Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[Pathfinders]

Laura, just to clarify, $52 was for the postage, the box was .... $8 ??? And, assuming this dozen chicks wasn't a gift, so add whatever they paid for the chicks? Thus, without having to say so or disclose anything, this dozen chicks could easily have cost the buyer $180-$200.

Yes, the $52 was just the postage. The chick boxes I buy in bulk, so it would have been about $3 (total cost plus shipping divided by 25, I don't remember what the shipping was, that's an approximate figure.) And yes, that's just the shipping and supplies, the cost of the chicks was separate.

But as someone else said, honestly, buying started birds is almost more worth it than buying chicks. I am actually considering just selling started birds next year. That way I can keep the extra males for my own freezer, and be sure what I send out is of breeding quality (yes, I do have some chicks that grow out to be culls, like everyone else.) Better for me, IMO to cull before shipping than to expect a new breeder of my breed to know what to cull for and do so well enough so it won't blow back on me later.

I had a problem this year with someone who had purchased non-breeding quality culls from me two years ago (not telling me they intended to breed and sell offspring from these birds.) These folks were brand new to poultry, and had no idea how to set up breeding pens. So they took my culls (for which they paid a very low price), bred them, then sold the chicks to people saying they were from my line. Um, strictly speaking, no. And I got a lot of flack about it online this year, when someone started complaining about the poor quality of "my" birds.

Well, had the person who initially bought birds from me told me that a) they wanted breeding quality birds and b) they were going to breed them and sell the offspring, I would not have sold them culls, and would have helped them set up their breeding pens so they could have kept the quality they needed in order to sell offspring.

But I thought I was doing them a favor, and they were adamant about not wanting to spend a lot of money. No good deed goes unpunished I guess, and it will be the last time I will ever sell anything that isn't breeding quality as a given breed.

Any female I decide to send down the road will be sold as a generic laying hen, with the caveat that she is NOT to be bred. And she won't be sold with any males, I eat all my extra males now.

Not getting bitten in the butt like that again, nope.

 

[Zanna]

How and where do you purchase your sulfur?? I have used Garden & Poultry dust with success but I would not mind trying something less noxious.

I order mine from www.dudadiesel.com They sell feedstock approved sulfur, have fast shipping and are fairly inexpensive. I fought mites last winter and the permetherin dust was not solving the problem. The sulfur powder did and I felt much safer using it. Can't recommend it enough!

 

[Robert Blosl]

http://cutlersupply.com/zen_new51/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=7_134&products_id=668
I called Cutter and to have two boxes like above sent to my address it would cost about $42. Then I would send Mr. Weaver a box and keep the other box here for a spare. That would cost me about $6. UPS . He then would send me ten started ten days old White Rock Chicks and my investment would be about 4160 to $180 dependening on the weight of the chicks and the box. I did this for him two years in a row a few years ago plus god knows how many others. Last year I sent Sam ten chicks to get him started and then Mr. Weaver is going to send him five or ten chicks from his line this spring then Sam is going to send Mr. Weaver the same chicks back in about three years to give him some fresh blood from Wisconsin. Same blood line just different feed climate and care which should give this strain a shot of vigor
If anyone knows a source that will ship one box us now for a link.
Cutter Supply is a great source for Poultry Supplies.
In regards to chemicals I think I am going to go along like Walt and what I have been doing. For the fun of it I may take some stool samples to a vet for worm ID. Do you take one chicken or get some from six and mix it up. Heck I have never done this stuff before.
I think I can spray the roosts or put some powered on the floor to kill mites. I still use Adam Flea spray to control any mites I see on the birds butts but found Frontline to last three times longer. I still beleave in the fit of the fittest Principle and that will be my method of breeding to the end.

I have purchased from Wall Mart some little plastic baskets in the kitchen section to put my eggs in so when the chicks hatch I pull the baskets out of the hatchery area and toe punch them and its over. Going to have a bunch of toe punch mating about ten but that’s because I am using so many different males onto my females this year. In regards to the incubator I show. If you can afford one they work well and I am a anti Styrofoam incubator guy. The cheaper ones you can get one and put it side by side but I think you hatch rates will be so much higher. If you order two dozen eggs you are all ready behind the eight ball with the post office and their handling of the eggs. Then you put them in a cheap incubator that fluctuates in temp and you are lucky to get four or six chicks. My first two dozen 25 years ago I got two chicks from two dozen eggs. The best little incubator is a Rolex. But if you pay retail she is costly, and if you can find one for half price I would buy it. They are fantastic. My friend has a Rolex and a GQF genius and he puts his chicks in the genius on the 18th day and his hatch rate is unreal.
Of course if you can have a wooden sportsman as I do and she is running well you can’t beat them and you just need to over haul some of the parts every ten years but great incubator for chickens. The best is a old Lehy which I use to have. Made out of Red wood and if re modified to the new electronics like the sportsman thermostats it’s a killer for not only chicken eggs but for the hardest things to hatch Call Duck Eggs. They work great its in the humidity and Red Wood gives and takes like no other wood. Next best is Fir. I am going to make a article on how to make a 1940s style Hatcher that a lot of large fowl breeders used in the old days. I have a source in North Calif that sells 1x4x20 inch redwood scrapes and you can make a little Hatcher using the old worn out Little Midget parts and fan.
Just wanted some of you to start thinking about next spring as this year many waited to long to get on these waiting lists for rare breeds. Some of the suppliers are not going to supply chicks this year as it was a pain in the butt for them and they are working and don’t have time to do this. So think in advance and get on the list it doesn’t cost a dime to do this. bob

