Making Lemonade [Selective Culling Project - very long term]

[U_Stormcrow]

Officially, this is day 19 3/4s. External pips on numerous eggs. Busy moving the nine weeks out into the main flock (ok, that's done, integration was almost instant - though the nine weeks are hanging out at the fence and looking longingly into their old run. and busy doing a quick clean out of the grow out area. SO MUCH WASTED FEED - must fix soon. and busy moving the three weeks into grow out to join the six weeks, so I can clean the brooder box before the hatchlings appear.

Busy busy busy!

 

[Molpet]

Soaking the feed helps with them billing it out.
Or not feeding them until they clean up the spilt food.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Soaking the feed helps with them billing it out.
Or not feeding them until they clean up the spilt food.

I've been lazy and pouring dry feed over the wall, rather than pouring mash into the gutter. That will change.

OTOH, no bugs - everything was very dry - so I know my other barn protections are working. I let the adult flock in for 30 minutes to "clean up". Now much less waste. Shovel a bit outside, and anything I missed can help my birds "familiarize themselves" with the local coccidia, beyond what they've experienced the last week+ in the chick tractor, just outside our RV during middle daylight hours.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I've been lazy and pouring dry feed over the wall, rather than pouring mash into the gutter. That will change.

OTOH, no bugs - everything was very dry - so I know my other barn protections are working. I let the adult flock in for 30 minutes to "clean up". Now much less waste. Shovel a bit outside, and anything I missed can help my birds "familiarize themselves" with the local coccidia, beyond what they've experienced the last week+ in the chick tractor, just outside our RV during middle daylight hours.

If it's just shavings and dry feed, nothing dangerous, I dump it in an adult feed bowl. They go through and eat most of the remaining feed

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Sig Updated. Two new additions, both moved QUICKLY under the heat plate. Photo'd with the old cell phone, didn't check picture quality. Trust me, there are two birds here.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Two more. One mostly white, one mostly grey - to add to the two black with white wingtips that have hatched already.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Total count is nine. One late quit, the one infertile. 10 live hatchings, but one (golden colored) bird still had its insides attached to the back of the shell. It was the first to pip externally, but had made almost no progress in 16 hours, so my wife tried to assist - needless to say, when she got close to the back end, the bird bled out before we could see what was going on - but it was so weak death was all but inevitable, even if it hadn't been still affixed. It was also oriented "backwards" in the shell, and had tried to escape its calcium cage via a window in the middle. Deck was stacked against it from the start.

Picture later (not of that one, of course), need coffee first.

Given the current flock count, I am going to go ahead and set a batch of ducks, then cull males down throughout the "winter" months here. Next chick hatch should be mid December, if my math is right. Need more coffee.

 

[3KillerBs]

Total count is nine. One late quit, the one infertile. 10 live hatchings, but one (golden colored) bird still had its insides attached to the back of the shell. It was the first to pip externally, but had made almost no progress in 16 hours, so my wife tried to assist - needless to say, when she got close to the back end, the bird bled out before we could see what was going on - but it was so weak death was all but inevitable, even if it hadn't been still affixed. It was also oriented "backwards" in the shell, and had tried to escape its calcium cage via a window in the middle. Deck was stacked against it from the start.

Picture later (not of that one, of course), need coffee first.

Given the current flock count, I am going to go ahead and set a batch of ducks, then cull males down throughout the "winter" months here. Next chick hatch should be mid December, if my math is right. Need more coffee.

Sad about the golden chick. I don't know to what extent hatching problems can be heritable, but I would probably avoid breeding birds that had hatching issues even without the developmental problem that one had.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Sad about the golden chick. I don't know to what extent hatching problems can be heritable, but I would probably avoid breeding birds that had hatching issues even without the developmental problem that one had.

I'm generally in agreement, to the extent I can successfully exclude them. If the combination of largely unassisted hatching, predator pressures, competition with the rest of the flock, and my own culling doesn't end them, then they get a chance to pass their genetics on.

Where I then sort out undesired egg size and coloration.

Anything less, and they aren't suited to my situation.

Morning photo, attached. Pre-caffeinated, old phone. Sorry for quality. Not optimistic any of these birds will advance the project.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Reminder to self - photo the "odd bird" later. Its black, but its chin is red/brown, and there is some red brown on the underbelly. First chick with this sort of coloration.