The Pita Pinta Asturiana

[PetRock]

A couple of wees ago a person on one of the Heritage threads posted about an old time breeder that gave them a tip.

Remove the roosts of show quality large fowl and have them sleep on the floor. He said that roosts will bend their keels!

Do you think that having wider roosts would help minimize this? My roosts are all 2 x 4's with the wide side horizontal or 4 x 4's. My chicks don't go into a coop with roosts until they are over 10 weeks old. Even after that, a large number of them choose to roost on the floor and I just let them. Is a bent keel different than a crooked keel? We saw some more crooked keels in the cockerels that we processed yesterday. It seemed like there were fewer of them, though. I'll have to examine all the ones that I came home with before putting them in the freezer.

 

[ronott1]

Do you think that having wider roosts would help minimize this? My roosts are all 2 x 4's with the wide side horizontal or 4 x 4's. My chicks don't go into a coop with roosts until they are over 10 weeks old. Even after that, a large number of them choose to roost on the floor and I just let them. Is a bent keel different than a crooked keel? We saw some more crooked keels in the cockerels that we processed yesterday. It seemed like there were fewer of them, though. I'll have to examine all the ones that I came home with before putting them in the freezer.

The person said not roosts ever. I think that the 4 inches would help though and would provide roosts for those that I was not going to show.

It sounds like bent keels are more due to size and roosting and not genetics though. Those Pita Pinta boys are very heavy and a young age.

 

[caychris]

I would think that by bent keel they are meaning that the keel is laying to the side. I our case this is crooked keel more than bent. By some of the shapes we have seen I cant imagine that it results from roosting.

 

[ronott1]

I would think that by bent keel they are meaning that the keel is laying to the side. I our case this is crooked keel more than bent. By some of the shapes we have seen I cant imagine that it results from roosting.

Are the crooked keels you are seeing in the place where they would press on the roost?

I am asking because I have not seen crooked keels--but my chicks to not get roosts. They have to be much older and go out to the coops. I also do not keep cockerels past 20 weeks old.

 

[PetRock]

Are the crooked keels you are seeing in the place where they would press on the roost?

I am asking because I have not seen crooked keels--but my chicks to not get roosts. They have to be much older and go out to the coops. I also do not keep cockerels past 20 weeks old.

I'm not sure if I came home with any crooked ones or not but I'll take some pics before putting them in the freezer if I find any. My chicks sleep in dog kennels and brooders without roosts until they are around 15 weeks old. We try to process at around 20 weeks but we are usually processing multiple hatches and they range in age from 18 wks to 24 wks.

 

[Henthused]

Hi Guys,
I haven't been on here for a while, and it seems the action has been slow for everyone. I guess the heat. We were in CA Sept. 9-16th,
San Francisco and Sacramento to visit old haunts and family in Sacramento. Of course, we were there for the hottest temps. ever recorded in San Francisco and Sacramento. I am so sorry for all of you with the weather conditions as they are. Sacramento had a smoky haze, and on the way to Lake Tahoe, I could actually see and taste the smoke. So glad to be back to the green and humidity of GA!

I am attaching a couple of pictures of Pet Rock's , Zorro, babes. 1 cockerel, almost 5 mos., and 2 pullets, same age. I haven't named the pullets yet. They looked so much alike, but are beginning to show differences, now. I keep going back and forth for the cockerel's name. So far he is being very respectful of me.



I hope you and your chickens are doing well! The cockerel has more white wing feathers on one side than the other.

 

[PetRock]

Hi Guys,
I haven't been on here for a while, and it seems the action has been slow for everyone. I guess the heat. We were in CA Sept. 9-16th,
San Francisco and Sacramento to visit old haunts and family in Sacramento. Of course, we were there for the hottest temps. ever recorded in San Francisco and Sacramento. I am so sorry for all of you with the weather conditions as they are. Sacramento had a smoky haze, and on the way to Lake Tahoe, I could actually see and taste the smoke. So glad to be back to the green and humidity of GA!

I am attaching a couple of pictures of Pet Rock's , Zorro, babes. 1 cockerel, almost 5 mos., and 2 pullets, same age. I haven't named the pullets yet. They looked so much alike, but are beginning to show differences, now. I keep going back and forth for the cockerel's name. So far he is being very respectful of me.



I hope you and your chickens are doing we..!

They look nice! I'm glad your boy is being good. I have yet to have a nasty Pita Pinta cockerel and we have been using the extras for meat so have dealt with probably around 100 of them. Zorro is still going strong and I will probably use him for breeding for 1 more year. He is showing some brassy color in his hackle feathers as he ages. It might just be old feathers in the sun. It will be interesting to see what he looks like after his next molt. My back up rooster, Don Juan, is not as nice as Zorro and not as fertile. I have my eye on a few younger boys but they are only 10-16 weeks old right now.

I love your run! It looks like your birds have it good!

 

[Henthused]

Thanks, Debi,
We are very fortunate to have the acreage and room that we have for all of our pursuits and animals. The building that the chicken run backs up to is my husband's shop. He originally was going to restore antique cars, but, decided it was too time consuming and expensive for him. So..........he is sticking to golf and half-way enjoying my animal addiction

He is a pretty decent DH!!!

 

[Ballerina Bird]

Thanks, Debi,
We are very fortunate to have the acreage and room that we have for all of our pursuits and animals. The building that the chicken run backs up to is my husband's shop. He originally was going to restore antique cars, but, decided it was too time consuming and expensive for him. So..........he is sticking to golf and half-way enjoying my animal addiction

He is a pretty decent DH!!!

That is a fabulous run, and what cute birds! I live in Davis, which is very close to Sacramento. I'm so used to the heat, it doesn't bother me, but the smoke is probably not ideal for us all to be breathing. When my girls feel that it is really unreasonably hot, they will comment on it by honking once from the coop when I go out to tuck them in at night. The first time they did it, I was terrified that they were succumbing to heat stroke or something, but I've learned it's a thing they do to say they are hot. I turned on their misting system today because it was so hot, and Odette managed to roll in the dirt while wet, so was covered in mud for a while.

 

[lynneb]

Look at these three girls we got from Debi @PetRock . They are the sweetest babies, they still aren't comfortable going up the ladder to get in the coop at night (we're working on changing the inclination of the ladder) So every night I take them off the roost to put them in the coop and they just cuddle right up to me. Two are very smart (for chickens) one is a little slow but that just adds to her charm