BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[DesertChic]

Don't know where my mind was when I suggested Austra-Whites. I took an 'old man's nap' and came to my senses....Don't know why I didn't think of Naked Necks as first choice. The AW's did fine here but the NNs would almost certainly be the breed for you to learn with.

Yep...the EDIT: We will have our hands full here until somewhere around the first two weeks of June. We can then slip away for some time close to a week. We'll certainly be flying so no exhaustion from a long drive and turn-around.

Just keep me posted on your plans....and let me know when I need to breed and/or buy some more NNs to have some of the right age for caponizing. I still think you're letting me off cheap in all this though.

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Hot dry climate folks (or others, for that matter):

Has anyone here tried growing creeping bundleflower (Desmanthus virgatus) as forage? Here's what my local seed source folks (Douglass King Seeds) say about it, sounds promising:

"DESMANTHUS VIRGATUS or "CREEPING BUNDLEFLOWER", as it is commonly known, is a perennial warm season legume that is native to Central and South America where it is grown on marginal soils in low rainfall areas. This plant will produce high quality forage from Spring until frost, with protein levels having been reported as high as 31% (dry matter basis). It produces abundant seed that helps spread the plant and can be utilized as a feed source by quail, turkey, and dove. Creeping Bundleflower/Desmanthus is superior to Illinois Bundleflower in the South and should be planted in late Spring or early Fall into moist soils at a rate of 4 to 6 pounds per acre at a depth of 1/4 to 1/2 inch."

(DesertChic, I was thinking of you...)

- Ant Farm

 

[hellbender]

Just keep me posted on your plans....and let me know when I need to breed and/or buy some more NNs to have some of the right age for caponizing. I still think you're letting me off cheap in all this though.

Better to order from Cackle. if you breed, you MIGHT get more pullets than cockerels. Certainly the pullets can be altered too which you might want to learn but getting 15 cockerels from a hatchery might be the easiest way to go...However...if you plan to hatch out a bunch of NNs anyhow, that would work just fine.

And here we go again..EDIT: By ordering them, you can be pretty certain they are cockerels. Trying to figure out their gender at 4 to 6 weeks can produce some difficulty.

 

[DesertChic]

Hot dry climate folks (or others, for that matter):

Has anyone here tried growing creeping bundleflower (Desmanthus virgatus) as forage? Here's what my local seed source folks (Douglass King Seeds) say about it, sounds promising:

"DESMANTHUS VIRGATUS or "CREEPING BUNDLEFLOWER", as it is commonly known, is a perennial warm season legume that is native to Central and South America where it is grown on marginal soils in low rainfall areas. This plant will produce high quality forage from Spring until frost, with protein levels having been reported as high as 31% (dry matter basis). It produces abundant seed that helps spread the plant and can be utilized as a feed source by quail, turkey, and dove. Creeping Bundleflower/Desmanthus is superior to Illinois Bundleflower in the South and should be planted in late Spring or early Fall into moist soils at a rate of 4 to 6 pounds per acre at a depth of 1/4 to 1/2 inch."

(DesertChic, I was thinking of you...)

- Ant Farm

Ooooohhhh.....Now this really interests me! Thank you! I will definitely look into this more.

On a similar note, I came home late yesterday afternoon to discover that two of my White Rock hens, one of which had hatched chicks recently, had found their way into my fenced-off garden and had proceeded to devour everything except my tomato plant. All of the newly sprouted kale, lettuce, peas and even garlic....all of the established kale I'd grown for the chickens....all of it gone and the soil completely tilled. Since my husband is adamant that we wait a bit longer before getting the greenhouse and aquaponics, I guess I'll have to increase the height of the fencing and start over.

Those two girls had better give me some amazingly good eggs!


Oh....and check out the Moringa tree, too. It's become very popular around here both for shade and forage and every part of the tree...even the roots....is edible. I'll be sprouting a number of these very soon, and from what I've been told, they will easily grow 20 feet in a single season. One of my local BYC friends cuts hers down to just the trunk in the fall, feeds everything to the chickens, and by summer has a huge canopy to provide them with shade.

 

[hellbender]

Ooooohhhh.....Now this really interests me! Thank you! I will definitely look into this more.

