and that is for 19 eggs. One of them had a pretty large air cell so we'll see if that one gets shrink wrapped.
 
hillfloweranch said:
Hi guys...was looking up "importing" into US and found this site...

https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/de...estock-animal-products-(horses,-cattle,-sheep,

and specific to poultry...

~§ 93.203 Ports designated for the importation of poultry. (a) Air and ocean ports.
The following ports have APHIS inspection and quarantine facilities necessary for quarantine stations and all poultry shall be entered into the United States through these stations, except as provided in paragraphs (b), (c), (d) and (e) of this section: Los Angeles, California; Miami, Florida; and Newburgh, New York.
(b) Canadian border ports.
The following land border ports are designated as having the necessary inspection facilities for the entry of poultry from Canada:
Eastport, Idaho; Houlton and Jackman, Maine; Detroit, Port Huron, and Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan
Click to expand...


hillfloweranch said:
application fee for permit:
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2013-title9-vol1/pdf/CFR-2013-title9-vol1-sec130-4.pdf

Daily user fee for quarantine:
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-1995-05-26/pdf/95-12999.pdf

I think these are correct, but you can call them to check. Just thought I'd post if anyone wanted this info for possible import for breeding purposes.


Here is the website: table listing permit fees and "shipment on hold"

http://nvap.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/permits/ah_permits_userfees.shtml
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Thanks I have been looking into this too. Lots of stuff to look up. The Dr, has not responded to me yet saying they are ok to Export though. However maybe Germany or Central America would be options if not
 
The SOP definition for the Andalusian states for the legs: "Lower thighs - medium size, rather long: hock joints showing well below body line." for males as well as females.

I have been looking at my birds' legs this year. I have one bird (just became a hen) who when she was young was very leggy and the hock joint was easily seen below her body line. She made me wonder about the rest of my birds. I thought I was getting birds that were too short in the leg. Now that this pullet is a hen, she looks like the rest of them and I'm realizing that my birds are probably not short in the leg but perhaps long in the fluff!

I'm not sure how to correct this. Don't they grow the fluff according to their environment? My winters get incredibly cold for a desert. Are my birds growing fluff to counter the cold or is it something that can be bred for and if its shorter, can they stay warm enough? I don't really feel comfortable trying to select for shorter fluff if its going to leave them cold at night. I've had a real problem with frost bite on my older males. I've read over and over that its because of lack of ventilation. So, I decided to leave open a door close to floor level and is about 20" tall by 14 or so inches wide. Right after doing this, my younger males who's combs and wattles aren't so big suffered frost bite as well. One of the hens also (very little). Next year I plan to have my stock reduced to four pens and only 4 cocks that will have sleeping boxes that I will close up at night and each cock will have 4 - 6 hens in the box with him so they will all stay toasty warm. I know I need to consider ventilation still but I think this is the only answer I can come up with that is workable without using electricity to heat the barn.

So, back to the standard... long legs and fluff. The standard calls for short fluff. Hmmm...
 
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Lacy Blues said:
The SOP definition for the Andalusian states for the legs: "Lower thighs - medium size, rather long: hock joints showing well below body line." for males as well as females.

I have been looking at my birds' legs this year. I have one bird (just became a hen) who when she was young was very leggy and the hock joint was easily seen below her body line. She made me wonder about the rest of my birds. I thought I was getting birds that were too short in the leg. Now that this pullet is a hen, she looks like the rest of them and I'm realizing that my birds are probably not short in the leg but perhaps long in the fluff!

I'm not sure how to correct this. Don't they grow the fluff according to their environment? My winters get incredibly cold for a desert. Are my birds growing fluff to counter the cold or is it something that can be bred for and if its shorter, can they stay warm enough? I don't really feel comfortable trying to select for shorter fluff if its going to leave them cold at night. I've had a real problem with frost bite on my older males. I've read over and over that its because of lack of ventilation. So, I decided to leave open a door close to floor level and is about 20" tall by 14 or so inches wide. Right after doing this, my younger males who's combs and wattles aren't so big suffered frost bite as well. One of the hens also (very little). Next year I plan to have my stock reduced to four pens and only 4 cocks that will have sleeping boxes that I will close up at night and each cock will have 4 - 6 hens in the box with him so they will all stay toasty warm. I know I need to consider ventilation still but I think this is the only answer I can come up with that is workable without using electricity to heat the barn.

