BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[JRNash]

Downloaded it free from Scribd. thanks

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Downloaded it free from Scribd.

thanks

That's super that it's available online for free. I think that it's an interesting reference, esp. in alternate feed options (given the constraints of British wartime rationing). (I do like my physical copy - I have post-its and writing all over some bits.)

- Ant Farm

 

[JRNash]

I'm an avid reader. Normally on the average of 4 a week. I also prefer"real" books. I went to Scribd because the cost of books was getting out of hand and my DW Was unhappy with the crates of books Ive accumulated. I can't seem to part with books.

 

[JRNash]

A lot like my chickens and geese

 

[JRNash]

On another note my white Chinese goose has been laying an egg every other day that I promptly collect. She has started building a nest and got agitated when I took the latest egg.I think she has decided to raise a familyso I'm going to leave the eggs alone and see what happens

 

[bnjrob]

Well, I pulled it out and looked again, and there's not much detail. And keep in mind, this is with breeds in 1941 that probably hadn't had all their broodniess bred out of them yet, so they may go broody more easily. I am presuming that this is done in the spring. The following section immediately follows a section describing getting fertile eggs to hatch, and then this section is how to get the hen to sit on them for you.

" Sitting the hen:

The nesting boxes can be placed anywhere either in the open or in a shed. But steps must be taken to see that the hens cannot escape when taken off for their daily feed, as few are well trained enough to go back to their nest box on request. The box should be about 14 to 16 in. square and have a wire mesh floor and a solid front as a protection against rats. [There are illustrations of such a box, with a door that latches shut, that has been made out of a produce box.]

Now it is a debatable point as to whether a sod of turf should be put in the bottom of the coop or not, as good chicks are hatched without it. But it can do no harm and it prevents any risk of lack of moisture. It also approaches the natural conditions of the 'stolen' nest in the hedgerow. So cut a piece of turf of the same dimensions as the floor of the coop. Cut off a saucer shaped piece of soil from the centre of the turf so as to make a depression, and place it in the box grass side upwards. Push it well into the corners so that no egg can roll out into them and be irretrievable by the hen's beak.

On top of the turf mould a little straw or hay into the form of a nest and dust with insect powder or derris. Put a couple of china or "pot" eggs, or fresh infertile eggs. Then dust your broody hen with insect powder and shut her in the box.

Next day, at the same time that you will in future feed her, take her off for 20 minutes for a meal of mash (if you have no corn) water and a dust bath. Continue this practice for two days until she has settled down and can be given the eggs. If she is found standing up in the nest, then she is clearly unreliable..."

Sooooo, basically you lock her in a tiny box on a nest until she gets the urge, apparently. (Not sure how happy that'd make her...)

- Ant Farm

I have old fashioned birds that predate that book and they go broody so often that it causes problems getting enough eggs to have a hatch. So I could probably use this and have it work if I didn't have a broody at a time that I wanted one.

 

[cyborg]

I have old fashioned birds that predate that book and they go broody so often that it causes problems getting enough eggs to have a hatch. So I could probably use this and have it work if I didn't have a broody at a time that I wanted one.

Likewise. My problem is too many that want to be broody. The worst is a big partridge Cochin hen that will fight me for the eggs!

 

[ronott1]

Likewise. My problem is too many that want to be broody. The worst is a big partridge Cochin hen that will fight me for the eggs!

I just broke one this week. Three days in a cage in the garage does it every time.

 

[DesertChic]

Yeah, I'm putting the rabbits in a storage room area that already has some AC control, but that's why I'm getting the heat-tolerant rabbits. I've also been reading about the published alternative housing methods where you build underground cool "dens" for them, attached by a tunnel to a standard cage, where you feed them (and where they poop).

Re: goats - I'm only interested in dairy goats myself, but you still need a buck to make little baby goats once a year or so, so momma will make milk.

@dfr1973: We don't have much in the way of power outages here usually, but I'm still eyeing a generator. Just trying to decide which one and how big. Regarding broodiness, in my 1941 UK poultry and rabbit book, there is not only a discussion of how to break a broody hen, there is also a discussion of how to INDUCE broodiness when needed to "incubate" eggs - I'd never seen that elsewhere. That book is gonna be a super resource in a TSHTF scenario, since there's a lot of creative "how do you manage to keep your chickens and rabbits fed when you can't get feed and there's rationing" in there...

- Ant Farm

Shoot...the only thing I need to do to induce broodiness is to NOT want anyone to be broody. I've determined that chickens all have the personalities of teenagers and will most certainly do the exact opposite of what I tell them to do.

Edit: Oh...and for some reason my birds primarily go broody over golf balls, not the fake or even real eggs. I don't know what it is about golf balls, but my girls become obsessed with them. My NN/Cochin mix actually moved the fake egg out of the nesting box and moved the two golf balls and two of the other girls' eggs into her preferred nest box to sit on.

 

[dfr1973]

Shoot...the only thing I need to do to induce broodiness is to NOT want anyone to be broody. I've determined that chickens all have the personalities of teenagers and will most certainly do the exact opposite of what I tell them to do.

Maybe that is what I am doing wrong here ... I want broodies.