Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[capayvalleychick]

Those BRs are nice. How are they as a meat bird?

I rotationally graze chickens with other livestock on irrigated pasture in northern California. My soil is poor, stony clay & alkaline, my well water is high in boron & salt. Summer temps run in the 100's. So growing anything is a challenge. Most of the usual grasses that I've tried have not survived. Some orchardgrass is doing ok. I decided to plant Bermuda, since it's tough. That and birdsfoot trefoil with strawberry clover seems to be doing well. The animals all look like they are doing fine on it. There's also some wild plantain out there and I gather seeds from wild (weed) grasses that do well naturally and add them to the pasture area.

Kim

 

[ronott1]

Those BRs are nice. How are they as a meat bird?

I rotationally graze chickens with other livestock on irrigated pasture in northern California. My soil is poor, stony clay & alkaline, my well water is high in boron & salt. Summer temps run in the 100's. So growing anything is a challenge. Most of the usual grasses that I've tried have not survived. Some orchardgrass is doing ok. I decided to plant Bermuda, since it's tough. That and birdsfoot trefoil with strawberry clover seems to be doing well. The animals all look like they are doing fine on it. There's also some wild plantain out there and I gather seeds from wild (weed) grasses that do well naturally and add them to the pasture area.

Kim

I was at Kim's Ranch a couple of weeks ago, and she really does have great pasture grass growing out there! We cracked open a Dorking egg to check for fertility, and the yolk was very Orange, so the chickens are very healthy indeed.

Great topic! I am getting ready to fix the grass in my back yard. I have been thinking that I would have to keep the chickens out of the part I want to keep grass growing and give them the clippings once a week. I was gong to try letting them out on the grass for less time to see if I could keep some. After reading this, I may try bermuda grass and over seed with rye grass in the fall.

Does is this good, or would clover or something else be better? My water is like Kim's(enough salt and boron to kill some plants) but my soil is pretty much all clay. Of course now it is full of chicken "fertilizer".

Ron

 

[ashandvine]

Question: a man here with show quality/winning stock was seen giving his birds (heritage buffs) Safflower seeds. Can anyone guess why?


Also want to share a picture...

 

[tigercreek]

Question: a man here with show quality/winning stock was seen giving his birds (heritage buffs) Safflower seeds. Can anyone guess why?


Also want to share a picture...

Are you sure it wasn't sunflower seeds?? That is common practice. . .stan

 

[poularde]

My birds love safflower seeds. Good way to boost the protein.

 

[ashandvine]

Are you sure it wasn't sunflower seeds?? That is common practice. . .stan

Yes, Stan, I am quite sure they were Safflower. They look completely different than sunflower meaties. Safflower are white and have a different shape, more conical, and are uniform in size and color. Sunflower hulls are almond shaped and black or striped. Maybe it was the protein. These were young but large!

 

[tigercreek]

Didn't know that you were the one who had seen it. If it's the same stuff they get the pollen for cooking from, it might also help the color?? I have not heard of that. I have not heard of a lot of stuff I'm sure!!

....stan

 

[catdaddyfro]

Are you sure it wasn't sunflower seeds?? That is common practice. . .stan

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tagetes

 

[catdaddyfro]

Didn't know that you were the one who had seen it. If it's the same stuff they get the pollen for cooking from, it might also help the color?? I have not heard of that. I have not heard of a lot of stuff I'm sure!!

....stan

http://www.botgard.ucla.edu/html/botanytextbooks/economicbotany/Helianthus/index.html
^
Here's some interesting info Stan on them I used to work on a BIG farm in northeast Colorado and they raised confectioners sunflower seeds and also safflower too. Vegetable oil is there main usage in the human world the poultry world IDK I reckon they are good high protein supplements and may help some in the yellowing of the skin, surely with all that oil in them they surely should put some weight on for sure.

Jeff

 

[bnjrob]

My guess would be the safflower seeds should assist with getting an overall healthy feather look etc. for showing. They sell the various "show" supplements and recommend that you feed that in addition to regular feed for a few weeks before a show to get the birds in good viewing shape. Similar to feeding dogs things like brewers yeast and fatty acid acid supplements to get their fur in better condition.