interested in Red jungle fowl

[Don 27]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like you tried to get her to hatch RJF eggs and then she abandoned them. Only after she had given up on that clutch you decided to incubate the eggs you had saved from her. By the time your incubated eggs had hatched, she would have no longer been broody for several weeks. Her drive to raise young had long since passed. In fact, he moment she abandoned the nest her desire and inclination to care for offspring began to rapidly decline.

Your best chance, and hardly a guarantee, would have been to incubate the removed eggs immediately and try and introduce the newly hatched chicks while she was still setting on the eggs you had replaced them with. I don't know as that is an overly successful tactic, but I could be wrong. Someone with more experience pulling the old switcharoo like that could probably speak to success better than I could.

That's exactly what I tried to do. Unfortunately I left those dead eggs under the hen for to long hoping they would hatch at day 29!. By then she had already pretty much given up broody ness. And the chicks I had incubated in my bator had no mother. This breed goes broody easily but they can be broken of broodyness even easier.

I decided I would do an egg topsy on the dead eggs and realised the eggs had no development at all. So this wasn't the mothers fault. Mostly likely the eggs weren't fertilized or FedEx killed them the seller wouldn't get back with me either. actually I started incubating the mother hens eggs right after I gave her the red jungle fowl eggs. The reason why I had to incubate her eggs right away is because they had already been incubated for a week under the hen. Most people will tell you to let a broody sit for a week before giving the broody expensive eggs. Also The reason why I wanted her to incubate the red jungle fowl eggs is because I wanted them to have a mother . I wasn't sure what to do with her eggs besides incubate them myself.


Sorry if I sound offended don't worry I'm not

 

[Don 27]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like you tried to get her to hatch RJF eggs and then she abandoned them. Only after she had given up on that clutch you decided to incubate the eggs you had saved from her. By the time your incubated eggs had hatched, she would have no longer been broody for several weeks. Her drive to raise young had long since passed. In fact, he moment she abandoned the nest her desire and inclination to care for offspring began to rapidly decline.

Your best chance, and hardly a guarantee, would have been to incubate the removed eggs immediately and try and introduce the newly hatched chicks while she was still setting on the eggs you had replaced them with. I don't know as that is an overly successful tactic, but I could be wrong. Someone with more experience pulling the old switcharoo like that could probably speak to success better than I could.

Also if I would have waited until night time to put the newly hatched chicks under her she might have excepted them. But once again I waited until day 29 to do anything with the chicks. So I guess you live and you learn.

 

[Mossy Dell]

Those are some good looking birds, Don. Very colorful and sleek. Were the American games dark, maybe Mugs or Sid Taylors or some other brown-red family?

 

[Zach123]

Ah, so it was my misunderstanding then. Yeah, sounds like you may have just missed the boat by a week or so. This spring I lost three 6 week old chicks when they escaped the run while I was at work and our barn cat wiped them out, and recently I had to rescind all "free range" privileges after the same cat started to take off with our adult birds (lost 4 in a week). So yup, live and learn for sure. It's all we can do most of the time. Definitely some great looking birds you've got there.

 

[Don 27]

Those are some good looking birds, Don. Very colorful and sleek. Were the American games dark, maybe Mugs or Sid Taylors or some other brown-red family?

I don't know all's the farmer said was American game. I have never actually heard of these family's before. I would like to find out what family they came from.


I'm not trying to be nosy or anything but I'm going to try and find the red jungle fowl thread you are talking about so I can see who mentioned this thread.

I'm probably just being to nosy though

 

[Don 27]

Ah, so it was my misunderstanding then. Yeah, sounds like you may have just missed the boat by a week or so. This spring I lost three 6 week old chicks when they escaped the run while I was at work and our barn cat wiped them out, and recently I had to rescind all "free range" privileges after the same cat started to take off with our adult birds (lost 4 in a week). So yup, live and learn for sure. It's all we can do most of the time. Definitely some great looking birds you've got there.

thanks!

the cat ate Adult birds ? that's scary! . I don't like killing cats so I don't know what I would do. What breeds do you have btw.?

 

[Zach123]

Yeah, I like my cat, so I won't be killing her. We hired her through a local shelter's "working cat" program to keep the rodent population in our barns, outbuilding, and around the house in check and so far she has done a great job. Used to be every time it snowed I'd find tons of little mouse trails everywhere. This winter I have found one. I suppose it was my fault for not expecting her to eventually go for the chickens, but aside from the event with the little ones (which, lets be honest, a baby chicken is just like a flightless sparrow...now if only she'd kill more of our stupid house sparrows) she had never seemed in the least bit interested in the big ones until about 2 weeks ago. Heck, they would chase HER away from her food bowl when I filled it up in the morning. But, that's how it goes I guess, live and learn eh? So I learned if I want to keep my rodent population down AND my chickens, free ranging is no longer an option for me. At least now egg collecting wont be a daily Easter egg hunt.

I have several breeds, and hopefully in the spring some interesting mutts. But right now, we've got Black Jersey giants, an "amber white" (some type of production hybrid, but shes actually a fantastic bird), Easter eggers, welsummers, a silkie, a big brahma roo, a little crevecoeur roo (who's probably part Polish, but so am I so that's okay), dominiques (and one who turned out to be a barred rock rather than a dom), and New Hampshires. We had a really pretty splash cochin but that was one of the ones the cat got ahold of. We've also got a runner, blue Swedish, and domestic mallard ducks.