So, back to the standard... long legs and fluff. The standard calls for short fluff. Hmmm...
Click to expand...
I know . You where below zero a few mornings this year.My friend Guy in St. Louis had to bring his roosters in the basement a few times this year I think he said the hens where fine. The good thing where you are at least is the air is dry. So if you close them up some it won't build the humidity up as quick. I would still put ventilation on 2 separate sides one higher and one lower. You can somewhat cover it if need be. But lack of ventilation is just as bad.

you can also try a smaller 60 or 75 watt full spectrum plant light on the coldest nights. The small light. In a big coop it won't warm it up a lot especially if you leave the coop ventilated.
or depending on the size insulate it . On dry nights throw a few sleeping bags over it. Still keeping it ventilated.
I think a user ventilated coop in summer is worse than a overly in winter though.

Id peter things I could take down in summer.
 
Hangtown Farms said:
I know . You where below zero a few mornings this year.My friend Guy in St. Louis had to bring his roosters in the basement a few times this year I think he said the hens where fine. The good thing where you are at least is the air is dry. So if you close them up some it won't build the humidity up as quick. I would still put ventilation on 2 separate sides one higher and one lower. You can somewhat cover it if need be. But lack of ventilation is just as bad.

you can also try a smaller 60 or 75 watt full spectrum plant light on the coldest nights. The small light. In a big coop it won't warm it up a lot especially if you leave the coop ventilated.
or depending on the size insulate it . On dry nights throw a few sleeping bags over it. Still keeping it ventilated.
I think a user ventilated coop in summer is worse than a overly in winter though.

Id peter things I could take down in summer.
Click to expand...

This past winter wasn't as bad (prolonged) as the last two winters here. We did get frostbite but I think we only had one or two really cold snaps. My birds seem to handle the cold well, down into the teens. When it drops into the single digits is when they start having trouble... let alone below zero. Oh, how I wish I had a basement! That would go over real well with the husband! Ha !

Something I would really like to do some day (year) is to have an underground green house. Like this:


I think the name for this is wapiti. We get a lot of wind and I think one of these would be highly beneficial in the windy months as well as winter. I could section part of it off if needed and bring the cocks in here for the night. I could also have a garden that wouldn't get wind whipped. I would probably do more stacking of straw bales along the walls, staggering them more so I could plant directly into and walk between the rows of bales and as they break down they would make some pretty fantastic soil for me.

I would prefer to leave them with their mini-flocks so if I can get that to work satisfactorily, that's what I'll do. I'd still like one of these though.

My barn, Jason, is 24' x 24'. Though I do have a few smaller ones located here and there. I could squeeze a lot more birds into the big one to warm it up but I think they would start cannibalizing each other... think high energy birds all crammed into a small area with nothing to do! My goal is to reduce the number of birds in this barn, dividing it into 4 big pens. The sleeping boxes will be raised off the floor and closed once they have gone to roost and between pens that are parallel, they will share a box (with a divider of course so they cannot see each other to fight but that they would be able to all share the same sleeping space), thereby perhaps making it warmer. On the barn itself, I will be hopefully taking the "roof" off this summer and putting a proper one on it and it will have a gable on top for air to flow up and out. With the sleeping boxes in place, it will be possible to have this kind of roof to pull air up and out with floor level ventilation. For the sleeping boxes, is carbon dioxide heavier than oxygen? I'm wondering if it would descend to the floor of the box and out the box's open door to be carried out of the building by the ventilation? Also, I'll be making mini-greenhouses inside their runs for them to go into to warm up if they want. Man! Having Spanish birds in this high desert is trying at times.

I just spent some time looking at Spain's weather averages and records. It seems the region of Andalusia is on the southeast coast of Spain and they have a climate very similar to our Florida. Snow is extremely unlikely even though they did have a record low of 9* in one of the years shown. I guess the Mediterranean region is pretty mild. I can say that some of my birds have handled the heat here very very well... surprisingly well in fact. Of course they have shade and plenty of water.

It's getting to be time to start construction on my barn roof and I'm working up to it. I'm not sure how I'm going to accomplish it as I thought I would have my son at home for a couple more years. He is getting ready to go into the military and so I won't have him. Doing this myself may be quite laughable. I guess I need to find a young man in my local church that isn't afraid of hard work and would be willing to work HARD for not a lot of money... heck, I wouldn't be getting paid at all! Oh well.

So, my hatch is due tomorrow night. It seems to be going well right now so I will keep y'all posted.
 
ronott1 said:
And welcome to this thread!

Do you have any Spanish Breeds yet?
Click to expand...
Thank you :)

No chickens yet...actually just starting my journey and have decided to learn as much as possible before taking the leap. Kind of a 'measure twice cut once' mentality ;) In all honesty I've just recently realized that a Mediterranean breed may be more suitable to my family's needs, geography and what appeals to me (versus a heavy breed). It took me weeks just to join the forum and post as I find all the talk of plumage and type a little intimidating, but I am determined to start our flock with the best I can afford and wish to follow proper breeding practices in order to maintain a healthy flock that is self-perpetuating. I have enjoyed the learning curve very much so far!

Thanks,
M
 

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