Heritage Large Fowl - Phase II

[BGMatt]

How old is she?

The leg color will be a tough one.

Looks like a decent start to me. I would like to see some of this years birds filling out. I like this breed, and really like the variety.

She's nearing 8 months. Late hatch last year, I'd like her to be further along but the harsh winter really slowed down the maturity of all the late hatch birds. The leg color shouldn't be too hard to fix with good record keeping. Just have to make it a priority, once it's gone it should stay gone.

 

[hellbender]

Well, I officially have my NHs back. This girl has went through a couple molts, and anyone that knows this breed knows what that does to the color. I am pleased to have them on my yard again. Certainly not a pretty pullet in her prime, but I still like her. Quick poor pictures.






I will clean them up, and see what I can get out of them. I am not certain what the goals will be initially. I need to get back into them.

Depth was a priority. I think it is time to put more effort in the color. I can tease out a few decent typed birds. The size of eggs will need to a point of focus for some time. I am a believer in that big birds should lay big eggs.

I have a couple cockerels back, but I will not keep them. They are not any good. One has a tail that looks like a palm leaf, and both are a bit shallow and slight. I have 31 young to grow out and see if they can help me. Hopefully there is a couple good males in the bunch. If not, I will be in trouble. LOL.

I have been playing around with NHs for about 8yrs, and this will be year four with this new strain. I have always been a fan of this breed, and suppose that I always will. They have a lot of potential. I am learning to look at what the birds could or should be instead of what they are. I get bogged down in that, and have to be careful to not get rid of the whole lot.

They look great to me!

 

[hellbender]

THey got the white chantecler from a well know breeder in Can if I am remembering right. About $6 a chick. Yah, I looked, about 5 times.

Not sure but I think the breeder is in Cal. If you're gonna' get 'em...get 'em now! In the best of hatcheries...things tend to change and rarely for the betterment of the breed, only for the # of eggs they lay.

 

[Ehlena99]

Hi All! I have been lurking on both this thread and it's predecessor, and although I have tried to read every post I do have to admit to skipping a couple (hundred) pages in the middle of this one.... it updates WAY too fast to keep up when you're several hundred pages behind ;-) I have loved all the info I have gained, and love the discussions that have happened! Thanks for the posts.

I'm posting this question here because I figured it would be the best place to find someone to point me in the right direction. I am interested in getting involved in heritage birds- I have some (obviously non-heritage) that were from Tractor Supply, and although my hens are sweet and great layers the rooster is not sweet at all. I know that mean roos are a product of poor genetics and mass breeding and want to get away from aiding that industry.

I'm pretty open to several different breeds (Buckeye, Australorp, Orpington, Sussex, Wyandotte, New Hampshire), and although the list is long, it's more because I'm looking for a breeder relatively close than anything else. On the Livestock Conservancy page there are many breeders listed, but either they don't list the breeds I'm interested in or give me a different list by email than the page shows. Most are also so far away it's not even worth looking. I am located in the tri-state area of Ohio/PA/WV.

I'm sorry to ask what I know is a repeat question, and I would be more than happy to PM with suggestions, or even move this to a different thread

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!
Holly

 

[hellbender]

Hi All! I have been lurking on both this thread and it's predecessor, and although I have tried to read every post I do have to admit to skipping a couple (hundred) pages in the middle of this one.... it updates WAY too fast to keep up when you're several hundred pages behind ;-) I have loved all the info I have gained, and love the discussions that have happened! Thanks for the posts.

I'm posting this question here because I figured it would be the best place to find someone to point me in the right direction. I am interested in getting involved in heritage birds- I have some (obviously non-heritage) that were from Tractor Supply, and although my hens are sweet and great layers the rooster is not sweet at all. I know that mean roos are a product of poor genetics and mass breeding and want to get away from aiding that industry.

I'm pretty open to several different breeds (Buckeye, Australorp, Orpington, Sussex, Wyandotte, New Hampshire), and although the list is long, it's more because I'm looking for a breeder relatively close than anything else. On the Livestock Conservancy page there are many breeders listed, but either they don't list the breeds I'm interested in or give me a different list by email than the page shows. Most are also so far away it's not even worth looking. I am located in the tri-state area of Ohio/PA/WV.

I'm sorry to ask what I know is a repeat question, and I would be more than happy to PM with suggestions, or even move this to a different thread

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!
Holly

Just my pinion but if you could narrow it down to one or two 'must haves'.....folks might be more able to direct you.

 

[Beekissed]

I missed the question?

