Nankin Discussion Thread

[Nankin22]

another good person to get nankins from is Don cable thats where i got my Nankins from

 

[Nankin22]

Thank you Daughter of Eve! I was beginning to wonder where everyone went. I too am new to Nankins, so can't help you with info on hatchability. Sorry. I believe your assessment of sexes of my birds are very close. I will post more pics soon. Birds 1 and 2 are definitely male. Bird 3 still not sure yet, but leaning towards male. Bird 4 female. Bird 5, leaning towards male, bird 6, also possibly male. I need some hens! My current assessment is based a lot on behavior. I think the hormones are kicking in and I've had to separate birds into groups due to some terrible cockfighting! NOT fun to watch! They all have lots of space and we let them out into the living room for an hour or so a day so they aren't too bored. They are very intelligent birds and we try to keep their minds busy. Other than the fighting they are very sweet birds. They have decided that people make nice roosts . Since they are such a small group and are still indoors they are getting a lot of individual attention, just as my standard chicks did last spring. However, once they go outside their lives will be more that of chickens and not pets, although still well cared for of course! I plan to start showing this year and hope to learn a lot by doing so.

Love your roo! Nice picture!

 

[Nankin22]

sorry about coping your post just wanted to say how are the nankins doing?

 

[Nankin22]

Mary has too many Squirrel tails.

Perhaps she was working on some other trait and forgot about tails?

I'm just going to work with what I have, then. I do want to add more bloodlines sometime soon, though.
Personally, I think we should import again. I heard we've only imported once from one bloodline in Brittan several years ago.
I've seen nice birds from the Netherlands, that would be a good place to start off. We'll need to mix things up eventually.

 

[DaughterOfEve]

Keep working on improving the breed. I have high hopes for the two under my broodie right now. Small flock Nankin keepers have been bringing the breed back from the brink we rock!

 

[Nankin22]

we help an endangered breed,they go broody, they have sweet personalities,nice color,they have everything you could want in a bird

 

[RingedTeal]

 

[DaughterOfEve]

only two days to go for my broodie gal.



Daddy is patiently waiting.

 

[Micki]

I loved getting caught up on all the posts! My crew is all doing great, thanks for asking Nankin22! My 6 birds from Lund Poultry are maturing beautifully. I wish I had an expert who could come by my house to be able to judge them for me! I will have to cull some roos eventually and it's a very scary thought. One roo has a bald spot on the right side of his head, towards the back. He came with it and I had hoped it would feather out, but it is still bald as can be (he was hatched beginning of January). Is this something that turns up now and then, a genetic trait I don't want him to pass on, or do you all think maybe it's an injury he sustained just after hatching in which the feathers just never grew in (and it doesn't look like they ever will)? Other than that from what I've read he looks like a GORGEOUS specimen, with beautiful slate legs with very nice pink stripes! I'm also not sure about his size though, as he is bigger than the other roos. Do you all weigh your birds? If so, what do you use to weigh them? He also has a really fantastic, extremely friendly personality. As you can probably tell, I am playing favorites with him, but if he's not suitable for breeding I don't want to use him for that.

The 25 (actually originally 27) from Mary Ann are doing fantastic. I did lose two at about a week old, but have no idea why. I figure out of the 300 or so birds that I understand she sells each spring it's bound to happen. A little bit of natural selection I'm guessing . The rest are super strong and healthy and VERY alert! They are all super sweet birds. If they were shipped the day after they hatched, they are 4 weeks old today! They are starting to fly out of the brooder...lol. I would like to get them outside by the end of this week, depending on what the weather is like. Looking at the birds right now I'm guessing maybe 10 are roos, and that's including some that I'm a lot less sure of. I could live with that ratio!

It would be nice to be able to use my Lund roos as my breeding roos and my Mary Ann hens as my breeding hens. Of the 6 I have from Lund's, only one is a pullet (of course). She is beautiful and I hope to find a nice Mary Ann roo to match her with. I will have to see how the roos all mature. I really don't want to do any culling until fall at the earliest if I don't have to. What are some more obvious traits to look for in young birds that might warrant culling?

Daughter of Eve, please be sure to send pics of your chicks when they hatch! How exciting!

Micki/Michele

 

[DaughterOfEve]

We are working on getting rid of the white spot in Clydes ear lobe. He is being bred to a girl with all red ears and will be keeping only those for future breeding. It has not disqualified him in a show but one judge did write us a note stating it is not desireable.