Delawares from kathyinmo

[DoubleMM]

Well thats the average I got 65% Male one time and 60% female the next - its back and forth so I guess that averages close to 50%- My starters from kathy out of 14 was 5 hens and balance Cocks.
Thats 64% - But your mileage may differ . I have not hatched enough to get a good average.

I've read that a particular hen could be prone to male or female offspring. Don't know how much weight to give it...

 

[finnfur]

Considering I've got 12 cockerels right now and with the 13 in the incubator and another doz coming next month, I'm going to be overrun with them. Even with 50/50 ratio that's still going to be another 12. I'm ordering velcro as we speak, to try and shut them up a little

Glad to hear about the Calf Manna Pro. That's just over a month away before I start giving it. Thanks

 

[finnfur]

We made two types of PVC feeders.

One type are troughs. We cut them open on the top side of the curve to help reduce the waste of beaking the feed out, and left handles. We left the ends open. We set them in cement blocks. They work great for wet feed. And if we put them in the lower opening of the bricks they work for young birds. I LURVE the handles.





We also made hopper feeders which work great for pellets.

Good idea on the holes - yes we put a piece of wood across the center for lift handle.
I hang feeder so the smallest bird just can get its beak in feeder to keep them from scratching them out .
With chickens the pellet just under the one on top is the one they want - guess they are tastier LOL

 

[rancher hicks]

Everything I ferment is whole except the cracked corn and there is not much of it in mix - I read rolled grains lose nutrients so I stick with whole. I ferment each day for 48 hours and rotate - start out with grain , add one tablespoon vinegar with mother , hot water and let sit 24 hour. I do this in empty ice cream pails [1 gallon] after 24 hours of soak the whole gallon sits in a 5 gal bucket with a 75 watt flood light about 6" over the top for another 24 hours . This all rotates daily - each bucket is made with one days feeding at one heaping serving spoon per bird. My FF feeders are 4" pvc pipe cut in half length wise screwed to two 6" pieces of treated 2x4 to keep it straight - the ends are open to drain.
My Mix is primarily winter wheat , then oats and corn in a 8/2/1 ratio - heavy in winter wheat because I get it in trade for eggs from local farmer. Check with local farmer as a lot raise winter wheat for alternate erosion control .

The pellets are Southern states brand "rock n Rooster" [18% not a layer mix ] and served in hanging feeder off ground so they can eat but high enough they can't scratch it out of the feeder - found it reduced waste a lot- feeders are the plastic 7 and 10 pound ones and stay dry in coop -that brand does not have calcium so they get free choice oyster shells .
I saw some Pics of someone else's nice looking birds on BYC and that is what they were doing and I just followed along .
Its working for us .

I think 18% is adequate but I'm not a expert on it just know it seems to be working . My birds free range [in Enet] after 14 weeks and when they do pellet consumption goes way down - We would free range sooner but they go thru the Enet.
When finishing cockerels for kill I add some Calf mana pro to the FF just before serving .

So I googled "Enet" and didn't get anything related to chickens.

 

[rancher hicks]

Considering I've got 12 cockerels right now and with the 13 in the incubator and another doz coming next month, I'm going to be overrun with them. Even with 50/50 ratio that's still going to be another 12. I'm ordering velcro as we speak, to try and shut them up a little

Glad to hear about the Calf Manna Pro. That's just over a month away before I start giving it. Thanks

I've been getting a lot of roos too. Incu or hen there still are a lot of roos. I wish it wasn't so since I don't eat my birds.

 

[rancher hicks]

Good idea on the holes - yes we put a piece of wood across the center for lift handle.
I hang feeder so the smallest bird just can get its beak in feeder to keep them from scratching them out .
With chickens the pellet just under the one on top is the one they want - guess they are tastier LOL

I just use the 12 pound feeders. Though right now since everyone is pretty much on chick starter 20% I use the black pans. I mix the crumbles with water to make a mush and they don't waste it so much. With chicks or young birds in the mix I use grower till they're near laying age.

If it's pellets I the haning feeders.

(boy this day must have been harder than I realized. I took a nap but hope I can get some restful sleep tonight)

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

So I googled "Enet" and didn't get anything related to chickens. 

Elctric poultry net?

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

So LindaB220 asked me if I knew where to find the study she read that discussed the influences of maternal nutrition on gender selection of poultry offspring ... I don't. I could start googling different interesting/unique combinations of key words and phrases, but as I'm not the one who read the study I don't actually know what interesting/unique combinations of keywords and phrases might have been used in that particular article that could help a person google it more efficiently.

I did do some test googling and found this one study involving some type of seagull, I think, that suggests there is a bias towards female hatchlings in less-well-nourished mother gulls ... "Experimental demonstration that offspring sex ratio varies with maternal condition"
http://www.pnas.org/content/96/2/570.full

The idea of that study is that male hatchlings are bigger, and need to grow more. So more nutrients in the eggs, and somewhat larger eggs, might shift a bias towards the opportunity for more male hatchlings ... and the study achieved "enhanced" eggs by offering the potential mothers baked eggs ... and they did note an increase in egg size and an increase in male offspring.

There isn't a lot of science, I don't think, about feeding eggs to chickens, probably because eggs are an important product of the poultry industry so poultry farmers tend to prefer to sell/hatch eggs rather than feed them back to the birds. My instincts tell me eggs are great nutrition for birds, not due to the exact protein percentage of un-dehydrated eggs, but because of the nutritional profile of the eggs. I offer my breeders and babies scrambled eggs. I've usually got plenty of "funky" eggs to use for this purpose.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Good idea on the holes - yes we put a piece of wood across the center for lift handle.
I hang feeder so the smallest bird just can get its beak in feeder to keep them from scratching them out .
With chickens the pellet just under the one on top is the one they want - guess they are tastier LOL

One more note about using PVC pipes for feeders/waterers ... I've noticed PVC pipe can have sharp edges at the ends and also anywhere it is cut or drilled, so I file all exposed edges smooth to reduce damage to wattles and combs.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Some of the Delawares and a couple foster broody hens. The two birds closest to the camera are the two cockerels I got in the first hatch (April 29) and are about 4 months old here. They've really grown in the past week or so. Daddy is eating at the trough and I think the cockerels will be bigger than he is. They also have more black, at least at this stage.