BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[Beer can]

@hellbender Ariel, don't blame your dad I wouldn't want to be anywhere near that city hospital or otherwise and I live in upstate NY lol.
Funny thing, chickens are allowed in NYC, no roosters, and there are small rural towns in upstate that do not allow backyard chickens.
I live ten miles or more from the nearest towns, we can have chickens living in junk cars in our front yards.

 

[gjensen]

Winter greens, I've grown more cabbage and kale this yr than we need. Cabbage in the store I've saw for sale after holidays at .28 cents a pound if you don't grow it. Cabbage is very high in nutrients/vitamins and stores for a long time. Same with pumpkins and squash, long term storage. I have mature kale, another bed half size, and started another bed a month ago, have heard it will survive winter freezing, first yr growing it so I'll find out how long the newer two beds do. Bought kale seed at $2 a ounce, seeds are tiny so I'm not out much.
Interesting to hear you can feed them sweet potatoes, I love them and just recently found out they will grow in our climate, adding them to our garden next yr.
Anybody have experience growing Mangles?
R.H Shumway's seed catalog has them and they say "equal in nutrition to grain for stock feed at half the cost" 2 foot long roots, half growing above surface 15 pounds each, $2.55 ounce, $8.50 1/4 pound. I would like to try them next yr especially if we get a couple pigs.

Mangels are great to. Just low in protein. I like to impale them on a nail in the houses. The birds will pick at them until they are gone. Another good deep winter food item.

They are easy to grow.

Here, we do not get a deep freeze. I can leave them in the ground until I am ready to use them. I do not have to store them away.

I like to use cabbage to. I like to grow winter greens, but for misc. reasons I will use cabbage heads. I will quarter them and impale them on the same nail. All of the houses have this nail. LOL.

The main reason that I like to consider these winter feeds is that I think there is something to food that is "alive". I use commercial rations. I am not able to grow a balanced ration practically. That is my base. I will purchase some bulk grain from the local farmers. I prefer oats, but will buy the others. I like to throw them whole grains every day, but just enough that they can quickly clean up. It is a training aid, and the whole grain has some oils that the bagged feed is short on. Soaked oats however, can make up a larger part of their diet. So I do cut the bagged feed with soaked oats.

Other than this, I like to just let them out and run, bringing cut greens to who cannot. In the darkest days of winter, that can be in short supply. Even though the bagged feeds contain "everything", they are better for the supplementation. Fresh greens and oils is what they are missing. There is something to be said for food that is alive.

 

[jbkirk]

Mangels are great to. Just low in protein. I like to impale them on a nail in the houses. The birds will pick at them until they are gone. Another good deep winter food item.

They are easy to grow.

Here, we do not get a deep freeze. I can leave them in the ground until I am ready to use them. I do not have to store them away.

I like to use cabbage to. I like to grow winter greens, but for misc. reasons I will use cabbage heads. I will quarter them and impale them on the same nail. All of the houses have this nail. LOL.

The main reason that I like to consider these winter feeds is that I think there is something to food that is "alive". I use commercial rations. I am not able to grow a balanced ration practically. That is my base. I will purchase some bulk grain from the local farmers. I prefer oats, but will buy the others. I like to throw them whole grains every day, but just enough that they can quickly clean up. It is a training aid, and the whole grain has some oils that the bagged feed is short on. Soaked oats however, can make up a larger part of their diet. So I do cut the bagged feed with soaked oats.

Other than this, I like to just let them out and run, bringing cut greens to who cannot. In the darkest days of winter, that can be in short supply. Even though the bagged feeds contain "everything", they are better for the supplementation. Fresh greens and oils is what they are missing. There is something to be said for food that is alive.

If you fed them squash primarily what would you suppliment them with other than normal feed?

 

[gjensen]

If you fed them squash primarily what would you suppliment them with other than normal feed?

I would not give them squash primarily. It is not a good food item to build around. It is a good supplement.

I would have to build around something that was a better energy source. They need more of that than anything else, so if I was trying something like that (I am not), I would start there. A root crop or a grain.

Am I understanding you correctly?

 

[DesertChic]

I can't resist, dad is being discharged today. What I write now is just a statement, not a complaint. It has been really tough here, especially the milking and in spite of the very capable help that I was left with. One of Jason's friends Auggie, who took care of the dogs, is very handy with wood work so I showed him one of those boxes that people show off their chickens in and he has agreed to build one, to be ready when Jason and dad get home. He said it will take him all of 60 minutes to cut it out, put it together and put a couple coats of spray primer and whatever color I want as top coat. Now, the next time I post, it will be on my own account.

Ariel

Sounds like you've had a lot to deal with, both directly and indirectly. Take a deep breath....you made it. Your dad's okay; you're okay; you're a fantastic daughter! Based on you father's past posts I know there must be a lot to do there at the house, and I'm sure those duties were all the more difficult given the additional stress of worrying about your dad....but it's all working out okay. I'm sure it will still take time to get back to "normal", but I bet you all breathe a lot easier once he's back home. Though I bet his stubbornness will have you battling him over not doing too much too soon.

That's so nice of Auggie to build that for you guys! What a lovely gift for your father to return home to see.

Lots of love, Ariel....for all of you.

 

[hellbender]

Yes, I'm still posting. This is what the dogs had up the walnut tree. He apparently came down and got to the trees near the fence line. Auggie brought me these photos and a few I fear to post under dad's avatar but keeping with dogs protecting livestock, this should be apropos to the thread.

 

[DesertChic]

Yes, I'm still posting. This is what the dogs had up the walnut tree. He apparently came down and got to the trees near the fence line. Auggie brought me these photos and a few I fear to post under dad's avatar but keeping with dogs protecting livestock, this should be apropos to the thread.

Whoa!!!! Good dogs!

 

[zipitydoodah]

Hi all-

I am told that the egg color comes from the male-what about rate of lay and egg size?

zipitydoodah

 

[gjensen]

Hi all-

I am told that the egg color comes from the male-what about rate of lay and egg size?

zipitydoodah

Less sex linked genes, and all else being equal, the contribution is equal between sexes.

 

[ronott1]

Hi all-

I am told that the egg color comes from the male-what about rate of lay and egg size?

zipitydoodah

The shell color is not sex linked--It only takes one dominant blue egg shell gene from either parent to have a blue egg shell.

Brown coating is more complicated with more genes but I do not know of any of those genes being sexlinked.