 

[Don 27]

Yeah, I like my cat, so I won't be killing her. We hired her through a local shelter's "working cat" program to keep the rodent population in our barns, outbuilding, and around the house in check and so far she has done a great job. Used to be every time it snowed I'd find tons of little mouse trails everywhere. This winter I have found one. I suppose it was my fault for not expecting her to eventually go for the chickens, but aside from the event with the little ones (which, lets be honest, a baby chicken is just like a flightless sparrow...now if only she'd kill more of our stupid house sparrows) she had never seemed in the least bit interested in the big ones until about 2 weeks ago. Heck, they would chase HER away from her food bowl when I filled it up in the morning. But, that's how it goes I guess, live and learn eh? So I learned if I want to keep my rodent population down AND my chickens, free ranging is no longer an option for me.

I have several breeds, and hopefully in the spring some interesting mutts. But right now, we've got Black Jersey giants, an "amber white" (some type of production hybrid, but shes actually a fantastic bird), Easter eggers, welsummers, a silkie, a big brahma roo, a little crevecoeur roo (who's probably part Polish, but so am I so that's okay), dominiques (and one who turned out to be a barred rock rather than a dom), and New Hampshires. We had a really pretty splash cochin but that was one of the ones the cat got ahold of. We've also got a runner, blue Swedish, and domestic mallard ducks.

Ya you have some vary cool breeds! I like the ducks and the polish chickens She must be a big or determined kitty to kill bigger chickens like that.
. I agree ever since the cat lady moved away and left her skittish cats to rome the near by farms the mice have disappeared and the sparrow population has decreased. My carborators and air cleaners on my equipment had a noticeable difference too, when it comes to mice. The cats around here are a bit different compared to most cats. They are bigger and don't have very much coloration only gray. They are more like raccoons. Occasionally I will see a kitten running around. I don't like sparrows they aren't protected and breed on gran. I do crop farming and sparrows will eat any gran that is left open for a short amount of time. I like how the American settlers farm, and how much they could clear and build with simple tools. Do you do any kinda farming?

 

[Zach123]

The ducks are cool, but dreadfully messy and the creve/Polish roo is my favorite too .

Shes actually not a very large cat at all. But a hen, even as an adult, isn't much of a challenge for a an animal designed specifically for hunting.

Yeah, we've had mice get into vehicles and equipment. Boy that is a mess, and one of the reasons we hired the cat. She's killed some of the native sparrows, I found her munching on a white crowned sparrow one afternoon. As a birder, its my least favorite side effect of having an outdoor cat, but my other option is rodenticide, which very often kills a lot more critters than just mice. I do wish she'd get better at killing house sparrows though, they are nearly as big of a pest as mice.

I don't do any farming myself. Investing the time and effort and money into something that is completely at the whim of something you can't control (the weather) would be far too stressful for me. Especially here on the arid high plains. We get snow well into May most years, deluges of rain and hail for a short period in June, and and not so much as a cloud in the sky for 6-8 weeks after that. Then back to frost, and not uncommonly snow, in September. How the farmers make it out here is a mystery to me. The land we live on is leased out to a guy who runs cattle on it for part of the year and there is a large wetland and warm water slough system that the guys who own the property use for hunting waterfowl in the winter. So we manage it for rangeland and wildlife habitat. I do garden, but this past year it got infected by aminopyralid, a potent and persistent herbicide that is great for getting rid of thistles in pastures, but is hell for tomatoes and beans.

 

[Don 27]

The ducks are cool, but dreadfully messy and the creve/Polish roo is my favorite too .

Shes actually not a very large cat at all. But a hen, even as an adult, isn't much of a challenge for a an animal designed specifically for hunting.

Yeah, we've had mice get into vehicles and equipment. Boy that is a mess, and one of the reasons we hired the cat. She's killed some of the native sparrows, I found her munching on a white crowned sparrow one afternoon. As a birder, its my least favorite side effect of having an outdoor cat, but my other option is rodenticide, which very often kills a lot more critters than just mice. I do wish she'd get better at killing house sparrows though, they are nearly as big of a pest as mice.

I don't do any farming myself. Investing the time and effort and money into something that is completely at the whim of something you can't control (the weather) would be far too stressful for me. Especially here on the arid high plains. We get snow well into May most years, deluges of rain and hail for a short period in June, and and not so much as a cloud in the sky for 6-8 weeks after that. Then back to frost, and not uncommonly snow, in September. How the farmers make it out here is a mystery to me. The land we live on is leased out to a guy who runs cattle on it for part of the year and there is a large wetland and warm water slough system that the guys who own the property use for hunting waterfowl in the winter. So we manage it for rangeland and wildlife habitat. I do garden, but this past year it got infected by aminopyralid, a potent and persistent herbicide that is great for getting rid of thistles in pastures, but is hell for tomatoes and beans.

Ya the wether is a bit stressful. But it's not as bad down here. Usually April is when we get our crops in.
One thing I look at which isn't really necessary is how the original farmer had the land cleared . Then I go from there. I do have a blue bird and tree swallow trail. I have to keep up with catching house sparrows or they will destroy the native birds. It's terrible when you see this beautiful tree swallow flying around like a little model air plan only to have the bird land on one of my birds houses and be destroyed dead on the ground by the HOUSE SPARROW. After that now every year I dispatch the house sparrows before the tree swallows arrive. Right now I'm trying to attract purple Martins. I have been chatting on the purple Martin society's forum .

what's a water slough? Sorry I'm not familiar with the term. But we do have a bit of a wetland problem the original farmer cleared a wetland and farmed short season crops on the land. Well after that he parceled off his farm and the new owners wanted to build on the land ,but her husband died and she has no income so the land was just left alone for years. Until I asked if I could rent it from her. It's pretty wet and grown up so I guess I have a workout project now. Rather do that then go to the Jim!. Sorry to hear about the Aminopyralid are you ok? Do you get trees and brush
Like we do down here?