Can fighting get too serious in chicks?

[debp]

Not at all too long an answer for me! Thank you for sharing all this experience and philosophy on breeding. I like your philosophy. I will remain open to other ways of doing this and other experiences (including my own, as you point out), but your goals with your flock do fit with mine very well. I have been using the Sustainable Small-scale Poultry flock as a guide, and Urssery's approach is similar to yours in many ways. Are there any other books you would recommend - especially on breeding? If not, you might want to write one - or have you? I know I can't learn it all from books, but having some basic knowledge to start can't hurt.

 

[chooks4life]

Not at all too long an answer for me! Thank you for sharing all this experience and philosophy on breeding. I like your philosophy. I will remain open to other ways of doing this and other experiences (including my own, as you point out), but your goals with your flock do fit with mine very well. I have been using the Sustainable Small-scale Poultry flock as a guide, and Urssery's approach is similar to yours in many ways. Are there any other books you would recommend - especially on breeding? If not, you might want to write one - or have you? I know I can't learn it all from books, but having some basic knowledge to start can't hurt.

You're welcome.

I haven't heard of that author or book but it does sound like I should check it out. No, I haven't written a book, but you're not the first to suggest maybe I should. I'd need to learn a lot more first, though, lol! I'm very much a student myself.

Breeding I am still experimenting with and learning about. I don't have a book on poultry genetics, I've been finding the info for that online, but epigenetics is a very interesting field I think it would pay to observe closely in future as it appears to explain so much of what I observe that is not explained by conventional inheritance rules. So much of what is passed on isn't able to be measured by the conventional methods either, it's a developing area.

For some random and sometimes lifesaving information I'd recommend Juliette de Bairacli Levy's books, especially The Herbal Handbook for Farm and Stable. She did tend to digress into pagan religions and info which has nothing much to do with the topic, but overall the book is about what the title implies, treating animals naturally. From her book I learned to use raw garlic to prevent coccidiosis and I've never had a single problem with it. People don't usually believe that, somehow it seems preposterous. They're mostly not willing to try it either, even though their current anti-cocci treatment methods have failure rates which are sometimes quite high, but I understand that because I too was skeptical. But you've got to experiment to find out.

She traveled far and wide to learn from other ancient cultures, and some of the things she found out are rare bits of knowledge. Like Gypsies feeding a certain flower seed to stunt horses; luckily Levy took care to provide the official latin names so we know it's not one of the many other plants that share the same common name, poisonous and beneficial alike. I've found similar info elsewhere, like diets or additives you can use to prevent genetic expression of certain traits, or promote genetic expression, but Levy's work is quite helpful on a few bases.

No matter your breeding program or aims it will all be dependent on their health, and their parasite and disease resistance, so if you are interested in natural therapies or organic keeping, or anything like that, this book will be handy.

Best wishes.