Heritage Large Fowl - Phase II

[rodriguezpoultry]

I do like to have fun.

I have on average, 425 to more than 450 birds at any one time and these things don't happen to me. Most of my chickens die when I slaughter my capons or the useless cockerels and spent hens...

Heat stroke, choking or heart attack. No. I guess most of my birds are very heat tolerant, and any stock with congenital health problems have been weeded out over these past decades and MY dogs take care of any other dogs or vermin that might threaten the flocks...I guess I'm blessed.

That must be nice. Since I am renting the land that I have my birds on, I cannot have my own dogs on the property, which would be nice. So far though, have not had an issue of that nature. Marek's is apparently in the soil which several of my birds were not immune to. It's one of the reasons I refuse to vaccinate the birds for Marek's. I want birds that have their own tolerance instead of having to vaccinate and medicate against every little thing. Langshans have zero issues, however the bantam Sussex are highly susceptible to it. If I wind up losing the whole flock, so be it. It's not something I want to deal with and they are only a side project to my Langshans anyway.

I suppose many birds would be much more suited to the 100+ days with high humidity, but the Langshans and bantam Sussex do a good job against it. Any I lose to the heat didn't need to be there anyway. I've found that good air movement is the key in the heat. If you have stale air just sitting in the barn, you're going to lose alot more birds than if you have air moving throughout all the pens.

 

[hellbender]

That must be nice. Since I am renting the land that I have my birds on, I cannot have my own dogs on the property, which would be nice. So far though, have not had an issue of that nature. Marek's is apparently in the soil which several of my birds were not immune to. It's one of the reasons I refuse to vaccinate the birds for Marek's. I want birds that have their own tolerance instead of having to vaccinate and medicate against every little thing. Langshans have zero issues, however the bantam Sussex are highly susceptible to it. If I wind up losing the whole flock, so be it. It's not something I want to deal with and they are only a side project to my Langshans anyway.

I suppose many birds would be much more suited to the 100+ days with high humidity, but the Langshans and bantam Sussex do a good job against it. Any I lose to the heat didn't need to be there anyway. I've found that good air movement is the key in the heat. If you have stale air just sitting in the barn, you're going to lose alot more birds than if you have air moving throughout all the pens.

In all seriousness, ALL of my birds are in the houses today because we have especially cold weather and worse, from a chicken's perspective...there's about a foot of snow and the winds are fierce.

WE have sold the entire flock of pure Austrlorps (because that's part of my son's 'master plan'...but they are very hardy birds and are going to a town in Pa...Shinglehouse, I guess is the way it's spelled. We are keeping the NN/Turken flock and the hybrids for a few reasons but principally because they are the backbone of our egg production, stand any extremes very well and seem to be naturally resistant to most diseases.

Additionally...we have decided to use the NNs to enter the world of SOP.

OK...I'm ready for the Jurassic Park jokes.

 

[gjensen]

Thanks very much, Jeff. I appreciate it. I've been going through all my correspondence with Bob, trying to identify all the folks he referred to - this is good to know, though it sounds like they may be gone to the wind by now. Sigh.

Wynette, thank you for sharing the email. Bob was an excellent communicator.

 

[Wynette]

Wynette, thank you for sharing the email. Bob was an excellent communicator.

He sure was - not a day goes by that I don't miss him and feel like the very best "cheerleader" for the fancy is gone. I smile each time I see someone mention him, and attempt to pick up that torch!

 

[LindaB220]

Maybe I am wrong, maybe there is a better way...however...it seems to me the best way to know how to cull a breed is to understand the breed itself.
It seems to me I can know all the tips and tricks of culling and measuring excellence. But if I do not understand the nuances of the breed, how will
I know how to correctly apply them? To that end, I recently started reading this great treatise on the Sussex breed by Mr. Platt, arguably the
finest US Sussex breeder of the 19 teens and forward. It's really good and explains why certain parts of the anatomy are esp. right , just for the Sussex
To put this in perspective:
The english Sussex Poultry Club was formed circa 1906.
William White Broomhead wrote his superb essay on the Light Sussex in 1912. ( http://tinyurl.com/k6u24y5 )
S. C. Sharpe wrote his classic Sussex book in 1920 ( https://archive.org/details/cu31924003091398 )
Leo Outram wrote his classic tome on the entire breed in 1925. 1930's 2nd edition here: http://tinyurl.com/kbq86wt
Index of Sussex articles by Frank Platt in Reliable Poultry Journal Vol XXIII No 1 , March 1916 - February 1917
http://tinyurl.com/kootsrc
What History tells Us About the Ancient and Modern Sussex Page 362
Sussex Breed Type or the Characteristics of Typical Sussex Page 479
Valuable suggestions About Breeding Sussex
The Speckled Part I Page 866
The Red Part II Page 968
The Light Sussex Part III 1074
====================

Thanks for much for the S.C.Sharpe Sussex book. So much information. In reading a chapter on the Light Sussex one old plucker gave a demonstration on a cull. It took him THREE minutes to kill, pluck and process it. Wow. Experience does help with 40 some odd years of doing it. It was usually done dry plucking.

 

[catdaddyfro]

He sure was - not a day goes by that I don't miss him and feel like the very best "cheerleader" for the fancy is gone. I smile each time I see someone mention him, and attempt to pick up that torch!

I was just thinking the same thing the other day, I miss his info and knowledge "misspelt" and made-up words and all, he could get the message across and find/search like no other I've seen yet.

Joseph and George write absolutely awesome post always too and Karen also lots do on here I like this thread I hope it goes on for a long time.

Lacy I know who(kwMississippi) Kenny McMillan had those Partridge rocks up to about a month ago. I do know they were supposedly going to the Pasgagoula,MS area from there.


Jeff

 

[3riverschick]

Thanks very much, Jeff. I appreciate it. I've been going through all my correspondence with Bob, trying to identify all the folks he referred to - this is good to know, though it sounds like they may be gone to the wind by now. Sigh.

Well, get ahold of peachdawg and ask. Maybe you can trail them down. I am thinking Matt was probably Matt1616. Bob used to talk a lot about him and visiting him.
Best,
Karen in snowy western PA

 

[catdaddyfro]

Well, get ahold of peachdawg and ask. Maybe you can trail them down. I am thinking Matt was probably Matt1616. Bob used to talk a lot about him and visiting him.
Best,
Karen I snowy western PA

Karen I got ya'll close in the post above yours LOL

Jeff

 

[3riverschick]

Glad someone talked about breeding pens in the shade. Any body to experience with this issue.

All my breeding pens are in the shade or roofed. I haven't had any problems with vigor because of that. Personally,
I think fresh air is more important that direct sunlight. Yes, I know about the vitamin D thing. Still, I think a fresh air
run which is dry is more important than a yard in direct sunlight which gets wet. Others may disagree.
Best,
Karen

 

[MagicChicken]

Glad someone talked about breeding pens in the shade. Any body to experience with this issue.

I've got the opposite issue. My new breeding pens are getting too much sun. The pens are 6' deep and the low winter sun gets all the way to the back of each pen for several hours each day. Each pen does have a little shade at all times, but they could use a better balance. I'm in southwest desert country. While the northeast is getting a blizzard we've had unusually warm temps. Been in the 70's all week.

Fortunately for me it's easier to add shade than to increase sunlight. I'm curious to hear what others have to say about the shade issue.