 

[Chickens Naturally]

Interesting..What is DE?
I do total strip the barn cleaning not the pick cleaning every 2 weeks and spray the woodwork right to the cracks once a month. ,I got one of those 10.00 pump sprayers at farm and tractor and it is still working great at 5 years old.I make sure to remove whats left of the spray and wash it every year and store it inside where the plastic wont crack or wear out in the winter... the mites will hide inbetween boards ..and havnt had a problem in a long time..many years ago I had one pen that was a perpetual problem, every year it was bugg warfare in that pen..there was a good vidio on youtube about a ground treatment that keeps the yards clean ,and it didnt kill every living thing was safe for plants , animals and frogs ect..just stopped lice & mites somehow..I wish I could remember what the product was..it was in brown bag.. when the wild birds come in to rob the feeders, the bugs come with them..

Those southern mites sound like a monster! Like killer bees and such, they will probably find thier way up here in north east..

Diatomaceous Earth is literally mountains of fossilized ancient algae. If you want to know how it works, google "food grade diatomaceous earth like shards of glass". I have open air pens under a pole barn. Inside the pens at one end are three 'walls' to break the wind where the roosts are and my management system consists of feed, water and add straw when needed.

 

[Extra Java]

I order mine from www.dudadiesel.com They sell feedstock approved sulfur, have fast shipping and are fairly inexpensive. I fought mites last winter and the permetherin dust was not solving the problem. The sulfur powder did and I felt much safer using it. Can't recommend it enough!

Yes, I get mine there as well "Approved for Feedstock" powder NOT granules. Excellent stuff for multiple uses. Snakes won't cross the line!

http://www.dudadiesel.com/search.php?query=sulfur

 

[Zanna]

In regards to chemicals I think I am going to go along like Walt and what I have been doing. For the fun of it I may take some stool samples to a vet for worm ID. Do you take one chicken or get some from six and mix it up. Heck I have never done this stuff before.

On the stool samples my horse vet had me get some from various chickens and samples of a few of the various types of stool they have. I just picked some up from the yard and coop from the free-range birds and also took some samples from birds in the breeder pens and labelled them separately. It will give you a general idea if you have a problem or not and what type of worms you may have. He also said almost all of my samples showed cocci ocysts which I deal with often in my babies until the immunity is built.

 

[aveca]

Diatomaceous Earth is literally mountains of fossilized ancient algae. If you want to know how it works, google "food grade diatomaceous earth like shards of glass". I have open air pens under a pole barn. Inside the pens at one end are three 'walls' to break the wind where the roosts are and my management system consists of feed, water and add straw when needed.

thank you!!

 

[ocap]

Bob? You pitching Hovabators?

no, Bob is teaching me and he was recommending what I need. Bob I thank you !

John

 

[catdaddyfro]

Diatomaceous Earth is literally mountains of fossilized ancient algae. If you want to know how it works, google "food grade diatomaceous earth like shards of glass". I have open air pens under a pole barn. Inside the pens at one end are three 'walls' to break the wind where the roosts are and my management system consists of feed, water and add straw when needed.

thank you!!

Just think of it as itsy bitsy microscopic barnacles ever been swimming in the water and skin up your knee or elbow on a pier piling or a rock that was covered in barnacles well that's what the DE does to the critters with exoskeltons or the worms with fleshy skins it literally incises them and they leak to death.

Jeff

 

[galanie]

Whether or not you believe food grade DE really works by scratching the bugs, it's real value is only as a drying agent. Second paragraph: http://cals.arizona.edu/urbanipm/pest_press/2006/september.pdf I was unable to find the study showing this and proving that it doesn't really scratch anything but at least that shows that it's by drying out insects that it works. If it scratched things badly then it would follow that it would probably be pretty deadly to say, earthworms. Nope, totally harmless for them http://www.wormfarmingrevealed.com/diatomaceous-earth.html

Really though regardless how it works, it's only it's value as a drying agent that makes it useful. People do take it though because it's almost pure silica and has proven to be beneficial for that reason.