Heritage Large Fowl - Phase II

[hellbender]

Everyone talkin bout rocks just couldn't resist postin a pic of male fixin to turn eight months .

Nice looking bird...would love to see it up closer, just for my own 'viewing pleasure' because I don't know squat about their SOP.

 

[uphilljill]

Anyone here in the Northeast area going to the Northeast Poultry Congress in a few weeks?

I'm going on Saturday, but just as a spectator. First time to a big show & beyond excited to see what's there. There's a thread for it.

 

[brahmabreeder]

I went to go set my eggs today and I should have 15 once the other hen lays her egg. I got a dozen from pen #2 and three eggs from pen #1. I'm pretty proud of them because that means both of my pen number two hens layed six eggs in a week! Now that the other pen is starting to get normal eggs again I should be getting plenty of eggs to make my 100-150 goal before mid-March. I got the coop fumigated yesterday and dusted them with sevin so the mites should all be dead by now( didn't see any on my rooster who had it the worst ). Hopefully that has been the cause of my fertility issues with that pen.

 

[hellbender]

I went to go set my eggs today and I should have 15 once the other hen lays her egg. I got a dozen from pen #2 and three eggs from pen #1. I'm pretty proud of them because that means both of my pen number two hens layed six eggs in a week! Now that the other pen is starting to get normal eggs again I should be getting plenty of eggs to make my 100-150 goal before mid-March. I got the coop fumigated yesterday and dusted them with sevin so the mites should all be dead by now( didn't see any on my rooster who had it the worst ). Hopefully that has been the cause of my fertility issues with that pen.

I hope all goes well for you!

 

[BGMatt]

I am really enjoying my RIR heritage chickens.  To me right now they are the best heritage breed.  Not to say I don't have a nice large variety of other chicken breeds in my layer flock, but my large RIR that can be traced way back are my favorites.    Once I hatch and grow up a few more, I'll decrease the other breeds hanging around.


Just curious but how many different heritage breeds do most breeders work with at one time? 

It really depends on your facilities, your knowledge level and your time. Most people really only have the facilities to handle one breed. Many try to do more.

With my facilities I can only do two large fowl breeds, with the bottle neck being grow out pens. I have added a bantam breed and a bantam duck breed to my large fowl breeds due to hatching them later in year so there isn't a conflict for grow out pens. If I had more breeding pens I could probably add another bantam breed or two without adding grow out pens due to their smaller size.

Edit: at some point though it becomes about time and knowledge. And perhaps finances as well. Going through and evaluating young stock takes a significant portion of time. Making careful notes and records that allow you to actually make improvements take time and organization. Learning the fine points of both your breed an line requires a lot of attention to detail. Not just knowing but understanding your breeds standard and how and why it all fits together.

For a newcomer it may take a number of years and a few hundred birds to develop your eye, especially if you don't have a local mentor that really knows what they're doing to help you develop that.

 

[warbirds]

Light Sussex can do this too.
Is there anyone on this thread besides Callducks and myself who are working with Light Sussex?
Just curious,
Happy New Year!
Karen

Yup.

 

[cgmccary]

Exactly! Nice to see you still lurking on here my friend! The Langshan was bred to be the more prolific egg layer of the Asiatic class. You won't find as much meat on them as you would a Brahma and well...the Cochin is nothing more than a fluffy pincushion!

One thing somewhat unique about the Langshan, among the dual purpose fowl, is the body shape is rather short, which you would not expect in a dual purpose breed noted for its egg production -- Instead, you would expect the Langshan to have a faster rate of growth & better meat production (and less egg longevity) like a Delaware, NH or Buckeye (and a egg breed would be long in the lateral process bone parts of their body like a RIR). This unique trait of the Langshan, as I understand it, is the breed should be broad and deep -- the Langshan depth should be about equal to its length of body making its total body capacity of width and depth achieving the same goal as a long bodied breed which has its capacity more in the rear -- a different shape achieving the same goal of heavy egg production. How is the egg producing longevity of the Langshan's body shape?

 

[3riverschick]

Yup.

warbirds! I didn't know you were here! Cool! I drool over your Lights. Tell me, are your Canadians from an English strain?
Happy New Year,
Karen

 

[3riverschick]

Everyone talkin bout rocks just couldn't resist postin a pic of male fixin to turn eight months .

Wow! Look at that length!

It looks like an Overton Sussex. Severely impressed!

If I could breed a Sussex with that kind of length, I would be ecstatic!

 

[BGMatt]

One thing somewhat unique about the Langshan, among the dual purpose fowl, is the body shape is rather short, which you would not expect in a dual purpose breed noted for its egg production -- Instead, you would expect the Langshan to have a faster rate of growth & better meat production (and less egg longevity) like a Delaware, NH or Buckeye (and a egg breed would be long in the lateral process bone parts of their body like a RIR). This unique trait of the Langshan, as I understand it, is the breed should be broad and deep -- the Langshan depth should be about equal to its length of body making its total body capacity of width and depth achieving the same goal as a long bodied breed which has its capacity more in the rear -- a different shape achieving the same goal of heavy egg production. How is the egg producing longevity of the Langshan's body shape?

Their body is also longer than it appears due to the stance of the bird. Fast growing and Langshans have an...interesting relationship. You tend to either get lines that sprout like weeds but take forever to put on meat, or you get lines that take forever to grow. Either way, they aren't a "fast" breed like the New Hampshire or the Delaware, but should be quicker to mature than their asiatic compatriots the Brahma and Cochin. I know rodriguezpoultry and I disagree on this aspect, but I know with my past with the breed you can get a good carcass at 6 months and pullets laying before they turn 7 months. So about on par with a Rock or Red, maybe a couple weeks behind. You start pushing them faster you lose size. You are very correct about the wide and deep body, which is one of the challenges of the breed, an inattentive breeder can often find them becoming either broad and deep but short legged, or narrow and shallow with too long of legs. As far as laying longevity, hopefully others can chime in as well, but I found about a 5% drop in production a year, so comparable to other breeds.