Landrace/adaptive breeding discussion

[Lukers]

Go for it. There's a lot of information here. If you have the resources, might want to get Bullfrog's book as he goes into a great deal of detail on the process.

If your boy is a bantam, will he be able to handle full size hens?

He is a banty, but I'd darn sure hope that an agile, handsome little RJF cockerel could cover standard hens if my little clumsy black Frizzle cochin banty that I had years ago could cover a standard Brahma hen HAHAHA. Yeah, I have no fear of him having difficulty. Thank you very much!

 

[LaurenRitz]

Let us know how it goes. There's so much to learn!

 

[LaurenRitz]

I am trying to teach my brooder-raised birds to forage. I decided to move toward feeding them at night so I've been feeding them later in the day (currently 2:00) and feeding them again just before sundown (around 5) so they go to roost with full crops.

Last week I shifted their afternoon feeding to scattering a quart of grain in the grass so they have to forage to find it. The younger birds were just sitting in the coop waiting for me to bring dinner. Locking the run gate during the day seems to make a difference as well.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of morning vs evening feeding? Eventually, as more are broody raised and taught to forage, I'll eliminate the commercial food as much as possible.

 

[LaurenRitz]

Still working on the free ranging. I suspect their feed use will jump now that the real cold has hit.

I went out last night and one of the pullets was hiding in a corner. She allowed me to approach, which is highly unusual, so I picked her up and brought her in. She appears to have wry neck. I dosed her with vitamin E and a B complex.

This morning she is holding her head up almost normally. I gave her more E in some scrambled egg.

The food I give them should have plenty of those nutrients according to the label but another bird went the same way a few months ago. The thing is that both of these birds preferr(ed) free ranging and barely touched the commercial food.

Would you say that this is a bird that is unsuited to free ranging, or possibly a deficiency on my property?

This bird is a hatchery Buckeye. The other was a broody raised ((BielxJG)xJG)xBA

 

[Ridgerunner]

Would you say that this is a bird that is unsuited to free ranging, or possibly a deficiency on my property?

Probably unsuited to free range on your property.

 

[LaurenRitz]

Probably unsuited to free range on your property.

I have been seriously considering a layers-only coop for birds that have issues. That way I'll have a good place to put rooster haters, chick killers, or those that can't handle free range.

In this particular case I'm starting to think she may have been wounded. When I enter her space she goes absolutely nuts trying to get away from me, which is new behavior. Before she would just walk or run away, but now she's panicking.

 

[LaurenRitz]

The broody is starting to distance herself from the chicks at 7 weeks. She has them up on the roost at night and today she left them to fend for themselves for a few minutes while she ate with the adults.

She still follows them around, and she's there if they need help, but they're ranging farther away and out of her sight.

Regarding their training in free ranging, I am feeding about 1/2 of the recommended amount for 30 birds, and they always leave some. They're learning!

 

[No Coop No Problem]

What I want to create is a dunghill sort of bird using genetics of the jungle fowl and my mutt chickens that I hatched here on the property. I want something first and foremost that can evade most predators, and can brood chicks fast enough to reasonably replace losses. As well as reasonable egg production, which is where the layer-bred mutts come in.

Dunghill production mutts are very easy to produce. That's pretty much all I have running around here

In my experience half game half production mutts survive just as well as pure games but produce far more eggs. This next batch I have coming up is only a fourth game. Maybe that'll be the optimal mix for free-ranging food production

Eventually, as more are broody raised and taught to forage, I'll eliminate the commercial food as much as possible.

I think most birds in North America migrate far south during winter to lands capable of feeding them. Most land won't have sufficient calories for sustaining chickens, even in summer

Red Junglefowl are very small and live in tropical climates that have food growing year round

 

[LaurenRitz]

I think most birds in North America migrate far south during winter to lands capable of feeding them. Most land won't have sufficient calories for sustaining chickens, even in summer

Red Junglefowl are very small and live in tropical climates that have food growing year round

The fact that essentially untrained birds are finding half their food on free range in winter is telling. I wish I could teach them to hunt mice, but unfortunately that's not within my abilities.

Maybe over time the smaller birds will prove the best foragers. I don't know yet. At this time, even the largest seem to be thriving.

 

[LaurenRitz]

I was about to put in an order with Sandhillpreservation, but I'm having second thoughts.

Mixed game
Range Sussex
Iowa Blue
Icelandic

I bought 5 Speckled Sussex last spring, and none of them survived. They were constantly sick, didn't thrive at all. They were also very small. This is a population of mixed Dorking and Sussex, so maybe. We'll see. The description says he wasn't happy with how sick his Speckled Sussex were and crossed them with Dorkings to help with that. They also go broody.

I'm not happy with how small the Icelandics and Game are. For the most part the hawks fly over, look at my big birds, and fly away. The only time they hang around is if they think they have a chance at getting a chick. The chicks at 7 weeks are just about the size of the full grown Games and Icelandics. But both are excellent foragers and they go broody reliably, which is something I'm missing in my current population.

My concern there is that the hawks will see birds the right size for lunch, and hang around more, giving them more of a shot at the chicks. Even if they can't get the Icelandics and Games, it increases the risk for the other birds.

I've been wanting to add in Iowa Blue for a while, but couldn't find a breeder. Again, broody. And all of these are supposed to be excellent foragers.

I have to get 25 chicks for an order, and 25 Iowa Blues seemed a little excessive even if the limit wasn't ten...

As I said, second thoughts. And 3rd thoughts.