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  1. Cedarknob

    Best Chicken Mix Projects (Anyone who has done a project can post here)

    I've used Ameraucanas over CX [white commercial broilers] and now breeding the F1 generation. This is a blue barred F2 and I suspect the chick in the upper left of the second photo will also be blue barred. The F1s are large, meaty, blue egg layers and decent winter layers. [These chicks are...
  2. Cedarknob

    Illinois...

    Thanks. She was from my White Cornish over a white EE. Naturally that cross is slower growing than the cross using white commercial broilers as the female line, but are heavier than they look. I just started saving eggs from two CX pullets under an F1 cockerel that is 1/2 CX himself; hoping this...
  3. Cedarknob

    Illinois...

    I always get a kick out of hatching chicks, though not so fond of raising chicks in our winters here. However, I'm developing a project line of meaty bodied, blue egg layers and want them to be decent winter layers, so am hatching chicks from a breeding pen of birds that are a cross of...
  4. Cedarknob

    Red Laced Cornish X and project talk (pics p. 8)

    F2 chicks from my project. Hatching and raising chicks in the winter is a bit of extra hassle, but I do it to insure that my project line will come from parents that are winter hardy and winter layers. The breeding pen has no artificial lighting or heat, and it has been cold enough to freeze and...
  5. Cedarknob

    Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

    This reminds me of the old days when we would feed a cigarette to a horse or donkey to worm them. I don't know if it actually worked, but do remember one donkey that actually liked them and developed a biting problem trying to get to the pack he knew was in most everyone's pocket.
  6. Cedarknob

    Farming and Homesteading Heritage Poultry

    An interesting read, thank you for the link.
  7. Cedarknob

    Illinois...

    Blue tongue is a virus spread to ruminants primarily by the bite of midges, which do resemble mosquitoes but are smaller. Many folks around here call midges 'no-see-ums' due to their small size. Plague hatches of midges are more likely to occur under drought conditions, whereas mosquitoes thrive...
  8. Cedarknob

    Farming and Homesteading Heritage Poultry

    I don't want to derail this thread with a discussion about my blue egg project line. I mentioned them because I wanted to point out that colony breeding, often scoffed at by show breeders, can have its place in breeding heritage breeds for their original characteristics. IMO, there is a tendency...
  9. Cedarknob

    Farming and Homesteading Heritage Poultry

    I don't mark the hens, I am hatching the eggs laid during the winter without supplemental light or heat for the hens; no surer method of breeding winter layers that I know of. I expect and accept laying to drop off some because some additional energy is required to survive the cold, but believe...
  10. Cedarknob

    Illinois...

    Welcome; and thanks for mentioning the Garfield, I had never heard of it. [Off to check it out on the 'net.]
  11. Cedarknob

    Farming and Homesteading Heritage Poultry

    The SOP for heritage Wyandottes calls for cocks at 8 1/2 lbs and hens at 6 1/2 lbs, though I believe some show birds are pushing higher weights. Here is a picture, borrowed from another thread, of a hatchery type Buff Orp. cockerel penned next to breeder's entry at a show. I think this is a...
  12. Cedarknob

    Red Laced Cornish X and project talk (pics p. 8)

    Only to the degree that for now I'm leaving the option open of having a pen of birds that are not white in addition to staying the coarse for a white bird. I'm breeding for utility mostly but white birds look better to me when plucked and processed with their skins on. No one, including myself...
  13. Cedarknob

    Red Laced Cornish X and project talk (pics p. 8)

    Naturally, with their parents being the a cross of birds of such opposite type [Ameraucana and white commercial broilers a.k.a. Cornish Rocks] there is some diversity in the F2s. LOL So far though they are all faster growing and more meaty than Ameraucanas. LOL Actually they look much like...
  14. Cedarknob

    Red Laced Cornish X and project talk (pics p. 8)

    The F2 Cornish Rocky chicks are mostly white, though some show some black or blue leaking and I get the occasional chick that is colored. This one is blue barred. He's a big and pretty meaty chick and looks much bigger than the same age Cornish chick to the right,and the one peaking...
  15. Cedarknob

    Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

    Thank you.
  16. Cedarknob

    Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

    How many eggs can they handle? Are they under lights to trick them into thinking it's time to sit? [Please forgive if you've already given the answers.]
  17. Cedarknob

    Cornish Thread

    My LF survive in the climate here without added heat or even a coop designed to stay above outside temperatures, but they don't truly thrive and certainly don't enjoy themselves in temperature extremes. They are not going to wander far from their shelters when the temperature gets much below...
  18. Cedarknob

    Farming and Homesteading Heritage Poultry

    Wyandottes would probably serve you well as a dual purpose bird if they were bred up to the SOP. I suppose all chickens are dual purpose in that they l lay some eggs and have meat on them, but the true breeds once labeled as such were a nice balance between a layer breed and a meat breed. I...
  19. Cedarknob

    Farming and Homesteading Heritage Poultry

    I smoke in a cheap knock-off of the Webber grill, I do use a few charcoal bricks, maybe four or five with a couple added later, but use green [freshly cut] mulberry for the smoke. Mulberry is a trash tree here, and few seem know what a great flavor it has for smoking fish or fowl. I go cut some...
  20. Cedarknob

    Farming and Homesteading Heritage Poultry

    Yes, my suggestion is to read a few posts on this thread. LOL To me, the hatchery type birds just didn't cut the mustard as eating birds. If you're only looking at economics, my experience is that it's far cheaper to order chicks from a hatchery. If you're used to buying commercially produced...
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