BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[mikeldb]

Nice! I assume the hen is going to be pure Andalusian? I think your cross will end up with  a lighter hackle than the rooster in the first photo.

yes the hems are pure blue Andalusian, he has a tall pea comb so I'm interested to see the outcome

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Quote: Thank you for posting this. I have one NN pullet who has consistently laid corrugated eggs off and on since she went into lay. I think I know who it is (not totally certain yet). I would think it's genetic, since they all have the same food, forage, conditions, etc. Alas, if it's who I think it is, it's one I had wanted to breed.

I got my first mildly blood stained egg yesterday (Cream Legbar) - I need to examine the vents of the two girls in that coop - they have a very protective rooster, so I will need to plan it for when he's out and they're in, and shut the door...

For the first years that I had chickens, I went the organic and non GMO route. The chickens did not do as well as they should have. They do much better on Purina Layeena, especially now that the Layeena has been re formulated with pro biotics and better vitamins. I do not need to put out calcium for them when they are eating layeena.

Psst. lets keep this quiet....but I think a lot of the organic feeds are either a scam or not based on nutrition and science...Also, maybe check out the new organic line of Purina feed--They actually have Nutrition scientists working for them and they test the feed to make sure it meets their standard...

I do have hens that are super producers of eggs. I hatched them from Trader Joes fertile eggs. They are a cross of Hy-line 36 and Hy-line brown. Each breed lays in the 350 eggs per year range.

I had the same experience, except I didn't have the patience to get past about 6 months. Now, keep in mind that I am pretty big on organic and non-GMO in the shopping I do for myself (though more and more of the fresh food that I don't grow myself comes from local farmers who don't use chemicals but haven't gone through certification). So I was DETERMINED that MY hens would get organic non-GMO feed.

Same experience - switched to Purina, big improvement. I honestly suspect that the bags of organic GMO-free food sell less (because of price) and are therefore less fresh. I certainly noticed this myself. I know people who have larger flocks where they can get their organic non-GMO feed custom mixed, and therefore fresh, and their chickens do well...

I have subsequently switched to Dumor because in the particular TSC store location where I go, it has the fastest turnover and is freshest, fresher than the Purina. (I've noticed Purina is fresher in other stores...)

- Ant Farm

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

For the first years that I had chickens, I went the organic and non GMO route. The chickens did not do as well as they should have. They do much better on Purina Layeena, especially now that the Layeena has been re formulated with pro biotics and better vitamins. I do not need to put out calcium for them when they are eating layeena.

Psst. lets keep this quiet....but I think a lot of the organic feeds are either a scam or not based on nutrition and science...Also, maybe check out the new organic line of Purina feed--They actually have Nutrition scientists working for them and they test the feed to make sure it meets their standard...

I do have hens that are super producers of eggs. I hatched them from Trader Joes fertile eggs. They are a cross of Hy-line 36 and Hy-line brown. Each breed lays in the 350 eggs per year range.

@ronott1 I agree, My suspicion is that some of these non-commercial feeds have too low or unbalanced protein content, and the quality of any feed really depends on who has done the formulation and mixing and how long and how it was stored in the warehouse. I'm not into feeding organic, but I am not fond of a completely GMO crop diet either because of the ability of glyphosate to chelate minerals. No proof of any of this, of course it all depends on the glyphosate residue in the feed (theoretically almost none LOL). I sleep better at night feeding from two sources of feed, but it's not based on nutritional science, just statistics
I'm very keen on those Trader Joe's chicks you've hatched. (Photos!!!! Pleeeeeeze????!!! ) Are you following a specific commercial line feeding recommendation?

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

yes the hems are pure blue Andalusian, he has a tall pea comb so I'm interested to see the outcome

He may be heterozygous for pea comb, if so, you may get both pea combed (all will be heterozygous because of the hen's single comb) and single combed chicks. Pea combs are incompletely dominant, when you cross with a single comb you can get some very weird looking combs.

 

[Kev]

For the first years that I had chickens, I went the organic and non GMO route. The chickens did not do as well as they should have. They do much better on Purina Layeena, especially now that the Layeena has been re formulated with pro biotics and better vitamins. I do not need to put out calcium for them when they are eating layeena.

Psst. lets keep this quiet....but I think a lot of the organic feeds are either a scam or not based on nutrition and science...Also, maybe check out the new organic line of Purina feed--They actually have Nutrition scientists working for them and they test the feed to make sure it meets their standard...

