we get organic ground soy, and mix with cereal grains (oats and wheat usually) and some seaweed meal, and calcium. We don't really grow corn here, and fishmeal is very expensive here. I have tried making mixes with field beans and field peas to boost the protein but they can't eat that high a...
I just read this Article. It’s about a place that replaced 3/4 of its chicken feed with azola that they grew themselves, and they saw a bump in production and better eggshell quality.
I keep a laying flock of 100, and hoping to double this year.
I’m in ireland, so I think our climate might...
will the behaviour of the cockerel around the hens tell us anything about the fertility, lay rate, or other traits of the hens? given a surfeit of hens to chose from (I have two cockerels with 80 hens) will the cockerel choose the hens that lay the best?
I have a large laying flock and I want to breed the next generation, however I have to many to spend the time trap nesting them all etc. how can I tell which are the best layers? is there any physical markers that generally correlate?
I don’t see any dedicated Irish thread and there are quite a few Irish members.
For poultry keepers resident in Ireland. Lurkers from other places welcome, but this thread is ostensibly for poultry keepers resident in Ireland to get together.
From achill to artane, from Belfast to...
If one happened to get their hands on the cockerels of the red sex link f1, and breed it with the red sex link hen f1, how likely would you be to retain the feed efficiency/ lay rate, and to what degree?
What would be the resul of throwing a RIR cock over red sex link (say lohmanns) hens?
Obviously you would lose the sex link colouring, but how would feed efficiency and lay rate fare out?
Can I train my collie x spaniel for livestock protection?
She is very good with the hens, and just coming a year old. She has good obedience. She definitely has a nose for the fox, our only predator here. As I wrote she is gone chasing one from the property. My only challenge is to get her to...
I want to separate my birds after hatching - male and female. I've been advised marking them is the best option. Is there a specific poultry marker? Or should I use food die? I want something fairly visible because the birds will be brown. (Slovenian brown, a line bred from rir).
We used to...
I would love to delve into the breeders,breeds and hybrids that were present in this infamous competition, and see the scorecards and records.
Can they be found anywhere?
Hi folks
I feel compelled to share a few shots of my favourite book - modern poultry husbandry (1948).
These shots show drawings for diy feed troughs - easy and cheap to make.
Hi folks,
I have posted in previous places about this, but thought for progress going forward I’ll keep it in this thread.
We keep a small commercial flock of pastured laying hens. Currently we buy in POL lohman browns, but want to get away from that model to a closed flock model.
I am...
I bought a 400 egg capacity Chinese red incubator from Alibaba.com. It’s from a verified manufacturer that has been on the platform for a few years and has trade assurance.
Dunno what the feeling is on Chinese incubators around here, but I’ll give my full report in a few months once I have...
In my favourite book “modern poultry husbandry” (1939) the author writes briefly about hay box brooders.
It was historically used in Lancashire area in England.
Also Solomon Demeke has since the late 90s been trying to popularise this method in rural villages in southern Ethiopia. Solomon...
I am into some niche facebook groups - one is dedicated to hatching eggs from the grocery store. I saw this one today, what breed do you suppose she is?
I’m planning a fairly large incubator diy. But have never used an egg turner. Does the sequence go:
1hr - turn left 45• - 1 hr turn right 45. Etc
Or
1hr - turn left 45• - 1hr turn centre 45• - 1hr turn right 45• etc
I presume I will need a limiter switch?
I am planning to build a 300 egg capacity incubator. Is it sufficient to use a pan of water below the egg trays and then control ventilation manually in order to reach desired humidity
Or
Must a heating element be added to the pan
Or
Must a humidifier or humidity pump be used?
I intend...