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

[al6517]

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No there is no need to go that far, you evaluate color, texture, and cosistancy that's all that's required.

 

[Melabella]

Yeeeeup. Well known in thoroughbreds, prized beef, dairy, etc.

It's astounding how breeding animals for selection through AI has brought so many andvancements. Common in horses now is of course multiple eggs from mares through the use of fertility drugs so a mare can have multiple foals in one year through the use of surrogate mares. It's not just the stallions any more. A champion female horse can even stay in competition and not stopped to have a foal as in years past.

Just a bit of info though pertaining to Thoroughbreds, the breed of particular horse, not a term meaning "thoroughbred" as in when someone refers to a pureblooded animal of any particular breed of any animal. The breed of horse Thoroughbred is one of the last hold outs that do not allow AI. Any horse that is a registered paper Thoroughbred must be concieved through natural covering, and AI is strictly forbidden. Most big Thoroughbred farms film matings between mare and stallion and also now through DNA testing, no more mix ups and the chance of accidental breedings would hopefully be non existant. This rule was created years ago by the Jockey Club to perserve the diversity of the stud book, and also the old wealthy men who were the pioneers of The Jockey Club were never the types to like change of any kind, and prefered breeding to stay as it has been done for years prior. If AI were allowed, it would lower the high prices of popular stallions, (not desirable for stallion owners!), more people would want to breed to the most popular stallions resulting in the narrowing in the gene pool. The breeding industry as we know it would drastically change, and big farm owners and breeders don't want anything to jeapordize that.

It's a controversial topic with many ramifications. There would be many helpful aspects to AI use in breeding the Thoroughbred, but would bring along many changes. I know the horse transport companies would go bonkers! No more need to ship mares all over the country to have their yearly dates with their chosen mates!

MB

 

[galanie]

Actually with the whole "which egg did who lay" thing, I was going to use trap nesting rather than a plethora of pens. I already have a few and have done it on my existing raggedy flock, and it has proved a great tool to know which lays what and how often. But I'm only just beginning to get into any sort of serious breeding and what I know at this point wouldn't fill a page. And I don't have but one cockerel at the moment. Baby steps.

 

[al6517]

So how do you still know who layed what even with the fancy nest box, how do you know what hen goes in there to lay and when ??. What is a trap nesting box ?? does it trap the hen in there till you let it out ?? is that how it works ??.

 

[Pullet Surprise]

They are actual very easy to clean reaching in is also not a prolem, the barrels have drian holes in the for total cleaning. Mostly I just put the bird into another barrel then scoop out the old sand and put in new stuff. the old sand gets put into a pile and cleaned, then it gets replaced as needed. The birds stay really clean in these, and I have alot of white birds.

Al - not that I am ever going to get to a point where I would need them, I am just curious...(I can see uses for them) but, what are the barrels made of? They look to be a thicker/heavier version of the plastic in my 'life lock' buckets. Where does one find such things? Were they complete or did you add the doors?

 

[galanie]

So how do you still know who layed what even with the fancy nest box, how do you know what hen goes in there to lay and when ??. What is a trap nesting box ?? does it trap the hen in there till you let it out ?? is that how it works ??.

Yes. The door lets the hen in and then closes on her. You have to be around to check them and let them out. It's an old thing, there's a trap nesting thread floating around started by MANOZ last year that got me into it and I built a couple. Mine have thin plywood doors with sections cut in the middle for the hens head to stick out. And are slatted on the sides for ventilation. Many use a solid box but that looks way too hot to me. And many claim to use the types of doors sold for trapping pigeons but they're simple to make with 1/8 ply, which I had laying around anyway.

 

[al6517]

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I don't know what Life lock buckets are, but these barrels are 55 gal super heavy duty plastic mainly used to transport a variety of things such as, Course industrial dry chemicals, food bulk ingredients such as syrups, and raw flavorings, solvents, just about anything factories use bulk materials for. They about an 1/8 thick and I cut out the openings myself, installed the doors and hasp's that I had laying around because I thought one day I'd use them LOL. I just washed them out real well and the few I couldn't use for birds I cut and use for trash cans around the ranch and in all my different barns and outbuildings. I stumbled on them from a friend who had them out back of his warehouse so I bought them.

 

[al6517]

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Oh I see that was kinda sorta what I thought, that thing I don't think would work for me, but I can see how folks who have a bunch of time and are around their birds 24/7 could use them.

 

[Pullet Surprise]

I don't know what Life lock buckets are, but these barrels are 55 gal super heavy duty plastic mainly used to transport a variety of things such as, Course industrial dry chemicals, food bulk ingredients such as syrups, and raw flavorings, solvents, just about anything factories use bulk materials for. They about an 1/8 thick and I cut out the openings myself, installed the doors and hasp's that I had laying around because I thought one day I'd use them LOL. I just washed them out real well and the few I couldn't use for birds I cut and use for trash cans around the ranch and in all my different barns and outbuildings. I stumbled on them from a friend who had them out back of his warehouse so I bought them.

Ah hah, gotcha' very useful. Thanx

 

[Sally8]

Hi, how do you all keep records? Maybe there is a thread somewhere where you all have already talked about this and you could point me there. I googled it a while ago but it seemed messy. Do you have something on each chicken or lump the current ones on 1 paper. Since birds are culled more frequent, how is it done? (Computer, maybe?). Am I over looking the obvious? Thanks. Sue