INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[oldrooster]

Hatcheries and farm stores, don't sell RIRs, even if it has a black tail, it's not a RIR. True RIRs are only available from breeders who have made sure to keep the breed pure, and they didn't obtain theirs from hatchery stock.

I've not seen anyone say on here that those stores or hatcheries accuse them of selling a bird that is SOP. Many people I know of will say I have a such and such type of dog or cat and they are likely not pure bred pets either. If someone looks around and reads much here on BYC they soon realize that you need to go to a reputable breeder to get a SOP bird.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

I've not seen anyone say on here that those stores or hatcheries accuse them of selling a bird that is SOP. Many people I know of will say I have a such and such type of dog or cat and they are likely not pure bred pets either. If someone looks around and reads much here on BYC they soon realize that you need to go to a reputable breeder to get a SOP bird.

AGREED! You get what you pay for and you do your homework.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Beautiful day today! I'm excited, the birds singing and that spring smell is in the air. Ganders and drakes all fighting, 1 goose already preparing a nest. I heard spring peepers singing tonight when I closed our coops. No robins yet!
We've started constructing our new coops. I want a completely mobile permaculture style system. Electric portable netting, solar chargers and mobile coops. I need 1 more solar charger and 2 coops for now and we are good to go! The garden area will have electric netting and an AC charger this year. (Already have). The goats, Belle the LGD and Daisy my heifer are moving out to pasture, and garden work starts this weekend !

 

[weezerfish]

I've got a feather eater! Watched her pick feathers off the back of several other hens tonight. I bought a bag of feather fixer feed (18% protein) thinking that maybe they're a little deficient and she's trying to play catch-up.

Hoping that with the warmer weather I can give them a little more range time too and that might help. ​

I don't really have a means of separating her and resetting her place in the pecking order short of putting her in a dog crate in the garage. If you have other suggestions that might help with the situation, let me know.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

I've got a feather eater! Watched her pick feathers off the back of several other hens tonight. I bought a bag of feather fixer feed (18% protein) thinking that maybe they're a little deficient and she's trying to play catch-up.

Hoping that with the warmer weather I can give them a little more range time too and that might help. ​

I don't really have a means of separating her and resetting her place in the pecking order short of putting her in a dog crate in the garage. If you have other suggestions that might help with the situation, let me know.

Try cooked scrambled eggs to up protein, mealworms. Some just are feather pickers its not a good habit can lead to cannibalism. Heavy molts I will even feed ground beef, cooked.

 

[oldrooster]

AGREED! You get what you pay for and you do your homework.

I met someone who Breeds to SOP and he says it's his business, to breed that way. He takes them to shows and wins awards, and he can ask top dollar for his birds, but he admits if you just want eggs and meat it may not matter, but if you view it as a business then you will likely have to do what he does, breed, show and focus on SOP.

 

[weezerfish]

Try cooked scrambled eggs to up protein, mealworms. Some just are feather pickers its not a good habit can lead to cannibalism. Heavy molts I will even feed ground beef, cooked.

Lucky for me we have a surplus of eggs right now. I'll scramble some up in the morning and hope it helps. I've been searching and reading feather picking threads here on BYC. I'd really like to head this off before it escalates. Some rough situations seem to start this way.

 

[JanetMarie]

Truth there, hatcheries sell "production RIR" and not true Rhode Island Red breeder quality stock. Big difference! The true RIR are much more impressive, larger and robust breed.

Yes, hatcheries only sell breeds that are all for production, which is what most chicken keepers want.

I've had some RIRs before, that I obtained hatching eggs from a breeder. They were nice, but for some different reasons I didn't want to keep breeding them, and pursue the SOP standards. I'll post a picture.

 

[JanetMarie]

@jchny2000 They were the Underwood line. She is 3 years old here. I like the brick shape body style, among other traits. They remind me of pictures I've seen of the Dark Cornish, which as I've read, are part of what makes up the RIR breed.
She's not SOP standard.

 

[JanetMarie]

I've got a feather eater! Watched her pick feathers off the back of several other hens tonight. I bought a bag of feather fixer feed (18% protein) thinking that maybe they're a little deficient and she's trying to play catch-up.

Hoping that with the warmer weather I can give them a little more range time too and that might help. ​

I don't really have a means of separating her and resetting her place in the pecking order short of putting her in a dog crate in the garage. If you have other suggestions that might help with the situation, let me know.

I've had a few feather eaters before, and had to cull. Nothing I tried worked, and on one occasion another bird was starting to learn that behavior! I hope you can come up with a solution better than I could.