Cream Legbars

[minnehaha]

so sorry your daughter had to endure that -- I share your sentiments about the damage they do -- I have lost way too many chickens to them. It will never be a case of relocating them anywhere except the afterlife as far as I am concerned.

Thank you, and I agree, I guess I was trying to be delicate, but the afterlife is the only acceptable answer as far as I am concerned....nasty buggers!

 

[Scatterknit]

so sorry your daughter had to endure that -- I share your sentiments about the damage they do -- I have lost way too many chickens to them. It will never be a case of relocating them anywhere except the afterlife as far as I am concerned.

Absolutely! Raccoons have a bounty on their heads around here. If horses come in contact with their droppings they can get EPM - an encephalitis - that causes terrible neurological problems.

 

[jerryse]

Absolutely! Raccoons have a bounty on their heads around here. If horses come in contact with their droppings they can get EPM - an encephalitis - that causes terrible neurological problems.

Dogs get it also . Coon dog paralysis they call it . I am sure it is the same thing .

 

[dretd]

Quote:
Just a quickie note for clarification:
EPM= Equine Protozoal Myeloencepahlitis, a disease cause by a protozoa picked up by ingesting droppings from wild animals--Opossums I think are the primary reservoir and can be treated by very long courses of anti-protozal drugs along with supportive care, but is really hard to diagnose because can cause various neurological problems depending on the part of the nervous system it attacks--but very frequently will attack the spinal cord and nerve roots.

Coonhound Paralysis= Polyradiculoneuritis, appears to be an autoimmune disease that appears in the dog several weeks after being bitten by a racoon (or other triggering unknown) immune event. It is basically an inflammation of the nerve roots and is frequently an ascending paralysis because the signs will start at the back end and work its way forward. The treatment is generally supportive care.

So the two diseases can look similar but have different etiologies and treatments. I am so lucky because I really don't see these diseases in my area.

I agree wholeheartedly about racoons--a relative said he usually traps and takes them for a swim.

 

[minnehaha]

WOW! I really want to set up game cams around my coops. In winter I often see tracks but don't know what they belog too, it could likely just be a neighbors cat. But Im always interested in seeing.

I hope your chickens stay safe with those critters around so close.

Cameras are the best!!!! I have 5 game cameras set up outside and 3 live feed wifi cameras in the hen house! I love seeing what shows up out there in the wee hours. What have I captured on my cameras? Bears, Mountain lions, deer, moose, bobcats, big dogs, coyotes, maybe a coywolf, turkeys, hunters who were tresspassing early in the morning, but looked right at the camera, looked scared and took off.....but not one single nasty raccoon.....knock on wood! We have 18 acres, so the cameras are in different places around the property. Cameras are a great investment!

BUT....my very best and favorite investment has been the Ador1, auto chicken coop door, best $200 I ever spent! Worth it's weight in gold!

 

[MamaKitty913]

Aloha Brada Puhi!

I have been thinking quite a lot about roosters crows--I too live in a rather population dense area with expensive homes nearby and don't want to be a bad neighbor.

I think that you may be on to something with selecting for late crowers. I have actually thought about selecting for late crowers myself in my next batch of boys and testing my theory (outlined below)

I know that crowing is somewhat genetic-- the length of the crow, the frequency of the crow, the age at which the boys start crowing and even the quality. I say this because breeds tend to have similar traits within the breed for the crow and other vocalizations. There are even long-crowers that will hold a crow for a really long time http://feathersite.com/Poultry/CGK/Long/BRKLongCrow.html  Now why anyone would selectively breed for a rooster who can out-crow everyone else is beyond me ! Most everyone I know want to throttle the buggers when they crow too much,  especially when they crow at 3 am!

At one end of the spectrum, I have a friend that has several varieties of Brahmas and she reports that they only crow rarely and its usually in the morning when she feeds. This breed is very slow to mature and the boys don't start crowing until they are older--maybe 5-8 months or even later. The males also will get really large--10+ pound. I have 2 Brahma ladies and they are about 8 pounds each.

On the other end of the crow bell curve, I friends that have had bantams have reported that they will start to crow at a really early age--like 3-4 weeks, and they are obviously small, being bantams.

For myself, I have raised several breeds and have found that in general the slower growers are more submissive and crow later than the fast growers. When I have looked at sizes of the roosters when they grow out, generally speaking, the ones that mature more slowly and crow later are the ones that end up weighing more when they plateau out at 5-6 months. So I am not thinking of culling early crowers becasue they crow early, but becasue I suspect that they will be smaller roosters as adults. I am seeing this in my Welsummers, Cream Legbars and with a mixed breed project (mainly BrahmaxFaverolles) I was working on.

