BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[Our Roost]

So whats the status on how this virus is transmitted? Is it airborne or what?

 

[Beer can]

They still can't figure out what caused the problem in the first place and it sure is suspicious that all these biosecure commercial facilities are hardest hit.  So tired of the b.s. and lies.

X2

I still see suspicion.

Or even home grown terrorist. Remember the bunch of poultry farms that were wiped out by someone with obvious knowledge of their workings shutting down their ventilation systems?.......

 

[Beer can]

I did read one of the big farms affected was using pond water to water their birds. Pond water with wild fowl in it. Now how dumb was that. Biosecure facility using dirty water.

 

[JRNash]

@ Beer can. I will never trust the media or the feds.

 

[Our Roost]

I'm not sure who to trust other than myself. Migratory birds seem to be the carriers but why arent they dying or dead already? We have so many critters and birds in the area that I cant keep up with them. We took down the bird feeders after the fact but still have birds eating what they can steal from within the run areas. Chipmunks galore and squirels also. Thankfully nothing has hit the Michigan borders as yet. Why is that? Its almost like some certain areas have been targeted!

 

[cyborg]

@ Beer can. I will never trust the media or the feds.

I do. I trust them to lie.

 

[DesertChic]

At what age did you seperate them Desertchic?

Sorry about the late response. I stepped away for a couple days and suddenly there are 115 new posts.

I separated them around 12 weeks. It was a little later than I'd planned, but I hadn't finished building the last two pens in my cabin yet. Today I had to separate one of the cockerels from the other three as they were picking at him non-stop, three to one. He's the largest of the cockerels, but seems to be developing much more slowly than they are. His wattles are quite small, his comb is smaller and he hasn't started to crow yet, but he's got the saddle and neck feathers of a cockerel. Honestly I've spent weeks trying to figure out if it's a male or female and finally decided it's a male, but now I'm wondering if it's a masculinated female or some other anomaly.

 

[DesertChic]

This is all VERY helpful. I am not planning to sell eggs, but when I start adding up who I want to GIVE eggs/meat in exchange for helping me tend the chickens when I'm gone or other services, or for barter (e.g., for milk), it just appeals to me to have a self-sustaining/producing flock (and I think BCM roosters are pretty!). The silencing would be for the breeding roosters that are sticking around, I was thinking. I think part of why I'm so exhausted with this is that I AM probably getting way ahead of myself and need to start simpler - I appreciate the encouragement to do just that. I DO want to breed Naked Necks and NNxNHRs, so I will probably at a minimum keep one or a couple good NN roosters from the batch of chicks this fall. JRNash, thanks for the input on housing roosters together and specific pairings. I'm also re-reading the Storey's Guide section on breeding as well. I think keeping roosters together separately and all the hens together in one coop will allow me to keep things simpler, housing-wise, and also be flexible enough for any future plans...

And yes, Angela, my girls LOVE fire ants!!! You should have seen the carnage when they found their first fire ant mound in their run/pen at about 10 weeks old (under a waterer that I moved). It was a massacre... Very satisfying to watch.

Here's another question, then. Seems simple, but... for those of you who don't just do total free range (but instead do a movable pasture/paddock type system), how do you move your chickens to where you want them to be for the day? While ideally I would have paddocks like wedges of a pie based from the coop, and rotate them in each in turn, I may wish to be able to put them elsewhere from time to time. For instance, at a minimum, I would like my chickens to turn over some of my garden beds at the end of the season - I can't imagine rounding them all up in little cages and carrying them back to where I want them one by one... Or is that what people do?!

- Ant Farm

Edit to add: @hellbender and @draye , if I had to pick only one breed, it would likely be the Naked Necks.

Okay, what breed do you have that loves fire ants, because most of my birds completely ignore the dang things and I've got ant hills all over the place. I'd be willing to take on another breed just to get one that will feed on the ants!

 

[DesertChic]

Hi! We have a flock of five bantam faverolles (2 salmon, one black, one blue, one splash). We love, love, love their friendly disposition.

We're hoping to achieve these three goals:
More eggs
Bigger eggs (for bantams)
Still as sweet, docile, quiet and friendly.

Should we start crossing within different faverolles strains?

Or is there another breed that is as docile and people-loving as the faverolles, but lays even better?

I haven't had Faverolles, but my Bielefelders are exceptionally friendly and sometimes downright snuggly. My favorite cockerel is content to literally spend hours on my lap dozing while I pet him. The first of my Biel pullets just started laying at 24 weeks and laid a 1.41 ounce egg from the start. Not too bad in my opinion. She hatched from a jumbo 2.5 ounce egg.

 

[DesertChic]

BTW, I am new to this thread, so let me introduce myself. I live in southern Arizona, work as an aircraft mechanic, but hope to retire in the next few years. I raise Black Jersey Giants, BBS Ameraucanas, Easter eggers, Partridge Cochins, Black copper Marans, barred Rocks, Rhode Island Reds, and red sexlinks (probably my best egg layers).
I drive an old GMC truck, and usually have chicken sh*t on my shoes. When it runs, I also ride an old Harley ElectraGlide.

How are you Black Jersey Giants handling this heat? I've wondered about them out here. (I live in Green Valley, AZ).