Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[thedragonlady]

Dragonlady:

Heat charts are great, but I raised very nice, competitive Silver Laced Wyandottes in Georgia, where the heat was very humid in the summer with sometimes weeks over 100 degrees , with winters down to 10 degrees.Never lost a bird to heat , or cold.
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I don't know the significance of this with poultry , However, in the green strip, the average daily humidity is about 3.67 %.
Best,
Karen

That low humidity would be wenderful. Last summer we had days of 105 + and humidity of about 60%. Over 30,000 birds in my county died on the commercial farms. I ran fans 24/7 on the Orps. My big cockerel, Monty, would stand with his butt to the fan, letting the air run under his wings. Soon all the Orps learned to do that. We didn't loose a bird.

 

[bnjrob]

That low humidity would be wenderful. Last summer we had days of 105 + and humidity of about 60%. Over 30,000 birds in my county died on the commercial farms. I ran fans 24/7 on the Orps. My big cockerel, Monty, would stand with his butt to the fan, letting the air run under his wings. Soon all the Orps learned to do that. We didn't loose a bird.

Chickens can be dumb but they aren't stupid. When the weather is like that here, I throw out frozen water bottles - the chickens literally lay on the frozen bottles to cool off.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

Quote:


We are inland in the hills (it's considered East County) and it gets to about 100-110 in most of East County during the summer. It was 105 at our new place last summer. And we're only about 30 minutes from downtown.

Yeah the only really cooler parts (70's) is if you live real close to the ocean, the rest is hot and deserty.

 

[cluck-cluck]

Chickens can be dumb but they aren't stupid. When the weather is like that here, I throw out frozen water bottles - the chickens literally lay on the frozen bottles to cool off.

I heard of putting frozen water bottles in their water, but just laying them out, I hadn't and you can be sure I'll be doing that this summer! It will be my first summer with chickens, so I'm quite worried as I live in one of the hottest areas in Los Angeles, they always quote our area for the high, LOL.

We are inland in the hills (it's considered East County) and it gets to about 100-110 in most of East County during the summer. It was 105 at our new place last summer. And we're only about 30 minutes from downtown.

Yeah the only really cooler parts (70's) is if you live real close to the ocean, the rest is hot and deserty.

Sounds like our area. Shoot, I wish I hadn't assumed Wyandottes couldn't handle the heat, 'cause I've always wanted Wyandottes, and scratched them off the list due to heat, LOL. Maybe someday, if they happen to have one at the feed store, I'll take one home for kicks

 

[Robert Blosl]

Has anyone got there new March Issue of Poultry Press yet? Is there a picture of a Rhode Island Red Cockerel on the front page? Just a rumor I heard.

In regards to heat I had some Rhode Island Reds from Ohio one time and they just shut down here in this heat in South Alabama in August. After a few years a flock will adjust to the climate change under the fit of the fittest principle. There is a strain of Partridge Wyandotte Large Fowl in Iowa that a judge owns. I will try to look up his name and let you know who he is. They got to be above average. He told me they are a difficult color pattern to breed. One foot forward two feet backwards type of deal. May have to be double matted to have success. That is the problem with rare breeds some are just so difficult to breed and that is why you can not locate any or if you do they are just not that good of birds anymore.

 

[bnjrob]

I heard of putting frozen water bottles in their water, but just laying them out, I hadn't and you can be sure I'll be doing that this summer! It will be my first summer with chickens, so I'm quite worried as I live in one of the hottest areas in Los Angeles, they always quote our area for the high, LOL.
Sounds like our area. Shoot, I wish I hadn't assumed Wyandottes couldn't handle the heat, 'cause I've always wanted Wyandottes, and scratched them off the list due to heat, LOL. Maybe someday, if they happen to have one at the feed store, I'll take one home for kicks

At the beginning of the hottest time here, usually April/May, they get a little stressed at lower temps. But I gradually wait for higher and higher temps/humidity to lay out the frozen bottles in the runs and coops to help them acclimate to the really high temps of the dog days. That way they don't keel over on me when it's only 90-100 or if something were to happen and I was unable to get them ice bottles. By August, they were doing ok with waiting for it to be about 105 - 108 before I threw out the ice bottles for them to lay on.

When it is about 95-100 I put out kitty litter pans with water for them to wade in and if I change the wading water during the day, I throw the old water in the run. Then they wallow in the mud like little pigs to cool off.

