Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[3riverschick]

Thank you all for your timely, practical advice! Sure hope I can quickly get this girl back into my schedule.
If not, there's going to be a bit of shuffling done here. I really want my hatching season over by April 10th at the latest.
Best,
Karen

 

[HallFamilyFarm]

Hey Walt, Bentley, Bob etal,

Frank Reese Jr posted this on Facebook this morning. Can you name the breeds without looking down and reading the answers? This was a test Frank was taught as a child by Hy Patton.



Quote: Frank Reese Jr.

 

[3riverschick]

Hey Walt, Bentley, Bob etal,

Frank Reese Jr posted this on Facebook this morning. Can you name the breeds without looking down and reading the answers? This was a test Frank was taught as a child by Hy Patton.

Hum,
well I got the Leghorn right. Missed the Favorelle. Thought the Cornish was a Game. Missed the Chantecler. Missed the Rhode Island White. Though the Wyandotte was an Orpington. Missed on the Rock. Thought the Orpington was a Wyandotte. Oh well, got a lot more studying to do, smile.
Karen

 

[HallFamilyFarm]

Quote:
Take it!

Use WD-40 from Walmart or any auto parts store to unstick the metal parts and vents.

Check out https://www.gqfmfg.com/store/front.asp for Sportsman parts and installation instructions.

http://www.cutlersupply.com/ and https://www.strombergschickens.com/ both sell Sportsman parts.

http://incubatorwarehouse.com/ also has parts.

$200 for this cabinet alone is worth it! I sold a non-working, partly restored Sportsman look alike on eBay for more than $200 (was totally honest and upfront).

 

[Chris Herzog]

I have lights!!!!



Not the best pic I know but....I was able to get all my lights up and running last night and I took this pic this morning as I was leaving for work!! I ended up putting a light in each pen, on a switch with an outlet. Last night when I was checking everything I noticed that each pen is completely lit up with no shadows or dark spots anywhere. I then ran everything thought a heavy duty timer switch and as as you can see.....it was all working this morning like I knew what I was doing! LOL!!!

Thanks guys for all the suggestions and advice!

Chris

 

[NotAFarm]

Great work, Chris!

 

[gjensen]

Looks good Chris.

 

[Wynette]

Walt, you are exactly right, as the legs go the mating frequency diminishes and therefore fertility wains. Interesting though, body weight and frame size/shape does not effect the physiological ability for a male to mate. Meaning, that frame size/shape does not diminish the males ability to produce viable sperm cells. So when a bird gets excessively large and fertility seems to drop, it is almost certainly due to infrequent mating. Like I said before, the vast majority of fertility problems are due to infrequent mating and not other issues with the bird.

One more interesting thing. Not sure why I always seem to think of 'something else' to add, but I do so here goes. There is a correlation between male body shape/type and competed matings. Trying to eliminate breed or strain characteristics, males that have more of a submarine type posture, similar to Dorkings or Houdans, in that the breast seems to be more horizontal to the ground, tend to have a lower percentage of attempted matings actually completed. In commercial Turkeys as they selected and bred for birds with increased breast muscle mass the male birds' posture changed into more of a forward leaning position. As this happened fertility decreased. It didn't decrease for lack of attempted matings, it was for a lack of completed matings. We have seen certain strains of birds that have been selected for breast fleshing begin to have a breast or keel bone that was more horizontal to the ground. When this has happened the percent of completed or successful matings decreased but not attempted matings.

Kind of makes you wonder how Dorkings and Houdans and breed with this posture have survived over the years doesn't it? Having said that, my Houdans are very fertile while my Dorkings struggle with fertility at times. Too many problems sometimes......Grrrrrrrr

Wow - I'm so glad that you posted this, I would have though for sure the opposite would be true; that the deepness of breast wouldn't allow as easy mating for the male. Very, very interesting - thanks much for the post.

 

[winniem13]

...

Hey Walt, Bentley, Bob etal, Frank Reese Jr posted this on Facebook this morning. Can you name the breeds without looking? Well, for a "newbie", I got 3 correct, mixed up the wyandotte and rock, called the favotelle an amrricana, so not too bad!! Thought the cornish was a shamo, so at least i got the parentage!!

 

[NanaKat]

I have lights!!!!



Not the best pic I know but....I was able to get all my lights up and running last night and I took this pic this morning as I was leaving for work!! I ended up putting a light in each pen, on a switch with an outlet. Last night when I was checking everything I noticed that each pen is completely lit up with no shadows or dark spots anywhere. I then ran everything thought a heavy duty timer switch and as as you can see.....it was all working this morning like I knew what I was doing! LOL!!!

Thanks guys for all the suggestions and advice!

Chris

Great work Chris! Now I'm jealous....and inspired.