Farming and Homesteading Heritage Poultry

[Yellow House Farm]

. Kinda hijacking this thread and didn't mean to. .

Not at all. That's what this thread is for!

 

[cgmccary]

Nope, it's the other way around. Chickens an be carriers, but they rarely succumb. Turkeys on old chicken land, though, can be contaminated, both by extant droppings and by the earthworms in the droppings. The usual recommendation is a two year rest. I'm not always so good at following all the rules....

Yes. I tried having some BR turkeys with my chickens but found myself always having to be vigilant for blackhead in the turkeys (and keeping meds on hand) so I got rid of them. I have not had a chicken to succumb to it.

 

[BGMatt]

BGMATT: Since you are exploring heritage breed fowl, you may be interested in a wonderful thread that I highly encourage you checking into, the Heritage Large Fowl Thread https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/400344/heritage-large-fowl-thread
Good luck

I've been lurking there as well, lots of great info in both threads. Put a link to the thread about my rebuilding and remodeling in my signature too so I don't clutter other threads. It's great to see such a fowl-lowing for large fowl, so much of what I find and so much of the local scene is bantam oriented.

Still waiting to hear from a couple of the leads I have out but I'm sure I'll be able to find my breeds eventually, if you guys are anything to go by it's certainly worth it, and impatience of youth was what led to short tenures with breeds in the past.

 

[BGMatt]

I have a question about the rotational line breeding method described in post #147 of this thread and reposted in post #644, in years 2 and beyond after the males have started rotating around, do ALL the chicks hatched in each pen get marked as that pen or do the pullets get that pen and the males get marked same as their sire?

So for example it's year two of the breeding program. So to use the original pen colors (1= red, 2=white 3=blue, 4=green) from the post the red male is in with the white females, when setting up pens for the third year when the red males go to the blue pen would the males from that year be compared against the white males on their way to the green pen? or compared against the red males on their way to the blue pen. I'm assuming the females stay put since they're not moving.

Edit: Or am I misunderstanding and you're always breeding from young birds, thus replacing your entire breeding stock every year?

 

[Robert Blosl]

The toe punch is always the females pen. You just rotate the male to the right and each chick is toe punched from the house with the number on it or in the way I wrote it the Red house had number one on it the white house had number two on it and blue house had number three on it and if you had a fourth pen or house it could be yellow or green and pen four. Your leg bands would be the color of the house.

Again I used colors to just get the idea across. You don't have to put a number on your house or paint it. Heck on my breeding pens I got a pencil written the number on the door. The most important issue is when hatching to make sure you do not mix up the chicks in the incubator. You have to have compartments or some system to make sure you know which baby came from which egg or its all for nothing. You also do not have to have four pens three is fine two is ok two.

 

[BGMatt]

Well I knew the colors were just a suggestion. LOL but yeah just wasn't clear if all birds got the same punch. My hatching trays have been divided for a long time. This system just seemed like an easier way than individual pedigrees which I was considering, and the rotation aspect I like with the rare breeds to keep genetic diversity, I've seen what happens when a line gets too inbred. It seems like from here and elsewhere that 4 is the magic number to avoid any potential problems down the road, especially if the starting birds are not directly related. Plus as has been pointed out this method would bring the entire flock quality up rather than just part of it. Which is something else to be desired especially with rare breeds. Now to finish the pens (if it'd stop monsooning) and find the birds.

 

[Yellow House Farm]

It seems like from here and elsewhere that 4 is the magic number to avoid any potential problems down the road, especially if the starting birds are not directly related. Plus as has been pointed out this method would bring the entire flock quality up rather than just part of it. Which is something else to be desired especially with rare breeds. Now to finish the pens (if it'd stop monsooning) and find the birds.

I think the idea with four or more is an attempt to be self-sufficient. The difficulty with rare breeds is not having anywhere to go if the stock starts to run dry. Admittedly it takes a lot for it to happen, but, as we know, it does eventually happen. It's what is worrying about a two-pen system. However, Bob often talks about having a partner, someone working with the same base, who is not going to import foreign blood, such than an exchange of stock can occur as needed. I think this an ideal situation because it allows one to feel more confident in making one's pairings based on virtues and not simply relationship, e.g., there is someone now working with our strain of White Dorkings in a serious way. If he sticks with them and doesn't add anything to them, we become a sort of insurance policy one to the other, if a few more breeders can be added on, all the better.

 

[Robert Blosl]

Last night I was talking with a partner of mine with my little Mohawk Reds. He is going to ship me a male in three weeks that I can mate to two of my females. He has had my line for four years.

This will give me two things. He has been working on head points or combs and a good looking head for four years. I can use this to help me with my line as I have been working on neck color and size. Then it gives me a new shot of blood. With a partner like him I can go with two breeding pens and also use more inbreeding back to the sires or dam to fix traits faster.

If you had a partner in Centralia Washington or Northern Calif then you could swap chicks, eggs or a live bird every four or five years for example.

If you choose vigor as your number one trait then body shape then egg production then color you should not get into trouble.

 

[Yellow House Farm]

If you choose vigor as your number one trait then body shape then egg production then color you should not get into trouble.

Isn't that really, in so many ways, the sum of it.

 

[Mi Ranchito]

What an excellent thread! This is exactly what I am trying to do....preserving the heritage quality of chickens for their original purpose, meat and eggs. I am also trying to improve my homesteading practices. I am so impressed with the extensive experience and abundant knowledge in this thread.