Heritage Large Fowl - Phase II

[3riverschick]

Quote: Great! I had to laugh at my Light Sussex. They were laying good and then we had a 4 day warm spurt. Went from 20's
and teens (at night) to 60 and 50's at night. They stopped cold.

Then today it got cold and they started laying.
I mean I bred them to be winter layers but they didn't have to be so literal about it!

Merry Christmas!
Karen

 

[Lacy Blues]

Well, I'll try to do this one without making so many posts, LOL!

I'm hoping/planning to get some hatching eggs from good breeders this year, but I've never done shipped eggs before (will be my first time using an incubator, in fact, though I plan to put some cross-bred eggs through it before I get the expensive ones), so I'm not holding out any high hopes for getting birds by that route.

I have had a couple of bad experiences with mail-order chicks here -- one box of 25 all dead, and one box with only three survivors. So obviously I can't trust the P.O. to get that right, and am exceedingly reluctant to spend a huge amount of money on shipped chicks. I might be willing to try shipping older birds, if I could find someone not too far away to get them from. Can't see trying to send them clear across the country.

The Buckeye eggs I hope to be getting will be coming from Washington, so not too far -- I may talk to him and see if I could get a pair of young birds later in the year, too.

I figure, with the chicks from Cackle (the White Chanteclers) I ought to get enough decent birds for a good start, at least -- according to what I've been told, they did get at least some of their breeders directly from Greg Oakes. But if anyone has any ideas on any other half-way decent stock that Cackle has, preferably something that doesn't have a huge comb (not good in our area), I'd appreciate it, as I will have to add ten chicks to my order and I'd rather choose them than let Cackle select packing peanuts for me. I'll probably sell the extras anyway.

Thanks,

Kathleen

I don't know what Cackle carries, but perhaps Buckeyes or Brahmas?

 

[Lacy Blues]

Oh, and Merry Christmas to everybody. I hope y'all have a wonderful day with family and loved ones.

 

[3riverschick]

Oh, and Merry Christmas to everybody. I hope y'all have a wonderful day with family and loved ones.

And the Merriest of Christmases to you too, Lacey Blues!

 

[hellbender]

As usual, it's just a bit of nuisance to feed my birds their usual warm gruel but extremely satisfying to watch them dig in...

I feed them in a series of 6.5 gallon rubber tubs with 8 inch sides. They will have it cleaned up in just a few hours and will get

more this evening since it's so cold here...minus 6 F. at feeding time this morning. They always have Layena crumbles if they get the munchies before evening.

 

[adni02]

I don't know what Cackle carries, but perhaps Buckeyes or Brahmas?

Brahmas for sure

 

[brahmabreeder]

Got another incubator to add to my collection! It's a Brinsea oct. 20 eco. I already have one but the more the merrier, right? There is also a homemade incubator in the mix too. I just use that one for hatching though.

 

[brahmabreeder]

I understand the feeling. I got a good for incubating egg today from my breeding pen. I had been getting quite a few double yolks. It feels good to get one for the incubator.

Yeah last week they only laid two eggs that weren't a mess. Of course one was a double yolker

. I figured what the heck do I have to lose and set it anyway. It's only a few days old but I was able to see one embryo.

 

[ronniewayne]

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE !

 

[Hangtown Farms]

Got another incubator to add to my collection! It's a Brinsea oct. 20 eco. I already have one but the more the merrier, right? There is also a homemade incubator in the mix too. I just use that one for hatching though.

correct you can never have too many