Farming and Homesteading Heritage Poultry

[Fred's Hens]

The photo in my avatar is one of my first flocks, circa 1959. Most of those birds were Leghorns, the rest White Rocks. We raised those Leghorns for meat birds. Hard to believe now, eh?

Yes, they were solid, good eating fryers. True bred Leghorns, built to the Standard, are rare as hen's teeth today, but they're out there.

 

[Arielle]

This was posted on the APPPA yahoo group forum in response to a question regarding the nutritional benefits of pasture. He cites to some numbers regarding egg production on traditional farms which some of you might find interesting, I know I did. It was posted by Mr. Robert Plamandon.

The economics of egg production have been measured in great detail for over 100 years. During most of that period, modern hybrids didn't exist. When I reviewed the literature of the 20th century, the following conclusions seemed universal:

* Pasture alone can feed only a very small number of hens. The only source that I saw venture a stocking density for fully unfed hens was by Brown, around 1900, where he estimated that 1-2 hens per acre could be sustained this way (in England). Such hens will be underfed much of the year and will lay only in spring.

* Traditional farms involve, among other things, cattle and horses spilling a lot of grain. This, along with other waste products, can support a small flock of chickens year-round. In 1900, this was the standard way of keeping hens, and the average hen produced only 83 eggs.

* In the same period, hens from high-producing strains would produce between 125 and 150 eggs per year, when fed all they wanted, including grain and a protein supplement (typically steamed beef scrap), given outdoor range, and fed green feed every day.

* "You can't starve profit into a cow." Profitability has always been highly correlated to the availability of wholesome and well-balanced feed. Pasture is very high in protein, high in vitamins, and okay in minerals, but it's way short on calories -- and it's only digestible when it's green.

* Careful estimates I've seen on the nutritional benefits of pasture for hens range from none to about 30%. The latter value was for summertime only. 10% is often quoted. I'm convinced that, during much of the year, my own flock eats MORE feed than a confined flock would, because foraging in damp Oregon winters forces much of the food energy to be used just to keep warm.

* Back when people kept all kinds of poultry on pasture, no one ever claimed that hybrid layers foraged less than standard breeds. If anything, people claimed the opposite, noting the vigor of the hybrids. I see this myself. My hybrid Leghorns and Black Sex-Links are driving us crazy at the moment, since a fence-savvy cadre of veteran escapees is always in the garden. Meanwhile, the Barred Rocks stay home.

* Chickens are destructive to pasture and typically don't range far. Hence, portable houses. You just move the chickens away from the problem -- end of problem.With hens, you can do this just a few times a year, so it's no big deal if the fence is reasonably easy to move, and the house isn't too big for your tractor. With fixed houses and two or more yards, the yards have to be plowed and reseeded, or, within a couple of years, the manure buildup will make it hard to establish grass there. Also, pathogens don't build up as much if you plow them under. (So if you use yards, they should be tractor-friendly.)

For us, the key to profitability has always been in selling the eggs at high prices, not in saving on feed costs. Our pasture management uses lots of acreage to allow looser management, less labor, and the ability to abandon a bare patch of ground for a season or two, move the hens, and have the option of letting the bare patch take as long as it likes to recover, because there's plenty more pasture where that came from. Fencing the hens in too tightly is like a straitjacket on the farmer.

(Karen just had an interesting experience of the power of selling -- she went to one of the stores that sells our eggs and offered hard-boiled egg samples to shoppers for two hours. On one of the slowest shopping days of the week, the store sold more of our $4.99 eggs in two hours than they had in the previous week! And we can hope that at least some of these customers will stick with us long-term. Another store has chosen to price our eggs well above the others, and we're selling better there -- "on sale" at $5.99 per dozen -- than at the other store. Prices are way more important to the farmer than the consumer.)

I have found much of this to be tru myself. THere are breeds that travel far and wide and those that sit at the feed bunk. I know by the birds I see and the color of the egg yolks.

One group has an area in the woods. Most of the grass is gone now, partly due to a lack of rain recently. THe birds are still tearing up the ground and the grass cannot stan up to that kind of damage. I do think rotation has value as investment in time to move coop, and the fencing is lower than re=establishing grassland. I cannot till here. It is not an option.

I also think when land is managed to have more variety of plant material ( have trees bushes, wwild raspberries, etc with too much closed canopy to support much grass) the whole system seems to thrive. Places for chickens to hide. Bushes for sheep to munch on, Cover for the bugs.

I had an extra horse paddock open this summer, so after a winter of feeding hay and grain to that horse, I moved the horse and planted a garden. It went from bare to 4-5 foot weeds in no time. AND filled with grass hoppers. WHere did they come from? All around is bare due to the horses. Yet they moved in and thrive. I often find the free ranging turky poults pushing thru the under brush. ( THe poults travel more than any chicken I have.)

My best travelers are black copper marans, muscovy duck, speckled sussex, and buff orpington. My SS hate being cooped , and pace the fence waiting to be let out every morning.

I have erad much of Joel Salatins works ( thanks to a BYC'er) and he feeds a grain mix to supplement the grass. In my opion, this allows the mix to complement the grasses/bugs available and the mix can be altered to meet the current needs.

