Kentucky people

[chknbrdr]

No, I'm not getting out of showing. I actually am trying to win more. With too many birds, I can't concentrate on conditioning indivduals, and I am tired of getting Reserve of Show!!! I want to win the whole thing!!! I've got the genetics, I've just had trouble getting them in top condition.

The high price of feed has been a factor as well. Feed prices have doubled, but most people around here still don't want to pay $10 for a chicken.

I am working on a couple of situations where I will have a market for all my extra started birds and maybe even be able to quit selling chicks altogether.
It is a pain shipping chicks. The shipping is easy, but filling orders with specific breeds and varieties for each person is hard to do early in the year and everyone seems to want chicks before the middle of Feb.

Most folks want show quality but don't want to pay $4 or $5 for chicks.

By setting fewer eggs, I can raise everything I hatch and hopefully have a way to make a few bucks on the ones I don't keep for breeders.

I kept around 40 ducks and 25 geese to breed from this year. I will still have 2,000 - 3,000 birds growing this summer like normal. I just hope to have better quality overall to work with.
I'm sure if feed goes back down to a reasonable level, I will be back up in numbers on breeders for next year.

Matt

 

[wyldehorses]

Matt ,

Be serious - you want to win more!

I am literally laughing my butt off. I've been to the website. I've seen the trophies. I've seen the ribbons. I got my butt kicked by you all summer. And you want to win more! That is just greedy.

I am just joking. I admire your knowledge of poultry. That's why I was asking about classes or seminars.

It was easy when I got into horses. I boarded at a mid size training facillity and spent every free minute there. Always asking a million questions from vets, farriers, trainers. Took years of lessons. Worked up through the barn to assistant trainer. And then started training and showing for a quarter horse breeder.

It just seems so hard to gain the experience and knowledge with poultry. Leslie was so helpful at the fair. I learned a lot from her during that short period of time. And other people at shows have been extremely kind and helpful. And all those books I keep buying help. But I guess I just feel like I'm not learning fast enough.

Like conditioning. What do you do to condition a chicken?

You need to start having more classes and seminars. Or at least post on here if they are going to be local.

Yolonda

 

[chknbrdr]

I guess I don't necessarily mean I want to win 'more', just bigger!!

Like with horses, the only way to gain experience is to do it. You are on the right track with reading as much as you can... by the way, I've got some new books... (lol)

Conditioning is basically getting your birds ready to show. It is the opposite of what I do. I literally go out to the breeding barn, find chickens that have most of their feathers and scrub the sh*t off their feet and take them to the show. I always claim that I show my 'slow' waterfowl, the ones I could catch first out of the yard.

To do it right, you would have separated potential show birds weeks or months before, kept them in coops and handled them daily to calm them down. Many exhibitors feed special treats or supplements like wheat germ oil, cod live oil etc.
Most folks wash their chickens a few days before the show.

I just try to keep the pens as clean as possible and keep enough birds in each breed to have plenty to choose from. Most of the time, I show cocks in the Spring because the hens are all messed up from breeding. I show hens in the Fall, because they tend to come into feather quicker after the summer molt than the cocks. I rarely wash birds - usually only the white chickens.

Our local poultry club, Bluegrass Poultry Associaiton, almost died out 2 years ago and I agreed to serve as President on the condition that we could move our meetings to Sunday afternoons because I was at poultry shows on Saturday mornings.

We decided as a group to have a program at each meeting.
We had a Feed Salesman/Nutritionist from Purina once and Sue Blair from Ky Dept of Ag talked about Biosecurity & NPIP one time. We had Ben Porter over to give an 'Open' judging for a fun show. He basically judged the birds out loud and let folks know what good and bad points were. And we had a 'member skills' day where anyone who wanted to could show something they knew about poultry. We had a dubbing demo on some OEG, an exhibitor gave a demo on prepping for show etc.
I have tried to not be the featured presenter at any meeting because they have all heard me many times and I think it is better to hear new people and new ideas.

We went from 10 paid members last year to 55 this year.

I was re-elected this year and we took time last week to make plans for 2008, here they are:

FEB:
Chicken Color Genetics and Breeding systems -
One of our members is going to give a seminar on breeding various colors and mating systems such as inbreeding, line-breeding, pedigreed mating etc.

MARCH:
Egg School - One of our members attended Egg Quality school in PA for 3 days and learned about grading, candling etc. and is going to give the rest of the membership a crash course.

