Chantecler Thread!

[Arielle]

Quote:

I have speckled sussex and they give me a headache. lol ANything is easier than those birds. BUt I love the personality.

Generally speaking I have been seeking a dual purpose meat bird. As a hen produces so many eggs I am eager for more feed going into meat. ANd combineing meat and egg production with foraging. THis is more complex than origianlly realized . . . and at this point I am thinking that lower egg production might be better for a foraging situation. IMO calcium seems to be the limiting nutrient along with protein.

How do you feeed?

I feed the equivalent of a high protein (20%) layer pellet and they have about 1 1/2 acres of free range. The feed is locally milled, they sell it as a turkey/meat bird pellet but when I talked specifics with them, they admitted it's basically the same vitamin/mineral/calcium content just a little higher protein. Seems to work well for the birds. Typically they don't range too far during the day but today when I went out to call them in they were well scattered, probably hunting out all the new growth popping up. It's a mix of native and whatever will grow, each winter I just toss out some mixed pasture/clover/etc seed. I try to do it when the ground is frozen/cracked and right before we're expecting snow so it has a chance to get into the ground and not just eaten, but nothing too scientific or labor intensive here!

I do think you are right that labor intensive is not necessary. TIlling and tearing up the ground can cause problems, especially in large areas that get rained on. THe soil washes away.

DH cut down the trees yesterday that he girdled a year ago-- the girdling method did NOT work. ( He had run the chainsaw around the trunk-- twice, making two cuts. THey didn't die like they were supposted to. THey all have nice fat buds on them now.) The plan is to open up the woods and let more light in, eliminate the leave layer and then broadcast seed. Will be a challenge though with the chickens, for sure.

Quote: I think you have missunderstood my meaning. . . or I just wasn't clear enough.

Use a chicken that naturally produces fewer eggs a week than the typical everyday layers. Seems to me the calcium and protein demand should be less for a hen that lays every other day.

 

[Arielle]

Question-- how would you rate your chanties as year round layers?? Read carefully these are tricky --

5- never quits, lays right thru molting , all fall and all winter,
4-- lays aall year and takes off time to molt
3-- lays all fall, winter and spring
2- lays late winter spring summer and fall
1--lays late winter and summer
0-- doesn't lay

I'm really trying to understand laying in the "winter layers" and how this translates to eggs thru the whole year.

 

[RhodeRunner]

Question-- how would you rate your chanties as year round layers?? Read carefully these are tricky --

5- never quits, lays right thru molting , all fall and all winter,
4-- lays aall year and takes off time to molt
3-- lays all fall, winter and spring
2- lays late winter spring summer and fall
1--lays late winter and summer
0-- doesn't lay

I'm really trying to understand laying in the "winter layers" and how this translates to eggs thru the whole year.

Never had a bird that laid through a molt.

Honestly, my Chantecler's do not match any of your 0 - 5's. Everyone's results will vary depending on age, individual bird, strain, feeding, housing, temperatures, and light.

I raise Partridges and here is what I have found with my flock.
My pullets start laying eggs around five to six months. They are not a breed in which season matters. (Some breeds wait till spring or fall to begin laying)

The hens continue laying three - four eggs a week until their first molt. They will stop laying if they brood, and sometimes they stop laying for a couple of the hottest weeks of the summer. After, their molt they will take a few months off, and then start laying again.

Older hens lay about three eggs a week, and often take longer vacations during high heat or extreme cold (less daylight) times. My older hens also go broody more often.

 

[Arielle]

Thank you for the details!!! YOu havr painted a clear pic of your line-- is this a typical laying senerio--do others have a similar experience?

 

[chickadoodles]

Has anyone heard of Greg Oaks selling some of his breeding stock to Cackle Hatchery recently?

 

[Arielle]

Has anyone heard of Greg Oaks selling some of his breeding stock to Cackle Hatchery recently?

I remember reading it on his web site.

 

[Beour3rd]

I can't tell where you live but summer heat is not necessarily the best thing for chicks. They do better in slightly cooler weather rather than HOT. Good luck with them though.

end of may here is planting time.
anything before means the plants get too cold and don't grow.

i simply applied that to chicks too ;] am i wrong?

 

[insanity]

For the last week my Buff Chantecler has been trying to go broody. Today she won. I couldn't get to the eggs so I moved her( box and all) over to the duck house.It's much quieter there. She is the first broody hen I've had to deal with. Is it common behavior for this breed or has it been bred out for the most part, like leghorns?

 

[RhodeRunner]

For the last week my Buff Chantecler has been trying to go broody. Today she won. I couldn't get to the eggs so I moved her( box and all) over to the duck house.It's much quieter there. She is the first broody hen I've had to deal with. Is it common behavior for this breed or has it been bred out for the most part, like leghorns?

Everything varies within each strain, but the breed in general is supposed to go broody. A rather large portion of my Partridge Chanteclers go broody, usually during late to mid summer. I'm not sure what the weather is like where you live, but I don't let my hens go broody at this time of year as it is to cold.

 

[insanity]

Everything varies within each strain, but the breed in general is supposed to go broody.  A rather large portion of my Partridge Chanteclers go broody, usually during late to mid summer.   I'm not sure what the weather is like where you live, but I don't let my hens go broody at this time of year as it is to cold. 

How do you stop them?