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

[delisha]

Oh yes, and another question I have about FF. Where do you store it/brew it when it's cold out??? Being in Wisconsin and knowing how too cold it gets here, would out in the barn work? I have yet to start this, but printed out all the info and am planning on getting this going. I've informed the husband I might have to have our brew in the house until the weather permits (that went over well, but checking here first to see if it would ferment and do it's job just out in the barn. My gut reaction thinks this is not possible as it needs a warm temp to get the ferment going. Thoughts?

I live in WI too and mine is in the kitchen. It no longer ferments outdoors.

 

[Fred's Hens]

OK, here's one last picture of the young cockerel.




He's young, and has time to "finish", as he's only 8 months old. He's got some faults. He holds his tail too high, but that may settle to the proper 20 degrees as he matures. He's got some filling out to do, but he is one big, big guy already. He's a bit tall, but we'll see as he matures. He's a son of a gun to photograph as he's always on alert which accentuates his short back, high tail, etc. He's actually better in real life. That, and I don't have a camera worth $10 and am a lousy photographer.

 

[fowlman01]

Really looking forward to this discussion continuing, I understand breeding to SOP but have also been curious about general conformation and breeding decisions when your desire is "just" a backyard dual purpose mutt flock. Ie when things like color, tail angle, etc are purely personal preference or just not important. And maybe a lot of this is covered in the first part of the SOP... my two Christmas list items are an SOP and an incubator, if they aren't under the tree I'll be shopping post Christmas. But I plan to practice incubating with my current hatchery birds while finalizing decisions wrt a heritage breed (I've had a few broody hatches based on pure flock mating, wanting to try a planned, technological approach now).

So, below is what I believe I've learned wrt general conformation, please expand on/correct these thoughts!!

1) the wider tent = a wider pelvis and easier laying
2) a wide back and slow reduction from shoulder to tail = better abdominal width and more room for internal organs
3) a nicely curved breast = a longer keel bone and more room for breast meat
4) a flat lower breast = a shorter keel bone and less room for breast meat?
5) a flat breast = shallow keel bone and less room for breast meat?
6) a longer/shorter back - is this just breed/personal preference or is there an anatomical benefit?

After Bee had her little online show or critique it was obvious to me that Bee has an eye that could work in the show world. If those two birds are representative of the results of her culling she would be a real nuisance in the show ring. I see birds in a lot of places when I judge and while those two had faults, they also had many of the things the SOP calls for. I don't usually see that in backyard flocks. I gave my input as a judge and while they were not show birds, they could be with very little tweeking. It would take forever to make most hatchery birds into a show bird, but Bee's are almost there...wherever there is (I am not judging them as a breed, just in general according to the APA SOP). You just never see X Bred birds with full lower chests, good heads, width of back and most surprising....good width of feather.

Get her advice.

With #4 and #5 .............. you need plenty of room there for the organs as well....it's not all about meat. Add: wide head and good distance between the legs...this is another indicator of organ capacity. I see some birds that are either knock kneed or the legs almost touching. Al could probably take his sensitive man fist and run it between the legs of his Cornish without touching them. Cornish are kind of over the top in that regard. If bred right a good Cornish has room for lots of meat and organs and their legs are far apart.

Walt

 

[fowlman01]

OK, here's one last picture of the young cockerel.




He's young, and has time to "finish", as he's only 8 months old. He's got some faults. He holds his tail too high, but that may settle to the proper 20 degrees as he matures. He's got some filling out to do, but he is one big, big guy already. He's a bit tall, but we'll see as he matures. He's a son of a gun to photograph as he's always on alert which accentuates his short back, high tail, etc. He's actually better in real life. That, and I don't have a camera worth $10 and am a lousy photographer.

He looks good Fred, he is doing well for 8 mo's. If you can get the tail down the back will look longer.

Walt

 

[mmmchicken]

Black Aussies...tend to be docile and sweet without being a slave to the feeder. I've had very few that weren't excellent, quirky and just nice birds~and lay like a fool well up into the senior years, healthy and feed thrifty.

Mine is in my bedroom.

Coolest room in my house(shut up, Al!

) but not too cold to keep things brewing...bout 60* in there. No, it's not messy nor does it smell. When you are just starting it out, it will ferment quicker if kept in a room temp place but it can still cook well thereafter in temps down to 45*....I've found it doesn't do as well below that.

Skip on over to the FF thread to the folks there...they are coming up with outside options of all kinds if you don't want to keep it indoors.

