Nankin Discussion Thread

[Micki]

Ok, so maybe the bald spot wouldn't disqualify my roo. Or at least if it doesn't show up in his offspring, if he is good type, etc, otherwise, all might be ok. That's good news! He really does have a super great personality, super friendly and calm, and I hope he passes that on to his offspring. I would like to take my whole flock to a show and see how they all do...lol. I'm guessing that's Clyde in the picture. Do you leave him in with the hen and chicks or remove him?

I have 5 breeding pens set up, but if I wind up with approximately 15 roos and 15 hens I am going to have to cull/sell a lot of roos. I do know someone who will take them off my hands but they will definitely wind up on the table. The thought of that with a rare breed bird, especially if there is really nothing wrong with him, kind of bothers me. Right now I have some 3 month old roos that are living together and getting along fine, but not sure how that will go when I add hens to the mix. Plus I don't want the roos to tear up the hens breeding them too often because there aren't enough girls. My plan I guess starting out this year is to hopefully have 1 roo to 3 hens in each pen (total of 5 roos, 15 hens, or however many hens I wind up with). Next year I will add a few more hens to those established pens, being sure not to breed fathers to daughters. I do know to try to make intelligent decisions about who I'm putting together to breed (such a roo whose legs may be too lightly colored, breed him to hens with dark legs). So by the end of next spring I envision probably 6 hens to each roo. The breeding pens and runs are good sized, should house 7 birds each with no problem. Does that sound like a good plan to those of you who are experienced in this? I am open to advice and suggestions!

Questions I have:

1) Would it be ok to leave the hens together in the pens with the roos to brood the eggs?

2) Would 3-6 broody hens hatching and raising chicks in a pen and run with a roo cause problems?

3) Does what I explained above sound like a good breeding plan to start with?

Thanks everyone!

Micki/Michele

 

[Micki]

I am going to see if I can post some pics of the coops and runs.

1st picture is coops in early stage. I would prefer to have them off the ground with floors but this project got a little expensive, especially after buying my birds! I may elevate them in the future.

2nd picture is the coops with lids added.

3rd picture is hubby and son building runs.

4th picture show a run with 2 roos in it.

 

[griffinkid02]

I only see 2 pics... lol But I like the looks of them.

 

[Micki]

 

[Micki]

Thanks, my internet went out due to the storm after I posted the first two. Now you should be able to see all 4 pics!

M.

 

[griffinkid02]

I do! And I LIKE! Neato. Thanks for sharing. How long do you think that green stuff on the ground in the runs will last,

 

[Micki]

The green stuff is fast disappearing! lol. I will eventually put pea gravel or something similar down in the runs. Any suggestions? I put my 4 week old chicks out in a run for the day. It's going to get down to 46 tonight so I will bring them in overnight. That will be how it goes this week...out during the day, back inside at night. Hopefully the weather will warm up enough soon that they can stay out full time.

M.

 

[DaughterOfEve]

Micki that is a lot of questions. I am also just starting out with trying to breed. My broodie is in a dog kennel where none of the other birds can get to her. I do not want any of the others to kick her off her nest. The rest of the banties can see her and hear her but cannot get to her. Still patiently waiting, I hope I didn't count my days wrong. She just moved her nest again this morning. I guess she has never heard of "lock down".

I really like the breeding pen set up. Not sure about have multiple broodies in the same area. The others in the pen may try to hurt (eat) newly hatched chicks if they are given access to them early. I plan to leave momma and chicks in their kennel pen inside the Nankin pen so everyone can see each other for a few weeks.

I could use advice in that area as well.

Too tell everyone apart I use colored leg bands. I hope this will help me keep strait who can be bred to whom.

 

[Micki]

I really like the dog kennel idea. Thanks! I could see that working well with my crew. Just line up the kennels and let them brood! Giving them food and water each day of course, and picking up the "broody poop". Daddy could walk around outside in the run so he could still feel like he's taking care of his girls .

I bought some small sized dark green zip ties to band my 6 Nankins from Lund Poultry. I know not to band them too tight and to check them daily. I will get some better banty bands in the future. I'd like to order some from the ABA but they have to go on the birds before they get too big and I didn't do that with this crew. I might be able to order some for my chicks from Mary Ann. I have sunk so much money into these birds this spring I am trying not to spend any more now than I absolutely have to...lol. My Lund birds came to me toe punched, so that helped a lot. That way I can be sure not to breed my one Lund girl to a male from her same breeding pen. I wish I'd gotten more girls from there, but 4 birds died in transit when the post office lost them for 3 days. Those were probably my other girls *sigh*.

I need to take pics of them now that they are more mature and I'd love to hear any HONEST comments or suggestions on them. If someone sees a major fault in one of my birds and feels I shouldn't use it for breeding, no matter who I got it from, I would really like to know. The one roo has the bald spot. Another rosecomb has the spike that dents into the base at the bottom. One of the single combs has a little bit of a crooked comb towards the back. My other rosecomb boy has a very nice looking comb, and the other single comb looks really great, although I need to count spikes. I'm not sure how important all this is. The leg color on my lightest legged male seems to have darkened up to close to most of the others. The one with the bald spot has very dark slate colored legs and very nice pink stripes on them! The others have more faint pink stripes, but they are all still young and I know things can change as they mature, especially coloring. My boys seem to have nice coloring. Their bodies are quite deep reddish brown, but their chests seem very light. However, they are only a few months old, have been outside in the sun for awhile now, and I understand that they tend to get darker as they get older. I can find nothing wrong with my girl. She is beautiful!

I also know that you need to "build the barn before you paint it", as someone on here suggested to me earlier. As far as I can tell, all my Lund birds look like great types, from what little I know from seeing pics of other Nankin show birds online. None of the boys have squirrel tails.

I will try to post pics of them all soon and you all can have fun judging them! I would really love to hear any comments anyone has! You will NOT hurt my feelings!

M.

 

[Nankin22]

hello i was just wondering if any one could tell me if a rosecomb Nankins spike is supposed to be like a sebright spike where it goes up or a wyandotte spike where it follows the contour of the head?