Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[ronott1]

40 days that would put me out of business. All the books I read from the old poultry teachers say about ten days. The hen has a clutch of egg yolks maybe three six eight what ever. The sperm fertilizes the clutch and that it till the next clutch shows up. If the male is out for ten days or two weeks you save the eggs for that male. Then if they don't hatch and are clear no harm done. Put next male in and when he breeds the female that clutch should be his.

That's how I understand it. Did you learn that on back yard chickens tread? Got to watch some of this stuff they are extremist in thinking. Get back to the basics of raising a chicken. Like Grand Ma use to do. Some of these people don't know what the heck they are talking about and people are mislead. Its like that any way in this go to the back woods live off the land kick. Study the folks who have done it for years the masters. People who have been doing it for twenty to forty years and when they go to a poultry show they kick butt. I would pump their brains out on how they did it. Then do what they did and you will have success. KISS

I Question what I read in old books as well as what I am told. 10 days is too short and 40 days is usually too long.

There is a sperm storage structure in the oviduct of the hen. I found an educational institution study that said:

In order to fertilize a nearly daily succession of
ova, which amounts to 2 to 7 eggs per week,
sperm are slowly but continuously released from
the oviductal sperm storage sites in the caudal
end of the oviduct and are transported to the site
of fertilization at the cranial end of the oviduct.
The precise mechanisms which regulate these
complex processes remain to be elucidated. How-
ever, since the 1980s we have begun to better un-
derstand the mechanisms which regulate sperm
storage and selection in the avian oviduct (see
Bakst et al., ’94).

The full article is here: Structure of Avian Oviduct with emphasis on Sperm Storage

The article does not say how long sperm lives in the storage system. I know from experience that 14 days is not enough. I hatched a mix of SG Dorkings crossed with Ameraucanas where the Cock Bird was separated for 14 days. Beautiful Mongrels but not the Pure SG Dorkings I was supposed to hatch.

 

[capayvalleychick]

Kim Thats a great set up - is it not to hot in heat of CA- And thanks for creating another project for me- I would't want to run out. Do you have plans for that and would you have made any changes ? What is the footprint ?

Chris's original design was completely open air. I think he is in a region with high humidity. We have high heat with low humidity. So I had this one built with plywood covering most of the western (back) side, to block the sun and work to insulate against the heat. Along the top of that side, there is a foot wide (wire covered) opening, so the heat vents out. Rain comes from the south and we have high winds from the north, so those sides have plywood covering. I left the east (front) side open. We've had horrible heat this summer and all birds in these pens have been ok. I am trying to talk my husband into building another set with open, wire covered, sides, like the original design. That way, I can use whatever works best for whatever weather we are having at the time, when I need to use them.
Chris has building directions at the link that I posted, previously. I modified it a bit because I wanted each pen to be 8x4 and tall enough to walk into, without hitting my head. My husband builds houses for a living. He loved the simple design, the modular aspect and low cost to build. He used some different sizes of lumber. The roofing material in the original design was installed facing the wrong direction. Make sure to install roofing material so that the rain can flow off the roof, instead of catching on the ridges.

 

[fowlman01]

Chris's original design was completely open air. I think he is in a region with high humidity. We have high heat with low humidity. So I had this one built with plywood covering most of the western (back) side, to block the sun and work to insulate against the heat. Along the top of that side, there is a foot wide (wire covered) opening, so the heat vents out. Rain comes from the south and we have high winds from the north, so those sides have plywood covering. I left the east (front) side open. We've had horrible heat this summer and all birds in these pens have been ok. I am trying to talk my husband into building another set with open, wire covered, sides, like the original design. That way, I can use whatever works best for whatever weather we are having at the time, when I need to use them.
Chris has building directions at the link that I posted, previously. I modified it a bit because I wanted each pen to be 8x4 and tall enough to walk into, without hitting my head. My husband builds houses for a living. He loved the simple design, the modular aspect and low cost to build. He used some different sizes of lumber. The roofing material in the original design was installed facing the wrong direction. Make sure to install roofing material so that the rain can flow off the roof, instead of catching on the ridges.

