Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[Wisher1000]

I would like to ask you long time breeders to tell me, in detail, how you use toe punches. I have never seen one in use, but feel it may be necessary in my future. I plan to hatch LOTS of chicks and so far, I have fowl that will be coming from three distinct sources. I think I understand that you put a hole in the webbing between the toes, and that all chicks from a certain line, mating, clutch, etc. are punched in a different place. Can you take some time to discuss how you keep it all straight?

 

[catdaddyfro]

I would like to ask you long time breeders to tell me, in detail, how you use toe punches. I have never seen one in use, but feel it may be necessary in my future. I plan to hatch LOTS of chicks and so far, I have fowl that will be coming from three distinct sources. I think I understand that you put a hole in the webbing between the toes, and that all chicks from a certain line, mating, clutch, etc. are punched in a different place. Can you take some time to discuss how you keep it all straight?

Here is one

go to the search line(top of the BYC page) and type in toe punch charts they will pop up for you

Jeff

 

[Wisher1000]

Thanks, Jeff. Do you just use a different punch on each bird of a certain age and document the breeding? Or do you toe punch all the chicks from a line the same way and differentiate them further with leg bands? With 17 possibilities, how do you keep them straight year after year? I know that even your best breeder fowl have a limited period of usefulness, but the bands of 17 could overlap.

 

[Robert Blosl]

Good chart Jeff. If you have two or thee family pens say one to three females per pen you use just one punch for pen one, then two and then three. Get to many breeding pens and you will drive yourself crazy not really necessary. Its better to hatch 15 chicks out of the top two females per family raise say 60 chicks cull down and pick next year females and males a little better than their parents and do it again. That's how you get improvement in shape, vigor, egg production ect.

I am going to do it different you should not do this if you are a beginner. I am crossing two males onto 7 different females twice or I am going to use each male half a season and the other male the other half of the season. I will have 14 toe punch holes and will document them in a log book along with wing bands for each chick. I want to see which male and female produce the best chicks in the mating. Never done this before but I got a five year plan going and that is what I have to do. The next year I will remate the best males back again to the top producing females and then start a line breeding program with three family's on the third year.

For beginners two family are just fine. You can always go back to your source to get new blood if you think you need fresh blood or vigor down the road. If you cull first for vigor chicks that explode out of the egg shell and don't breed from chicks that are weak in vigor you will not get into trouble. Next is breed type, hopefully they lay well good egg production then color.

You can buy a toe punch from a Poultry Supply house buy two and put them on a big key chain. They seem to fall to the ground get in the dirt or saw dust in the incubator room and you loose them. Hope this helps.

 

[Lacy Blues]

Didn't somebody say something one time about a better toe punch? Said the small ones are junk. Who knows of a source for this better punch?

 

[lualshannon]

What is a good age to toe punch? What are the chances of healing back up, and infections? Also, how painful is it for the bird? I have a tattoo set which I use for my dogs and was wondering if it would work for the birds as well.

 

[galanie]

Almost everyone that uses the toe punches does it right after hatch. Personally I wonder how you get two punches in one webbing. Course I'm new to it and only have done it once but my strain has such a tiny bit of webbing for such a big chick that I doubt it could even get two holes there unless I let them grow some first.

It does seem to hurt them a bit but they get over it really fast. Once punched, they never seem to notice it again.

 

[Pathfinders]

Almost everyone that uses the toe punches does it right after hatch. Personally I wonder how you get two punches in one webbing. Course I'm new to it and only have done it once but my strain has such a tiny bit of webbing for such a big chick that I doubt it could even get two holes there unless I let them grow some first.

It does seem to hurt them a bit but they get over it really fast. Once punched, they never seem to notice it again.

Yeah, I tried toe punching just once, and gave it up after that because I somehow messed it up on all of the ones I did, and destroyed the webbing (they were day-olds.)

These days I use either food coloring on the stomach fluff (if they are light enough to see it there), Sharpie marker on the legs, or small pigeon bands until they get larger, which are then replaced with permanent bands. Using several different colors of food coloring/Sharpies, you can create a good "map" of what you're dealing with.

 

[Wisher1000]

Bob, best I can tell, there are only three reliable sources for the Silver Campines. I was thinking that I needed to keep the "lines" separate, at least for a while to not only get a thorough understanding of what I can expect from each line, but to preserve the genetic diversity. That's not to say that I won't, at some point, cross those lines, but I will have a hard time going back to the source on two of them. See, the only breeders that handle them at all, in any numbers, are in Texas, Minnisota, and in California. My connection in Texas is the easiest to work with. She is as excited about my project as I am and brought my first good pair to the poultry show in Moulton, and has even started a breeder pen of Silvers (she raises Goldens for show) to produce spare birds for me! The other two will have to be shipped eggs, well, except for the two trios I am driving to Ohio to pick up from Urch at the Ohio Nationals. I don't expect to do that again.

Do you think this is a good plan? As rare as these are, and as far away as I will have to go for sources, I thought this would be the safest route for me to take. Thoughts?

 

[Canieldonrad]

I am thankful for a large brooder area, I can just put them all into the same brooder box at hatch. Keep several going at once, and mark them. Band them when they are big enough. I hate the look of a toe punch on adult birds.