BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[southernmomma]

@ronott1 , didn't realize they gave a speckled egg!! Such pretty hens, the Penedesenca.

That is one green egg

M

 

[ronott1]

@ronott1 , didn't realize they gave a speckled egg!! Such pretty hens, the Penedesenca.

That is one green egg

M

These are two of the 5 I will be using as breeders this year:

 

[Arielle]

Very pretty eggs Ron!!

I was thinking of moving my olive egger girls to a pen with a BCM to more of those lovely olives!!! Of course the poor boy currently in charge, an EE, would be very upset to loose his girls!! He guards them but good.

 

[RedRidge]

We raise all our own food for us and our livestock - except coffee ;-) The sweet potato vines and small sweet potatos are fed to the rabbits throughout the winter. The single most important feed for the poultry over the winter is BSF. Unlike all our other livestock, poultry are not herbivores, they require animal protein. While animal protein is very easy to acquire most of the year, this can be problematic in the winter. Raising BSF in the summer and freezing them for poultry feeding over the winter has assured us they continue to get their necessary animal protein, both for winter laying and ease of molt.

The ideal combination we've discovered is to hatch in Jan and Feb. For production purposes those who lay by 26 weeks are the keepers. They will lay right on through their first winter and provide a steady income when the older hens slow down post molt. Combine this timing with quality fermented grains and adequate animal protein and the egg frig stays full.

What a great post!!!!!   I love your self sufficiency.  The idea of sweet potato vines in the winter makes me wonder how you do it.  A greenhouse?  I'm in zone 8b and could grow a TON of them.  I'm gonna try at least to grow a lot for canning and eating.  Do you have the vines going all year round? Do chickens eat the leaves?  For some reason I thought they couldn't.    Hummm.  

Well, I'm gonna be in and out for a while.  The computer is going in the shop tomorrow and then my Dr's appt for knee surgery is on the 16th.  They will do the procedure about the end of the month.  Not looking forward to it but I'm so healthy except for this.  

I've put off all buying of eggs and birds for the present.   I'll just be a little later getting things started.  

We plant all our sweet potatos the last week of May and harvest in Sept. All potatos are root cellared all winter but the vines are dried and baled like hay. So we don't grow them in a green house or out of season, we simply store them for winter feeding. The larger sweet potatos are for human consumption and the smaller ones and the dried vines are for the rabbits. I've never fed them to the poultry.

 

[KittieChick]

That's what I've been afraid of. Hoping to find someone with a large flock that is producing large blue eggs well,so I can buy hatching eggs, but that might be a dream. Our even with the rhodebars, which are having similar problems. The RB are heavier,though. It's hard to believe there are no standard bred brown egg laying equivalents to leghorns. Surely there is an obvious solution I'm not thinking of.

Hi Rachel, I got my first group of laying chicks last June. They're hatch date is June 25. The Delaware was the first to lay in November. The Black Australorps followed by about a week later. The Easter Egger came online in December along with the GLW.

Currently my Delaware has laid an egg daily for at minimum the past 16 days. The Australorps are close behind, and the EE is giving me a nice blue egg probably 5 out of 7 days.

I actually am planning a small well bred Delaware flock because of my little hatchery Del. I'm hoping the birds with the "blood" can outperform my little mutt! The egg is a lovely brown, and has a violet bloom, so some days looks pink and others looks purple-brown. I like my Del. the GLW I'm probably going to cull. She's pretty, but her laying isn't where I'd like it to be.

 

[Heron's Nest Farm]

What's your bet for the best dark brown egg producers?

 

[ronott1]

What's your bet for the best dark brown egg producers?

Penedesencas because it is very hot here in the Summer.

 

[DesertChic]

What's your bet for the best dark brown egg producers?

I'll let you know when my birds are finally old enough to start laying...LOL.

 

[Arielle]

What's your bet for the best dark brown egg producers?

Black copper marans-- depends on the line.

 

[gjensen]

What's your bet for the best dark brown egg producers?

Depends on the strain more than the breed. I like Welsummers.