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

[normanack]

Could someone post or link to a picture of what a good Dark Cornish should look like? I'd really like to know. Oh, and why the bird in the picture is good. I can read the SOP but am too new to figure out how that translates to an actual chicken.

Many thanks!

 

[Parrmom]

First of all , Blessings and Prayers for all who need them. I had to play catch up to make sure any questions I had were not asked or answered.

1. What is a good age to butcher DP roosters? I have extra from a county 4H hatch and do not want to just feed them for the heck of it. they were hatched on about the 23 of March, so they are 4 months roughly.

2. I have heard and read of people leaving hatching eggs on the counter for a week or so before putting them in the incubator. Is this true? Does it affect the hatch rate? and the most important ,
do you do it?

3. What do you think of the whole NPIP? I have thought about it but here in Indiana, it is 80 dollars a year and you have to have a min. of 30 to get tested.


I will start with these few for right now.

 

[fowlman01]

Thanks, Walt...I needed a chuckle this morning!

I hope you subscribed.........that person is here in Norcal somewhere......must be another midwest transplant.

mississipifarmboy turned me on to that thread. Now I have to wonder what he was doing there.......lol

w.

 

[Beekissed]

No..didn't subscribe. Actually, this is the only thread to which I subscribe on this forum now. I post a few lines to one on fermentation of feed and the deep litter thread but mostly I just read and participate here. I like the company and knowledge base here.

 

[Erin~TheChickenLover]

First of all , Blessings and Prayers for all who need them. I had to play catch up to make sure any questions I had were not asked or answered.

1. What is a good age to butcher DP roosters? I have extra from a county 4H hatch and do not want to just feed them for the heck of it. they were hatched on about the 23 of March, so they are 4 months roughly.

2. I have heard and read of people leaving hatching eggs on the counter for a week or so before putting them in the incubator. Is this true? Does it affect the hatch rate? and the most important ,
do you do it?

3. What do you think of the whole NPIP? I have thought about it but here in Indiana, it is 80 dollars a year and you have to have a min. of 30 to get tested.


I will start with these few for right now.

I can answer #2. I do leave hatching eggs on my counter for a week, I've actually left them there for up to 2 1/2 weeks. I've had a pretty good hatch rate. From my last hatch (which didn't go smoothly do to an unwell broody), I had a 70% hatch rate. One of my buddies hatched some of my eggs in an incubator and had a 100% hatch rate. I'm sure that was a fluke, but I'm not complaining. So, for me, leaving the eggs on the counter for a couple weeks doesn't seem to do any harm. I do not turn the eggs on the counter, either.

 

[mississippifarmboy]

Quote: Walt, MFB has been sorta under the weather lately. When he's sick and can't work like he wants to work and is used to working, he gets very bored. VERY bored. When he gets bored he reads threads on BYC. Lots of threads.


I learn a lot of important, need to know stuff when I'm stuck in the house. That's how I learned about chicken diapers, bras, saddles, and how to feed them special sprouted treats with 123 ingredients so they don't die in the winter. The importance of petting your rooster and naming all your chicks so they feel loved.

I also learned some silly useless stuff like the difference in hatchery and breeder stock, line breeding, culling for faults, the history of a lot of Heritage breeds, what to look for in future breeders, the importance of buying a Standard of Perfection and studying it daily if you are wanting to show, and from Bee and the other old timers here that I'm not the only person who thinks chickens are.... well... chickens. And that we all raise our chickens our own way, and that's ok.

I know what is said about BYC by a lot of the serious breeders, but I gotta admit, I love it here. If I can't learn something new when I log on I can at least get a chuckle.

 

[Beekissed]

 

[NotAFarm]

I know what is said about BYC by a lot of the serious breeders, but I gotta admit, I love it here. If I can't learn something new when I log on I can at least get a chuckle.

Four years ago when I was on a breed club site, I read a post that was making fun of BYC. It is because of that site that I found BYC.......and until Bob, Walt, and others started posting helpful things on different threads here, I never wanted anything to do with SOP breeders or birds. Now I try to overlook the Special Olympic comments (since I have a son who competed in a Special Olympic softball tournament last week but will not be going to the state tournament due to funding constraints these type of comments are not funny to me) and glean what I can from the rest.

 

[MOChickenShoes]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/696404/into-a-new-world

 

[Seslar]

Al, you mentioned other forums with "real" chicken people on them. Which forums are those? I'm not planning to stop lurking on this thread, but I would appreciate checking out some other sites with reliable info too. Would you please share?
Shelley

P.s. Sorry, I can't quote previous post on the iPad. Why? Sigh, just one more thing the iPad won't do.