Langshan Thread!!!

[rodriguezpoultry]

I think you may be over thinking it a little.

Te blue male was in a barn that had no insulation and was drafty. That is why he had lights on. He had to have the heat and there was no way I was using a space heater in that confined area. I abhor hatching late in the year. Why? It is too daggumed hot! The birds will decrease their food intake and slow down on their growth.

This past year, I hatched in the winter. But, I had an excellent temperature-controlled environment in my basemt to grow them in. Once they were about 2 months old, they went into the barn and still had the heat lamp on them (2 degrees on a young chick...not good). I then decreased their hours exposed to the light as the weather warmed up. I went a little long...some birds are closing in on maturity. I have since turned off the lights in the barn to stave that off. It seems to be workin as the combs and wattles are maintaining a smaller size now.

When are you planning on hatching your birds? That can help when figuring out heating/cooling.

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Instead f having the lamp on ally all hours like I had to do, you could have it on for 5 hours, off for one. And so on and so forth. This would give them the needed time to eat sufficiently.

 

[ashandvine]

I think you may be over thinking it a little.

When are you planning on hatching your birds? That can help when figuring out heating/cooling.

LOL, that isn't like me at ALL.

Well, I have broodies going right now. I had a lot of mishaps with hatches earlier this year so I am going to let them go and hope I get even one little fuzzy out of it! Stubborn, too, can you tell?

I don't know what I am doing now that I read what you wrote. Folks here seem to start their hatching in November and go till May or June. Then there is this big break to off load unwanted stock and then try again. I have an order for eggs that will be a mixed bag of heritage breeds, including a few Langshans to try out in mid-August. Its my plan they will be feathered out enough to be safe in the barn when winter really hits, near mid November. I don't want birds in my basement ever again... but will if its the only thing that works. By April the hope is they will be ranging during the day. I've only had avian predators so far.... so far.

 

[Lacy Blues]

Ah...I see my phone got the best of me again! Ha!

Yes, "laying" should be inserted for "Latin." My classes at the UofA helped alot with this. I have had lighting on in my coops since early November. It causes the pituitary glands to kickstart the breeding cycles. Which causes eggs to be laid and males that have been exposed to light, at least 14 hours of it, are more vivacious about breeding. So, I make sure that when I want my birds to begin breeding, that I allow for 14 hours of light, if not more. NOW. That being said...that barn was COLD. So, I put a heat lamp up there all night, which resulted in them getting 24 hour lighting, which again, was fine as I had chicks that were up there and needed the heat and a good source of food.

Now that I have reached the end of my breeding season (last batch of eggs went out and I am DONE), I have turned off the lights for the night time hours. This will cause my chicks, which are still growing, to cut back on their sexual maturity rate. It will also cause my females to drop off in egg production, and if I am lucky, begin their molting process.

You can further alter the lighting period, but hanging dark covers over the windows of your barn. (Mine are in an enclosed barn, I do NOT want a bear in my chicken pens thank you very much!) This will drop the photoperiod (light time). The longer it takes for your birds to reach sexual maturity, the larger your bird will be. Why? Because they are not focused on reaching sexual maturity and using their resources for reproduction. Instead, they are using their resources to continue to build their bodies up.

Langshans are a very large bird, the first thing I want them to build up is their frame. Once the frame is built, then the muscling can begin. A good male is not fully muscled until 2 or 3 years old. Most culls are LONG gone by that point. But, the females are usually done with their growing by a year. And, since you have staved off the reproduction at an early age, are able to begin hatching almost immediately as the eggs will be larger as the reproductive tract has had time to mature (muscling!) instead of being rushed by hormones that have been triggered by the hours of light.


Did that make any sense at all?

As for the broodiness, I am inclined to agree. First, it was Lil Ropo (a gifted) Cochin bantam, then it was my sweetest Langshan bantam (she-devil from Hades now with chicks!!!!) and now it is my best Largefowl Blue Langshan pullet. Let's hope no more decide to "mother" me to death! I'm kind of in shock she did it. She had been threatening it for months!

Yes I do.

This male was grown in natural lighting:





This male, the son of the male above, was raised during the winter with constant lighting to maintain a good temperature in the barn for growth:


See how his legs do not match his body? They are "shorter" than the male above. His comb was also larger than his father and he was only 8 months old in this photo.


Both of these birds had photos taken at a similar age. They are pure Forrest Beauford lines. See the differences in the frame, legs and head? I kept very close tabs on his chicks, and while the blue male looks odd, he did not give his offspring shorter legs or oddly proportioned bodies. Both were fed the same feed, only lighting and temperature were the differences. The blue male and the black male were housed together after these photos. No heating was given last year. The blue male got frostbite whereas my black male did not.

The black male is well-proportioned. He took a nice, LONG time to develop. Why? Because he was grown with natural lighting. The daylight hours fluctuated enough to state off sexual maturity, so his frame was built first.
The second male, the blue, was housed in a colder environment with heat lamps on 24/7. Instead of taking a long time to develop, the increased photoperiod caused his sexual maturity to take precedence over his frame development. The rapid onset of sexual maturity stunted his growth, causing him to look "incomplete."

Wow! This is very informative! Thank you to Ashandvine for recommending this info.