 

[Vamvakas]

I learned a new Greek ideology from my parents if you have a broody hen set her when there's a full moon or half moon. I tried to set a NN hen with no moon at all and she bailed the nest 2 days later. Now I have a australorp who went broody on a full moon and she's sits in her nest like a clay model.

I thought I was a troll when I heard it but it's true. Gotta listen to those old myths...

 

[desertmarcy]

Well, I officially have my NHs back. This girl has went through a couple molts, and anyone that knows this breed knows what that does to the color. I am pleased to have them on my yard again. Certainly not a pretty pullet in her prime, but I still like her. Quick poor pictures.






I will clean them up, and see what I can get out of them. I am not certain what the goals will be initially. I need to get back into them.

Depth was a priority. I think it is time to put more effort in the color. I can tease out a few decent typed birds. The size of eggs will need to a point of focus for some time. I am a believer in that big birds should lay big eggs.

I have a couple cockerels back, but I will not keep them. They are not any good. One has a tail that looks like a palm leaf, and both are a bit shallow and slight. I have 31 young to grow out and see if they can help me. Hopefully there is a couple good males in the bunch. If not, I will be in trouble. LOL.

I have been playing around with NHs for about 8yrs, and this will be year four with this new strain. I have always been a fan of this breed, and suppose that I always will. They have a lot of potential. I am learning to look at what the birds could or should be instead of what they are. I get bogged down in that, and have to be careful to not get rid of the whole lot.

What line are yours? I have the German line, completely pure, but no male. I got 2 new cockerels this winter, German with just a little American blood mixed in, but both of them died! In the meantime, I had culled my cock bird and cockerels because of issues with white in their tail feathers. So I just got an almost year old cockerel from someone that is the Frank Reese line via XW Poultry. He is not a very good bird, too narrow in the rear (back tapers down like a triangle) and not much of a tail. I am trying to decide if he will add anything to my hens. Like you, I am interested in getting the egg size up. The German line lays medium at best. I did hatch four chicks from the nicer male before he died. Almost all the other eggs were infertile, a sign he had something wrong for a while, I think. I am not sure if I have any cockerels in the group yet, but I think I have 1, maybe 2. I was going to turn all my hens over to someone else, but he doesn't want an outcross and without a decent male, he isn't interested in taking over my New Hampshires.

Now here is another frustrating thing. I held back 9 pullets from last year and they are all nice. This year so far, 5 of those nine have gone broody! Two have been repeats. I move them to wire cages to break them. I started keeping a spreadsheet of all the broodies I'm having this year. I didn't keep it at the beginning of the season so not sure how much time between "sessions" have occurred with the 2 repeat NHs, but guessing at least a month. And one of my older, original hens from 2012 also went broody for a spell. Matt1616, who started me out in the NHs, said he'd never seen a New Hampshire go broody. Anybody else?? I am trying to decide what my threshold should be for broodiness if I don't want it in my birds before they are out of here. Once? Twice? or give them a third time? More than 2 definitely seems too much to me, but maybe even two times is too much. Opinions?

 

[Zanna]

Now here is another frustrating thing. I held back 9 pullets from last year and they are all nice. This year so far, 5 of those nine have gone broody! Two have been repeats. I move them to wire cages to break them. I started keeping a spreadsheet of all the broodies I'm having this year. I didn't keep it at the beginning of the season so not sure how much time between "sessions" have occurred with the 2 repeat NHs, but guessing at least a month. And one of my older, original hens from 2012 also went broody for a spell. Matt1616, who started me out in the NHs, said he'd never seen a New Hampshire go broody. Anybody else?? I am trying to decide what my threshold should be for broodiness if I don't want it in my birds before they are out of here. Once? Twice? or give them a third time? More than 2 definitely seems too much to me, but maybe even two times is too much. Opinions?

Mine are German line, Cock from a different source than the hens I bred him to this year. This is my second year with them, first year of breeding. I have 5 hens from the same source as the Cock and 5 Hens from the other source. The 5 from the 2nd source are 2 years old this year and one went broody recently and is raising some Marans and F5 Dels from Kathys line for me. No others broody yet and none of them went broody last year.

 

[desertmarcy]

I don't know why, but I have been dealing with an excess # of broody hens this year. 19 individual birds so far. I have 8 wire bottomed cages that are suspended above the ground. Today I washed the 7 chickens I am taking to the Pima County Fair show this Friday, so I needed those to keep the birds clean. 4 broodies are now sharing one of the wire cages...

Of my 8 original NH hens, hatched spring of 2012, none went broody last year. One has been twice this year, and twice for 2 of the younger ones. Driving me nuts