toe punching is an easy system, but the hard part is that the tiny little toe punches often won't be enough of a hole (especially on large fowl) to last. As the chicks grow the holes often will close up because they are so small. I know some people will use a leather punch and some will use other types of punches, but the leather one is what I hear of most. Some also will cut slits in combination with punching to come up with more ID combos when needed.I'm still building stock. THese are boys from other lines. A Bev davis/grisham line and a jean wade line. 4 roosters from a whole lot of eggs !! 2 from each source. SO I'm looking at who to put on the hens for the rest of the summer and hatch a few chicks. I suppose with 5 hens I could use 2-3 roosters!
ANyone use the toe punch method?? I hate legbands aka cable ties fallign off, or bitten off! All my marans roosters have removed theirs! Naughty boys, why can't they be good like the other boys!
If I understood how inheritable it was would help. ANd how hard to breed it out.WHat ever IT is.
haha...I think its something people that have been in poultry for a long time still have to keep in mind..and every time working with a new breed and even color variety there will be challenges that are unique to each....and even to different lines and such. never ending and can feel overwhelming, but as knowledge builds on itself, it does get easier!
haha I think a whole lot of us are still devising marans priority lists! I culled for obvious things the first two years when I was building up enough stock to work with, and now, just this year I'm finally at a place where I get to have fun (still frustrating sometimes) and am able to cull more strictly, but those first two years I learned more about the breed than I knew how to apply at the time... and am really glad that I had that time now to learn about the specifics of the breed and what I can and can't live with kind of stuff.
