Langshan Thread!!!

[frenchblackcopper]

Not to be negative here on hatchery eggs or birds,but why not buy from individual breeders? So much hatchery stock is nothing like what the breed standard calls for anymore,,it's egg production,or meat production,fast growth,ect. Lanshans will not set the world on fire for fast growth,,but they do have excellent egg production.There is a Langshan yahoo group,and the man my eggs came from didn't charge me e-bay marans egg prices either,he has proven show winning type and I hatched 28 outta 30 eggs sent,which took 3 full days to reach me thru mail delivery.I've seen hatchery Langshans already and the diffrences in the adult hen sizes makes you think the smaller hens are not large fowl at all.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

I have tried breeders eggs. Nothing hatched or the hens weren't laying.

I don't show so I now have 10 Langshans pullets growing up from Strombergs. Five blue and 5 black. My handsome roo is so happy, though he is still practicing on the JG hens.

And their offspring from last year is looking fabulous! The roos are huge and calm. The pullets are huge and so spectacular looking. They are only good for eye candy and the free range laying flock but that is fine by me!
I like what I like and Langshans are awesome birds!

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

I will vouch for the breeders of Langshans as well as other breeds. No breeder can control their birds fertility or can tell their birds to keep laying no matter what. Hatcheries have the ability to meet demand as they have access to thousands of chicks and breeder birds.

That being said, I can't see purchasing Langshans from a hatchery, they're big, powerful birds that lose something when hatcheries gather them. The females seem to have something resembling a show bird, but the males can tend to look like hatchery Jersey Giants or Australorps with feathers glued onto their legs.

I am not saying that nobody should purchase their Langshans from a hatchery as I'm sure many people have started out breeding birds from that source, but I am saying that I can never look twice at a hatchery Langshan when I have raised show birds. I refuse to judge other people for purchasing hatchery birds as I have birds that I loved from hatcheries.

 

[edishman]

Quote:
As far as egg size goes I think that depends on the individual birds and the breeding. Mine are medium to small large. I have seen others eggs that are a small medium and then there is rodriguezpoultry's eggs that are the biggest most beautiful Langshan eggs I have ever seen!! I live in Florida and the Langshans handled the record heat better than any of my other breeds. This amazes me because they are black and you would think that they would absorb the heat. Egg production slowed way down last winter but never completely stopped. Hope this answers your question.

 

[langshan_gal]

My langshan hens both lay a large egg, but one lays a dark brown egg every other day and one lays a creamy colored egg every day. I love these birds. I just got two more from MM this spring, one cockerel and one hen, so it will be interesting to see if there's any difference between the show breeder's chickens and the hatchery chickens.

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Quote:
As far as egg size goes I think that depends on the individual birds and the breeding. Mine are medium to small large. I have seen others eggs that are a small medium and then there is rodriguezpoultry's eggs that are the biggest most beautiful Langshan eggs I have ever seen!! I live in Florida and the Langshans handled the record heat better than any of my other breeds. This amazes me because they are black and you would think that they would absorb the heat. Egg production slowed way down last winter but never completely stopped. Hope this answers your question.

Thank you e! I hope with the addition Of another old line to mine, any decreased hatchability will stop. I'm going to be very picky as to the breeder birds I choose from the choices I have so that the offspring will retain the traits I live most about my own birds. Wish I could update with photos but at the moment my birds are being housed at another location. Anyone have any photos they'd like to share to soothe my addiction??

 

[PetRock]

I have enjoyed reading this thread! This is our second year with chickens and we have a very eclectic flock! Last year, we started with 5 different breeds of hatchery chicks. This year, we added some Ameraucanas from a couple of different breeders. We lost one of our Ameraucanas just three days after getting them. And since minus 1 in chicken math equals plus 3, we added three new chicks to replace the one we lost. One was another pure bred Ameraucana but the other two were impulse hatchery chicks from the feed store. One happened to be a Blue Langshan! We knew nothing about Langshans when we picked her out of the pullet bin. But she has turned out to be my favorite chick! Her name is Bijou which is French for jewel. She is hands down our most curious and friendly chick. I know that she is a poor quality Langshan when compared with breeder stock but I love her! I am considering breeding Langshans in the future due to the positive experience of owning this hatchery bird!

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

I have to say that She is a pretty little thing! Can't wait to see photos as she grows!

 

[PetRock]

Quote:
Thank you! She is from a hatchery so I'm sure not the best quality but she has personality plus! My oldest daughter (26) thinks that she is the smartest chicken that we have. She swears that Bijou understands her when she talks to her. She had a foxtail in the feathers on her breast a couple of days ago. DD said to her, "Bijou, you have a foxtail stuck on you." She immediately looked down and picked it off! DD was amazed and couldn't stop talking about how special she is!

Here are a couple of newer pics of our little Bijou:

 

[Inkheart]

She is beautiful! She really does have an aura of intelligence and curiousity to her!