Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[snowbird]

Bob, soon as I get a scan on my marking guide will post a picture, Has 80 markings using the punch and slit method. I see some want more markings. I always Band and wing band for individual identification.

 

[Arielle]

Quote:

Quote: THank you both, great ideas. I have been using zip ties for my cureent projects; I like the numbering of the bands. Do all bands need to be replaced as the chicks grow??

 

[Chris09]

If toe punching is used to know the pen, how do you keep the different hatchings from that pen identified?? I run into age problems too once they grow up, before that I can see the size difference.

That's where wing bands and good record keeping comes into play.

Chris

 

[cgmccary]

I toe punch, wing band & leg band, all three. They will lose leg & wing bands sometimes. An APA judge told me not to use wing bands because judges did not like them because they could get cut on them. However, you would have to go looking for the wing band on a LF bird and when placed there when they are young, they are buried in feathers anyway; I cannot see where they pose any such risk (correct me if I am wrong).

 

[Lacy Blues]

I Think this the best stretch of education this thread has seen in a long time. The toe punch chart is tops with the new numbers on it. Print this out and take it to the office supply shop and have it laminated. Put it on your wall next to your incubator. A little secret I had to do to keep me from screwing up my writing on my eggs is not having a writing device near the nest. By the time you get from the barn to the incubator room you will forget what pen the egg came out of. If you put the egg in your coat pocket you may break the egg. So I got me some chalk sting and cut them about three feet long tied a string around a number two pencil and then mouth the string near the nest. Each breeding pen has a pencil. Such a simple task but if you dont keep good records it could come back to haunt you and then all this hard work can be for nothing.

Maybe record keeping could be discussed a little bit too? I, for one, am really enjoying the discussion these past few days. I'm finding, however, that the older I get the less organized I am and I was never extremely organized to begin with so I'm wondering how some of you who are older than 50 keep your records?

I have a friend who has some super Black Austrolorps. He might be able to ship you some started chicks about ten days olds. I dont know if he has enough birds to fool with eggs. By the time you get two dozen you may only hatch four or five. They are top strains in the USA. The URCH bird you got to figure out you got to order so many as a minimum order vs ten started chicks.

This might be a good option for the woman who was looking for Australorps as Bruce is apparently getting out of them. That's really too bad because he had some really nice birds.

Here is a question for the experts of Poultry. Do baby chicks have a part of their brain that feels pain? Many fear hurting a chicken because they think they are like humans. Some I am told by Matt and Steve put diapers on them for some reason. Go figure that one out. Any way does the central nervous system of a chicken have a pain center? I think I read in a old poultry book years ago that they do not.

I am no expert by any stretch of the imagination but it seems to me, in watching my own birds, that they do have a pain center. I think their tolerance for pain is extremely high in that you can do certain surgeries on them and they don't even flinch. Beings that they are a prey animal, perhaps they go into shock just a little bit and that dulls their pain? I only think this way because I've seen a hen, after being grabbed by an inexperienced rooster who has perhaps bitten a part of her comb off or pinched her neck harder than necessary, after she gets away from him she will scratch at the area where he had her. If they step on something and injure a foot, why do they then limp if it doesn't hurt? Just my two cents and thinking out loud here. Like I said, I am no expert by any stretch of the imagination.

Wing banding and toe punching has been around for maybe a hundred years. It is a must to keep good records. I plan to wing band my birds along with toe punches each year.

Is wing banding allowed at the shows?

Keep up the good questions. Lurkers are you enjoying this?

I certainly am!

 

[fowlman01]

I toe punch, wing band & leg band, all three. They will lose leg & wing bands sometimes. An APA judge told me not to use wing bands because judges did not like them because they could get cut on them. However, you would have to go looking for the wing band on a LF bird and when placed there when they are young, they are buried in feathers anyway; I cannot see where they pose any such risk (correct me if I am wrong).

That is an odd comment....I'm not sure how a judge would be cut with one. I worry more about their nails when I'm judging.

Walt

 

[fowlman01]

Walt, NYREDS, Bob, other judges.....a little advise please

I am "hoping" to show a pair of Columbian Rocks at the Dalton and the Newnan shows in February

I hatched from January thru April last year and while I know (based on tow punch) what breeding pen the birds came from, but NOT their exact birthdates. With that in mind, I "could" have a bird that is just over a year old, OR be just shy of a year old. I don't know whether to enter them as cockerel/pullet or cock/hen....I don't want to be DQ'd for something done unintentionally, nor do I want to "cheat" (other than weight of the bird does it really matter??)

How do I enter these birds without risking getting into trouble?

Thanks

Don't worry about it, it sounds close enough. Lots of the people who enter birds in a show don't have any idea how old they are. I have seen Brahma's entered as cockerels that are probably two years old. The idea is to be sure not to intentionally enter an old bird in a young bird class or visa versa. People do it.

Walt

 

[Chris09]

That is an odd comment....I'm not sure how a judge would be cut with one. I worry more about their nails when I'm judging.

Walt

I don't see how someone could get cut on wing bands either. I think there nails or spurs would pose more of a threat to the judge.


Chris

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

Don't worry about it, it sounds close enough. Lots of the people who enter birds in a show don't have any idea how old they are. I have seen Brahma's entered as cockerels that are probably two years old. The idea is to be sure not to intentionally enter an old bird in a young bird class or visa versa. People do it.

Walt

Thanks Walt....first time ever for showing and I certainly need all the help I can get, especially what to do to stay out of trouble. I'm not expecting much, but I need to get a taste for how this all works

Thanks again

 

[Yellow House Farm]

That's where wing bands and good record keeping comes into play.

Chris

Ditto. We use toe-punching for clan of origin, but wing bands for each individual bird.

We always set on Sundays. I keep a journal for each season.

1. On any given set day, I open up to a clean page and write the date at the top of the page. I write the date of the 18th day of incubation so that I remember to move those eggs to the hatcher on time, and I write the 21st day on which I expect the hatch to begin.
2. I list by breed the number of eggs being set per clan.
3. The following Sunday, I candle the eggs to check for fertility, which allows me to keep track of the individual pens.
4. 18 days into it, I candle again, and the eggs move to the hatcher.
5. On the 23rd day, I open the hatcher up and remove one tray at a time. I have sorting boxes all set up per breed and toe-punch/clan to which I allocate all the chicks.
6. I go through each box of chicks. I toe punch each chick I'm going to reserve and apply a wing band. In my journal, I draw two chicken feet showing in between the toes the toe-punch for the box in question. Then for that toe-punch I write the code for the breed. Then, I write the number of chicks hatched, the number of chicks retained, and then I write the number range of the wing bands used for that group.
7. I keep a running total at the bottom of each page of the numbers hatched and retained up to that week so that at every week I have an overview of the hatching season thus far..
8. Later on when I want to assess birds, I go out th evening before with a head-lamp with a red lamp, and I catch up all the birds checking toe-unch and wingband, which then tlls me their breedings and age. The next day their all boxed up and ready to be assessed in the light, and I know exactly who's who and where.