Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[Arielle]

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[Fred's Hens]

Another question: Since these birds get larger than the average industrial, what would be the recommendation on feed amount and protein ratio? I saw one man here giving Safflower to his, as stated in an earlier post, and will do the same, but if there are other things that will help them to grow and stay healthy I want to know that.

As I head into winter I have planned for cold hardy breeds... with just one exception and they will be soup if they don't sell so they will be nice and warm. I don't plan to insulate anything here, just make sure its wind and water proof. The birds will be in a couple places-- a coop and the barn basement all divided up by wire. Has anyone got pointers from having kept their birds in lots of snow? We used to shovel them a path and they lived in the barn with other critters when I was younger but I don't really know what I am supposed to do now that chickens have rights... or nearly.

It sounds like you have good facilities for wintering over your flock. Since we live in a climate similar to yours, with around 150" average snow fall. -25 is common enough. All I can do is share my own perspectives and draw from it whatever you wish.

Cold hardy breeds are a must. We neither insulate nor heat. We have a barn and we normally divide our winter over flock into three, 8x10 pens. We reduce the summer flock by half. Soon, I'll take a dozen potential breeders to winter over in southern KY and will take another dozen later in November. Up here, the birds require a lot of feed for heating themselves and there's no reason for us to keep a huge winter flock. Basically, just 20-30 layers, enough to satisfy my wife's 12-16 weekly customers.

Deep yellow straw in the pens. They love it. They'll dig and burrow. The barn is dry, so they can scratch up dirt and bathe. Boredom is tough, even with large pens. Whenever the sun shines, even in the cold, we let them out. They don't particularly love the frozen ice/snow pack, But if they can get to a place under the pines where the snow is not as deep, they'll spend hours scratching around them. I cut a path or two with the tractor and blade.

We use heated dog dishes and set 1 gallon, re-cycled ice cream pails in the dog dishes. It is super easy to just swap out buckets. No fussing with water outside in zero water. We put away the summer waterers until spring. We don't change their diet a whole lot, other than adding some re-constituted alfalfa pellets in their mash for greens. I do serve the mash moist, to assist in hydration during the winter.

 

[fowlman01]

Yes, Kathy, but you warned me. LOL. The growth and maturity shown over the last few weeks has been amazing though, they're picking up speed. They are getting HUGE. The cockerels show a lot of differentiation, but the pullets are quite level, really.

Thats a good group of BR's only time will tell for sure, but I would say most of them will be good.

Walt

 

[catdaddyfro]

It's been almost a month since I've posted pictures of the Barred Rocks, so here's an update. My usual disclaimer applies, I'm no photographer and don't have a decent camera.

Lookin good there Fred I too catch myself wishing mine to grow out faster I have to constantly remind myself all good things come to those who wait, and patience is a virtue, LOL

It is amazing how they hit those growth spurts ever so often and how some seem to do and mature at different rates/stages of developement.

hang in there they'll be there for ya sooner or later LOL they will be awesome and amazing not that they aren't now but I have some that are older and they are great looking and I'm awaiting the younger pullets to catch them and I will have a pen of eye candy to enjoy for myself too.

Jeff

 

[ashandvine]

Every time we 'talk' I feel like maybe I am not so dense. My girls have first cut right now and they just love it. My gramp used to stack bales so that there were cubbies in them for the chickens to nest in. The basement here has dirt on it but its brick under that. I don't have so many as you. Who does?? Fowlman maybe Not me. I downsized to 29 birds and have a few coming in to grow out for next year. I would be fine downsizing even more, but that is because I am trying out breeds, as I said before. Thanks for the insights.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Lookin good there Fred I too catch myself wishing mine to grow out faster I have to constantly remind myself all good things come to those who wait, and patience is a virtue, LOL

It is amazing how they hit those growth spurts ever so often and how some seem to do and mature at different rates/stages of developement.

hang in there they'll be there for ya sooner or later LOL they will be awesome and amazing not that they aren't now but I have some that are older and they are great looking and I'm awaiting the younger pullets to catch them and I will have a pen of eye candy to enjoy for myself too.

Jeff

Jeff, I"ve had all the patience of Job with these birds. I don't need them to hurry at all. If anything, I've enjoyed their slow development. They'll be selected for breeding after the first birthday, next April, so there's no rush at all. We have all the production birds we need, so there's no urgency with this group of 14 whatsoever. We keep our production ideas and our preservationist ideas quite separate in our thoughts and planning.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Thats a good group of BR's only time will tell for sure, but I would say most of them will be good.

Walt

Walt, we'll wait to do any "deciding" until after New Year's, at the earliest. I've already made some notes on a few. There is a pullet or two who really catch my eye and there are three cockerels who are fancy, even at this young age. But, beware the late bloomers, eh?

 

[Arielle]

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[MagicChicken]

Chickens have rights here too. THe housing requirements by my town require particularly tight housing, WTH? Kill them with kindness apparently. Three sides and a roof--not much ventilation in summer to my way of thinking. Hope the experts will weigh in.

Hmmm... You could follow that rule to the letter - build three sides and a roof - and then put gigantic screened-in windows in each "side" for ventilation if you need it. Did they mention "windows" in the regs?

Sarah

 

[fowlman01]

Every time we 'talk' I feel like maybe I am not so dense. My girls have first cut right now and they just love it. My gramp used to stack bales so that there were cubbies in them for the chickens to nest in. The basement here has dirt on it but its brick under that. I don't have so many as you. Who does?? Fowlman maybe Not me. I downsized to 29 birds and have a few coming in to grow out for next year. I would be fine downsizing even more, but that is because I am trying out breeds, as I said before. Thanks for the insights.

With all the babies here, I probably have 400-500 birds.

Walt