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If you are making them, I'd go 18 Inches.I know she would fit in my current boxes, but since I have the opportunity to make them whatever size I want, I figured I might as well accommodate Leila
She started to roost a few days ago finally! The three black hens all roost together (JG, BCM and BSL), and the other five roost together. It's pretty cute. They tend to roost in order small to large LOL.
This is a problem I had when i started with Giants. The SOP says that "complete absence of yellow" is a disqualification. The yellow varies from bird to bird in the same family of birds, and diet has alot to do with how bright the yellow they have does show up. And then when they are laying the yellow color in thier feet is the first part of their body to loose the yellow. Whew! Its a rather complex subject with Giants. Judge Frank Harris rubs the foot bottoms which will increase blood flow to the feet and show a hint of yellow if they have any yellow color at all, and are laying which has pulled alot of the yellow pigment. And this also rubs off yellow color if they have been "faked" with something to try to fool a judge. If a judge doesnt take all these things into consideration and rejects a bird on a glance at the feet they could be passing on a good bird. I have a friend that had a few giants and showed @ the crossroads in '11 and did well. 2 months later the same birds were marked at a local show for "pad color" . They had been on purina flockraiser w/ marigold extract (for yellow yolks and skin....ie it helps brighten yellow pad color. It will NOT turn white feet yellow) They had switched to a diff feed that didnt have the marigold extract. Now you may ask??????? Are u telling me Giants need marigold extract to have yellow feet? No i am not. The intensity of the yellow pigment comes from yellow food stuffs. Corn provides this too. But as corn prices have increased feed producers supplement protien w something cheaper to keep costs down. My pelleted feed changed colors a couple of years ago. It is darker......doesnt have as much corn in it as it used to. I let a friend have 8 pullets last summer @ 6 mos old. I told them i wanted 2 back in the late fall. These 8 birds ran loose 24/7 and foraged for themselves. The only feed they got was cracked corn. Something killed 4 of them so i only got one bird back. This birds feet were several shades brighter than those of her sisters that had been kept at my place on a pelleted feed and allowed to freerange in the evenings. I am no expert but these are some of my experiences with pad color. Back in the "Old Days" people freeranged and fed whole grains. Now we have to keep our birds hemmed up because of predators or worse.....somebodys roaming dog that kills for sport. I would like to hear others input and experiences. SHANE.
They won't when your Giant is in there!
Quote: The girls approve of the new nest boxes. All of my eggs today were laid in one of the new nest boxes. (The JG isn't laying yet, so they were all standard size hens) The nest box has been there for days, I think since Sunday, but for some reason they all used it today