APRIL:
Avian Quiz Bowl, 4-H contests - we will have an University Extension person talk about the various youth contests available in 4-H Poultry project. We will also have a Avian Quiz Bowl for Adults and Youth and maybe a judging contest.

MAY:
Member Skills : I got roped in to showing how to do Artificial Insemination, I'm sure several others will have various procedures and experiences they can talk about.

JUNE: Picnic

JULY: NO meeting - everyone is busy with county fairs

AUGUST: Meeting at the KY STATE FAIR

Our meetings are typically the 2nd Sunday at 2:30 pm, but I will try to post the specific information for each month as I get it.
You can also join the Bluegrass Poultry Association yahoo group. You don't have to be a club member to be on the group, just request to join and I will approve you.

Matt

 

[wyldehorses]

Matt,

Wow, you guys do a lot! That is exactly what I was looking for. When I was into showing horses there were seminars almost every weekend. And all those expos were such a wealth of information.

I joined Kentuckiana because it is so close, but I don't think they do anything like what you guys do. Okay, how much is membership, where are the meetings usually held? I wouldn't be considered a traitor for belonging to two clubs? Well actually 3. I joined the polish club and they are also a big help.

I know what you mean about people not wanting to pay more than a couple of dollars for chicks. But, like anything else, you get what you pay for. And if anyone isn't familiar with Matt he does have show quality birds. They are beautiful.

I still have a ton of breeds running around, but I have two breeds that I really want to concentrate on. But I have so many questions. Do you have a special feeding program for the birds you plan to show? I read about everyone having "special show diets". I have a few birds running loose around the yard and they only get a litle scratch and whatever they can scrounge up. They have the richest color and the shine on their feathers is incredible. The ones I have inside on the better feed are pretty, but they don't shine like the few running loose.

Can male chickens have hormone problems? I have a splash cock that I wanted to breed to that blue hen I got from you. He never seems interested in females. I took her away, tried other hens and nothing. In fact he decided to sit on a batch of eggs that the last hen laid. Of course they weren't fertile. I read about the artificail insemination on the polish web site and am going to try it when the weather warms up.

Let me know about the club.

Yolonda

 

[chknbrdr]

Yolonda,

I am a member of Green River and Bluegrass clubs, probably should join Kentuckiana now that they are having the show in Kentucky, so there is no worry about conflict. I usually don't join breed clubs but I do accept bribes and was 'convinced' to join the Brahma club. ( I now have rare Partridge Brahma bantams and will be getting some Black Brahma bantams in the next couple of weeks.)

Our dues at Bluegrass Poultry Association are $15, which is higher than most, but we try to offer more. Originally our club was based on monthly swap meets in Lexington, and we charged $5 to set up or set up was free if you were a member, so the $15 was a pretty good deal. No one has complained about the dues, so we have kept them the same although the swaps have somewhat died off. One of our members is starting a poultry swap in Paris, KY on the second Saturday beginning in April. I'm sure it will be small at first. There is still a loosely affiliated swap in the warmer months on the first Saturday in Irvine, Kentucky (Estil county)

Roosters are affected by day-length just like hens. As the day increases, their sperm production increases. Hopefully at 3-4 weeks of increased day-length, they hens are getting into full production and the roosters are becoming more fertile. I have some products to help boost fertility in males but I don't use them. I keep enough extra roosters so I can switch out if there is a problem, but I have customers who have had success with getting seemingly infertile roosters productive again by using them. They are on the 'Supplements' page on www.poultrymansupply.com
Another common reason for infertility is mites on the rooster. You may want to give him a thorough check. They often just look like dirt or poop at first glance.

As far as feed, I use Bagdad feeds from the mill in Bagdad, Kentucky. I tried the Purina Show feed on a few birds last year and I could see no difference. Interestingly enough, it nearly killed my Barred Rock Bantams. I was feeding Rhode Island Reds bantams and White Rock bantams Purina show chow as well and they seemed to have no ill effects. The Barred Rocks seemed to dry up and nearly die. I switched feed and within a few days, they were back to normal. All the birds were in the same environment, so the only factor was the variety of chicken. I quit using it altogether after that. It was about $5 per bag more anyway. I still use my coupons from Poultry Press to buy the regular Purina layer pellets, but I mostly just dump that out to feed the ducks, geese and turkeys.

