The Trap Nesting Thread

[ki4got]

wow. thanks for taking the time to put up all the info you have. 8)

I might have to look into something like that once I get my LF flock going. I'm wanting to establish my LF flock with a heritage breed in need of improvement (size, laying capability, etc) and this seems like the way to establish the laying side of the equation... a hanging scale with milk crate to weigh the birds at specific ages to establish growth as well.

I haven't decided which breed to concentrate on yet, but still need to build their coop first anyways, so I have time to research some more.

thanks again for the ideas...

Karen

 

[MANOZ]

hey karen......
i have more info just havent posted it yet.i have so call heritage breeds barred rock,rhode island reds,wyandotte,and some australorps.i originally got the australorps because of their egg laying record set in 1920, 364 eggs in 365 days.not sure if they are considered a heritage breed though.what i did was go after a few heritage breeds australorps have bigger breast meat than the other 3 breeds named,barred rocks have bigger thighs,my reds fall somewhere inbetween the two,wyandotte the smallest ones i own.out of all my flock i have to give the barred rock first place.i have books posted and i will post a few more.in a nut shell 100 years ago trap nesting was invented to identify the hen with the hen's egg.several breeds were used in these experiments barred rock was one of them.the idea was to document how many eggs each particular bird layed.then pick only the best layers and breed from them,the male bird was bred from these top egg layers.so you have a high producing egg laying hen,and a rooster that was born from a high egg laying hen.this method was taken with the hopes of increasing egg laying ability in the offspring.barred rock is the breed that showed most promising results.i can say now 100 years later barred rock still rules........since i have been trapnesting so far 16 days....my rocks are laying the most eggs one of them layed 14 eggs in 16 days.not bad and well ahead of the other breeds.the heat made my flock stop laying in july it was the barred rock that started laying first again. the barred rock carried americans through the great depression its the best heritage breed ever.

 

[MANOZ]

lollipop---- is this what your were talking about with the fingers

 

[MANOZ]

if so it seems that this technique was used in conjunction with trap nesting.......from my readings they would pick the best layers but only the ones that passed the finger test were used for breeding.thats very interesting !!

 

[MANOZ]

http://books.google.com/books?id=GSLZAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA87&dq=trap+nest&hl=en&ei=6DVcToi0GOaesQKE3sk3&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCkQ6AEwADgo#v=onepage&q=trap%20nest&f=false

a very informative link into the past......high egg production by individual hens,pens,and flocks written by homer w. jackson and grant m. curtis 1922.

chapter 3 talks about the barred rock, a must read for anyone who owns barred rocks

what disturbs me is the fact that byc has thousands of members and only a handful trap nest.if the members just on this website trap nested their layers we could change the egg industry

 

[ki4got]

I do admit that trap nesting appears to have it's benefits if you're looking to improve laying of a breed or group of birds (cross bred?) but at the same time it's not so important maybe if they're just breeding for show qualities rather than production...

I'm hoping to breed for production qualities while trying to maintain breed standard as well. I just haven't decided on a breed.
http://www.albc-usa.org/cpl/wtchlist.html#chickens lists the breeds and their status, if you're interested...

I want a dual purpose bird first and foremost, pleasing to the eye is also important to me... granted all the birds are loved by someone, but everyone has their individual tastes. 8)

 

[MANOZ]

the birds i listed above are all dual purpose birds,barred rock is another name for plymoth rock, another name is also domonique.i do have aseel too but their not dual purpose they're more like rare birds. they also used these trap nests for show birds as well,they even came up with something like egg laying show birds which is what i think the "belgian maran club" does..... http://www.marans.be/EN/pages/ChrisMenu6.htm#

 

[ki4got]

take a look at the breeds listed on the link i put up earlier... Aseel is considered a heritage breed, listed on the 'watch' list. the Rocks are 'recovering'.

the breeds I'm looking at are on the 'threatened' (Dorking Faverolles or Langshan) and 'critical' lists (chantecler or Holland)...

but again thanks for the info on the boxes, it's definitely food for thought.

 

[MANOZ]

I Did Look At The Link Earlier Thanx For Posting

 

[MANOZ]

nonny---- this is how the nest looks without the trap door in use

with the door set


box is 24 inches long
16 inches tall
14 inches wide

top door is 12 inches wide and 10 inches tall
bottom door is 12inches wide and 5 1/2 inches tall

the facing that goes around the opening in the front is 3 inches wide
i built some 2inches wide also

pieces over the crate in the back is just scrap material