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robinast said:
Hello to everyone!
My name is Harri (yes, with 'i', not with 'y' :D) and I am a gardener and science teacher from Estonia, living in the tiniest village in the central part of Estonia and teaching chemistry in the tiniest village school imaginable (53 students this year). I have had poultry in my childhood, around a half of a century ago - chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, guineas... :D Then nothing for decades - and only chickens about ten years ago again. For a few years - and then things changed so that I could not keep them any more. But 3 years ago, I bought a small piece on land (a bit less than a half of a hectare) and rented the same-sized area as well. After thinking and planning for a couple of years, I started with the poultry over again, bought an incubator and eggs - and here I am, with my first after a while chicks having started to lay already. But this year has been a strange one in a sense that 2/3 are roosters and only 1/3 are hens. It is interesting to notice that while incubating ducks eggs, I've got more ducks than drakes with all three breeds I have (Cayuga, Khaki Campbell, Saxony). For every 6...7 ducks, 4 drakes. Which I am happy with! :D So, I'll need to start slaughtering the roosters soon...
I am fond of dual purpose chickens - such as Wyandottes or Faverolles f.e. I also have Cochins. But as the spring and summer developed, I got addicted - and I also have several other breeds by now - Silkies, Ayam Cemanis, Brahmas, Marans, Araucanas... Two roosters of Barbeziex as well as a rooster and a hen of Opal Legbar, too. To my regret, I was given a dozen of eggs on Altai Bantams - and I could not to avoid myself to incubate these as well. :D But I will give the last breed of chicks away if I'll find someone interested in this breed.
I am thinking of two breeding projects to start the next year. At first, I LOVE Silkies - yet I hate them being so small. Thus, I would like to start 'making them bigger' - by crossing silkies with some other breed(s) to get their bodies bigger while keeping their main characteristics (skin and meat color, feathers, comb...). Any advice would be highly appreciated here - I have no experience at all in this field yet. What I have thought of is that maybe I'd start crossing Silkies with Ayam Cemani at first - and later, their progeny with, say, Brahmas maybe... I am afraid that the size difference between Silkies and Brahmas is too big to start directly with crossing them together. IDK actually, of course. Maybe Brahma hens with a Silkie rooster would be OK.
The other project which is taking a shape in my mind, is to develop a big dual purpose chicken - and I mean BIG! :D Crossing Brahma hens with Barbezieux roosters for example. I'd probably use Indio Gigante as one of the crossing parents - yet I have not found a source for them here yet. Again, any advice from more experienced people is highly appreciated! :D
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Welcome to BYC!! :)
 
robinast said:
Indeed! A beauty - and a rarity here by now as well. Of course I hate it killing my birds - yet it is my duty to protect. BTW By now, when roosters are already grown up, a hawk (an another one) have visited my birds at least twice. One time, I I myself managed to intervene and it got nothing but some feathers without even harming any chicks. I only saw it to escape in hurry.
The other time, most likely roosters intervened - because I did not saw the hawk, only what it had done. Killed a white naked-necked Silkie - yet left it laying on the ground without taken even a mouthful. The Silkie laid on ground, eyes closed - and the blood dripping from it's beak. Some loose feathers also were around.
For the next year, I already ordered hatching eggs for turkeys - no hawk would dare to attack if a big male turkey is around, I guess. :D
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We have many Varieties of hawks, as well as bald eagles.
The hawks (& eagles) here will attack even the largest birds. They are more prone to attacking smaller ones, but the big ones aren't much of a deterrent. When I'm not out with my birds, I turn on a radio. I believe It helps discourage them. I don’t leave the radio on when I'm outside, as I don't want them to grow used to it.
 
janiedoe said:
We have many Varieties of hawks, as well as bald eagles.
The hawks (& eagles) here will attack even the largest birds. They are more prone to attacking smaller ones, but the big ones aren't much of a deterrent. When I'm not out with my birds, I turn on a radio. I believe It helps discourage them. I don’t leave the radio on when I'm outside, as I don't want them to grow used to it.
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Hawks and eagles are not very common here at all - and these few eagles that are , do not threaten domestic birds at all. Too far away in the wild, too afraid of humans... The hawk which I managed to catch , weighed 880 g - and I was told that it was a pretty good weight for a youngster of that that species (Accipiter gentilis). The adult female may weigh up to 1.5 kg. Thus, I do not think that it could effectively fight even a big brave rooster! :D
 
robinast said:
Hello to everyone!
My name is Harri (yes, with 'i', not with 'y' :D) and I am a gardener and science teacher from Estonia, living in the tiniest village in the central part of Estonia and teaching chemistry in the tiniest village school imaginable (53 students this year). I have had poultry in my childhood, around a half of a century ago - chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, guineas... :D Then nothing for decades - and only chickens about ten years ago again. For a few years - and then things changed so that I could not keep them any more. But 3 years ago, I bought a small piece on land (a bit less than a half of a hectare) and rented the same-sized area as well. After thinking and planning for a couple of years, I started with the poultry over again, bought an incubator and eggs - and here I am, with my first after a while chicks having started to lay already. But this year has been a strange one in a sense that 2/3 are roosters and only 1/3 are hens. It is interesting to notice that while incubating ducks eggs, I've got more ducks than drakes with all three breeds I have (Cayuga, Khaki Campbell, Saxony). For every 6...7 ducks, 4 drakes. Which I am happy with! :D So, I'll need to start slaughtering the roosters soon...
I am fond of dual purpose chickens - such as Wyandottes or Faverolles f.e. I also have Cochins. But as the spring and summer developed, I got addicted - and I also have several other breeds by now - Silkies, Ayam Cemanis, Brahmas, Marans, Araucanas... Two roosters of Barbeziex as well as a rooster and a hen of Opal Legbar, too. To my regret, I was given a dozen of eggs on Altai Bantams - and I could not to avoid myself to incubate these as well. :D But I will give the last breed of chicks away if I'll find someone interested in this breed.
I am thinking of two breeding projects to start the next year. At first, I LOVE Silkies - yet I hate them being so small. Thus, I would like to start 'making them bigger' - by crossing silkies with some other breed(s) to get their bodies bigger while keeping their main characteristics (skin and meat color, feathers, comb...). Any advice would be highly appreciated here - I have no experience at all in this field yet. What I have thought of is that maybe I'd start crossing Silkies with Ayam Cemani at first - and later, their progeny with, say, Brahmas maybe... I am afraid that the size difference between Silkies and Brahmas is too big to start directly with crossing them together. IDK actually, of course. Maybe Brahma hens with a Silkie rooster would be OK.
The other project which is taking a shape in my mind, is to develop a big dual purpose chicken - and I mean BIG! :D Crossing Brahma hens with Barbezieux roosters for example. I'd probably use Indio Gigante as one of the crossing parents - yet I have not found a source for them here yet. Again, any advice from more experienced people is highly appreciated! :D
Click to expand...
 

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