Crossing my Red Ranger Hens.

[aliciaplus3]

That 1934 incubator looks really cool! How many eggs does it hold?

It could handle many more than I have had in it.... I have it rigged up with 2 stand alone turners so I have had around 80 in it.... it has 4 trays and if I wanted to hand turn each tray could handle maybe 60 or more? Couple that with the brinsea ovation ex56 and the 2 nurture rite 360's that hold 22 each and I could be up to my eye balls in babies inside 4 weeks. So far I really enjoy it.

 

[Compost King]

Picture update, not much going on. I am hatching some of the Red Rangers grand children that are 3/4 Naked Neck in an attempt to make more Naked Necks for a NN flock.

First picture I am showing is The Red Ranger with one of her Naked Neck Sons. I am down to 1 Red Ranger as the one who was laying the giant sized egg has moved on to the great big chicken coop in the sky. The son in the picture was going to be eaten but when it was his turn I spared him due to his peaceful disposition. Although he no longer lets me pick him up without a struggle he still shows no aggression even when I do pick him up. The Red Ranger Hen is still molting but her new feathers have come in and she is no longer all ratty looking.

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Another Red Ranger son, half Dorking half Ranger. He grew really big really fast so I kept him for breeding instead of eating him. I have bred him back to Dorking hens and now I am breeding him to a Light Brahma just to see what I get. Brahmas grow a little too slow and maybe this cross will create a faster growing large bird. He is officially a "Yellow" Columbian so he will shoot out genes for various colors with a Columbian pattern.

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Now for some Red Ranger Grand Children. 3/4 Dorking 1/4 Red Rangers. I plan to keep breeding these back to my dorkings until the offspring resemble Dorkings. Due to a small Genetic pool Dorkings are not very hardy so if anyone has them this is what I suggest doing with them. I may do this with Dorkings and Dark Cornish after the Red Ranger traits are bred out. What i plan now and what I end up doing do not always line up. I had no idea I would do this with Dorkings and Red Rangers a year ago. I had planned to use Delawares instead of Red Rangers but that did not end up happening.

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Another Grandchild of the Red Rangers, 1/4 Red Ranger, 1/4 Ayam Cemani, 1/2 Naked Neck. This guy at the time of this photo was hours away from being processed, now he is minutes away and by the time you read this likely the deed will be done. I am having Chicken Tacos tomorrow! We are going through cool front (under 70 in August!) and its time to take care of the more aggressive Cockerels and he is the most aggressive, He is also the largest from the field of candidates.

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CX! with some buddy birds, attempt #2 to keep CX alive long enough to breed. This time they won't be getting large in the peak of the summer heat, although they have had some 95+ days their first weeks. the first picture are the males (they were easy to sex) the 2nd the females. I will likely eat the males and breed the females however if a male is really active I may spare him for breeding. They are about to move out to the compost pen where their feed will be rationed. The Buddy Birds are going with them and hopefully they are great at foraging and encourage their larger buddies to forage with them. This worked out great when I had 1 CX until she died at week 15, this time I have a total of 6 and 3 females, I worry the CX will sit on their bums together and ignore their buddy birds... oh well we will see what happens.

I like how 2 of the 3 CX were roosting. Hopefully its a sign that they will be active when They move out of this make shift brooder. They need to move out soon I have Seramas to move in to them.

 

[Kabootar]

Its things like that which has me wanting to go off grid and only produce food for myself... have no insurance, no mortgage and no someone else creating rules for me to live by. I got lucky and stumbled into owning a house in a very agriculturally friendly city 2 codes on chickens that I even agree with. 1. Keep the chickens on your own property and 2. Keep them Humanely.
Kris I really hope you can find a way around this. That is way too few chickens to have for a farm. If you get limited as to how many chickens you can have then I suggest getting Rhode Island Reds because its the same breed that can be used for both meat and eggs with great success for both.

Wow!!! I didn't know I am living off-grid. No one even know there are any rules and regulations on how to run your farm. I personally know just three laws that there is a 'prevention of cruelty to animals act' (I don't know what it says), GMO is illegal (except BT cotton) and most importantly don't kill a cow. No cares about the first two rules.

I don't have any insurance on me, my home or my farm. No government official or a neighbour (extended family) ever bothered showing up on my farm. Forest officials sometimes complain to the village council about our buffaloes and cows entering the nearby tiger reserve.

We grow most of our own food as well as fodder for our livestock. Additionally we get subsidised grains and kerosene oil from the government as well. We buy sugar, salt and some spices though.

It's not without its downsides though. Government officials are very corrupt, government education and healthcare is poor outside of the major urban areas. Power supply is unreliable.

Violent crimes like kidnapping, honour killings, robbery, left wing insurgency and cattle raiding was common along both sides of the Indo-Nepal border. Which is ironic considering international peace icons like Buddha and George Orwell were born in this region. However recently a good progress has been made in crime control and crime has gone down quite a bit.

This region is also prone to regular flooding of Himalayan rivers and occasional earthquakes. The last earthquake that shook the region was in 2015. After that earthquake the government officials only came to count the dead and the living.

 

[igorsMistress]

Just because I have 2 incubator's over here and I'm a hatch-a-holic, you think that I should be running them both?

Yes

It's in the name of science after all

X 2!

 

[igorsMistress]

Hi there @Compost King I have two Dorking/Red Ranger crosses that hatched out this morning Both eggs that @BlueBaby gave me hatched today, day 21. They pipped yesterday afternoon.

 

[Compost King]

Hi there @Compost King I have two Dorking/Red Ranger crosses that hatched out this morning Both eggs that @BlueBaby gave me hatched today, day 21. They pipped yesterday afternoon.

They should be grey some with red leakage, its possible you ended up with a Columbian Male (apparently females do not come out full Columbian in that specific crossing). The Silver Duckwing pattern is also a good possibility. They should Resemble Dorking's quite a bit, all will have 5 toes but there is a 50% (don't quote me on the number) they carry the Recessive 4 toe gene. They should grow moderately because the 1/4 Red Ranger in them. Due to the almost hunch back posture of the Dorking Pullet and Cockerels when crossing them with Naked Necks they might look like Buzzards. I haven't crossed any yet but plan to with the ones I am culling from the Dorking project. (the ones that are found to carry the 4 toe recessive trait, and ones with patterns that may be hard to work with).

 

[Morrigan]

Hi there @Compost King I have two Dorking/Red Ranger crosses that hatched out this morning Both eggs that @BlueBaby gave me hatched today, day 21. They pipped yesterday afternoon.

That's awesome!

 

[Morrigan]

Due to the almost hunch back posture of the Dorking Pullet and Cockerels when crossing them with Naked Necks they might look like Buzzards.

I can see that. You can call it a new breed -- Buzzkens

 

[Compost King]

The CX females have been moved outside with their buddy birds. Time to start rationing feed, The Males are still in the Cage/unheated brooder with their buddy birds. Not exactly sure where I am putting them at the moment. Probably just eat them young. No need for giant sized birds when I have 3 of them to do at the same time.

 

[ThracianHorse]

Hi there @Compost King I have two Dorking/Red Ranger crosses that hatched out this morning Both eggs that @BlueBaby gave me hatched today, day 21. They pipped yesterday afternoon.

Assuming @Compost King does not mind, could you post pictures of these birds once they grow out? I'm contemplating doing a similar cross, and I really would like to know what they look like and weigh at the 8 and 10 week mark.