Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[3riverschick]

Well, Hubby Bob and I fixed up the broody breaker cage today per everyone's instructions. Went out to the coop and opened the door so the other 2 could go out. All three came running out. When I opened the coop door, it was obvious why. Ammonia. Rats, I just can't figure out why this coop went rancid. I am using deep litter. All the chicken math is correct. Ventilation is correct. One 65 watt regular bulb should not heat up the coop too much. The coop will hold 7, I only have the trio in there. Collected 4 eggs from Marchs' nestbox. She must have been sitting on them because they weren't cold. Took out the litter and cleaned the coop with new food grade diatomacious earth on the floor , then 3 inches of fresh pine shavings on top. I use the shavings TSC sells which don't smell like turpentine.
All done, I caught March and put her inside. It was hilarious!

First thing she did was check out the nest. Craned her neck, "Huh? What's this? WHO took my eggs!". Wandered around the coop a couple of times. By this time Junior had come in the coop. March tried sitting in the corner on the floor. Nope, just won't do at all!". Then with a look of utter disgust and anger , ( I mean if she was a human, it would have gone something like this: " Fe, Fi, Fo, Fum I smell the blood of a human. Be he alive or be he dead, I'll get the one who stole my eggs!!!"..... March very deliberately climbed up into her nest box to brood.....nothing.

Tomorrow, will put her in the broody breaker box and get her back on schedule.
Fun, fun, fun,
Karen

 

[Yellow House Farm]

There is a correlation between male body shape/type and competed matings. Trying to eliminate breed or strain characteristics, males that have more of a submarine type posture, similar to Dorkings or Houdans, in that the breast seems to be more horizontal to the ground, tend to have a lower percentage of attempted matings actually completed. .... It didn't decrease for lack of attempted matings, it was for a lack of completed matings. We have seen certain strains of birds that have been selected for breast fleshing begin to have a breast or keel bone that was more horizontal to the ground. When this has happened the percent of completed or successful matings decreased but not attempted matings.

Kind of makes you wonder how Dorkings and Houdans and breed with this posture have survived over the years doesn't it? Having said that, my Houdans are very fertile while my Dorkings struggle with fertility at times. Too many problems sometimes......Grrrrrrrr

First of all, what variety of Dorkings do you keep? Excellent.

Yes, I've witnessed this. We once had a large Dorking male, an awesome male, and he'd try and try but to no avail. Upon attemptinf, he'd more or less fall forward. He was truly horizontal in stance. His rather excellent son was similar. Practically zero fertility. I think there's a need to try to keep them up in the front a bit., a slight angle, but an angle nonetheless.

 

[Arielle]

I have lights!!!!



Not the best pic I know but....I was able to get all my lights up and running last night and I took this pic this morning as I was leaving for work!! I ended up putting a light in each pen, on a switch with an outlet. Last night when I was checking everything I noticed that each pen is completely lit up with no shadows or dark spots anywhere. I then ran everything thought a heavy duty timer switch and as as you can see.....it was all working this morning like I knew what I was doing! LOL!!!

Thanks guys for all the suggestions and advice!

Chris

Looks great!! Light in every nook.

Quote: Hmmmm. . . . very interesting.

 

[Pozees]

Well, Hubby Bob and I fixed up the broody breaker cage today per everyone's instructions. Went out to the coop and opened the door so the other 2 could go out. All three came running out. When I opened the coop door, it was obvious why. Ammonia. Rats, I just can't figure out why this coop went rancid. I am using deep litter. All the chicken math is correct. Ventilation is correct. One 65 watt regular bulb should not heat up the coop too much. The coop will hold 7, I only have the trio in there. Collected 4 eggs from Marchs' nestbox. She must have been sitting on them because they weren't cold. Took out the litter and cleaned the coop with new food grade diatomacious earth on the floor , then 3 inches of fresh pine shavings on top. I use the shavings TSC sells which don't smell like turpentine.
All done, I caught March and put her inside. It was hilarious!

First thing she did was check out the nest. Craned her neck, "Huh? What's this? WHO took my eggs!". Wandered around the coop a couple of times. By this time Junior had come in the coop. March tried sitting in the corner on the floor. Nope, just won't do at all!". Then with a look of utter disgust and anger , ( I mean if she was a human, it would have gone something like this: " Fe, Fi, Fo, Fum I smell the blood of a human. Be he alive or be he dead, I'll get the one who stole my eggs!!!"..... March very deliberately climbed up into her nest box to brood.....nothing.

Tomorrow, will put her in the broody breaker box and get her back on schedule.
Fun, fun, fun,
Karen

This is so fun to follow I know it isn't as much fun for you, and upon reading, of course, my first thought was, where are those eggs?! LOL

I think your trio is so beautiful. I know you have your plan. I'd try to hatch every last egg. Just me.