You did pretty much the same thing I did except I cut them in half to save space and money. Everything is 4"X4"X8" high. It is surprising how cool these can stay if pointed the right direction and having that top wire opening. I never get water in these. The enclosed birds can be let loose for ranging as there is a fence around this. When not used for breeding these can be used to pen my Shamo and Asil males. I have used this design in 8X4X8 for many years.




Walt

 

[3riverschick]

Quote: Icelandic's are a landrace. That's a whole different ball game because they are bred for vigor, not breed hallmarks. In other words, they are vigorous and "generally" resemble each other. Rather than the vigorous Heritage breeds which are also bred to an exacting standard of breed hallmarks.
Best,
Karen

 

[Extra Java]

You did pretty much the same thing I did except I cut them in half to save space and money. Everything is 4"X4"X8" high. It is surprising how cool these can stay if pointed the right direction and having that top wire opening. I never get water in these. The enclosed birds can be let loose for ranging as there is a fence around this. When not used for breeding these can be used to pen my Shamo and Asil males. I have used this design in 8X4X8 for many years.




Walt

I have a question regarding these pen styles...Can't a predator dig under?

 

[3riverschick]

Quote: How many cages/coops are here in the pic? 8 or 16? What are the outside dimensions?
This is a really sweet set-up! What do you use for flooring?
Thanks
Karen

 

[fowlman01]

I have a question regarding these pen styles...Can't a predator dig under?

If he can get by two electric fences he could. In over 40 years I only had it happen once, and that was recently when a coyote dug under the main fence. The coyote was still two fences away from this. I have cull runner ducks between the fences. Predators love Runner ducks. A predator can get anything they want if they are diligent. Most are lazy. During most of the year the ground here is as strong as concrete. The coyote dug under after a heavy rain. He almost died, so I dont expect him back. I have one of his toes now.

Walt

 

[catdaddyfro]

If he can get by two electric fences he could. In over 40 years I only had it happen once, and that was recently when a coyote dug under the main fence. The coyote was still two fences away from this. I have cull runner ducks between the fences. Predators love Runner ducks. A predator can get anything they want if they are diligent. Most are lazy. During most of the year the ground here is as strong as concrete. The coyote dug under after a heavy rain. He almost died, so I dont expect him back. I have one of his toes now.

Walt

 

[capayvalleychick]

I have a question regarding these pen styles...Can't a predator dig under?

My structure is sitting on wire around the perimeter of the building, 1 foot out & one foot inside. Ground is like concrete here, also. I have dogs patrolling, so don't have many predator problems.

Walt, I was wondering about the chicken wire on your exterior, since that won't hold up to predators. It sounds like they never get that far, though.

I want a fence run outside mine, too. It's on the honey do list.

How many cages/coops are here in the pic? 8 or 16? What are the outside dimensions?
This is a really sweet set-up! What do you use for flooring?

If you were asking me, there are 8 pens. Each pen space is 4x8. The entire structure is about 8 ft. x 32 ft. I put sand in the pens over the clay soil. I put some straw on top of the sand. When it got very hot, the hens were scratching away the straw to get down to the cool sand. So I removed most of the straw for now and I some of it each day to give them a place to dig & cool off.

 

[fowlman01]

My structure is sitting on wire around the perimeter of the building, 1 foot out & one foot inside. Ground is like concrete here, also. I have dogs patrolling, so don't have many predator problems.

Walt, I was wondering about the chicken wire on your exterior, since that won't hold up to predators. It sounds like they never get that far, though. I want a fence run outside mine, too. It's on the honey do list.
If you were asking me, there are 8 pens. Each pen space is 4x8. The entire structure is about 8 ft. x 32 ft. I put sand in the pens over the clay soil. I put some straw on top of the sand. When it got very hot, the hens were scratching away the straw to get down to the cool sand. So I removed most of the straw for now and I some of it each day to give them a place to dig & cool off.

that row is very secure. Where there is only one fence I have hardware cloth over the 1 inch wire