Dixie Chicks

[bamadude]

Flighty=flies well

 

[vehve]

Bama, I'd say flighty requires both the ability, and the tendency to use that ability.

 

[vehve]

Bama, I just saw a picture of the hot tub of your dreams.

 

[Amberjem]

Most of our birds are (or have been) pretty much mutts, so I can't really comment on how they would differ from other SOP birds. At the moment we have Wilma, who is pretty much a pure BCM, and the Sussexes. We had three Alho's, which were our most flighty birds, but that's a Finnish landrace, so not much to compare to in other countries. Ironically, these are the two birds killed by predators, one by a hawk, and the other by a dachshund. The third Alho is still alive and is a great mommy. And then we have Töyhtis who is a bit of everything. The roos with the same genetics as her were really good from a "keep these on their own in a field" point of view, but less so from a "small kids may run into our yard at any moment" point of view.

By skittishness in this situation I mean that they're skittish towards people. Flighty again for me means that they're able to escape predators and they move around more independently. Just that they seem less domesticated, I guess.

I'd say the birds that are handled by a broody develop skills a lot quicker, they have someone to teach them instead of having to figure things out by themselves. Physically I can't comment on differences that much since they're kept in completely different conditions. They seem to be feathering out more quickly and gaining size a bit more slowly, but like I said, that's probably because they're kept 20C colder than the 'bator chicks were. The biggest advantage of keeping them with a broody is in my opinion the fact that you don't need to care for them as much, and they're not making a mess inside. A negative would be that the broody is out of egg production, and the chicks probably are a bit more weary of humans.

was this hatch around the same time of year as your first hatch?

 

[Amberjem]

Bama, I just saw a picture of the hot tub of your dreams.

 

[vehve]

Jembo, a bit earlier. Our first hatched at home birds were born March 18th and April 10th. The Alhos were born January 18th, but they came to us at POL. And like I said, the first ones were kept inside in a brooder for like 6 weeks, while these have been in the coop all the time.

 

[bamadude]

Thats too funny v

 

[Beer can]

I need to do some research on cockerel pens... I think it's @Beer can
  who is going to capon his cockerels..I could be wrong... that seems like an interesting process and the behavioral aspects sounded appealing...I dont think it's something for me and I cant see  paying or just finding a vet who would do it as viable option...  there is suposedly someone  off island not to far from me who does it with bresse's

Caponizing, I'm going to do it myself. I'm not going to do it this yr. I want to select the largest jersey giants and Langshans for breeding first, it will be after my first hatch. The main reason I want to to is so I can have a large number of cockerels and not have fighting or overbreeding. And not have to segregate them. There are some threads on BYC, and plenty of you tube vids.

 

[BriardChickens]

Morning all! Sorry for my disappearance yesterday. I got called into a meeting after lunch only to get more responsibilities (aka A/R & A/P on the shop side of work) around here and then got send straight into the training for it of the new program we are getting for the rest of the day.

Brilliant hot tub idea!

Can't let DH see that... currently our hot tub is parked on our trailer. Same trailer that he used to get it to our property.... "it's only a temporary solution until we get the new house and deck around it" his words

 

[JW12]

I know we talked about it on other threads but I'm more and more becoming a fan of the all natural chicken keeping. The thread BeeKissed started is a look at how it's done. After raising chicks in a brooder the first go around and this time raising them more or less on there own with a heat lamp only on really cold nights, the ones that were out side with only occasional heat have been more healthy and seem to be stronger birds. Also I have taken on a survival of the fittest mentality. If they are weak and haveing issues they get culled quickly.