On a similar note, I came home late yesterday afternoon to discover that two of my White Rock hens, one of which had hatched chicks recently, had found their way into my fenced-off garden and had proceeded to devour everything except my tomato plant. All of the newly sprouted kale, lettuce, peas and even garlic....all of the established kale I'd grown for the chickens....all of it gone and the soil completely tilled. Since my husband is adamant that we wait a bit longer before getting the greenhouse and aquaponics, I guess I'll have to increase the height of the fencing and start over.

Those two girls had better give me some amazingly good eggs!


Oh....and check out the Moringa tree, too. It's become very popular around here both for shade and forage and every part of the tree...even the roots....is edible. I'll be sprouting a number of these very soon, and from what I've been told, they will easily grow 20 feet in a single season. One of my local BYC friends cuts hers down to just the trunk in the fall, feeds everything to the chickens, and by summer has a huge canopy to provide them with shade.

Let them have the tomatoes too and perhaps they will poop out SALADS.

All kidding aside, might it not be cheaper to fence the gardens and top with poultry netting? The chickens can have one wing trimmed.

 

[Kassaundra]

Ooooohhhh.....Now this really interests me! Thank you! I will definitely look into this more.

On a similar note, I came home late yesterday afternoon to discover that two of my White Rock hens, one of which had hatched chicks recently, had found their way into my fenced-off garden and had proceeded to devour everything except my tomato plant. All of the newly sprouted kale, lettuce, peas and even garlic....all of the established kale I'd grown for the chickens....all of it gone and the soil completely tilled. Since my husband is adamant that we wait a bit longer before getting the greenhouse and aquaponics, I guess I'll have to increase the height of the fencing and start over.

Those two girls had better give me some amazingly good eggs!


Oh....and check out the Moringa tree, too. It's become very popular around here both for shade and forage and every part of the tree...even the roots....is edible. I'll be sprouting a number of these very soon, and from what I've been told, they will easily grow 20 feet in a single season. One of my local BYC friends cuts hers down to just the trunk in the fall, feeds everything to the chickens, and by summer has a huge canopy to provide them with shade.

I tried moringa here, but we have to harsh a winter.

 

[hellbender]

A few days ago I noticed my Dark Cornish pullets were amazingly changed....all seemed heftier and their head leathers all seemed to have become brilliant read. Today I found one DC egg and it was surprisingly large. The Chantecler pullets have begun to steadily up their production. As mentioned earlier, I got two eggs one day and have gotten anywhere from 2 to 5 eggs daily from 10 pullets. Just a couple points of information. Spring will be here before we know it!

 

[ronott1]

A few days ago I noticed my Dark Cornish pullets were amazingly changed....all seemed heftier and their head leathers all seemed to have become brilliant read. Today I found one DC egg and it was surprisingly large. The Chantecler pullets have begun to steadily up their production. As mentioned earlier, I got two eggs one day and have gotten anywhere from 2 to 5 eggs daily from 10 pullets. Just a couple points of information. Spring will be here before we know it!

Egg production will usually start going up when the days start getting longer--Early January for me.

 

[DesertChic]

Let them have the tomatoes too and perhaps they will poop out SALADS.

All kidding aside, might it not be cheaper to fence the gardens and top with poultry netting? The chickens can have one wing trimmed.

If only it really worked that way with making the salads.

You're suggestion is exactly what I'll be doing in the very near future...except clipping the wings. Given the number of potential predators around here I'd still rather leave their wings in tact for now. Both the hubby and had to put in some extra time at our business this weekend so I probably won't be able to get around to the fencing until early next week, but since the girls already ate everything they probably can't do much more damage between now and then.

 

[DesertChic]

A few days ago I noticed my Dark Cornish pullets were amazingly changed....all seemed heftier and their head leathers all seemed to have become brilliant read. Today I found one DC egg and it was surprisingly large. The Chantecler pullets have begun to steadily up their production. As mentioned earlier, I got two eggs one day and have gotten anywhere from 2 to 5 eggs daily from 10 pullets. Just a couple points of information. Spring will be here before we know it!

Egg production will usually start going up when the days start getting longer--Early January for me.

I had a significant drop in production for about three days...down from 9-12 per day to only 5-6 from 12 active layers. Now....well, yesterday I collected 15 eggs. It seems some of my pullets have finally begun to lay! And one of my frizzled Easter Eggers gave me a really, really blue egg.

I'm back in business, baby!