Gold Laced Orpington- For Learning and Sharing

[delisha]

LOVE them! I want to kiss them. The one in the last picture looks just like my "Baby". They look like they're from two different lines, are they? If they are, I can guess.

Same line..but guess what line

I think they are perfect.

 

[deek]

Well, I only got it 50% right. But, they will be your line before long. I can't wait to see them all this Fall.

 

[delisha]

I have heard a few people have concerns with fertility in there flocks. I have been doing some reading for this past year about GMO's and all kinds of things for the nutritional health of my flock. i have never had fertility issues so what I am about to say may not apply. It is just things I have read.

Fermented Feed

Soy based foods

Chicken feeds are cooked and processed. They have to add all kinds of thing to get the nutrition correct. One of the biggest problems is soy. The studies seem to say soy is a fertility blocker. It can actually make chickens sterile and infertile. Most of you can go online and read all about it. Soy has nutritional benefits, but, fertility and sterility issues is something to think about. Most do not read labels. I have never fed soy to my knowledge. I hope I keep reading labels if I have to buy feed in a bag.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-smith/genetically-modified-soy_b_544575.html

http://www.nationofchange.org/gmo-s...ity-infant-mortality-birth-defects-1358006915

http://www.soyfreechickens.net/why-soy-free/

I ferment my feeds and grains..I use Organic if I have to buy bagged feeds. Most of my feed is in my field.i know i do get GMOs from other fields, but, it is very little. Large farmers are miles away and pollination from that far is pretty hard. I do purchase Organic chick feed and ferment that.

 

[deek]

I need to check for soy in my feed, just out of curiosity. My babies were fertile at 6 months. I started hatching their chicks when they were 7 months 1.5 weeks. So I stopped worrying about it. I had heard through the grapevine about infertility issues. Interesting. I am a label reader. Thank you for sharing that Vicki.

 

[delisha]

I need to check for soy in my feed, just out of curiosity. My babies were fertile at 6 months. I started hatching their chicks when they were 7 months 1.5 weeks. So I stopped worrying about it. I had heard through the grapevine about infertility issues. Interesting. I am a label reader. Thank you for sharing that Vicki.

They say it takes about the third generation for fertility to start being an issue. I just like reading..and since so many are having fertility issues, it might be a cause.

 

[deek]

Vicki, do you think that perhaps the fertility is an issue with breeders not keeping up the line breeding?

 

[delisha]

Vicki, do you think that perhaps the fertility is an issue with breeders not keeping up the line breeding?

No..
I have always had egg layers. 35 years ago I started with a box of chicks from my DH. I never line bred them. I never had fertility problems. We did not use soy in our chicken feed back then either. We fed them oats, wheat, barley, flax, salt, cracked corn, and ground meat. We did feed cracked corn during the winter for many years until I talked to a great breeder who told me to stop feeding it. We had some nice white rocks, road island red and Cornish and they mixed in with our laying flock. I just kept the hatched out pullets and ate the cockerels. I never really changed or line bred, or even bred on purpose, except for the few years my DD showed rocks. The WR was the only roo we really ever had. We just kept a cockerel out of one of the WR hens every few years for a replacement. I just kept a few hens around and when I moved here, the neighbors had chickens. I did not need a roo..that roo just came for visits..Just this last year was the very first year I ever had a rooster that was not a WR on my property. I just started back up and showing because my DH has showed an interest and my GS is getting old enough for 4H. I have always admired the English Orpingtons when I seen my first picture online. I fell in love...... 5 years later..I have decided if i am going to do something about my passion for them, i need to get busy.

Course I might be wrong..but my personal experience says fertility has nothing to do with line breeding. It just does not sound right. That is saying that fertility is hereditary. That would also say sterility is hereditary..and that is impossible.

 

[Renie'sPeeps]

No..
I have always had egg layers. 35 years ago I started with a box of chicks from my DH. I never line bred them. I never had fertility problems. We did not use soy in our chicken feed back then either. We fed them oats, wheat, barley, flax, salt, cracked corn, and ground meat. We did feed cracked corn during the winter for many years until I talked to a great breeder who told me to stop feeding it. We had some nice white rocks, road island red and Cornish and they mixed in with our laying flock. I just kept the hatched out pullets and ate the cockerels. I never really changed or line bred, or even bred on purpose, except for the few years my DD showed rocks. The WR was the only roo we really ever had. We just kept a cockerel out of one of the WR hens every few years for a replacement. I just kept a few hens around and when I moved here, the neighbors had chickens. I did not need a roo..that roo just came for visits..Just this last year was the very first year I ever had a rooster that was not a WR on my property. I just started back up and showing because my DH has showed an interest and my GS is getting old enough for 4H. I have always admired the English Orpingtons when I seen my first picture online. I fell in love...... 5 years later..I have decided if i am going to do something about my passion for them, i need to get busy.

Course I might be wrong..but my personal experience says fertility has nothing to do with line breeding. It just does not sound right. That is saying that fertility is hereditary. That would also say sterility is hereditary..and that is impossible.

Line breeding is fine... it is IN breeding over and over that brings forth the bad stuff. You get deformacies, retardation, and you are doubling/ tripling ect up on whatever is lurking in the gene pool that you can't see.... that you would have culled rather than bred it. My dad always said... it's time to change the bulls when the calves start getting smaller. So is fertility linked to heredity.... Yes I think that is a safe bet... Look at the goat breeders... They can't wait to tell you how many kids a doe has given birth to in a single season...

 

[deek]

Interesting. Makes sense since chickens have been around longer than their domestication. I love this thread.

 

[thedragonlady]

Line breeding is fine... it is IN breeding over and over that brings forth the bad stuff. You get deformacies, retardation, and you are doubling/ tripling ect up on whatever is lurking in the gene pool that you can't see.... that you would have culled rather than bred it. My dad always said... it's time to change the bulls when the calves start getting smaller. So is fertility linked to heredity.... Yes I think that is a safe bet... Look at the goat breeders... They can't wait to tell you how many kids a doe has given birth to in a single season...

Multiple births in Nubians are controlled to some degree by heredity, but can be influenced by "Flushing", which is a dramatic increase in quality of feed before breeding. Ma Nature understands that lots of good eats will mean that more kids will survive, and the does ovulate accordingly. Angora does will actually abort if their feed consumption falls while pregnant. Makes sense again, as they are desert animals, and only the open mature does have a chance at survival.