I'm still experimenting and working on a working model. I am concerned that as the land changes from mostly wooded to mostly open the bird that I start out wiith may not be the bird I need in the end. Or it will have to be selectiveely bred to meet the changing needs.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Arielle]

The photo in my avatar is one of my first flocks, circa 1959. Most of those birds were Leghorns, the rest White Rocks. We raised those Leghorns for meat birds. Hard to believe now, eh?

Yes, they were solid, good eating fryers. True bred Leghorns, built to the Standard, are rare as hen's teeth today, but they're out there.

Don Schrieder breeds brown leghorns.

 

[BGMatt]

The photo in my avatar is one of my first flocks, circa 1959. Most of those birds were Leghorns, the rest White Rocks. We raised those Leghorns for meat birds. Hard to believe now, eh?

Yes, they were solid, good eating fryers. True bred Leghorns, built to the Standard, are rare as hen's teeth today, but they're out there.

There's still quite a few nice leghorns out there, but the issue is many of the breeders that have them (stop me if you've heard this before) aren't on-line. Most of them are older too, I hope to see some more folks getting into them, really admire the graceful lines of the Leghorn, and there's enough varieties to keep everyone happy too. (I'm fairly sure they have the most or second most recognized varieties of any large fowl.)

 

[saladin]

There are indeed excellent Standard bred Leghorns out there. Typically at the Unifour Show you can buy top quality pairs all day.

I think it is a matter of understanding where to acquire stock. Standard bred stock comes from breeders who either exhibit or use to exhibit their fowl. These folk are found all over, but typically you'll see them at the Shows. If you want birds then you contact them before a show they plan to attend and they'll bring the birds with them. It's really quite simple to do.

 

[NanaKat]

My MILand FIL used to have Leghorns on the ranch in SE Oklahoma during the 1940s and early 1950s. He worked the farm and had an off farm job. She had 1500 to 2000 at a time, selling eggs to several supermarkets and to folks in the area. She did not hatch her chicks but got them thru Sears mail order catalog ordering 300 to 500 at a time. Birds were housed in a long barn surrounded with a huge open pen. She had help from her 4 sons and daughter. The Leghorns made great fryers, roasters and chicken and dumplings. With no freezer back then, birds were cooked as needed or canned. She canned everything in a hot kitchen with no airconditioning. They raised hogs too. At 85, she wishes she had taken pictures of her flock and set up. They moved from Quinton to Choctaw about 1957 and she kept a much smaller flock of 30 hens with a couple of roosters for her family.

My GGGF also had a huge flock of white hens and turkeys in Shawnee, Oklahoma in the 1920s to 1930s doing the same thing. He entered his birds in egg contests. One newspaper clipping described the birds as white Leghorns and White Rocks. Unfortunately, none of his children carried an interest in keeping up with the farm so it was sold before he died. His birds were housed in barn coops with huge open pens

 

[Arielle]

I'm soaking this up.

For the first time in my life I canned meat this week. What an experience. My own birds: Hatching, raising, butchering, then canning SO much more to learn. ANd hoping my kids will learn and appreciate good food..

 

[Fentress]

I also think when land is managed to have more variety of plant material ( have trees bushes, wwild raspberries, etc with too much closed canopy to support much grass) the whole system seems to thrive. Places for chickens to hide. Bushes for sheep to munch on, Cover for the bugs.

I had an extra horse paddock open this summer, so after a winter of feeding hay and grain to that horse, I moved the horse and planted a garden. It went from bare to 4-5 foot weeds in no time. AND filled with grass hoppers. WHere did they come from? All around is bare due to the horses. Yet they moved in and thrive. I often find the free ranging turky poults pushing thru the under brush. ( THe poults travel more than any chicken I have.)


I think there is value in a varied environment as well. I have 10 acres of mature hardwood on the property that I thought would be a beneficial resource. Unfortunatley, whenever my setup gets to within about 100 feet of the treeline I have an increased problem with hawk attacks. So, it acutally is a liablity, until I can figue out a way to use it. I do what I can to diversify my pasture, such as compost piles, growing cover crops and of course letting the birds work a garden area at the end of a season. But, if nothing else, birds on grass means they are healthy, with out any help from any drug! I have never had a sick chicken, nock on wood. I let some broodies hatch chicks this year. Not one pasty butt did I have. Mother hen on grass with chicks eating natural foods from day one. So much better than chicks in a box with a light on them! This soap box is getting taller so I need to jump off. Thanks.

Mark

 

[Arielle]

Learning comes slow.

I thought that because the horse kept the paddock bare, all the weed seed was gone. NO,just slow to sprout. This led me to think about how to use animals like sheep to graze down an area to make travel easier for the birds.

It's complicated. SOme days I just want to go to the store to buy my chicken.

 

[finnfur]

I'm soaking this up.

For the first time in my life I canned meat this week. What an experience. My own birds: Hatching, raising, butchering, then canning SO much more to learn. ANd hoping my kids will learn and appreciate good food..

Wife has been canning the chicken about two years - we eat that as much as the frozen because its great for a quick meal and has a variety of uses - tenderizes the old bird two -
Kinda pre crock potted in the jar. LOL