Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[gjensen]

Chris, I am turning lights on for the Catalanas this weekend. I am just not picky about what type of light I use. The lights are just supplementing what I get otherwise.

We are fortunate to have pretty good weather in the winter. Shorter days of course, and not much longer than yours. The way some of my pens are set up, they get more sun in the winter. The sun is lower in the sky, and the low angle allows more in.

I had considered using the clear roof panels myself. I do not think they would work well on the pens that I have in the summer. I think that I would cook them.

 

[Chris09]

Bob,
The Full Spectrum bulbs have been said to be more effective in winter laying than the regular old incandescent light bulb, plus if you use a CFL or a LED your going to use a lot less electric.

Incandescent 75 watts puts out 1,100 Lumens
CLF 18 to 25 watts puts out 1,100 Lumens
LED 9 to 13 watts puts out 1,100 Lumens

*Note*
Lumens is the total amount of visible light a source puts out.

Chris

 

[FOGELLY]

I use artificial light with my breeders. I switched to CFL this year. The ones that are equivalent to a regular 60 watt.
The lights were added 1st of December and come on by timer in the morning at 3am and run until 8am.
My hens started laying in earnest about 2 1/2 weeks after adding the light.
Then we lost power Christmas Day thru the next two days. The hens quickly slowed down their production, but they are almost back to the levels they were at when the power went off.
I am sure there is a lot to be said about the effects of light by the type, amount ,color spectrum ect. But I just do it the least complicated way for me.
Also in the winter I leave for work a 1 1/2 before daylight. Before leaving I open the coops and many times the birds will come out into their run in the dark. They still lay just fine, as long as the light has been on. What is up with that?

Ron

 

[Chris09]

Chris, I am turning lights on for the Catalanas this weekend. I am just not picky about what type of light I use. The lights are just supplementing what I get otherwise.

We are fortunate to have pretty good weather in the winter. Shorter days of course, and not much longer than yours. The way some of my pens are set up, they get more sun in the winter. The sun is lower in the sky, and the low angle allows more in.

I had considered using the clear roof panels myself. I do not think they would work well on the pens that I have in the summer. I think that I would cook them.

Quote: The sun is not only lower but also closer to the earth in the winter.
All of my breeding pens have a steep roof on them, if I remember right there is right around a 60 degrees pitch on the roof. The pitch angle not only helps collect the maximum amount of light around here in the winter but it also helps heat the pens by solar heat. In fact my breeding pens are built much like my Greenhouses.
Now on the other hand in the summer time the steeper roof pitch helps reflect some of the solar heat and helps keep the breeding pens cooler than a pen with less pitch on the roof.


Chris

 

[saladin]

Interesting conversation. I, too, have had some experience with Jungle Fowl and in particular the Red Jungle Fowl in conjunction with the Savannah River Ecology Lab. I lived and worked in Georgia for 10 years and became friends with a great old time breeder named Al Cummings, who has since passed away. One of the greats as far as breeding 'hard to breed fowl' and he told me in his life he had produced some of the 'first breeding's' in the US of several of the very rare pheasant like birds. I had the opportunity to visit his place and work with him several times while I lived there and before he passed away. Truly a great man.

Old Al, gave me a pair of Red Jungle Fowl that had been DNA tested for purity and implanted with a microchip for identification and that mine were now the fifth 'flock' of pure Red Jungle fowl in the US. Evidently they are able to detect the presence of 'western chickens' in the DNA and that even the zoos did not have pure stock and even where they originated they had largely become contaminated with other genetics. Red Jungle Fowl are very difficult to breed and will freely cross with any chicken which is why they have been crossed out so much to get more of them. One characteristic of Red Jungle Fowl is the eclipse molt. They will molt twice, once they will molt and grow in black feathers and the second molt will be the Wild Type pattern and will coincide with breeding season. I was told they imported some Red Jungle Fowl in to Georgia in the 60's with an attempt to create another game bird for hunting. One of the many areas they dropped the birds was in the Fitzgerald Georgia area (I lived in nearby Tifton for several years) and that one of the reasons the project didn't work is these birds had a tendency to migrate to farm areas and associate closely with livestock for food sources and would then stay relatively close to those food sources. Still today there are several feral populations of them on small tracts of land but when I went to see the birds there was no evidence of an eclipse molt.

