HELP BREED IDENTIFICATION!!

[sumi]

I also sold free range eggs. I had more than 100 chickens at some point. 40 Lohmans and the rest X bred "plaas hoenders"

I'll ask a friend where he got his BO chicks from. The Boschveld hens also lay well and they don't need anything fancy or expensive feed. They'll fly them down for you from JHB. Can't remember how much it cost exactly... think it was R120/box (100 chicks). I had one Boschveld hen and she laid nearly every day. She got cracked corn and she free ranged on a pasture. Never had layer pellets. What I found very interesting is that my X bred "plaas hoenders" outlaid the battery hens by far. And the battery pullets cost a fortune! The X breeds didn't get layer food, just cracked corn and grass and luserne and whatever wildlife they found in the pasture and they laid very well.

 

[blom545]

Haha yes I only had plaas henders up until the of last year when i started to bring real breeds and they lay whole year round.they do't even really go through a molting period

 

[sumi]

I had so many chickens I lost count after 200 LOL Only one hen went through molt. Don't know what it is, maybe we're just lucky?

 

[buttercup hill]

Your Lohmann Silver is gorgeous! First I've ever heard of or seen one.

 

[blom545]

Thank you yes she is very beautiful and has a great personality I'm glad she isn't in a battery anymore

 

[sumi]

They do have nice temperaments. Mine was really sweet and very talkative. And they are great mothers! People say battery hens don't go broody, but a few of mine did and they were great with their chicks.

 

[blom545]

mine hasn't gotten broody yet and some of her eggs are unfertile and I really want some of those good laying genes.

 

[sumi]

It'll be worth trying to hatch some of her eggs if you can cross her to a good rooster. I crossed mine to my RIR X roo and his son who's mom was an Australorp X. The resulting chicks were either white like mom or completely black with the odd red one in-between. And the girls were very good layers!

 

[blom545]

Last year I bred six of her eggs with a production red rooster I got a type of sex link with 5 red hens and one white cockerel but three got caught by an mongoose one by an falcon and the other two died of
sickness

 

[blom545]

Last year I bred six of her eggs with a production red rooster I got a type of sex link with 5 red hens and one white cockerel but three got caught by an mongoose one by an falcon and the other two died of
sickness