 

[Lacy Blues]

I think you may be over thinking it a little.
Te blue male was in a barn that had no insulation and was drafty. That is why he had lights on. He had to have the heat and there was no way I was using a space heater in that confined area. I abhor hatching late in the year. Why? It is too daggumed hot! The birds will decrease their food intake and slow down on their growth.
This past year, I hatched in the winter. But, I had an excellent temperature-controlled environment in my basemt to grow them in. Once they were about 2 months old, they went into the barn and still had the heat lamp on them (2 degrees on a young chick...not good). I then decreased their hours exposed to the light as the weather warmed up. I went a little long...some birds are closing in on maturity. I have since turned off the lights in the barn to stave that off. It seems to be workin as the combs and wattles are maintaining a smaller size now.
When are you planning on hatching your birds? That can help when figuring out heating/cooling.

I raise Andalusians and though I realize this is off topic (langshans) I was wondering about controlling comb/wattle size. My breed, being of Mediterranean origin is supposed to have the larger combs/wattles for the purpose of casting off heat. I live in the "Great Basin" which is HUGE and I'm almost at the 4,000 foot level. Our summers here are incredibly hot and the winters are bitterly cold. We got a lot of wind. Last year was our first year here and our barn is a bit "drafty." Most if not all of our roosters suffered frostbite to their combs and I know it was not due to airtight quarters and condensation. I wished I could get them to roost with their heads under their wings! The girls were fine, the boys were not. I know the SOP calls for a medium sized comb in the Mediterraneans. I'm wondering maybe if something on the smaller side of "medium" is acceptable. As there is a tendency for the combs to get too large, this might be a practice I could incorporate. My question is this... for cooling through the comb, do you think that causing a smaller comb would be dangerous for them in this kind of weather? I don't know how hot it gets there in PA, and I'm sure you have higher humidity than I, but I'm just wondering about this. Sorry for going off post but I don't really know where else I can ask this question than from someone who has practiced making the comb smaller. I'm not even sure I can control the comb size as we have a fairly short spring season. I don't know about hatching much earlier as, like I said, winters here are bitterly cold!

Any advice you can provide is much appreciated.

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

First, what I would do is try to cut down on the drafts. This can be done by throwing tarps over the areas where the birds are to be housed. Next, how many males do you have? You can help the combs by applying icy hot to the comb and then applying Vaseline.

Andalusians are such a gorgeous breed. They are a faster growing breed and many mature much faster than a Langshan would. I am not sure of using natural lighting would work for them. I had a Minorca male that Was under lighting as well. He grew very well and his comb was very large. I do wonder if having a light on in that coop may have caused that as well.

How hot are your summers? My birds are from Oklahoma. It is very, very hot in the winters. Two years ago they had record cold temps of negative 35. They cancelled school because of it. The Minorca male I had was put inside to prevent frostbite. That bird was insane...never, ever again.

 

[Lacy Blues]

First, what I would do is try to cut down on the drafts. This can be done by throwing tarps over the areas where the birds are to be housed. Next, how many males do you have? You can help the combs by applying icy hot to the comb and then applying Vaseline.
Andalusians are such a gorgeous breed. They are a faster growing breed and many mature much faster than a Langshan would. I am not sure of using natural lighting would work for them. I had a Minorca male that Was under lighting as well. He grew very well and his comb was very large. I do wonder if having a light on in that coop may have caused that as well. The Minorca does carry a larger comb than an Andalusian.
How hot are your summers?

My birds are from Oklahoma. It is very, very hot in the winters.

I'm thinking you meant COLD?
Two years ago they had record cold temps of negative 35. They cancelled school because of it. The Minorca male I had was put inside to prevent frostbite. That bird was insane...never, ever again. Insane? Because he was put inside over winter or because he was a Minorca?

My winter temps this past winter (our first in this location) got down to -15 (if I recall right) which is cold enough but then you add wind chill to that and it gets quite a bit colder. Also, we've been told by the locals here that this past winter was pretty mild! Gads!

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

I just shouldn't attempt to type on this phone! Sorry, the temps in the winter are hot. 123 in my hometown yesterday. It is always humid in OK...anywhere from 35-75% on a given day. Some of my friends got smart and put photos up of them frying eggs on the sidewalk. So glad I'm in the 80s up here! Our winters can be very cold in Oklahoma. I can agree that the temps were mild this year.

PA seems fairly mild to the temperature fluxes in Oklahoma. Although, I am afraid of what this coming winter will bring...

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Yes. He was insane. It is very odd. My females were laid back and even went broody. The males were always flying off the walls bonkers.

 

[ashandvine]

I just want to second the bit about vaseline on the comb. I have made a point of the coop being draft free but I learned the value of this practice from Ididarod information and hobby dog sledders in my area and use it on my kids. Yup, human ones, long before having chickens. My kids like to go out in all the windy snowy weather and their cheeks get wind burn or snow rash from eating the snow-- yes, I tell them it is wrong. So, when we go sledding or when the weather is down real low I put chapstick, lanolin, olive or almond oil, anything on there that I have handy to keep the skin protected. I usually use Burts Bees on them but chapstick or bag balm or vaseline works fine, too, and better than oils as a waxier substance lasts longer.