On the jungle Fowl themselves. There are four recognized Jungle Fowl, all of which have recently been reclassified in the pheasant family. The four are Red, Gray, Green and Ceylon. I have raised the Reds and Grays and I can tell you, the real Grays are much more pheasant like than chickens. I witnessed mine fly up to a perch, hover in the air, turn then land on the perch. Chickens don't do this. Also, their vocalizations are very different. From what I have read, the Grays have been used in their country of origin to cross with native Fowl to create a male that has a very unique crow. Not sure why they do this, but they do and that this cross was sterile. I never tried to cross mine with chickens so I am not sure about this.

So, when people talk about having Red Jungle Fowl, it is usually some sort of cross as there are very very few pure lines left anywhere.

Did you ever see the New Guinea Singing Dogs that Bris raises? He sends males to zoos all over the country for breeding. They are just fantastic. The last time I was down at his house he was also raising and trainning real Bloodhounds for the different police depts. Those dogs were simply mammoth.

As he and I sat on the back side of the SRS and watched alligators and talked he theorized the following:

Our domestic fowl and Red Jungle Fowl hav a common ancestor. In addition our domestic fowl had also been given a dose of the Gray and or Green JF; reasoning: this is where the GDW/SDW come from. Thus, they are not a simple BBR mutation. Alas, who knows.

Still, it's fun to talk and watch radioactive alligators.

 

[melroseladi]

I have mostly open air type coops with metal roofs with big overhangs. Since we have hot summers we opted to put the coops in the shadiest parts of the yard, we are mostly woods still since we are hand clearing and it takes a lot of time. Unfortunately because of our concerns for the birds during the summer it ended up with the birds getting very little sun or light during the winter. My free-rangers don't have a problem with it but I do feel bad for my birds that are not at the free-ranging stage yet.

I am thinking about putting lights in the coops but I am not sure of what type of lights to use, or if the kind really matters.

Penny

 

[MagicChicken]

Quote:
I've been wondering what type of light to put in the new brooder I'm building, getting ready for my Java chicks coming from Duane Urch. It's an outdoor brooder that is fully enclosed, with a couple of screened "windows" I can open or close to help regulate the temperature and ventilation. Would have used a couple of 100 watt incandescents, but can't find any in the stores. If I use an infrared or ceramic heat lamp they're going to need some "real" light on those cold days when the brooder is closed up. I'm thinking a daylight bulb on a timer. Open to suggestions...

We have daily temperature swings of 40 degrees or more, ranging a few degrees below freezing in the winter to the high 90's in the spring. Ideally I would have all the brooding done before the high temps hit, but the highs seem to come earlier every year. Looks like temperature regulation in the brooder is going to be "interesting."

Sarah

 

[thedragonlady]

Hello! I have been a member for quite a while...lurking and learning until I could get my own birds. I am almost ready to do that, and was wondering if you could give me some advice as to where I could get healthy birds. I am interested in heritage birds, with the intent of breeding down the road. I am in Elizabethton, TN...and am trying to find some local people I can learn from. I would appreciate it, if you have any time, to ask you some questions. I am new to chickens, but not birds. I bred and raised exotic birds for many years. But, I have always loved chickens. We have just moved to where I can have them now. I can hardly wait! Thank you...

If you'll tell us what breed you are interested in, I'm sure someone will have some. Chickens are much easier than exotics, believe me ! We love questions on this thread. We're all still learning. Ask away !

 

[Chris09]

I've been wondering what type of light to put in the new brooder I'm building, getting ready for my Java chicks coming from Duane Urch. It's an outdoor brooder that is fully enclosed, with a couple of screened "windows" I can open or close to help regulate the temperature and ventilation. Would have used a couple of 100 watt incandescents, but can't find any in the stores. If I use an infrared or ceramic heat lamp they're going to need some "real" light on those cold days when the brooder is closed up. I'm thinking a daylight bulb on a timer. Open to suggestions...

We have daily temperature swings of 40 degrees or more, ranging a few degrees below freezing in the winter to the high 90's in the spring. Ideally I would have all the brooding done before the high temps hit, but the highs seem to come earlier every year. Looks like temperature regulation in the brooder is going to be "interesting."

Sarah

They stopped making the 100 watt incandescent bulb last year (2012) and stopped making the 75 watt incandescent this year (2013) and will stop making the 60 and 40 watt incandescent next year (2014).
For heat for you new chicks I would go with either a 250 watt ceramic bulb/s or a 250 watt infrared bulb and put them in a good heavy duty lamp.
For light I would go with a LED light.

You can get a good lamp here http://www.premier1supplies.com/detail.php?prod_id=18266
and they look like this -

Chris

 

[snowbird]