Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[Zanna]

Zanna
Can you tell me the size of the wire spacing on those cages - if its 2" wide it looks longer than 4" - Like Walt said its stiffer than regular - very similair to folding dog cages and that is 1.75"x6" - that type of wire would be bought in sheets and not rolls.

I will let you know when they arrive. I don't think it says on their website.

 

[finnfur]

I will let you know when they arrive. I don't think it says on their website.

OK - thats what I get for speed reading when my mind runs on slow - I thought you had them already LOL Thanks

 

[chickadoodles]

Another cheap watering dish is the tops and bottoms of 30 and 50 gallon plastic drums. Figure out what height you want, use a piece of duct tape to wrap around it for a guide and use a jigsaw, skill saw, or sawzall to cut it. They're pretty thick and I haven't had one bust yet.

For the tops of the barrels, just silicon the bungs in place and they won't leak.


OT, speaking of Baker Creek, I finally got a pic of our okra. Apperantly, some people around here have said this is normal for their okra, but I've never seen it before.


I'm 6'2" and our girls are sitting on my shoulders.


Cheers,

Thanks for the water dish suggestions. I can never find any of those plastic barrels. I wish I had a couple for my turkey's nest boxes...
Love your okra! Mine only got to abt 5' here.

 

[Pathfinders]

Ok folks, here's a question for you. This is my grandfather as a child with his father's chickens. (Today would have been his 110th birthday.) This image is likely circa 1904 or 05, taken in southeastern OH.

What kind of chicken is that?

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

Thanks for the water dish suggestions. I can never find any of those plastic barrels. I wish I had a couple for my turkey's nest boxes...
Love your okra! Mine only got to abt 5' here.

I can't help ya with plastic barrels, but. I "made friends" with the manager of the bakery at my local grocery store and she saves me as many 3.5 gallon and 5 gallon plastic pails as I want.....they get some types of icing in them.

I use my dremel to trim off the area where the lid/handle was and use them for waterers....they are happy to get rid of them in lieu of throwing them in the trash

 

[fowlman01]

Large fowl cages are usually 2 holes to the cage with a divider in the center that can be swung aside.

The dimensions are: 54" long, 22" deep and 27" high. the wire used in their construction is 1/8" in diameter and round. The space between the bars is 1.75". this is some kind of steel that is impossible to bend without special equipment. If you build your own, they will not look like the coops the birds will be in at a show and unless you use dowels or some other kind of round vertical/horizontal bars, you will lose the tails on your birds when they back into the cage.

If you have tall birds like Langshans or runners you will need taller cages. If you can get by with used cages many fairs unload these cheap. They may be rusty, but after you clean them up they will last as long as the owner.

Walt

 

[BGMatt]

Ok folks, here's a question for you. This is my grandfather as a child with his father's chickens. (Today would have been his 110th birthday.) This image is likely circa 1904 or 05, taken in southeastern OH.

What kind of chicken is that?

That's a really cool old picture! As far as what breed of chicken, It's either a Mottled Java or a Speckled Sussex (without color they'd look similar). Guessing by the amount and shape of the white, I'd guess Sussex. Both would have been around in the US at the time.

 

[Yellow House Farm]

That's a really cool old picture! As far as what breed of chicken, It's either a Mottled Java or a Speckled Sussex (without color they'd look similar). Guessing by the amount and shape of the white, I'd guess Sussex. Both would have been around in the US at the time.

I'd say Sussex, too, I don't know that Java's ever had mottling like that. That's some pretty darn good feathering.

 

[Pozees]

That's a really cool old picture! As far as what breed of chicken, It's either a Mottled Java or a Speckled Sussex (without color they'd look similar). Guessing by the amount and shape of the white, I'd guess Sussex. Both would have been around in the US at the time.

I had the exact same thoughts.

 

[Yellow House Farm]

Eventually the cages prove the single best way to assess stock, but we all get there at different times and with different rhythms. 6 cages isn't a bad number. You can work a rhythm where you get a couple of your best birds caged and then add birds for comparison. Have a place where the culls are going, a place for the maybe's and a place for the definites. Know how many you're interested in keeping and then cull to that number.

As Saladin and Walt put it, eventually we all do it, and as Walt put is the cages are built to last forever. As Dragonlady pointed out, they're convenient, too, because they're collapsible which counts for a lot. Don't worry about the way you do things now; that will change. Eventually, the more one is involved with the APA/ABA community one gains a mentor or friend (or several) and then selection day becomes a fun get-together. More than one pair of eyes really do a lot in assessing birds, because we're all tuned in to different traits. The community and camaraderie in selection is really a pleasure.