BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[gjensen]

My biggest dog is a 35lb, 20.5" mix, so medium size. She has no problems with chicken or turkey feet. I give her dehydrated duck feet too, and they are pretty small. It probably depends on if the dog is a chewer or a gulper. One of my Shibas tries to swallow everything.

I am picturing my German Shepard trying to swallow one whole. LOL. We have a smaller mixed breed that would do fine with them.

 

[Heron's Nest Farm]

Yes Helbender. how do you prepare chicken feet for ingestion?

I'm headed to JoAnn Fabrics to get my batore divider! Genious!!!

 

[antyler]

OK, laugh if you must. I've always hen hatched--until now. I bought an incubator to really crank up production and I'm on my first whack. That being said, I would like to erect a barrier for egg separation, but I'm worried out of what? Don't want any bacterial problems! What are you using in your incubator?

Also, I have heard of folks putting the eggs in hollowed out egg cartons at lockdown to keep newly hatched chicks from flipping eggs. Anyone do this confidently?

I bought some plastic coated metal baskets at the dollar store to try.

 

[gjensen]

I bought some plastic coated metal baskets at the dollar store to try.

Baskets are the way to go. Purchased or hand made. Particularly if you want to hatch them according to an individual. They used to be called pedigree baskets.

 

[hellbender]

Have I posted this before? He is a UKC CH. and ARBA World Ch.

 

[hellbender]

Yes Helbender. how do you prepare chicken feet for ingestion?

I'm headed to JoAnn Fabrics to get my batore divider! Genious!!!

Different ways and in many kinds of soups. After scalding and removing the outer skin and chopping off the nails, I boil them, usually with gizzards, then dredge them in flour and fry them in a bit of corn oil...adding a big glob of butter about a couple minutes before setting them to serve.

 

[chickadoodles]

This will be my first year hatching off my birds so I have the parents with either a yellow or red zip tie on their ankle the chicks will be marked with a red or yellow and a blue zip tie to tell me what their parents are and what generation they are. I have a notebook with colored binder separates so that I can keep notes according to their color and breed.

I am hoping this will work.

I have two pair of Buckeye in separate pens one yellow and one red
I have a trio of Chantecler

Then I am doing the same with my turkey's.

 

[Dead Rabbit]

What a great thread. This is the sort of thing I enjoy reading yet it's so hard to find information of this caliber on this site.

Truthfully i have no desire to recreate the wheel. I Feel that wheel has had its day and we have progressed beyond its time. But I enjoy learning anything about fowl. and have learned quite a bit.

My experience with breeding has all been mainly with gamefowl. Which I haven't had now for quite awhile. But a lot can be learned from the old time gamefowl enthusiast. After all they are pretty much the only ones that have continued lines of fowl for centuries. Their methods are pretty simple. Line breeding, in breeding, withe the occasional infusion of outside blood. Blood that isn't of that exact line but of said strain. Then cross breeding for battle fowl. At times the crossing isn't even necessary.

Their methods of breeding are scoffed at by some. (Remeber our conversations at homestead site mr Jensen) but time and quality of ancient /modern day fowl speak for themselves.

When I have a moment I'll look up an article that will explain their method of breeding

 

[chickadoodles]

I look forward to reading it Dead Rabbit. Thank you.

I will also look into getting some colored baskets that is a great idea. Thank you antyler.

 

[Dead Rabbit]

I noticed a couple times through out this thread that toe marking was mentioned

The way to do this is through punching or cutting the toe web. I started out with punching but quickly left that for cutting. I found either the punches grew back or tore out or never really was a good clean punch to start.
Cutting the web was a lot more effective. It lasted forever. And there is no mistaking what you have done. A tore out punch looks like a cut. Go to pharmacy store and buy a pair of cuticle scissors. They are sharp and tiny. Perfect for marking. I liked to cut out entire web between the toes. Not just a cut. This way you can see the mark even from a short distance. Do this at a day old or less and there is no bleeding. Wait a couple days and the webbing is slightly thicker and even easier to cut still little to no bleeding. But the chick is livelier and little harder to hold steady

Another way to mark is by actually notching the nostrils. The flap of skin. Over the nostril. I've never been able to actually notch it. It's too tiny. But it canbe totally cut off. With little trouble and no bleeding. Seems to not cause any pain at all. I rarely used this method. Not having that many fowl on my yard but have done it before