Dixie Chicks

[Amberjem]

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.

can I ask why you would want a large number of getting along cocks? I had assumed it was about the meat quality for the caponizing??

@JW12 , That is how we raise our chickens also. Survival of the fittest. I almost culled the one with the bad eye, but now she is a hen laying beautiful perfect eggs. I will not hatch out any of her eggs, just in case it is something genetic. Shame too because she is only offspring I have from my partridge cochin.

I have not heard back from the breeder of CCL

. Thinking he already sold them. Plan B.

@Amberjem , I too have a SS roo. Got him as a chick in summer 2013. Here is a pic of him this past fall. He was showing attitude when I snapped the pic.


Here is one of his babies. Cross with RIR hen. Unfortunately she was ate by DHs English setter.

never mind I get it speckled sussex took me a minute the SS thru me of............ty so much for sharing your experience and everything about the SS much appreciated ..

 

[hennible]

So Sam is posh spice incognito?

Makes sense

Bwa ha ha... I'll take her bank account... That's the one that married David Beckham right?

 

[Amberjem]

Sam, that hot tub would work very well. It's just a bit of a hillbilly way of doing it.

Here's a slightly refined version.

Yeah, cooking the compost is a good idea if you throw that kind of stuff in. But I don't see much issues in composting meat otherwise, sick animals I might avoid, but other than that, no problem. And dairy goes in there too. People poop I might compost a bit longer though. It smells so bad otherwise.

 

[BriardChickens]

I found a bag of Katjes Saure Johannesbeere this morning, excellent snack! alright, I'll try go back to chicken talk.

can't seem to focus today

 

[Amberjem]

Javas and Jersey Giants are both required to have yellow bottoms on their feet to meet the Standard. Probably because Javas (along with Black Langshans and Dark Brahmas) were used to create the original Jersey Giants.


I'm right there with you on the broodies!.......so much better than the constant monitoring of the incubator, wondering what to do in a power outage and then the brooder with the dust and smell. My Icelandics (this breed is where the majority of my experience with broodies comes from) will wean chicks at 4-6 weeks in spring and summer. The fall hatched chicks are raised longer by their moms because, in most cases, the moms are molting and aren't going to start back laying anytime soon so their hormones don't switch back as quickly. The Wyandottes and one German New Hampshire mothered their chicks longer but did not take them as far from the coop as the Icelandics.

I think chicks raised by broodies are more aware of predators because they are taught that by their mommas. They are not as friendly as brooder babies at first but I have found that upon weaning, when I put them in a separate pen for a while, they get "tame" quickly. I feed my mommas with chicks special treats and the chicks know when they see me, they get goodies. I try to handle them when they are in the "juvie" pen so they know I'm not going to hurt them. They continue to get the special treats there so that they will come when I call them.

I free range my flock and have found that chicks raised in the spring mature more quickly. I think it has to do with the amount of "stuff" available for them and the day length. The couple of times I have let hens sit later in the year, the chicks feather out quickly but don't grow as big as quickly. I don't think it affects their overall size at maturity, and if it does, it isn't much.

On worming, if I feel I need to, it is in the late fall/early winter after the ground freezes. Most of my flock aren't laying then due to finishing a molt or too young if they are pullets so the loss of eggs isn't much. I don't have "egg customers" so I don't have to worry about having a certain amount of eggs at all times.

Flighty to me means the tendency to use the flight instinct instead of the fight instinct. My flock is calm around me. They know me and how I move and act. They are NOT calm around my grandchildren. They are not aggressive, they flee what they perceive is a danger. They recognize my cats but if one of them enters the coop, Audun will always give the heads-up call and they will all look at the cat. The cats have a respect for the chickens and have all experienced a momma hen flogging them when they got too close to a chick (sometimes by no fault of their own when a chick runs past them while they are just sitting there minding there own business). The cats know the broody momma noises for "clear the way, my chicks are coming" and give them a wide berth.....so funny to see the cat move away when they hear it!

awesome thanks so much for sharing

I am sure they share many traits. Landraces have the two essential traits that homesteaders for hundreds of years have wanted....Ability to survive and reproduce with little input from humans. They don't lay the largest eggs or have the largest carcasses but they don't eat as much or need people to survive. I love my Icelandics...and while I have "dabbled with other breeds", Icelandics will always be my favorites. No man created them, they haven't been bred to a standard made by man, leaving certain traits behind to focus on color, size, egg color, comb, etc, etc, etc. They contain the genetic diversity of hundreds of years. You can take a Marans and breed it to Lavendar something to get "pure" Lavendar Marans that conform to the SOP somewhere down the line. You cannot breed a landrace of any kind to something else and ever have the landrace be called pure again. I know there are many that look at Icelandics (and other landrace breeds) as nothing more than barnyard mutts and they have the right to their opinion. suum cuique......to each their own I chose to help preserve a genetic diversity that once lost will never be able to be found.

Okay, off my soap box.......and off to get some chores and housework done! Have a great day all!

ok can you explain exactly what landrace means in regards to chickens?

Mine's not pretty I just cut a small "V" in the lid for the cord and I covered with a piece of 2x12 no lid movement, no dust inside either.

share pictures?

Bwa ha ha... I'll take her bank account... That's the one that married David Beckham right?

no clue...

 

[vehve]

Yup, Victoria Beckham.

 

[hennible]

I'm a redneck... Maybe a hippy... Nothing posh here...

 

[Ravynscroft]

Mornin', everyone... still need more coffee, brain needs a super jump start...

 

[vehve]

Jem, landrace chickens (or pigs or other production animals) are basically sort of like breeds that have developed in a specific area, but without much human influence. They have been kept by humans, but their development hasn't been pushed in a certain direction. Instead they have been left to their own devices, and the ones suited best for the climate have flourished. That's why they're usually pretty hardy breeds that are good at reproducing, but they might not have maximized output when it comes to milk, meat, egg size or quantity. Instead they are often a lot healthier than more developed breeds.

 

[tntchix]

Tnt, I'll drill a hole for the cord, but the insulation board's sides will be exposed, and they put out some dust if left uncovered.

ah, I see.

share pictures?

I'll have to get some for ya.