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Spurs on the hens are a defect, not a disqualification, so in an APA show, they'd get marked down a little but that is not the end of the world. It's getting increasingly difficult to get Javas, especially now that the main person who kept them alive for the last half a century or so, downsized...

There are two APA groups on FB, one is for dues-paying APA members and the other is for anyone interested in the APA. Both groups are having a ton of problems with newbies, and even non-members throwing hissy fits when someone tells them their precious Fluffy Butt isn't the bees knees, and when...

:thIf it's not one thing it's another. I'm glad you at least have some backups. You're right about the flightiness though and perhaps you'll be happier in the long run even though it may take you longer to get the birds up to SOP size. I've got the two different bloodlines and one is...

...It always seems like it is the younger crowd that is the ones that want to get rid of the old and bring in the new because they are having trouble *finding themselves* and how they fit into the world as an adult and they think that getting rid of everything old will somehow make them feel better.

Now you're just killing me. :lau

:lol:

...tour the agriculture exhibits and barns, we hear people that are shocked that milk comes out of cows. And even more shocked that it comes from cow *boobs* - of course the word teat is a dirty word just like cock. Some farm folks in a discussion group said they have similar issues with...

Sadly so far I haven't found anybody that is serious enough to have the patience to breed these birds. In fact, some of the worst offenders have been people who swore up and down to me that they had been searching for years to find Javas, that they desperately wanted to save them from another...

Ugh, I feel your pain. People are obsessed with chicks. Part of it is the *baby animal* appeal and started birds aren't *cute*. Then too they want chicks because chicks are usually sold cheaper than started poultry. People also want pretty feathers that sound exciting and unusual ( I hear...

And here you go - the craziness of chicken genetics where you're supposed to be selecting for the traits you want, yet it doesn't work. I swear, some days chicken breeding is just miserable. At least we can eat them and their eggs.

Actually what is on the website is not the first class. They have a class coming up down at A&M that was full almost as soon as they posted it. And that was way before the letters went out. Some of the folks in breeder groups discovered it a month or two ago and started spreading the word...

UGH. This has not been a good year for most people that I've talked to about raising poultry.

Yep, I hear ya on that one - lousy hatching here too. Had some stuff come up and waited to long to pick breeders and start hatching - so fertility has been bad because I had too many hens per cock and then by the time I got the pens separated, it was too hot and nobody wanted to mate. I just...

:yuckyuck

...problems. Those of us who are serious about chicken raising are busy actually raising our birds instead of being online to discuss how cute our chickens are. Some of the *old* APA officials and such, now tend to be online on other sites that have a larger concentration of serious poultry folks.

We're down here near Terrell and we have at least one mated pair of Cara Caras near us. We were surprised when we first saw them, since it was unusual to have them so far north. Have to watch out for them since they will attack living animals too. They've been here at least 5 years now but...

Sounds like it's time for fried grackle.

Best thing I did for some of my pens was to start using a Peck-O-Matic feeder. Less spill mess and keeps the food nice and dry inside a 5 gallon bucket. They're not cheap but they pay for themselves if you wind up losing a good bit of feed due to either the birds scooping it out or to rain.

...are not really quantifiable traits because everyone has their own idea of what is a big enough breast and what is a very good layer. And generally *very good layers* are not going to have a lot of meat on them, breast or otherwise. The best layers are the smaller birds that put all their...