Chickens for 10-20 years or more? Pull up a rockin' chair and lay some wisdom on us!

[thedragonlady]

I've recently heard that ACV can cause a higher pullet/cockerel ratio in hatches. Does anyone have any experience with this? I think it would be awesome if you could actually hatch more pullets than cockerels by doing something as simple as adding ACV to the parent's water. This year, without ACV, I had a 4 boy/3 girl hatch rate (which I didn't like too much

). This spring, I am going to see what affects the ACV will have on the hatches. If I could wind up with about a 7 girl/2 boy ratio, that would be fantastic. That might be asking for too much, though.

It might be possible according to what I've read, but you'd have to start ACV way before the breeding season.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Not sure what all of you OT's do about chicken waterers....I'm not an OT but every single contraption I've seen at the local feed stores looks like either a plastic piece of crap or a galvanized piece of crap. All for lobster dinner prices. I'm thinking about using some auto-waterers from Murray McMurray on a gravity feed from a 5 gallon paint bucket but was hoping to get some advice before spending my dinner money on the set-up. Right now I just have 4 week old chicks so I am using the plastic bottle flipped upside down thingy and change the water in the morning and at night when I get home from work. I'll be building their coop and run next month so I'll need to get a watering system going at that point. Only six chickens, two nesting boxes in a 3x4x4 elevated hen house with a 20 sq. ft. chicken run attached. I was planning on attaching one auto-watering dish to the frame of the run.

I'll show what I do. You should be able to get a free bucket at a bakery or deli. Try to get one about 2 gallons and make sure you get a lid with it. The hard part for me was to find something to use as a base. I would up with this planter bowl.

Near the very top of the bucket, cut two or three small holes. Fill the bucket with water and put the lid on. Turn it over and set it into the bowl. Water will flow out the holes until the water level in the bowl is higher than the holes. Then air pressure will hold the rest of the water in until the water level sinks below the holes. This is for summer. I hang something over it to keep them from perching on it and knocking it over.

In the winter when it freezes, this won't work. Instead of this waterer I get a big rubber bowl. I had to buy that at Tractor Supply. Put this black rubber bowl where the sun hits it. The water will stay thawed into the low 20's as long as it is a sunny day. If its a cloudy day, well, it can freeze. I'm around home so that is not a big deal to me. In the morning when the water in the dish is frozen solid, throw it on the ground and stomp on it. The ice comes out and the rubber bowl does not break.

They can turn that rubber bowl over when the water gets low by perching on it. You can hang something over it to keep them from perching on it or you can build something like this.

I take a piece of plywood and cut a hole in it so the bowl fits in. Then I put pieces of 2x to raise that piece of plywood a little. You can firmly attach this to your coop or a fence post so they can't turn it over. This is the one from my grow-out coop but you might get the idea.

 

[stonykill]

I've recently heard that ACV can cause a higher pullet/cockerel ratio in hatches. Does anyone have any experience with this? I think it would be awesome if you could actually hatch more pullets than cockerels by doing something as simple as adding ACV to the parent's water. This year, without ACV, I had a 4 boy/3 girl hatch rate (which I didn't like too much

). This spring, I am going to see what affects the ACV will have on the hatches. If I could wind up with about a 7 girl/2 boy ratio, that would be fantastic. That might be asking for too much, though.

it has always been my understanding, and I could be wrong, but the hen dictates the sex of the to be hatched egg. so if I have a regular broody who in the past has hatched mainly roosters I give her someone else's eggs. Not science, just experience hatching.

 

[Erin~TheChickenLover]

It might be possible according to what I've read, but you'd have to start ACV way before the breeding season.

Okay, I can do that. I've got the pullets I will be using in breeding season on ACV right now do to the heat. I'll leave them on ACV until breeding season is over just to be sure. It can't hurt to try.

 

[Erin~TheChickenLover]

it has always been my understanding, and I could be wrong, but the hen dictates the sex of the to be hatched egg. so if I have a regular broody who in the past has hatched mainly roosters I give her someone else's eggs. Not science, just experience hatching.

