Heritage Large Fowl - Phase II

[gjensen]

If you want to wait a bit, you can mark the fluff for temporary identification. Blue kote works well, and they will lose it as the lose the fluff. Permanent marker can add some color, and you can mark them in different locations etc. You know that the wings feather in first. This should buy you a couple weeks at least. I have waited one and two weeks, but my batches were hatched and kept separate when I did.

I have never seen toe curls from notching the webs. I am not saying that some have not had a different experience. I am saying that has not been my experience.

 

[Beekissed]

Fred gave me a great site for reasonable pricing on leg bands and they have the plastic bandettes for youngsters. Here's the link: http://cutlersupply.com/zen_new51/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=6_88&products_id=550

I just ordered these this past week and was surprised at the quick delivery and I felt the prices were good compared to other places.

 

[Lacy Blues]

Sharpie markers. They come in many colors. You can just put a streak of color on the top of their little heads.

 

[RiddleMe]

For those of you with experience toe punching......... I have toe punched for id for many years. My NH hatch with a lot of webbing so it is easy to do. My Kathy line Delawares have barely enough webbing to leave room for the hole. I jam the toe punch back as far as I can and still don't have enough room on some of the chicks.

Do any of you wait a few days till they have grown a bit then punch? If so, I need a way to identify them as I am hatching two separate matings and they all go into the same brooder. Zip tieing every little chick would be a pain. Anyone tried little strips of vetwrap? Thinking it might be difficult to get off, it sticks to itself very well, that's the point.

Anyone cut a slit through the web rather than punching the hole? Have heard that may cause toe curling problems.

Any advise would be appreciated!

Water based/acrylic craft paint, a dab rubbed on the head with a q-tip or your finger tip. Cheap, comes in every possible color, easy to apply and lasts until they get their juvenile feathers on their head.

 

[Zanna]

Great ideas, thank you all so much!

Any problems with too much bleeding when toe punching at 2 - 3 weeks old?

 

[3riverschick]

Thank you all for the input on my flock plans. I really appreciate it. I don't want the other Columbian breeds because they ( except Delawares which are the same as Light Sussex coloring with the addition of the barring gene) are eb allele based and require color balancing the underfluff to get proper top color. I just don't want to deal with that. I don't want double mating or Partridge coloring or Buff. I want plain white in a breed which doesn't have problems with gold or red tints in what should be proper white.
Has anyone with a rose comb breed come thru the worst of this winter weather without frostbite problems? I am trying to figure out I can consider a rosecomb breed or if I should consider cushion comb only. I also want a breed which tends more to the egg than meat virtues if I can find one. In my large coop I have room for 6 large fowl Chanties at 4 sq. ft. each and 19.5 ft. each outside in the run. Can I just double all the birds and 1/2 the ratios if I consider Bantam Chanties? Is it that simple in that breed?
Thanks,
Karen

 

[brahmabreeder]

Hi,
 Thanks for the input! I am thinking I need a rose comb or cushion comb breed.  I am just not going to do this again. It is too hard to spend all that time, attention, and money raising a season of chicks only to see the cold ruin their show chances.  I wonder if Bantam Chanteclers are as hardy as the large fowl Chanties?
 Best,
 Karen

The pea combs on my Brahmas worked very well for them in the numerous negative temperatures they dealt with.

 

[brahmabreeder]

For those of you with experience toe punching.........  I have toe punched for id for many years.  My NH hatch with a lot of webbing so it is easy to do.  My Kathy line Delawares have barely enough webbing to leave room for the hole.  I jam the toe punch back as far as I can and still don't have enough room on some of the chicks. 

Do any of you wait a few days till they have grown a bit then punch?  If so, I need a way to identify them as I am hatching two separate matings and they all go into the same brooder.  Zip tieing every little chick would be a pain. Anyone tried little strips of vetwrap?  Thinking it might be difficult to get off, it sticks to itself very well, that's the point.

Anyone cut a slit through the web rather than punching the hole?  Have heard that may cause toe curling problems.

Any advise would be appreciated!

I did the slitting one year and not one of my birds had problems because of it.

 

[armorfirelady]

Karen,
I am sorry to hear about the problems you had this year. We also had a more brutal than normal winter. While my 7 hens are not for breeding I do have several with large combs. One had very minor frostbite at the top of their combs. I believe it was from being outside in the below zero temps. I just left it be & its healed up on its own already.

I do not provide heat & they are allowed to leave the coop during even the harshest temps this winter. I leave it up to them. They have an enclosed area against the garage where they like to hang out during the day. As long as the snow is not deep they happily make the short trek to it. This enclosure is open (lattice work is the walls) that is covered with shower curtains to keep out the rain,w ind & snow. But it is not stapled down, just hangs down on its own.

My coop is a hoop coop and the cover is an old billboard. The door window is open 6 inches all winter (more when the temps rise) and it has several roof vents. Other than their deep litter that's in there and some hay thrown in on the coldest days (-15 temp -40 wind chill) to let them nest in if they wanted, they had nothing else. They all survived just fine, I averaged at least 1 egg a day (I do not add light to increase/continue laying thru the winter) The south side is covered with clear heavy duty plastic to allow whatever sun there was in through the winter. At times the snow was 3/4 of the way up the sides of the coop (we got 7 ft of snow in 3 days in November) but the snow acted as an insulator.

I also feed/water them outside the coop in a little lean to attached to the coop. They have to come out to eat/drink. I found in the past the food & water added to much moisture to the coop in the winter.

The temps in the coop are maybe a degree or 2 warmer than outside. But it effectively blocks the bitter winds.

I just wanted to let you know that you can have large comb breeds through our rough, bitter cold winters & not have a problem with frost bite.

That is snow that's almost to the roof of the coop. The inside height of the coop normally is almost 6 ft.

I did have to continously remove snow from the roof of the coop because it was starting to sag with oiver 3 ft of snow on it. During the November storm is the only time the hens didn't venture out often.

 

[3riverschick]

That's really impressive, armorfirelady.
Things didn't work out that way here and the combs on my cocks were quite frostbitten.
I am leaning towards large fowl Chanteclers.
Time will tell.
Best,
Karen