Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[CharlieVoda]

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Nice bird for foundation stock. "Start where you are with what you have." Your White Orpingtons are very rare. Hope everything works out with Laverne you will love his birds.

Good luck with the birds
Charlie Voda

 

[Wynette]

BEST of luck in Eureka, Walt!

 

[fowlman01]

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Thanks Wynette. The birds are over the hill for the most part, but I have at least two "contenders". This is show is more for fun than anything else.

Walt

 

[lildinkem]

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Bill,

Your white hen has good type. How much does she weight? You can mate her to a buff orp and cull them heavy. Terry Britt used a White Rock a few years back on his White Orps. You might also consider a White Wyandotte male. Just cull anything with a rose comb and yellow legs.

Jim she is right at 8 lbs. Pretty chunky pullet. I have heard of the Buff and Blacks being used to bring back the vigor. But Buff leakage is a potential issue for a few years unless you have a Silver to go to clean that out. Black too can be an option, but you have a Blue skin issue. So, I may try both and see.

I have a more stressful issue. I've been invaded by Starlings. Their eating out of my feeders. They carry mites and other nasty diseases. Loud noises don't stop them from coming back. Chucking rocks won't scare them away. This has been on going for a few weeks now. I started to only let my birds eat for a few hours, but I don't like that idea. My original mentor told me a way to get rid of them permanantly without using any toxic poisons. But I fear saying what, cause of the potential backlash of being cruel. Lets just say his Grandpa, who raised chix back in the 1880's used the technique I plan on trying. HINT: You can not use this at weddings anymore IF you know what I mean?

UPDATE on my DILEMA: IT WORKS! Mixed a bit of feed in a garbage can lid, and I have interest. HOPEFULLY NO MORE STARLINGS!
GOD I LOVE these Ole Timer dudes. What would I being doing IF I did not listen to the WISE OLE MAN? I'd be back in the stoneage chuckin rocks. lol

 

[Chickielady]

Seriously that wedding stuff works ?
Cool! I will remember that!!

 

[spartacus_63]

No rice doesn't kill birds. They have been eating it for years in Asia.

 

[lildinkem]

Then why do they not allow people to throw rice at weddings anymore? I lived in New York City, and it is well known that the Pigeons were exploding when rice was thrown at weddings. I guess someone needs to tell them that it is not bad. I just went out to check and I seen maybe 20 or 30 and not 300 like I have been seeing for the past three weeks. It may not kill them but it is doing something to cut the numbers down. Maybe it is time for them to move on, or maybe their not liking the feeling of their tummies swelling up?

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Does_dried_rice_kill_birds

 

[spartacus_63]

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Because it is a popular myth propagated by folks trying to sell more expensive items to toss...just like the dog food companies will swear that their food is better for dogs than a natural meat filled diet. Use rice to kill birds and you will have birds with crops full of rice, not dead birds. If you do not believe me, look it up:
http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/birdrice.asp
A link to Snopes.

 

[lildinkem]

Quote:
Because it is a popular myth. Use rice to kill birds and you will have birds will crops full of rice, not dead birds. If you do not believe me, look it up:
http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/birdrice.asp
A link to Snopes.

I did and they say birds with small digestive systems can not handle the expantion of DRIED RICE, not the rice found in the wild.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Does_dried_rice_kill_birds

 

[spartacus_63]

I did and they say birds with small digestive systems can not handle the expantion of DRIED RICE, not the rice found in the wild.

I did see this at your link, but there is no source for this theory. If you have ever opened a crop, you would see that there is very little liquid in there. The crop grinds the food and starts the digestive process in birds. By the time the grain gets to the "little tummies" it is a ground up pulp and moisture content would not be significant and any swelling would not produce enough energy to rupture the stomach, let alone the bird. But hey, if it scares away your birds, go for it.​