Australorps Breeding for SOP and Exhibition Thread

[DeesHens]

Bookmarked for reading about SOP. ~Dee~

 

[bonnylass79]

At the risk of repeating something... anyone have some good links to feeding for show?

I don't have any links, but 3 months before the first show of the season, I separate my show birds and start them on 30% Game Bird. I also pull any broken feathers. They get Big Ole Bird twice a month. I also mix Manna Pro Poultry Conditioner into their feed.

 

[Matt1616]

At the risk of repeating something... anyone have some good links to feeding for show?

I feed the same thing that I feed year around. There is no special formula for me...good food & good clean water does the trick.


Matt

 

[bonnylass79]

I feed the same thing that I feed year around.  There is no special formula for me...good food & good clean water does the trick.


Matt

Yes, but I need all the help I can get competing against your birds, Matt. And it does seem to help broken feathers grow faster.

 

[ronott1]

@groche

This was posted a while back on the Australorp breed thread:
Quote: Any thoughts?

 

[chasinthedream]

I don't have any links, but 3 months before the first show of the season, I separate my show birds and start them on 30% Game Bird. I also pull any broken feathers. They get Big Ole Bird twice a month. I also mix Manna Pro Poultry Conditioner into their feed.

How much Mana? I see it is quite potent. 1 table spoon/bird seems hard to control as they could pick it out of their regular rations unless you feed a specific amount so that there are no "leftovers"

The local feed store is only used to feeding production meat and layer stock. I would like to give my breeding/show stock the best start they can get.

I purchased some poultry balancer crumbs (38% with a lot of minerals) with the intention of adding it to the chick feed. Should I wait until they are a certain age or start adding it in after 1 week? What would be a safe amount to add? The lable does say it's intended to be blended with whole grains at 30% as layer feed and as a sole ration for meat birds (but they are not intended to live very long).

 

[chasinthedream]

I feed the same thing that I feed year around. There is no special formula for me...good food & good clean water does the trick.


Matt

Hi Matt,
What is "the same thing". Are you feeding layer ration or some other mixture?

 

[Matt1616]

@groche

This was posted a while back on the Australorp breed thread:
Any thoughts?

I can agree on the basis of the point being made but I don't know if I agree with the solution.

The first line of Australorps that I had did have the issue of females that would not turn red in the comb and wattles. Never had a problem with males. It is not uncommon for young Australorps to have black combs and wattles but when the females get about to the point of lay they should shed the black and turn red. I had some that wouldn't turn red and I think this is the same thing that this gentleman is referring to. My solution was to not breed from the birds that didn't turn red, no matter how good they were... and eventually didn't see it anymore. I don't have that line anymore.

Matt

 

[Matt1616]

Hi Matt,
What is "the same thing". Are you feeding layer ration or some other mixture?

I feed a 20% Game Bird Pellet. I have found that "Chicken" feed does not keep my birds in good enough feather to show so I haven't used any in years.

Matt

 

[chasinthedream]

@groche

This was posted a while back on the Australorp breed thread:
Any thoughts?

It seems to make sense. Always breeding towards a darker colour would cause darkening of all colours in other features. The SOP gives a fine line to balance on. I've been told Type before color.