Good idea!

I've heard that hens determine the sex as well. It seemed really strange to me at first since it's the opposite in humans.

 

[stonykill]

Good idea!

I've heard that hens determine the sex as well. It seemed really strange to me at first since it's the opposite in humans.

doesn't seem strange to me as humans aren't birds

. I don't know if I've just been lucky or if there is something to it, but it seems to help. My BEST broody if she hides her eggs hatches a lot of roosters. So when I know where her nest is I switch the eggs up. Luck or not, the hen rooster ratio from her has been better so far this year. Her newest 15 are too young to sex yet. So the results aren't in yet on that hatch.

 

[Erin~TheChickenLover]

doesn't seem strange to me as humans aren't birds

. I don't know if I've just been lucky or if there is something to it, but it seems to help. My BEST broody if she hides her eggs hatches a lot of roosters. So when I know where her nest is I switch the eggs up. Luck or not, the hen rooster ratio from her has been better so far this year. Her newest 15 are too young to sex yet. So the results aren't in yet on that hatch.

I kind of hope that there is something to it. I wonder if you could breed your birds to produce more pullets than roosters? I think I will try it if I ever get the chance. In theory, if the hen dictates sex of the hatchlings, you should be able to keep track of which hens have a high rooster ratio and which ones have a low rooster ratio. Then, you could breed only the ones with a high pullet ratio. After years of doing that, you should have hens that produce a high pullet ratio. In theory at least.

 

[stonykill]

I kind of hope that there is something to it. I wonder if you could breed your birds to produce more pullets than roosters? I think I will try it if I ever get the chance. In theory, if the hen dictates sex of the hatchlings, you should be able to keep track of which hens have a high rooster ratio and which ones have a low rooster ratio. Then, you could breed only the ones with a high pullet ratio. After years of doing that, you should have hens that produce a high pullet ratio. In theory at least.

great theory, yes, lets see what Bee, Walt, Al and Fred have to say.

 

[Beekissed]

Not sure what all of you OT's

do about chicken waterers....I'm not an OT but every single contraption I've seen at the local feed stores looks like either a plastic piece of crap or a galvanized piece of crap. All for lobster dinner prices. I'm thinking about using some auto-waterers from Murray McMurray on a gravity feed from a 5 gallon paint bucket but was hoping to get some advice before spending my dinner money on the set-up. Right now I just have 4 week old chicks so I am using the plastic bottle flipped upside down thingy and change the water in the morning and at night when I get home from work. I'll be building their coop and run next month so I'll need to get a watering system going at that point. Only six chickens, two nesting boxes in a 3x4x4 elevated hen house with a 20 sq. ft. chicken run attached. I was planning on attaching one auto-watering dish to the frame of the run.

I've tried various containers and had settled on the black rubber feed pans due to their convenience of filling, cleaning and removal of ice. BUT...I've recently found poultry nipples and a light shone from Heaven, angels sang and trumpets sent up a Hallelujah chorus!!! Where had they been all my chickening life? No more dirty water, no more slopped mess, larger containers can be used because the water stays cleaner for longer periods, so less having to refill daily....YAY!

Nipples cost so little and are so incredibly easy to install into a bucket that they are the cheapest and best way to go. In the winter I can revert to the black rubber pan for freezing weather but that doesn't last long here...maybe 3-4 mos. The rest of the year I can celebrate the ease of the poultry nipple waterer! Easy to hang almost anywhere you have a place that is higher than the bucket to suspend it...I've used trees, push in plastic stakes, the roof of the coop, a roost pole, etc.

 

[Beekissed]

I kind of hope that there is something to it. I wonder if you could breed your birds to produce more pullets than roosters? I think I will try it if I ever get the chance. In theory, if the hen dictates sex of the hatchlings, you should be able to keep track of which hens have a high rooster ratio and which ones have a low rooster ratio. Then, you could breed only the ones with a high pullet ratio. After years of doing that, you should have hens that produce a high pullet ratio. In theory at least.

It has worked for me with chickens, meat rabbits and sheep....YMMV.