Search results for query: *

I'm not a fan of poultry shows in general ... and don't know that I'd want to show locally for a variety of reasons. I feel obliged to go to that particular show for Rip's workshop, and I feel obliged to take birds because he is judging there and is extremely supportive of the breed I work with...

If you could get to the PNPA fall show there will be a clinic Friday night where poultry judge Rip Stalvey shows people how to evaluate their birds. It will be filmed, but I'm sure will be more informative in person. Last year there weren't a ton of large fowl at the show -- some nice ones...

Mid summer is a reassuring time of year. Some of my fresh Delaware pullets are starting to look like Delawares. I kind of overhatched one breeding pen by like double. But that's okay as the pullets are shaping up well and I'll be able to start culling them soon -- just waiting on wings to finish...

This year I was going to wing band chicks right out of the hatcher. But there is just not enough wing webbing on most of them. So at first I tried tiny zip ties ... but my chicks' legs grow so fast I was having to change them out every couple days (put them on too loose and they fall off, put...

I hadn't really had a Delaware tell me she was serious about being broody until after I switched to the incubator, so I wasn't sure. The hatchery hens/mutts had been my broody source before that, and they were good at it. I haven't tested a Delaware yet, not sure I will as I don't want to try to...

They seem faster to mature by all measures. But of course I've had the opportunity to observe these more closely, in age groups instead of a mixed flock situation. And that's very different. With most broody raised clutches I have quite a time getting them to roost, but with these they've...

In a bit of a late decision this spring I switched from doing exclusively broody chick hatching and raising to buying incubator, hatcher, brooder equipment and using that exclusively. It's been a lot of changing things to get my system figured out. A lot more work for me compared to having the...

A little late for the season, I decided to switch to machine incubating chicks this year, hoping to speed things up a bit, hatch bigger clutches, and now that I have more than one pen going, keep track of the chicks from different matings. So I culled back my hatchery layers (where my broodies...

Seriously, your Delaware bantams are nicer than most people's Delawares. Good work.

True. Social Media can help. More poultry people are active on social media for their breed clubs and such. I recently posted a couple photos of the breeding pens I'd set up, and tagged the consultant who had helped me sort the birds, and I got so many responses to those posts with the larger...

Very, very cool! I don't know much about bantams. Do you have any clue how they "made" these? Where did you get them? How do they conform to the expected (standard) weights, etc., of the breed? Do you plan to show them? If you hadn't told me they were bantam, I'd never have guessed. MAYBE by the...

What about the Delaware Bantams? How long have you been working with those? Do you heve photos?

A weird wing thing popped up in the line of birds I'm working with, too. Cockerels seem particularly prone to it.

Would you be interested in helping draft documents like this for other breeds? Which breeds do you think are most in need of this type of thing? I've been asked to put together a little educational document to use at a youth poultry fundraiser event in my area about birds I'm donating to the...

I gather the problem of not breeding to the standard, and not judging to the standard, has some fanciers of at least one breed concerned enough that they have written a document to remind people what the actual standard is for that breed. I think it is a fantastic document, and would love to see...