Birds kept outdoors always seem to look better than those housed inside, you just have to be careful of fading in colored birds or bleaching in white birds. Also feeding diets higher in corn can have yellowing effect on white birds exposed to a lot of sunlight.

Trust me I am no expert on conditioning. There are plenty of folks at shows that can help you a lot more than I can. You just have to talk to as many people as you can meet and see what works for you.

Glad to see you joined the list. Our club meetings are typically in Winchester or Lexington, watch the list for announcements.

Matt

 

[wyldehorses]

Matt,

I have had the silkie male (with absolutely no sex drive) since last spring. I've tried him with every silkie hen I have and he just acts like one of the girls. He even sat on eggs for 2 weeks. I've used the ivermectin spray I got from you. And Adam's Flea and Tick in between treatments. All the hens have successfully mated with other males and I am sure they are fertile. It's just this guy. My bantam favorelles haven't had any fertile eggs either, but not for lack of trying. I've been in contact with other bantam favorelle owners and they have had problems with high fertiltiy. I do have another male fav, that I am going to try in the spring. I just don't like him as well.

The pens I have set up outdoors are all covered. I talked to the agriculture guy at the fair and he said that was one of the requirements for NPIP. The few I have running loose are not anything I want to breed. They're just pets. That's why we were asking about caponizing. It's a black Jersey Giant and he has red in his hackles. I don't want to pass this on, so I have to keep him away from the pens. Unfortunately, he's Alan's pet. Alan sits on the porch with him and feeds him soft dog food. So, hes got to stay. I'll just have to build him his own pen. I've been trying to train some of the others with te dog food and they are getting more tame. Now I need to build some wire cages to train them for shows.

I've been feeding layer/breeder pellets from Southern States. I can definately tell a difference if I try to switch to plain layer. I don't have nearly as many chicks hatch when I feed the plain layer. I also have an older hen that only lays if I add poultry drench to her water.

Bagdad isn't that far from here. I'm in Shelbyville every week so I could swing by there. I go through a ton of feed here. Between horses, dogs, cats, ducks, chickens, rabbits, goats, and whatever else gets dropped off, I do feed a ton. I'm working on being the crazy old lady up on the hill, that all the kids are afraid of. LOL They really aren't afraid. When the weather was nicer, people stopped almost every week to see the weird chickens and petting zoo. I may have to charge admission this year.

I checked out the Blugrass site and recognized a few names on there.

Have you had any luck finding the quail yet? I forgot all about Larry in Frankfort.

I understand the blackmail to join breed clubs. That's why I joined. But as it turns out they are full of helpful advice. Where do I send the money to join Blugrass?

Post pictures of the Brahamas so we can all enjoy them.

Yolonda

 

[kentuckysilkies]

Yolonda, I see that you have Bantam Faverolles. I won some eggs in a BYC contest and hatched 4 BSF roos. They are beautiful, but I have no use for them at all. I am desperately looking for a new home for these guys. If you are interested just come get them.

Tom

 

[wyldehorses]

Tom,

That would be great! I love the favs. I am having trouble with fertility though. If I start getting fertile eggs I'll let you have some eggs or chicks if you want. I'm getting ready to sepeate some of my silkies for breeding. Have you gotten ready for spring breeding yet?

I can't get up that way untlil Saturday. Would that be okay?

Thanks,
Yolonda

 

[kentuckysilkies]

I think the Favs are one of the most beautiful breeds, but they just don't work out here in the city. I guess I am relegated to have only Silkies until I can get some land farther out.

You can have them, nothing expected in return. I have a Showgirl roo penned with a few Silkie hens but the rest of the flock runs together (all colors of Silkies). I know I am biased, but I think I have some great Silkie pullets hatched last year of course most of them are not recognized colors. I still have to get rid of 7 or 8 Silkie roos (not crowing yet, but it won't be long). I am pairing them with young pullets and trying to sell them as pairs.

 

[wyldehorses]

Tom,
If you are working on showgirls, can you use any turkens? I have a couple of chicks you are welcome to if they would help your breeding program. One looks as if it will be white, and the other is mostly white with a few darker feathers. They are only a couple of weeks old, so the color could still change. They are from a white roo and a black hen.

I love your silkies. They are beautiful. I still have the hens and have gotten bunches of babies. Either Saturday or Sunday would be fine. Whatever works best for you.

Thanks,
Yolonda