BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[draye]

Had 5 boys and 2 girls, boys were quite small, too small for my flock goals, and I have limited room for breeding roosters, so I culled the boys. Plan was to keep the girls and breed back to Tank to carry mottling forward in some of my flock. Hoping I can still do that...

- Ant Farm 

Oh I see. So you still have the girls.

Yea, I know they are smallish. That is what I have a problem with in my flock already and they are adding more.

I've been thinking about culling my rooster and hen out and trying to use the few offspring I have from them.

I'm liking my Mottled Partridge better too. They are producing sine Calico themselves. I'm going for one more hatch though before I decide for sure what direction I'm taking with them.

My goals aren't really for butchering, I've done that in the past, but the condition of my hands and other ( health wise) problems I can't do that anymore.

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

Alas, they were pretty small compared to my regular Naked Necks, and I already have too much going on/too many chickens. I need to simplify. I was going to keep the two pullets, but it turns out (in retrospect) that they were raised from young age (4 weeks) with a group of Cream Legbar chicks with congenital Avian Leukosis Virus (necropsy confirmed - I did the mother who died 2 weeks after they hatched, Texas A&M did the daughter and confirmed). I'm culling that group of girls - high likelihood of long term high degree of shedding and ultimately tumors and death. The two Naked Necks are lower risk as they joined the CLs at age 4 weeks (might have developed antibodies and cleared infection), but it's chancy. I wanted to cross the girls with a favorite Naked Neck rooster, Tank. But I don't want to risk him getting infected via mating - I have too many other breeding plans for him... Then again, he is older, and his risk of infection is lower. I suppose I could take a chance.


(I don't want to have to cull the girls, Greta and Grace - can you tell?)




- Ant Farm

Very nice! I see why Tank is your favourite rooster, I say, don't risk it.

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Quote:
Yeah, I just spent a couple hours reading more on this (I have access to several very specific articles via the medical library online access). Initial hopes I had are gone now - good evidence from a very well done study looking at exactly this issue is that if they are contact infected at 4 weeks, they have a decent chance of producing congenitally infected chicks. (And that's the whole reason I wanted them with Tank, to get chicks, so - not worth it.)

I realize that even with this and a good clean up of their area, it's unlikely for my yard to be totally ALV clean after all of this (though I do have 6 separately housed groups), especially since it's common anyway. But this cohort of pullets is a known high risk that I've decided I'm not going to take (oh, and they fly well and like to escape their area, even more reason...). So I'm back to the plan to cull them all. I am not sure what the situation is with the adult CLs that were with the original hen who passed it on and died, but they are isolated from the others, are essentially pets and won't breed again - from what I've read, they are not at high risk of passing virus into the environment/to others, more that they might pass it to offspring. Here's the thing - offspring from one of those hens are in with ALL of my growout chicks right now, including the GNHs, the marans, everybody. Unlikely, but if one of them turns up with it, this is going to get a lot uglier...

I need to get my chicken numbers down anyway - I think things happen for a reason sometimes, and at a minimum, it's always easier to try to find a bright side. So I will cull this group of pullets, and I will keep those chicks growing out away from any of the adult Naked Necks until they get to an age to "declare" themselves (they usually begin getting tumors at ~14-16 weeks) - If everyone makes it past POL safely, I think that's the best I can expect for my backyard flock. If not, my number of chickens is going to go down a lot faster than I expected. The good thing is that ALV is relatively straightforward to get out of the environment with cleaning, etc. Doesn't survive long outside of the chickens...

- Ant Farm

 

[3riverschick]

Hi,
Just popping in between work shift. Has anyone heard how chicken folk are doing down in WV with the flooding? Everyone but specifically, Hellbender and his folk? Rain mostly didn't make it over the Alleghenies to reach us here on the western side of the Laurel Ridge of the Alleghenies. Has some sporadic heavy showers but not the flooding they were calling for up here.
Stay dry!
Thanks,
Karen

 

[Beekissed]

WV checking in. We live up on a ridge, so the floods don't come near us other than to block off roads of ingress and egress to the area. Kurt lives up on a ridge as well, so I'm thinking he's fine except for possibly the same problem....flooding further down the elevation. Many folks living in the flatlands and hollers of the state having trouble though, as many homes are located in hollers and small valleys that may never flood but once in 50 yrs or so are seeing some flashflooding now. Not as bad as that big one back in the 80s but some trouble being had.

 

[RattlesnakeRidgeWV]

RSR is fine. We sit at 1500 feet. I have a lot of friends down New River way that are not good. Prayers out to them.
Kurt

 

[3riverschick]

Thank yOU ALL FOR THE INFO.

 

[Dave C]

Just picked these little fellas up.
















There is 20 Sasso medium grow Farm Rangers
And 20 Guinea Fowl.

 

[Molpet]

WV checking in. We live up on a ridge, so the floods don't come near us other than to block off roads of ingress and egress to the area. Kurt lives up on a ridge as well, so I'm thinking he's fine except for possibly the same problem....flooding further down the elevation. Many folks living in the flatlands and hollers of the state having trouble though, as many homes are located in hollers and small valleys that may never flood but once in 50 yrs or so are seeing some flashflooding now. Not as bad as that big one back in the 80s but some trouble being had.

glad you posted...I came on looking to see if you all were high and dry .. Prayers for those that are flooded

 

[lpatelski]

Just picked these little fellas up.
















There is 20 Sasso medium grow Farm Rangers
And 20 Guinea Fowl.

Are the Sasso going to be used in a breeding project?
Sorry, went back and found the answer...
They are a slow grow Sasso Broiler from France, I'm looking to cross them with there Medium Grow Farm Rangers (similar to you RR) also adding in Cornish blood, I'm looking at doing 4 crosses to try then narrowing it down to two moving forward.