Calling all Penedesencas Owners/Breeders

[rarebreedeggs4u]

Quote:
Hey Josh
what do you feed them for dark egg color?
that's wild

I'm curious too

Josh, I'm so sorry about your predator losses

I'd love to let mine free range, but we've had coyotes and bear in the YARD, so my mixed breed egg layers can go out, but not these kids and my human kids don't go out without us nearby too! I've lost guineas and turkeys to coyotes 30 feet from the barn in broad daylight. We have a new livestock guardian dog who is now recovered from being spayed and went out loose on patrol the first time today. Hopefully we've seen the last of preventable losses! The new dog "Sally" is a 4 year old Great Pyrenees who is experienced with sheep & free range birds.

 

[mediazeal]

Quote:
Hey Josh
what do you feed them for dark egg color?
that's wild

I'm curious too

Josh, I'm so sorry about your predator losses

I'd love to let mine free range, but we've had coyotes and bear in the YARD, so my mixed breed egg layers can go out, but not these kids and my human kids don't go out without us nearby too! I've lost guineas and turkeys to coyotes 30 feet from the barn in broad daylight. We have a new livestock guardian dog who is now recovered from being spayed and went out loose on patrol the first time today. Hopefully we've seen the last of preventable losses! The new dog "Sally" is a 4 year old Great Pyrenees who is experienced with sheep & free range birds.

Sally sounds cool.

How do you keep the bears from helping themselves no matter what you do?

 

[rarebreedeggs4u]

Quote:
I'm curious too

Josh, I'm so sorry about your predator losses

I'd love to let mine free range, but we've had coyotes and bear in the YARD, so my mixed breed egg layers can go out, but not these kids and my human kids don't go out without us nearby too! I've lost guineas and turkeys to coyotes 30 feet from the barn in broad daylight. We have a new livestock guardian dog who is now recovered from being spayed and went out loose on patrol the first time today. Hopefully we've seen the last of preventable losses! The new dog "Sally" is a 4 year old Great Pyrenees who is experienced with sheep & free range birds.

Sally sounds cool.

How do you keep the bears from helping themselves no matter what you do?

Sally's doing GREAT so far

Sally's perimeter patrols should keep most critters at bay.

So far, there have been innumerable coyotes, but only ONE bear. I hope it's the last one I see up close and personal in my backyard. It freaked me out INABIGWAY

I watched as it jumped a 4' fence into a paddock (attached to my back yard), where my two smallest miniature horse geldings were. It started pacing back & forth in front of them and I SCREAMED and hit the door.

Here is our ursine visitor after he treed himself and scared the fire out of me when I looked up and saw him above my head. I thought he had run away!! He stayed until the bear relocator got there and my dogs left the base of the tree, then he took off back into our woods... The "bear guy" said it was probably a young black bear (about 18 mo.) that had recently been kicked to the curb by it's mother.

Edited to add-this tree is NEXT to my chicken barn, literally the branches reach out over the barn

 

[D'Angelo N Va.]

I am glad you said that about the egg color changing, because I had read from some book, that ppl. always and only want the darkest eggs, sometimes the hen that lays the most will have lighter eggs, and the one that does not lay as often wll lay the darker egg.....is this true? Also, what is this maran chart that everyone keeps talking about? where can I find one.

Josh, what is this diet also??

A bear that close would have freaked me out so bad, I can only imagine.

 

[Rocky Meadows]

Hello I run a small preservation center and would love to add these. If anyone has eggs please pm me.

 

[josh44]

Quote:
I'm curious too

Josh, I'm so sorry about your predator losses

I'd love to let mine free range, but we've had coyotes and bear in the YARD, so my mixed breed egg layers can go out, but not these kids and my human kids don't go out without us nearby too! I've lost guineas and turkeys to coyotes 30 feet from the barn in broad daylight. We have a new livestock guardian dog who is now recovered from being spayed and went out loose on patrol the first time today. Hopefully we've seen the last of preventable losses! The new dog "Sally" is a 4 year old Great Pyrenees who is experienced with sheep & free range birds.

Sally sounds cool.

How do you keep the bears from helping themselves no matter what you do?

SORRY GUYS IT'S A SECRET,

I WOULD HAVE TO SAY MONITOR/STUDY YOUR FOWL, AND SEE
WHAT HELPS YOU OUT LIKE I DID.
THERE ARE PLENTY OF EXCELLENT DIETS OUT THERE.

 

[josh44]

Quote:
Sally sounds cool.

How do you keep the bears from helping themselves no matter what you do?

Sally's doing GREAT so far

Sally's perimeter patrols should keep most critters at bay.

So far, there have been innumerable coyotes, but only ONE bear. I hope it's the last one I see up close and personal in my backyard. It freaked me out INABIGWAY

I watched as it jumped a 4' fence into a paddock (attached to my back yard), where my two smallest miniature horse geldings were. It started pacing back & forth in front of them and I SCREAMED and hit the door.

Here is our ursine visitor after he treed himself and scared the fire out of me when I looked up and saw him above my head. I thought he had run away!! He stayed until the bear relocator got there and my dogs left the base of the tree, then he took off back into our woods... The "bear guy" said it was probably a young black bear (about 18 mo.) that had recently been kicked to the curb by it's mother.

Edited to add-this tree is NEXT to my chicken barn, literally the branches reach out over the barn

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v608/flyingafarm/Bear/2008_0724bear0164.jpg

WOW I sure am glad we don't have bears in our parts of TX.
The Hawks and Wild Dogs did me inn.

I don't even let my fowl out with out any supervision,
after my losses . I don't know what I'd do if we had bears.

 

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

A secret, huh? That' funny. Are you serious?

Here's what we use on the farm:

8 quarts brown rice
8 quarts barley
2 cups fish meal
1 cup kelp
1 cup brewer's yeast

That's in addition to several handfuls of black oil sunflower seeds, grass and bugs on the pasture and whatever veggies we throw to 'em.

Here's another thread that my interest Penedesenca owners: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=278349&p=1
(there are some feed tips in there somewhere which pertain to the dark-laying breeds)

Don't nobody tell my secrets.

 

[rarebreedeggs4u]

Quote:
Ouch, my brain hurts, but in a good way

Thanks, that was awesome info. My Welsummers just laid their first two, GORGEOUS eggs, I wonder what'll happen if I switch them over and the BCM's who are at POL....hhhmmmm

 

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

My Penedesenca trio has been on this feed from like Day 3, so I'm really anxious to see their eggs in about 5 more months. I've saved the eggs from which they hatched for comparison.

My BCMs are hatching right now and I'll save those eggs as well.