Thanks Bee! I do believe when I get my next order (and hopefully last order as I plan to let them carry on the line) it will be the Black Aussies. That will be a while down the road, but I think those would really be the way to go next time.

And yep... thought I had read that somewhere about you keeping it in the bedroom!

Must have been that thread. I did poke around that thread for a time too getting all my info. Looks like I may have to lurk over there & get some more ideas! Thanks so much for all for the tips!

 

[Beekissed]

Thanks Bee! I do believe when I get my next order (and hopefully last order as I plan to let them carry on the line) it will be the Black Aussies. That will be a while down the road, but I think those would really be the way to go next time.

And yep... thought I had read that somewhere about you keeping it in the bedroom!

Must have been that thread. I did poke around that thread for a time too getting all my info. Looks like I may have to lurk over there & get some more ideas! Thanks so much for all for the tips!

MMM, you might really enjoy the info exchange at the Road thread and they discuss FF options a good bit. There is also now a blog site associated with the thread that has a section on the FF and will grow about what feeders to us and methodology. You can find the link to that blog in my siggy.

 

[Fred's Hens]

.

Nikki, I'm gonna re-post that famous Madison Square Garden poster again. Remember when I said I have a Rock matrix in my mind's eye? (can I BE anymore esoteric?) (geeesh) Man, I wish I could describe in words, what a "mind's eye is". But anyhow, here's that poster again.










Now, here's a couple of photos of one of our pullets I like. Sorry, again, for the crappy photography, but I hope you can see her OK. Can you see how the birds pictured above influence why I think my own pullet is "right"? If you can, then you may have a glimpse into understanding my "mind's eye".

 

[mmmchicken]

I live in WI too and mine is in the kitchen. It no longer ferments outdoors.

Okay, so here's some dumb questions. What are you using to transport the feed to the chickens? Just plopping the mix into a bucket and carrying it out? (picturing something akin to slop in my head right now And do you feed it to them daily? Right now I am just using dry layer feed in a 3gal plus galvanized feeder, but am thinking I have to switch to something like Bee has with a fixed up gutter because this feeder will make no sense with wet feed. I think it will dry up and get stuck. Looks like this (older pic): It's not hanging, but could be and in that case it would have maybe a 1/2 inch opening at the bottom for the food to get through. Don't think it would work. ???


Husband will be thrilled to know I just may start makin' up my brew in the kitchen! hahahha He's a city boy... then again, so am I! A city GIRL that is!

But a country girl at heart... and now living out in the country. Living a great life!

 

[mmmchicken]

MMM, you might really enjoy the info exchange at the Road thread and they discuss FF options a good bit. There is also now a blog site associated with the thread that has a section on the FF and will grow about what feeders to us and methodology. You can find the link to that blog in my siggy.

Just added that to my favorites to check it out. Thanks bunches!

 

[Beekissed]

Okay, so here's some dumb questions. What are you using to transport the feed to the chickens? Just plopping the mix into a bucket and carrying it out? (picturing something akin to slop in my head right now And do you feed it to them daily? Right now I am just using dry layer feed in a 3gal plus galvanized feeder, but am thinking I have to switch to something like Bee has with a fixed up gutter because this feeder will make no sense with wet feed. I think it will dry up and get stuck. Looks like this (older pic): It's not hanging, but could be and in that case it would have maybe a 1/2 inch opening at the bottom for the food to get through. Don't think it would work. ???


Husband will be thrilled to know I just may start makin' up my brew in the kitchen! hahahha He's a city boy... then again, so am I! A city GIRL that is!

But a country girl at heart... and now living out in the country. Living a great life!

Nope...can't put the FF in any metal containers unless they have a baked/sprayed on enamel coating inside like the rain gutters. The acid will corrode the metal and cause leaching of the metals into the mix...bad hoodoo there.

The feed is a little thicker...sort of like mortar. I transport mine in an ice cream pail and I transport my dry feed back in the same container, dump it in the bucket, take the same container to the sink and get some water to dump in to the bucket. Takes all of 5 min. total to feed and replenish the bucket. You can see that the equipment needs for this are minimal.

I feed once daily in the AM for winter months, once in the evening for warmer months..per usual as I always have done with the standard dry feeds. I put out enough for a good tucker and snacking but it should be mostly gone by roosting time. If not, I put out a little less the next day until I get a feeder with just remnants or nothing at all in it.

You will need a trough style feeder and they are easy to make out of practically nothing..just old stuff you have lying around or find at the hardware that you can repurpose.