d'anver lovers,discuss the breed and post some pics!

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

Laura Lee,

(by the way that's my cusins name too)

After a grown up look, the mottled does look to be a dun. Just a dark phase. It may be the light on the pic but it does look dull, blacks would be brighter than that. So I think it did infact come out dark chocolate (dun) mottled for you. The creles are looking like barred birds only, that or they are all pullets

 

[chowmaine]

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Thanks!

 

[LauraLee]

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My daddy gave me that name, and he was just a country boy from Tennessee, and that's what he and all his family always called me, never just the first name, they always used both, so I just got used to it. But I like it that way, I'm a daddies girl.

And Aubrey Honey,

Sure uhuh yeah, there goes that genetic stuff again, yep, that's just what I was thinkin' too.

All I know is there all "Just Dang Purty".

Gonna put up pics of the hatchery two tomorrow and let you check them out, they are growing their little beards now, just in time for Christmas!!

 

[NanaKat]

Getting ready to construct some cages.
Will 30 x 48 x 24 high be sufficient to house a trio or quad of fully grown d'Anvers in the hen house with time out on the floor and in the hen run?
For brooding babies...will 1 x 1 inch hardware cloth hold them in or are they small enough to slip thru that? I have 1/2 x 1 inch hardware cloth also.....

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

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They'll fit but that'd be the max for one that size, now if they are free to enter that and leave as they please into the runs, yes that's plenty big enough.
My brooders are 3 foot wide, 8 foot long and 2 foot tall. when they arent in use, I'll often put birds in them too. One that size will hold a couple trios no problem

No 1 inch is way too big for chicks they'll walk right threw it. I use 1/4 inch hardware cloth on the floors of the brooders and 1/2 " on the walls of it. For grow out brooders it will be fine, and I also use 1/2" on the floors of them, it just allows the bigger poops to fall threw easier and keep them cleaner.

Your 1" x 1/2" should be fine on the sides.

Post away if you have any questions along the way, will be glad to help all I can.

 

[NanaKat]

What would be a good brooder size cage for say... 12 chicks aged 1 - 3 weeks of age? I can make several.

Next question...what's a good size for a nest box for d'Anvers and game birds?
Do they like an enclosed box or an open one?

Hubby says if I put one in the cage, I should go ahead with one a LF can use in case I use the cage for a big broodie hen.
I'm thinking if the size of the nest box makes a difference, I have enough quarantine cages to use one for broodie LF.

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

for just a dozen chicks??? Wouldnt be much 2x2 probabley would be fine. I usually hatch 100- 200 project eggs a week, so I have to go massive with everything.

Nest boxes, I dont use them, I keep thick hay in all my coops and they just get in a corner and lay. But if you wanted one that's fine, and if it were to be in the cages, it'd be a good idea to keep them from breaking any. On a box for any bird, the box need to be just slightly larger than the hen that's using it. If you needed to have it where a LF hen could use it though, bigger doesnt hurt anything. Open boxes are what most like, but they will use boxed in ones too.... Really just whatever you want to build will be fine, they arent picky like say wood ducks or stuff like that, so as long as it's a bit bigger than the girls, any style will be just fine.

 

[NanaKat]

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Thanks...remember I just ordered 3 doz eggs...I thought maybe a dozen in each brooder box depending on how many actually hatch. In the past I have used a metal wash tub with a screen and a light as a brooder for 20 chicks for the first week and then graduated them to wood shavings in a large water trough...like you see used in the feed stores.

Yes, I like a nest box for the girls...more because I like knowing where the eggs will be and because I just like seeing a hen on a nest.
I don't know how small these eggs will be either...I'd hate to lose one in the wood shavings.

 

[Backwoods Bntms]

I use nest boxes in my cages they are 7.5" x 8" (because they are made from 8" pine boards) and the hens use them. Just keep the roost higher than the box or they will roost on the edge of the box and fill it with other than eggs.

jj

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

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Thanks...remember I just ordered 3 doz eggs...I thought maybe a dozen in each brooder box depending on how many actually hatch. In the past I have used a metal wash tub with a screen and a light as a brooder for 20 chicks for the first week and then graduated them to wood shavings in a large water trough...like you see used in the feed stores.

Yes, I like a nest box for the girls...more because I like knowing where the eggs will be and because I just like seeing a hen on a nest.
I don't know how small these eggs will be either...I'd hate to lose one in the wood shavings.

egg size is pretty small, about 1.5" long and a little bigger around than a quarter.