Hello! and welcome to the OEGB thread.

[FarmGirl01]

Thats soooo cute. Little lap hen.

 

[sjarvis00]

Quote:
Stories like this are great representation of the OE breed, they make great pets and can be quite the pet, I can only imagine how much that would mean to a special needs child.

 

[sjarvis00]

Well it almost time to start thinking about next years cock birds, start getting your pens ready for teh fall / winter male bird breeder season.
what does everyone plan on raising for next year?

It is definetly time to start getting the birds ready for the fall show season, it is coming quick. How many Juniors on here plan to show, where are from, and what are you showing.

 

[FarmGirl01]

Well, my son and I are taking a quad of creles to the county fair this week. They look ok. Feathers are pretty good. Only one pullet has a damaged tail feather. They are not the best quality but we're getting there. He has a BB Red that he just talks about all the time. I don't think he'll be ready in time for this fall.

But we do have a nice young crele pullet that we're really hoping to show around this fall. I don't have much but I'm hoping it changes soon.

Thanks for the heads up about getting the breeding pens ready.

 

[sjarvis00]

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Yeah, its tough in order to have the cockrells ready you want them about 10 months for thier first show in the fall by the time shawnee hits with the big show they are right at 12 - 13 months and in thier prime.. These birds carry on as cocks in the Spring shows.
I like to get males hatched between 1st week of Oct. and 2nd week of Jan. The Pullets from these matings tend to be a bit smaller, tighter feathered and make great spring breeder pullets.
you try to time your pullets between 5 1/2 - 7 1/2 months the key is keep them starting to lay, Timing can be tough sometimes but well worth the effort.

 

[Lovesdisney]

Quote:
Yeah, its tough in order to have the cockrells ready you want them about 10 months for thier first show in the fall by the time shawnee hits with the big show they are right at 12 - 13 months and in thier prime.. These birds carry on as cocks in the Spring shows.
I like to get males hatched between 1st week of Oct. and 2nd week of Jan. The Pullets from these matings tend to be a bit smaller, tighter feathered and make great spring breeder pullets.
you try to time your pullets between 5 1/2 - 7 1/2 months the key is keep them starting to lay, Timing can be tough sometimes but well worth the effort.

And all that is exactly why my little one is doomed. Lol. If it's alive it's ready!

. Well ok I'm not *that* bad.... But 5 months 10 months..... Really?? No way!

 

[sjarvis00]

Yeah, timing the cockrells and pullets makes a big difference, The cockrells do great from -11 1/2 months once 12 months old they are cock birds and will still be in very heavy feather till they hit thier molt around 16-18 months.
the Pullets get softer in teh body when they start to lay so you have to be carefull there too,.

Its not nearly as big a deal with the smaller shows.

 

[southernsickles]

We are really going to be pushing it to have very many cockerels ready for the November shows.We should be loaded for the later,February and March shows.I do have several pullets that should be about right for November,I may just show all females early this year.

 

[isaacsmommy104]

So my son took 2 of his hens to the county fair. There were only 5 old english there but he had the best 2! Lol! He also had the only Indian Runner ducks, the only Toulouse goose, and the only Seramas. He has lots of ribbons now! On the bright side, the judge told everyone that our county has the best quality of waterfowl and fancy chickens he has ever seen at a county fair. He was expecting hatchery poultry and found some nice birds instead! Cochins, silkies, and sebrights were the most popular breeds there.

 

[sjarvis00]

Quote:
That is great, he is off to good start, and got his feet wet with showing. I am glad he had a good time, our local fair often has 100+ OE then a multitude of other birds last year it was 400+ birds total its great for teh kids to get warmed up for the show season.