Langshan Thread!!!

[BGMatt]

Have any of you ever hatched a tail-less Langshan chick?  My friend who owns the farm where my breeding stock is hatched some eggs from our birds when they were free-ranging together.  She has one splash pullet (around 16 weeks old) that is tail-less.  Her tail feathers were not pulled out by her flock mates.  She has never had any.  Her back end looks like an Araucana.  The flock was comprised of all 4 colors of Langshan both roos & hens, 4 Silver Pencilled Plymouth Rock hens, and an all black hen that looks to me like she is at least partially Sumatra.  Of course, we won't breed this little Splash pullet but she is adorable and my friend will probably keep her in her layer flock.  I'll have to remember my camera next time I go out there and take some pics.  Our white roo, Gandalf, has gotten huge!  I wish that we had more than one hen for him.

Did it have any issues hatching? I have a Silver Pencilled Plymouth Rock cockerel that appears rumpless but he had a very difficult time hatching, didn't think he'd make it and I think it's just some odd deformity.

To more directly answer, no I have never had a rumpless Langshan hatch, nor (until the aforementioned chick) had any normal tailed breed hatch rumpless.

 

[PetRock]

Did it have any issues hatching? I have a Silver Pencilled Plymouth Rock cockerel that appears rumpless but he had a very difficult time hatching, didn't think he'd make it and I think it's just some odd deformity.

To more directly answer, no I have never had a rumpless Langshan hatch, nor (until the aforementioned chick) had any normal tailed breed hatch rumpless.

I don't think that it had any problems hatching but I wasn't the one who hatched it. My friend is a farmer and weak animals aren't usually coddled. I'm the softy who tries to help the weak ones even though the outcome is that they usually don't make it or they have some problem that crops up down the road.

 

[BGMatt]

I don't think that it had any problems hatching but I wasn't the one who hatched it.  My friend is a farmer and weak animals aren't usually coddled.  I'm the softy who tries to help the weak ones even though the outcome is that they usually don't make it or they have some problem that crops up down the road.

Just to clarify, I don't coddle or help birds out either. This guy just finally made it out on his own, he's perfectly healthy and getting big (13 weeks, same size and heavier than pullets) just no rump. And can't figure out why.

So I guess I say its probably just a fluke in both cases.

 

[PetRock]

Just to clarify, I don't coddle or help birds out either. This guy just finally made it out on his own, he's perfectly healthy and getting big (13 weeks, same size and heavier than pullets) just no rump. And can't figure out why.

So I guess I say its probably just a fluke in both cases.

Some day I'm going to grow up and stop helping the weak ones. At least, that's my plan!

The last hatch I had, there was a Bresse chick whose eyes started disappearing. They looked normal at hatch but began sinking into her head. I kept putting Vetericyn opthamalic gel in them several times per day. I thought for a while that she might be blind but at 11 weeks she seems to see normally now. For a while, she was half the size of her hatch mates, too. I have her banded with a black band because we don't want to use her for breeding. She will either end up in with the layers or on the dinner table. She is one of my rare success stories.

 

[BGMatt]

Some day I'm going to grow up and stop helping the weak ones. At least, that's my plan!

The last hatch I had, there was a Bresse chick whose eyes started disappearing. They looked normal at hatch but began sinking into her head. I kept putting Vetericyn opthamalic gel in them several times per day. I thought for a while that she might be blind but at 11 weeks she seems to see normally now. For a while, she was half the size of her hatch mates, too. I have her banded with a black band because we don't want to use her for breeding. She will either end up in with the layers or on the dinner table. She is one of my rare success stories.

It's not growing up, because that would imply that helping them isn't, and I don't want to give that impression at all. As I was discussing with someone elsewhere, its just a choice. I do like the marking them to not use in breeding. I personally used to help a lot of birds out and every year it was more and more, and they'd have more health problems and usually die soon after or at least younger anyway which still sucks but now you're more investe in them (emotionally or financially, take your pick). Started to ramble, anyway just wanted to make sure I wasn't inadvertently being offensive.

 

[Dirt Farmer]

Hatched a Marans cockerel with no tail once. Not only no feathers but no physical tail could be found. Grew him out for a while then sold him in a group of chickens for butchering.

 

[PetRock]

It's not growing up, because that would imply that helping them isn't, and I don't want to give that impression at all. As I was discussing with someone elsewhere, its just a choice. I do like the marking them to not use in breeding. I personally used to help a lot of birds out and every year it was more and more, and they'd have more health problems and usually die soon after or at least younger anyway which still sucks but now you're more investe in them (emotionally or financially, take your pick).

Started to ramble, anyway just wanted to make sure I wasn't inadvertently being offensive.

I didn't take it as offensive. I need to develop a thicker skin. I count on my DH to do the culling for me when necessary but he isn't here through the week. In some cases, it isn't right for me to wait until the weekend when a bird is suffering without the remotest chance of them recovering. It rarely happens but I still need to have mercy and be able to do what's best for the bird. I'm getting there.

 

[PetRock]

Hatched a Marans cockerel with no tail once. Not only no feathers but no physical tail could be found. Grew him out for a while then sold him in a group of chickens for butchering.

That's this pullet. She is rumpless like an Araucana. Of course, she would be the only splash that we have hatched this year.

 

[thorleif]

You know Pet Rock: It may not be a sign of weakness to help a few chicks out of the shell. I strongly believe that we get more chicks dead in the shell in a machine than under a hen, and that I blame on the incubator, not the little chicks.So many things can go wrong for eggs in an incubator. And they do. I have helped a great number of chicks out uf their shells over the years, especially Langshans. Because they have such god quality egg-shells, if the humidity gets too low in an area of the machine, some normal chicks will not be able to break the shell. I have used many of them in further breeding, The new generation of incubators with effective computerised control of the humidity has improved the hatch-rates for the hobby-hatcher, but funnily enough, they also have blackspots, so you just keep on helping where help is required, you get more chicks that way. And the genes are there, regardless,

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Sometimes weird things happen, especially in the incubator. Under my hens this year, I had a bantam Cochin with 20 eggs (10 LF and 10 bantam). I expected at least 1/2 to not make it due to the high temps. What do you know...all 20 hatched. Could I ever get that with an incubator? Heck no. Thanks to my broodies this year, I won't have to hatch any eggs during the fall. Unless I make an effort to get some more black and hopefully some whites to hatch out from my split birds. *fingers crossed*

Chicks that don't hatch in the incubator are usually from my own error. Some that fail to thrive, I'll kick myself later but if they don't get a chance out of the shell, who's to say it wasn't human error instead of poor genetics? I help chicks out...I have no issue with it. If I don't catch them in time to help them, I don't feel bad about it. I just know that they didn't have the stamina that would have been needed to survive anyway.