If you have 49 chickens moving around, who's going to count them to see if there are a 10 or 15 extra? If you had the limit of 6 like many American towns, an over-flow would be obvious.
Okay...my turn! Yesterday was weights and photo day for my last NN hatch, and I continue to be thrilled with the results. I'll start with my favorite boys:
Tank - not the best photo, but he's still the biggest boy and continues to hold the size record for his age: 4.17 lbs @ 10 weeks
Frost - I worried originally at this "runt", but now he's quickly catching up to Tank in size, growth rate, and body shape: 3.76 lbs @ 10 weeks
And my two "surprise" cockerels who are suddenly putting on a lot of muscle.
Sylvester - I've never been a huge fan of black & white barred NNs, but I have to give this guy credit for both his beauty and his personality. 3.6 lbs @ 10 weeks
And Bucky - 3.52 lbs @ 10 weeks
Our new baby.....my first Naked Neck. She has a pretty serious bowtie, but I think it's cute
Looks like it's the day for arrivals! I just picked up the S&G NN chicks from the post office. They had a rough ride - left Idaho on Tuesday, and arrived at the post office this morning. There was Grogel in the box, and they were snug for warmth, but one didn't make the trip, and a few look a bit rough (and I wonder if they will survive). Others look mostly ok, but all were chilled. I was in such a rush to get each one a sip of water and then into the warmth under the MHP, I didn't even count them (there were supposed to be 25, seemed about right). They are now quietly warming up, and the occasional strong one is popping out already for more water and some food. I also turned up the heat in the house they are in to help a bit.
I did notice a few things, though. No fully feathered ones, but also no homozygous NNs - ALL had the Nn phenotype (large bowtie). That, in combination with the fact that they look exactly like my Tank x GNH chicks did makes me think that perhaps the way they produce their fast growing broilers is to have them be hybrids (NN x something, such as a New Hampshire). Roughly half of them had dark marks on their heads. In my own Tank x GNH cross, three had dark marks on the head as chicks, and all three of those turned out to be pullets, so we'll see with these. Of course, these are from Dunlap, not S&G, but they bought the S&G breeding stock, and told me their NNs were only the S&G stock, so perhaps that's how S&G did it?
Here they are warming up (with a few trolling around for feed):
- Ant Farm
Well, all I can say is, make sure you ask for and pay for Express shipping. I'm sure this is my error for not being careful about looking at what I picked when ordering, but the chicks were sent Priority Mail, left the hatchery on Tuesday, and didn't arrive on Friday (as I think I've said). And there have been consequences - one died in transit, and several did not look good when being unloaded. I lost 2 more Saturday morning, and another 3 overnight Saturday night. Lost another one this afternoon (who was looking bad but I was trying to help drink). And now yet another is suddenly looking like his leg won't work well. I feel that I must have somehow cursed myself by bemoaning how many chicks I was raising at once (seriously, I DO actually know how to take care of chicks, for heaven's sake). Most have been weak and have had clean butts at death, and I've been checking for pasty butt all along, but one of the chicks who died last night did seem to have it - I suspect it developed and progressed that night and overnight, because I didn't see it before bed and there were shaving with the poop on his butt, like he hadn't been moving. It's been such a sad experience to keep finding dead chicks - poor little things.