We use 5 gal buckets with nipples in the bottom for waterers. They are wrapped in silver bubble-wrap insulation to keep the water cooler in summer and warmer in winter. The water holds a decent temp with frozen water bottles thrown in during the summer.

We have no shade here, so they have shade cloth curtains over the top and sides of their runs, in addition to insulation inside the walls of the coops.

There are people here that put AC units in their coops but then they have chickens die on them when it really isn't very hot, because their chickens have gotten accustomed to artificial weather. Bad especially when we have rolling blackouts because of too high energy usage in the state and those AC units don't work. It's sad but they don't understand that the more they coddle their chickens, they are really risking harming them in the long run.

It would be easier here if we had a dry heat. The trick really is to get them acclimated to the temps and then you don't have to worry as much at normal high temps.

 

[BarnGoddess01]

I know this is the "Heritage" thread but I really appreciate the knowledge and experience of the folks on here so I'm putting this out .... I've heard that hatching pullet eggs is a bad idea but lots of folks seem to do it, including myself. However, I'm finding that I have FAR more "issues" with the stuff hatched out of pullet eggs - regardless of breed. When I hatch out of the same combo after they have passed their first birthday, I'm getting MUCH better birds with far less issues (crooked beaks, crooked toes, hatching issues, wonky legs, size, etc. Even the "type" seems inferior.) Anybody have any thoughts on my experience? I'm trying to get my head around why the "genetic" material might be improved/stronger just because I'm using older birds. Or even if it is genetic material responsible for what I'm seeing. And pullet out of pullet REALLY seems to create a mess ....

 

[3riverschick]

I know this is the "Heritage" thread but I really appreciate the knowledge and experience of the folks on here so I'm putting this out .... I've heard that hatching pullet eggs is a bad idea but lots of folks seem to do it, including myself. However, I'm finding that I have FAR more "issues" with the stuff hatched out of pullet eggs - regardless of breed. When I hatch out of the same combo after they have passed their first birthday, I'm getting MUCH better birds with far less issues (crooked beaks, crooked toes, hatching issues, wonky legs, size, etc. Even the "type" seems inferior.) Anybody have any thoughts on my experience? I'm trying to get my head around why the "genetic" material might be improved/stronger just because I'm using older birds. Or even if it is genetic material responsible for what I'm seeing. And pullet out of pullet REALLY seems to create a mess ....

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This argument goes back to the beginning of the last century in the books I have read. Most say the best chicks come from females after their first year of laying. Not to breed from pullets. Then there is the book written about why pullet breeding is a useful tool for quickly improving the quality of one's flock. All kinds of info on the subject in Google Books. Keyword search breeding pullets. You may have to tweak your search terms a bit to get past all the double mating breeding system terminology for "pullet breeding".
http://books.google.com/advanced_book_search?
I don't know the "why's" of either side of the argument. Just a lot in favor of not breeding from pullets and a few good arguments for it. The arguments for it seem to stem from a desire to quickly improve the quality of a flock.
Best,
Karen
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After doing some looking around, I found these two representative cites on the subject.
http://tinyurl.com/c395yav
Practical Poultry Culture: A Concise and Practical Treatise ...,
Issues 150-155 By R. W. Davison 1898
Page 55.
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The business hen: breeding and feeding poultry for profit By Herbert Winslow Collingwood
1892 , Pages 17 thry19. Hum..maybe the issue isn't the chicken. Maybe it is the young egg.
http://tinyurl.com/bnrjgqd
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http://tinyurl.com/bmdlpvc
Poultry-craft: A text-book for poultry keepers By John Henry Robinson
1907 , CHAPTER X. Principles of Breeding, — Selection and Care of Breeding Stock.
starting on Page 144 addresses breeding from pullets vs hens.
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http://tinyurl.com/bvz896k
Laws Governing the Breeding of Standard Fowls By Wetherell Henry Card
1912. Well what do you know! Look what finally showed up on Google Books!
About time. My fav author. Not about eggs, but a great pithy book full of breeding wisdom.

 

[NeilsHamburgs]

Ive also heard breeding very old birds together you get alot of variance in color and some defects as well. How does age alter genetics?

 

[BarnGoddess01]

Quote:
I know my reason for hatching pullet eggs was my excitement to move forward with what appear to be good quality birds (mostly by the reputation of the breeder I got them from.) But what a mess. And such a waste of time and resources. I'm definitely stepping over to the side of waiting to hatch. There is nothing of value to be learned about the parents from hatching pullet eggs . (Luckily, I didn't condemn the parents based on what their early eggs produced!!!)