I am speculating that the early production of testosterone that leads to earlier maturation and earlier crowing will also lead to a smaller size in the rooster. I have no hard data (measuring of testosterone levels) but I am personally starting to see a correlation between crowing/maturation/size. I am also extrapolating from mammals. It is well known that in dogs, cats and humans that the early production of sex hormones will close the growth plates in the bones resulting in a smaller stature--and conversely you can delay the process with the bones plates by early spaying or neutering of your pet (or back in human history when they castrated males to create castrati or eunich slaves); the mammals who are castrated before puberty will become larger than they would normally have become as their normal development was altered.

I need more data points to draw firm conclusions, but for this year I am planning on paying close attention to the size of the cockerel at maturity and at what age they started to crow. Not going to cull anyone becasue they are maturing slowly, that's for sure. I want bigger boys--or at least boys that meet the standard! I do have 2 that meet the standard and they were later crowers. I've got 13 roosters right now and really need to make some hard decisions really soon. I told myself I wouldn't set any eggs until most of those boys are gone, so I'd better make some decisions soon!

It would be great if you could add in your observations about size and the age of onset of crowing and any thoughts you might have on the subject. Mahalo!

Hi I was wondering though doesn't the "lead rooster" get to crow while making the other boys be quiet? Also wondering about fertility and fitness being increased in the rooster who gets to crow?

 

[dretd]

game cams

IMO, If you get one I would avoid any model that needs C or D cells. I had one and it sucked up juice like crazy and I could only use the game cam for a week before replacing expensive batteries. I got a Bushnell Trophy Cam that takes quite a few AAs but I can use the Ultra Lithium ones and I haven't had to change batteries in about a year and a half--much better. It has software problems with the video, but pictures are great.

You never know what you will see:
usually I get this--apparently we have lots of bunnies....or we did until the great tularemia outbreak in the spring of 2014:



And verification that Wiley is staying on the other side of the fence:


or not....

And that they travel in pairs and go to the north and south of my fence looking for Mr Bun Bun--maybe a little too close for comfort--better move that pile of posts!


And helpfully it catches events I would otherwise not know about like...Cluckles! What on earth are you doing there--don't you know that the coyotes come through there?--Note to self: I need to find the hole in the fence ASAP!


And the neighbors cat--hmm, haven't seen him around in a while now that I think about it...



As a bonus, I also get (thanks for doing your chores!):


Obviously, I rotate it around the property to cover my bases. Ok, I think I've over-shared enough for one day!

 

[dretd]

Cameras are the best!!!! I have 5 game cameras set up outside and 3 live feed wifi cameras in the hen house! I love seeing what shows up out there in the wee hours. What have I captured on my cameras? Bears, Mountain lions, deer, moose, bobcats, big dogs, coyotes, maybe a coywolf, turkeys, hunters who were tresspassing early in the morning, but looked right at the camera, looked scared and took off.....but not one single nasty raccoon.....knock on wood! We have 18 acres, so the cameras are in different places around the property. Cameras are a great investment!

BUT....my very best and favorite investment has been the Ador1, auto chicken coop door, best $200 I ever spent! Worth it's weight in gold!

What is your favorite brand? Mountain lions and bears, oh my! Pictures please!

 

[dretd]

Hi I was wondering though doesn't the "lead rooster" get to crow while making the other boys be quiet? Also wondering about fertility and fitness being increased in the rooster who gets to crow?

Probably depends on how close the confinement is and the inherent aggressiveness of the roosters involved. The Cream Legbars seem to be a bit more communal than other breeds.

In fact, its one big happy family at my house. When one starts to crow they all feel like they need to join in and it can be quite a crow-fest!... 'No I can crow louder, see?' I pretty much see all of the roosters partaking in the gene pool. I currently (and this is not ideal--I really need to cull down real soon) have 4 boys (1 1/2 year old plus thee 8 month olds) all pastured together with most hens, then a pen of a 1 1/2 year old and 8 month old with 3 hens and another solo roo, no hens and my last pen with 1 roo and 2 hens. Its very interesting, the group with the layer flock has more or less divvied up the hens and one will follow a subset around as the hens forage and scratch. Three of the roos sleep in the hen house with the majority of the girls and then I have one who roosts in a tree where a few pullets insist on sleeping. Not to mention the 3 in the barn awaiting their fate..wow that's 10 roos! Better than the 13 I had a month ago I guess!

In the side pen with the 2 roos--the 1 1/2 year old is top-roo but occasionally he will let the other mount a hen and breed. Yesterday I watched as 2 of the hens shared a nest and were trilling and cooing very loudly and both roosters joined in and hovered over them until they were done. One big happy.

 

[bekahubbell]

Hi all, so I may have the record for the oldest non laying pullet yet. She was hatched the beginning of June and still no egg. She has looked ready for months, no squatting but I have another layer that doesn't either. I'm in So. Cal so we have had no winter.