I do have hens that are super producers of eggs. I hatched them from Trader Joes fertile eggs. They are a cross of Hy-line 36 and Hy-line brown. Each breed lays in the 350 eggs per year range.

Yeah I am noticing a similar issue of bagged feed not being adequate. The feed suddenly went all vegetarian sometime last fall I think... did not notice until hens were taking forever to come back into lay post fall molt, very few eggs, fertility/hatchability was lower than usual etc When the hens started to feather pick... remembered an older timer remedy was to add more protein/meat/fat.. that's when I eventually noticed the bags were saying 'all vegetarian, no animal byproducts' etc..

Turns out there was not even an option to switch to another feed WITH animal protein... so annoying..... anyways I ended up getting bags of chicken/rice cat food with chicken as primary base to mix with the feed, what do you know.. feather picking stopped immediately, soon after egg production shot way up from all pens and after a about month on this, fertility and hatches went way up. I've also started to mix in their own eggs in the feed as another source of animal protein.

sometimes an idea might be appealing but the reality might be different or it takes more work/care than realized...

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Quote:
Do you use dry cat food? I'm wondering if there's anything I would need to look for/want to avoid if I wanted to do this...

(Right now everyone's fine on the veggie bagged food, but with lots of forage, so they're getting lots of bugs and ants and lizards...)

- Ant Farm

 

[DesertChic]

For the first years that I had chickens, I went the organic and non GMO route. The chickens did not do as well as they should have. They do much better on Purina Layeena, especially now that the Layeena has been re formulated with pro biotics and better vitamins. I do not need to put out calcium for them when they are eating layeena.

Psst. lets keep this quiet....but I think a lot of the organic feeds are either a scam or not based on nutrition and science...Also, maybe check out the new organic line of Purina feed--They actually have Nutrition scientists working for them and they test the feed to make sure it meets their standard...

I do have hens that are super producers of eggs. I hatched them from Trader Joes fertile eggs. They are a cross of Hy-line 36 and Hy-line brown. Each breed lays in the 350 eggs per year range.

Well, all of my chickens receive organic, non-gmo, soy-free, corn-free, canola-free feed and are super healthy. The primary protein source in my feed is fish meal, with additional protein coming from spring peas. I never use pharmaceuticals to treat any of them and have several hens approaching 2 yrs of age that still lay 6-7 jumbo eggs per week. Since the desert environment doesn't supply me with much forage for the birds, I supplement with home-grown organically grown kale, Swiss chard, snap peas, shelling peas, sunflower seeds, lettuce and whatever native grasses that grow around my garden beds. I understand what you mean about organic possibly being a scam, but I've researched my feed supplier pretty thoroughly and feel pretty confident about the quality of what I'm buying. Since I eat both the birds and the eggs, I just want to ensure that whatever the bird consumes translates into healthier food for my family and myself.

 

[Kev]

Do you use dry cat food? I'm wondering if there's anything I would need to look for/want to avoid if I wanted to do this...

(Right now everyone's fine on the veggie bagged food, but with lots of forage, so they're getting lots of bugs and ants and lizards...)

- Ant Farm

Yeah dry cat food for convenience mainly- easy to get and store in 'bulk'(big flock here too, so that REALLY helps..). The main thing is to look for animal protein being the first thing listed on the bag.. instead of corn/soy/grain. At the local grocery store, only the kitten food had meat as the first listing, every other cat food had grains as the first three.. However I did manage to find chicken/rice at Costco, it lists chicken first, with various sources of animal/chicken protein listed further down.

Some chickens will take to dry cat/dog food readily, others take some time. A trick I use to convince them all to try out is to have no food left over the next day so they are hungry enough to give a taste instead of going 'nope' without even touching it. After a bird takes a few, they usually very readily take it from then on, even when not hungry- given as a treat or part of the feed mix.
I should have added it's the desert out here, quite too much work/effort to grow anything due to heat(110-120F summers) and severe drought.

 

[mikeldb]

He may be heterozygous for pea comb, if so, you may get both pea combed (all will be heterozygous because of the hen's single comb) and single combed chicks.  Pea combs are incompletely dominant, when you cross with a single comb you can get some very weird looking combs.

yeah that's what I was reading I believe that's what happened to him bc he doesn't have a regular pea comb it's rather tall but definitely a pea type comb

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Quote:
Yes, but do I recall correctly that you get your feed custom ground/prepared a ton at a time? (Vs. buying a bagged organic/non-GMO feed from the feed store...)