I've only seen the hens in person, they are a little larger than a Leghorn not quite as big ad Rocks. It's been 30 years or better since I've seen any of those.
BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.
- Thread starter hellbender
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I've only seen the hens in person, they are a little larger than a Leghorn not quite as big ad Rocks. It's been 30 years or better since I've seen any of those.
I resemble these remarks. While I grew up with caring for hatchery chickens, I am quite new to applying rational principles to chicken breeding, and am a lifelong obsessive-compulsive science nerd. I also believe that every personality trait can be either a useful tool or a handicap, depending on its current context. So, while my first two forays into chicken breeding gave me practice at evaluating chickens via tactile and non-tactile information, my flocks have been so non-uniform that they have been easily culled/mated without the detailed records I have been keeping. I am still keeping the records, because I have faith that my flock will improve to the point that those records will be useful! LOL!
(On a different topic, I don't know what is officially recommended for rabbit tractors, but I would put a wire floor of some sort in them. My pet rabbits dug out of their open-floored chicken tractor about every other day.)
I am not keeping track of costs, for the same reason. It is still apparent to my husband that grocery-store chicken and farmers' market eggs are much cheaper than my meat and eggs. I expect that organizing the hatching/growing/culling season will significantly improve my efficiency, as will tailoring their pens/housing to our property and climate. In the meantime, I remind him that this is a wholesome, relatively cheap hobby for me! Instead of spending our money on fancy clothes, cars, boats, antiques, jewelry, et cetera, I want additional mobile fence-panel chicken tractors. We have about 3 acres of fairly level sandy soil near the house and out of the flood plain, and I don't enjoy shoveling out the stationary coops.
My ultimate production goals are still to produce the healthiest, most nutritious and delicious chicken eggs and meat possible, enough to supply my household year-round. My current daydreams feature learning to can, and possibly freezing or freeze-drying excess eggs. Someday.
Still eating that metaphorical elephant one bite at a time,
Angela
Absolutely! I'd LOVE to meet you guys!
One warning though...the summers here can be pretty miserable...especially if you're not used to the heat. June is the absolute worst month out here with temps in the 100 range and high humidity before monsoons kick in. But the mountains where I live are a gorgeous place to visit during the hot season and we literally live a little below the base of one of those mountains. I'd love to show off my little corner of the world.
And the Caponizing Clinic would be a bonus. I'd be happy to pay you for your time.
Well....I did it. I culled that little black NN chick with the broken leg. I know I shouldn't have waited so long....she was over 4 weeks old...but it took me this long to be able to bring myself to do it....and she had been showing genuine effort at surviving and I'm a sucker for a determined underdog. I had to do it though. I know I did. She was getting worse.
But I didn't expect her head to pop off like that.
But I didn't expect her head to pop off like that.
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- #6,105
Assuming you mean White Rocks? There has always been vast differences in the size of W. Rocks and any strain of Leghorn. I suppose the size of Austra-Whites could vary with the size/strain of either of the parent stock.
- Thread starter
- #6,106
Absolutely! I'd LOVE to meet you guys!
One warning though...the summers here can be pretty miserable...especially if you're not used to the heat. June is the absolute worst month out here with temps in the 100 range and high humidity before monsoons kick in. But the mountains where I live are a gorgeous place to visit during the hot season and we literally live a little below the base of one of those mountains. I'd love to show off my little corner of the world.
And the Caponizing Clinic would be a bonus. I'd be happy to pay you for your time.
If you feel obligated to pay, you can cover the cost of (order) the AWs.
Yes, of course. I realize there are size differences in both White Rocks and in White Leghorns. I'm simply comparing hatchery type to hatchery type. Not that there's anything wrong with hatchery tyke, that's mostly all I know anyway. Never have had breeder birds way too expensive for me and my purposes.
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How much $. When I decided I want to try capons I was going to order 50 fry pan specials from Meyer's, theirs is all cockerels and large breed, no leghorns. They only sell them by the 100 now, was .28cents each, few cents more now. That way I figured I wouldn't be out much if I had some die being I have no experience in caponizing yet.
Now that I have a couple breeds to work with I figure I might as well just hatch my own.
@draye Those are good prices too, and large breed, Murrey's I believe are leghorns.
Wish I could just hatch mostly cockerels somehow. Plan is to keep some pullets to up my numbers, cull all other pullets young or sell them. All cockerels will be capons
Wish I could just hatch mostly cockerels somehow. Plan is to keep some pullets to up my numbers, cull all other pullets young or sell them. All cockerels will be capons
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