 

[winniem13]

 Well, Hubby Bob and I fixed up the broody breaker cage today per everyone's instructions. Went out to the coop and opened the door so the other 2 could go out. All three came running out. When I opened the coop door, it was obvious why. Ammonia.  Rats, I just can't figure out why this coop went rancid. I am using deep litter. All the chicken math is correct. Ventilation is correct.  One 65 watt regular bulb should not heat up the coop too much. The coop will hold 7, I only have the trio in there. Collected 4 eggs from Marchs' nestbox. She must have been sitting on them because they weren't cold. Took out the litter and cleaned the coop with new food grade diatomacious earth on the floor , then 3 inches of fresh pine shavings on top. I use the shavings TSC sells which don't smell like turpentine.
 All done, I caught March and put her inside. It was hilarious!      First thing she did was check out the nest. Craned her neck, "Huh? What's this?  WHO took  my eggs!". Wandered around the coop a couple of times. By this time Junior had come in the coop.  March  tried sitting in the corner on the floor. Nope, just won't do at all!". Then with a look of utter disgust and anger , ( I mean if she was a human, it would have gone something like this:  " Fe,  Fi, Fo, Fum I smell the blood of a human. Be he alive or be he dead, I'll get the one who stole my eggs!!!"..... March very deliberately climbed up into her nest box to brood.....nothing. 
 Tomorrow, will put her in the broody breaker box and get her back on schedule.
 Fun, fun, fun,
 Karen

May I timidly recommend no more diatomacious since it destroys the bacteria that eats the bad bacteria. Instead, try adding dirt, leaves (fresh or dry), hay, and the shavings. Also, give the chickens something to search for in the litter such as sunflower seeds so they scratch and turn the soil for you. I recommend mucking out what you have since it is already ruined with ammonia and stsrting fresh. Once you have it going again, leave it be for 6-8 months, adding new material and dirt every so often. Just my say.

 

[3riverschick]

May I timidly recommend no more diatomacious since it destroys the bacteria that eats the bad bacteria. Instead, try adding dirt, leaves (fresh or dry), hay, and the shavings. Also, give the chickens something to search for in the litter such as sunflower seeds so they scratch and turn the soil for you. I recommend mucking out what you have since it is already ruined with ammonia and stsrting fresh. Once you have it going again, leave it be for 6-8 months, adding new material and dirt every so often. Just my say.

Hum, Winnie. That could be it. I was putting the DE in because I didn't want any bugs in the litter and was told that th De would scratch their exoskeletons and they would die. I didn't know it also killed bacteria. Wish I had read this sooner. Just finished cleaning the coop and laying down new DE with litter on top. I can start feeding the their BOSS in the litter, tho. Will keep watch on the coop and if it starts to go stale again, will forego the DE.
Thanks,
Karen

 

[3riverschick]

This is so fun to follow I know it isn't as much fun for you, and upon reading, of course, my first thought was, where are those eggs?! LOL

I think your trio is so beautiful. I know you have your plan. I'd try to hatch every last egg. Just me.

Thank you. All credit goes to Walt Boese of MT. He has bred them for generatons, Hand selected them for me and grew them out, conditioning them for me. .Well, will do my best. Next year will be different and more flexibility since we wil be keeping 6 or 7 girls to bring forward.
Karen

 

[gallorojo]

Well, Hubby Bob and I fixed up the broody breaker cage today per everyone's instructions. Went out to the coop and opened the door so the other 2 could go out. All three came running out. When I opened the coop door, it was obvious why. Ammonia. Rats, I just can't figure out why this coop went rancid. I am using deep litter. All the chicken math is correct. Ventilation is correct. One 65 watt regular bulb should not heat up the coop too much. The coop will hold 7, I only have the trio in there. Collected 4 eggs from Marchs' nestbox. She must have been sitting on them because they weren't cold. Took out the litter and cleaned the coop with new food grade diatomacious earth on the floor , then 3 inches of fresh pine shavings on top. I use the shavings TSC sells which don't smell like turpentine.
All done, I caught March and put her inside. It was hilarious!

First thing she did was check out the nest. Craned her neck, "Huh? What's this? WHO took my eggs!". Wandered around the coop a couple of times. By this time Junior had come in the coop. March tried sitting in the corner on the floor. Nope, just won't do at all!". Then with a look of utter disgust and anger , ( I mean if she was a human, it would have gone something like this: " Fe, Fi, Fo, Fum I smell the blood of a human. Be he alive or be he dead, I'll get the one who stole my eggs!!!"..... March very deliberately climbed up into her nest box to brood.....nothing.

Tomorrow, will put her in the broody breaker box and get her back on schedule.
Fun, fun, fun,
Karen

The deep litter system is honestly hard to get right. Took me 3 years...lol.. Some of what I discovered- More ventilation is better, see " Fresh air Poultry Houses" book. The best litter is clean wheat or oat straw, second best wood shavings. Also tried wood chips, leaves, and hay-those can mold, which is a problem in and of itself. The generally suggested amounts of chickens per square foot is still way too many for this sort of system. Especially in winter. Especially with large dual purpose breeds. I used to stock them at 3 sq foot per bird. That was too many birds for a deep litter system in the winter for me. I aim for more like 6-10 sq foot per birds now. I also switched to lighter, more active, "gamier" breeds-they will stir things up more. Also, only feed pellets once a day, in morning, as much as they clean up in 5 minutes. They should be hungry, they will scratch more then. Feed whole grains in afternoon/evening, whole oats especially really firms up their droppings. Making those changes really fixed things for me.

 

[FOGELLY]

Karen,
How air tight is your coop? It should have ventilation even in cold weather. Chickens exhale a lot of moisture.To air tight of coop leads to damp conditions and ammonia. Wind is a bigger enemy to a chickens health than cold. Allow your coop to breath but still block wind from the chickens.

Ron

 

[WallTenters]

Deep litter has been very easy - both in central OR (very very dry) and here in western OR (very very wet). I just add more bedding when they have composted it down. Ventilation but no drafts are important.