BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[bramblefir]

Okay, so here's the crappy cell phone video I took yesterday of my gander.

Last night he was off his feed and wouldn't drink. I seriously thought he'd be dead when we went up this morning. He's still alive today! Eating, drinking, and trying to be feisty. We left them in their stall and I brought them fresh greens besides their other feed. From what I've read about avian botulism most birds that are going to die do so in the first 48 hours. He's now passed the 48-hour mark and while not in the clear I'm starting to have a little hope for him.

 

[Beer can]

The flock of layers I have, various breeds, always stay within a distance from the coop, between our house and garage and tree line, plenty of bugs worms and grubs green stuff, but they never ventured into the 80 acre field surrounding us. I was glad they stayed away from my garden area though after they ate every single medusa pepper off a potted plant on our back step.
These white jersey giant's on the other hand don't seem to have boundaries, I've seen them halfway into the field, even way down around our pond and small group of woods in our front side yard. They'll get a lot of free feed in that field, loaded with grasshoppers in the summer. Farmer just switched half of it that was corn to new seed alfalfa and clover last year.
I'm currently not free ranging the giant's, have them in a 50'x14' fence I've moved a few times clearing lawn to dirt expanding garden area. They want out but after culling and loosing a couple I'm down to a good trio and a extra cockerel who is running wild. I need to get some eggs hatched before I dare risk loosing any.

 

[bramblefir]

Update: My recent arrivals from Georgia are doing great (are already spoiled, have me trained) and are now roosting). Not sure if they roosted at their previous home because I forgot to ask Linda but I'm sure she will let me know now.

Additionally, my daughter has three of MY hatchery Dark Cornish hens setting, the last two on Chantecler X DC eggs.

So who will win the custody battle for the chicks?

 

[dfr1973]

I have made the decision to sell off my Meaties side project. Now, a year and half ago, y'all in this thread told me I was trying too many different projects, and y'all were correct. I want the extra room for more GLW grow-outs, as it isn't as cut-and-dried on the culling. I still have Bigfoot growing out, plus four pullets from that October hatch and it is not easy trying to whittle that down to the best two! For only F1s, they are still similar enough that I'll need to review the Hogan method of selecting hens, and Hogan said this was best done at the end of the pullet year, which is still more than six months away. Out of seven pullets in the January hatch, I need to select down to a maximum of four, though if there is/are more that don't make the grade I'll sell them this Saturday.

 

[hellbender]

So who will win the custody battle for the chicks?

No battle...she'll keep what she want's and dump the rest on me. I know her interest is in the cockerels and that suits me just fine. Either way, I pay the feed bill.

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

That's strange that you have that much space and they are taking your grass down to bare earth so much that your yard will soon be dirt. Could be you have yard but not much variety of forage available?

We have 20 here too but only 3 acres of meadow, the rest is surrounded by woods, so they range out into the woods quite often and only use the meadow for grazing and occasional bug forays. I plant white dutch clover here and tall fescue, to maximize the foraging at different times of year. I also leave areas along the wood line that encourage snakes, lizards, grubs and insects to take up residence so they have a variety of proteins there.

I have the same stocking rate as you, but have had much, much more in the past and still never saw any bare earth where it shouldn't be. Could be the quality, quantity and variety of the available forage you have needs adjusted to prevent over impaction to any one area.

I would agree the forage is pretty poor. Maybe it's just the time of year? We didn't have much of a winter, not enough snow this year, and the plants can't recover until the weather warms up. I had comfrey everywhere, they ate every last one down to the ground last fall. I thought that stuff was toxic! Where I had lots of moss under the trees, it's been rooted through like a herd (pack? what do you call a bunch of pigs anyway?) of pigs rooted through it. I had violets and wildflowers- I shudder to think what will happen to them! And they have torn up the grass in an awful lot of places. I'll try to take photos but unfortunately I don't have any before or after pics except where I have the well fenced off. Unbelievable! On the plus side I'm hoping they will kill off our population of beggar ticks- that would be nice. Once the wildflowers start to come up I may have to think of some way to fence the chickens out of them. They love orchard grass, they eat off all the new growth as soon as it appears. I used to have lots . I may propagate that for them......
Of course we still have some grass here and there, but there are certain areas they have decimated. Little stinkers! Maybe I should just re home them and replace them with well mannered white rocks!

 

[alisar]

Bramblefir, can geese get wryneck? Or does that Avian botulism cause the torticollis that he is suffering from? The internet said it can be caused by trauma, does he fight with anyone?

 

[lpatelski]

Update: My recent arrivals from Georgia are doing great (are already spoiled, have me trained) and are now roosting). Not sure if they roosted at their previous home because I forgot to ask Linda but I'm sure she will let me know now.

Additionally, my daughter has three of MY hatchery Dark Cornish hens setting, the last two on Chantecler X DC eggs.

They roosted on the top of the 5 gallon bucket I use for a nest box. I discouraged flying up to the top wires. In the center of my pen is were the electricity is plugged in. Several times my heat lamps and timers were unplugged, Roosters flying over the pens to see who's game. I trim wings. I like to know who's yer daddy.

 

[hellbender]

They roosted on the top of the 5 gallon bucket I use for a nest box. I discouraged flying up to the top wires. In the center of my pen is were the electricity is plugged in. Several times my heat lamps and timers were unplugged, Roosters flying over the pens to see who's game. I trim wings. I like to know who's yer daddy.

They have just a little bit different set up here. In their area is a roost that is 12 inches off the ground and it took them a few days to get the hang of but but now, they sleep there at night and loaf on it sometimes during the day.

An outside, fully contained and covered pen is being built (about half finished) for Shorty and the gals who will be calling on him. Angel will be handed off to my favorite Chantecler and the other one will be keeping Shorty company for a while.

Love is in the air...

 

[bramblefir]

Bramblefir, can geese get wryneck? Or does that Avian botulism cause the torticollis that he is suffering from? The internet said it can be caused by trauma, does he fight with anyone?

Avian botulism is frequently called "Limberneck" because of the floppy necks of the dead and dying birds. According to Merck's it causes "Leg weakness and paresis that progress to flaccid paralysis of the legs, wings, neck, and eyelids are characteristic clinical signs...Weakness is the earliest sign in waterfowl. Birds are initially reluctant to fly when approached and have weak wing-beats and difficulty taking flight. As the disease progresses, they lose their ability to fly and exhibit stumbling gaits and eventually paralysis." He's showing paresis of the legs, 3rd eyelids are partially out, and some weakness in the neck. The first day his feces also had larger quantities of urates (also a symptom of AB), but have since become more normal. He's still alive and eating and drinking today.

He doesn't fight with anybody as no animal on the farm has the courage to call his bluff. He did get whacked on the neck with a cotton lead rope the day before when he came charging out of his stall hissing at me. Both Mr. Bramblefir and myself are doubtful that it would have caused this as I only flicked the lead rope out enough to tap him and remind him of his manners.