"Louisiana "La-yers" Peeps"

[Cody A]

Is anyone in this group spiral breeding their birds?

 

[Ron Skekel]

Beautiful! I have 5 Marans eggs in my bator right now about that color. Nice size, too. Hope they hatch!

She just started laying. Thats the biggest so far. I was suprized its that big this quick. Good luck on the hatch I was told go dry all the way for marans no water at all. I had 7 eggs and six hatched they were shipped too. Pam

 

[Ron Skekel]

Oh boy Pam, either you have small hands or that Maran egg is big  

It's big and the hens are big too compared to most chickens.Pam

 

[TerriLaChicks]

Good hatching wishes!! I'm sorry about your RIR

I bet that was not a nice day.

It wasn't. Just keeping fingers crossed here - my Brinsea is completely full with 2 dozen eggs. I have the 5 Black Coppers I got off an Ebay auction, 2 from my old Cuckoo Marans hen who got killed, and the rest from my old Black Ameracauna crossed on the RIR roo, so I hope they will be olive-eggers, and RIR eggs, some of which are still small, but I have hatched pullet eggs before. I'm not going to candle until they are 2 weeks old (as you know, I am the world's worst candler)! When I was gathering eggs to hatch, I dropped one & it cracked so I broke it open & it was fertile, so I'm hoping for the best!

 

[forgetful]

Is anyone in this group spiral breeding their birds?

I would love to have the space and flock uniformity for it. I feel spiral breeding is a good way to even out the characteristics of a flock. However fixing certain issues becomes more challenging. If my flock was relatively consistent I would love to have the space to spiral breed.

 

[96civic87]

I wish mine would go broody. I guess ill have to incubate before it gets too cold

 

[Cody A]

Forgetful, it is how I want to breed these Barbezieux. I want to raise them as meat birds. At least that's the thought for now. I've done some reading on this the past few days and your point about conformity being maintained is something I learned. That's basically what I want to keep with these.
There's only one source for this breed which is Greenfire. I'm thinking it's ok to start spiral breeding these. But I'm not real sure. I should be able to get three pair or trios out of this flock. If there's any advice you can give me on this I'm all ears. I found one source online where a strain or line of birds was started with just a trio or breeding pair because of scarce stock availability and I guess inbreeding is not an issue as long a you stick to the program. Do you have any advice/input on this. Or anyone else.

It was their first photo shoot so they were a bit camera shy.
The girls were peed off they didn't have their makeup on.

 

[forgetful]

I think as long as you have the space and resources it is an excellent technique. It promotes both genetic diversity/uniformity, while allowing you to make improvements to the flock. Record keeping is of paramount importance, so you need to decide before you begin how you will keep track of birds. How much have you read up on the subject? I think inbreeding isn't a huge concern as of yet, however have you thought of keeping a small number of birds separate from the ones you plan to spiral breed? It gives you the opportunity to have a slightly larger amount of genetic variance one you've been spiral breeding for a while, since they will have drifted from each other. Also, far, far, down the line it could be used to breed back to your other pens.

 

[Cody A]

As far as putting anything down on paper no not yet but I've been toe punching and have watched videos on how to apply wing bands and of course color coded numbered plastic leg bands.
That's a good point about keeping a seperate flock but it would take more coop and space. I'll keep that idea in mind. GFF may not keep breeding and selling these birds hopefully other folks that have them will continue to breed and sell them. Thank you for the food for thought. I won't worry about inbreeding. The first mating may be bro to sis but after that it will change. I read sometimes it's a good thing to inbreed but I'm not educated enough on the subject to know when. Much appreciated Forgetful

 

[forgetful]

I very much look forward to seeing where you take the flock. They look to be growing very well and I believe they are in great hands. : )