Landrace/adaptive breeding discussion

[Florida Bullfrog]

Oh! Hadn't thought about bears - we've only had evidence of one on the property one time. Do you lower the feeder down or do they fly up there?

The feeder throws corn out twice a day. It has a spinning wheel that fires up at a set time and slings the corn out. Its purpose is to attract wildlife for hunting. The chickens utilize the game feeders as wild turkey might.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

The feeder throws corn out twice a day. It has a spinning wheel that fires up at a set time and slings the corn out. Its purpose is to attract wildlife for hunting. The chickens utilize the game feeders as wild turkey might.

There are similar things on our property for deer hunting but the chickens haven’t braved that area yet. There are coyotes and raccoons and bears up there and the chickens haven’t figured that out but apparently they aren’t in a hurry to.

 

[Appalachickens]

The feeder throws corn out twice a day. It has a spinning wheel that fires up at a set time and slings the corn out. Its purpose is to attract wildlife for hunting. The chickens utilize the game feeders as wild turkey might.

Oh, that makes sense. So I could toss corn/scratch out if I need to.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

It looks like my roosters have sorted themselves out—there is one in front of the barn with about a dozen girls and one in the back with half a dozen. Hopefully the bleeding is over and they can range daily now without having to be physically separated Eventually the backup silver Leghorn cockerel and four pullets will go in the stall with the back of barn flock.

 

[Khelton1]

Has anyone tried crossing icelandic with gamefowl, and if so how has the offspring done?

 

[Appalachickens]

Has anyone tried crossing icelandic with gamefowl, and if so how has the offspring done?

Ooh, I’m really interested in this because the landnámshænen are high on my list!

 

[angc11]

Generally I decide whether or not to support a broody, and if so, choose which eggs she gets to sit on. But following a successful secret nest in 2023, last year and this I have let those who made secret nests carry on. In most cases (viz 4) the nests were predated before hatching, though the broodies (2 different hens) survived. In 1 case the eggs made it to hatch, in the same open outdoor nest location that the first successful one used, though that was a different broody.

Some better than others, in my experience. And they learn by doing and watching each other. One that had secret nests in 2 different locations last year and this, both predated, now lays in a nest box in a coop. It remains to be seen if she'll go broody in a coop this year.

Sorry I am interjecting with an old topic, but I just happened upon this comment as I am considering letting some broodies hatch eggs in the spring with minimal intervention. Just curious Perris, where was your hens' successful hatching location? Did the hens sit in the woods, in a bush, somewhere else? And where did the unsuccessful hatches happen and how early/late in the hatch were the eggs predated?

Also does anyone else happen to have any stories of successful outdoor broody hatches? Or unsuccessful ones?

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

I had a game hen go broody in the woods but unfortunately the eggs weren’t fertilized because I was between roosters. Had I been able to find her I might have switched them out but I didn’t find her nest until a rotten egg rolled out of it and even then the dog was the one that found the egg She quit the nest a few days later when she started molting and overnight the remaining eggs were gone. I have no doubt that had they been fertilized she would have had a successful hatch because when I did the math she had been sitting over three weeks.

 

[kattabelly]

Also does anyone else happen to have any stories of successful outdoor broody hatches? Or unsuccessful ones?

I haven't had my current chickens for long enough to have many go broody, and the outdoor/secret hatches I've known about in the past were either too long ago or I wasn't involved enough in the care of those birds to remember the details. I have a friend nearby though whose small flock will sit on a few secret nests every year, usually either under a bush or in a nettle patch. There was one failed hatch last year when two broodies were trying to sit on the same nest, but generally they've been successful.

Last year a breeder I know in the next group of islands had an elderly hen go broody and either steal eggs or find a hidden nest outside (she doesn't lay any more). First he knew of it was when she turned up at the door of her usual housing one morning, he went to pick her up and found three healthy chicks underneath her.

 

[Backroadlogic]

Mine often go broody in a pile of fallen trees I have in front of the house, under my porches, in a little wagon once, and in random spots in the tall brush. They are successful more often than not. Every once in awhile a nest gets destroyed.