A Heritage of Perfection: Standard-bred Large Fowl

[chicken pickin]

I am raising Barred Plymouth Rocks., such a wonderful breed. They are currently 6 months old. For males I started with 9 and culled down to 4 about a month ago, I recently decided another one is a cull ( he is still with me but will go soon) which will bring me to 3, One more will be culled so I will have 2 males to work with. These are my cockerels.

All 4 together




This is the cull - his hips are far to narrow and honestly I should have culled him a month ago



Im pretty certain these 2 are my keepers



And this is the remaining male that I like but not sure Ill keep, I will try to give him a little more time.

 

[MagicChicken]

Quote:
Hmmm.... That link goes to a diagram of human leg structure - knock-kneed, normal, and bow-legged. Maybe you could just describe the scale?

 

[Wisher1000]

 

[Rod-T]

Hmmm.... That link goes to a diagram of human leg structure - knock-kneed, normal, and bow-legged.  Maybe you could just describe the scale?

I think that's knock knee and bowlegged. Probably culls...I could be wrong lol

 

[GreenRiverHen]

Hmmm.... That link goes to a diagram of human leg structure - knock-kneed, normal, and bow-legged.  Maybe you could just describe the scale?

That's so funny!! Sorry--I had been looking for pics of knock-kneed birds earlier--but not sure how I did that!

It's just a digital fish scale--like to weigh a fish by the lips--with a hook hanging from the bottom. I put the bird in a pillow case and hung it from the hook.

 

[MagicChicken]

Quote:
Thanks for the info. My birds are large (8-10 lbs) and they are escape artists. I would have to tie off the end of the pillow case somehow, and I'm not sure how to attach it to the hook. I am open to suggestions.

I've been using a bathroom scale with me holding the bird, but the results are not always consistent. It's fine for one or two birds but a royal pain for 20+.

 

[Zanna]

Thanks for the info. My birds are large (8-10 lbs) and they are escape artists. I would have to tie off the end of the pillow case somehow, and I'm not sure how to attach it to the hook. I am open to suggestions.

I've been using a bathroom scale with me holding the bird, but the results are not always consistent. It's fine for one or two birds but a royal pain for 20+.

I use bags made from feed sacks. My friend that makes them puts fairly long handles on them that I can hang from the fish scale hook. Weighing happens at night by headlamp as that is when I have the time and can easily pluck them off the roost. They stay fairly comatose in the bag but I do have to work fast. Some of my New Hamps are over 12 Lbs and they fit in the bags pretty well.

 

[bnjrob]

Thanks for the info. My birds are large (8-10 lbs) and they are escape artists. I would have to tie off the end of the pillow case somehow, and I'm not sure how to attach it to the hook. I am open to suggestions.

I've been using a bathroom scale with me holding the bird, but the results are not always consistent. It's fine for one or two birds but a royal pain for 20+.

I have a rabbit cage and hang it from the fish scale with the bird in it. Right now the hubby helps me and holds the fish scale up in the air, but I'm going to make a 2x4 frame to hold fish scale that I can take from pen to pen and not need an extra set of hands to hold the scale.

 

[GreenRiverHen]

Thanks for the info. My birds are large (8-10 lbs) and they are escape artists. I would have to tie off the end of the pillow case somehow, and I'm not sure how to attach it to the hook. I am open to suggestions.

I've been using a bathroom scale with me holding the bird, but the results are not always consistent. It's fine for one or two birds but a royal pain for 20+.

My birds don't like being handled either but they went limp in the dark pillow case. And they are as big as yours. I just put holes in the case near the top and put the hook through. It was really easy! I wish I did this year's ago.

 

[desertmarcy]

Thanks for the info. My birds are large (8-10 lbs) and they are escape artists. I would have to tie off the end of the pillow case somehow, and I'm not sure how to attach it to the hook. I am open to suggestions.

I've been using a bathroom scale with me holding the bird, but the results are not always consistent. It's fine for one or two birds but a royal pain for 20+.

@MagicChicken I use an AWS Postal Scale and love it. It is very versatile. There are a bunch of different models but the one I have goes up to 55 lbs in 0.1 increments. It is small and light weight. It has a tare button and another button on the side you push when you have an oversized box on it that obscures the weight screen which will hold the display when you take the box off. I put my birds in a box, whatever kind of box works for your escape artists. Tare the box first or just put it on the scale before turning it on and it automatically is tared. I use it to weigh my processed birds for sale, or boxes I'm taking to the post office. We also use it to weigh food we are packing for the freezer. It has a battery so you can take it out to the poultry area with you, or you can plug it into the wall. It has several modes that you can change that converts the weight from pounds/ounces to kilograms to tenths of a pound. There are a lot of AWS scales on ebay. I think I may have bought it there, I don't remember now. Or Amazon. Highly recommend.