Nankin Discussion Thread

[fowlman01]

Thank you Walt! So my RC with the telescoped comb would probably do better as a showmanship bird for a 4H kid probably? I'm guessing I don't want to use an RC cockerel/rooster with a telescoping comb as a breeder. One of my SC's, the back of his comb, from the last point back, makes almost a 90 degree turn to one side. It doesn't flop.......if you look at it from the top it has a bend in it. I don't really know how the rest of him sizes up. He is light colored. They are 4 months old. Pictures of them are on the other Nankin thread. Have a look!

M.

Here in Calif part of the showmanship points is the quality of the bird and a telescoped comb is a DQ. I would only use it as a breeder as a last resort....and then keep good track of the offspring. As an example this year I had a Leghorn bantam show up with a side sprig. I culled all the other young from that mating and then culled both parents. I have not had this happen in over 20 years and don't want it to happen again. but I can't really see the combs very well. A single comb with that much of a bend would attract negative attention from a judge even though the whole comb is 5 pts.

Walt

 

[Micki]

That all makes sense Walt. I doubt I will need to use either of these birds for breeding, since I have quite a few more here. It's just kind of a shame since I only have 6 birds from that flock. It really burns me up that the post office killed some of them by losing them for 3 days . My birds are from only two different places, but hopefully I can still get some genetic diversity here. Perhaps next year I'll try to order some birds from some other flocks and introduce them. I'd do it this year but I'm out of bird money...lol.

The fun next year will be seeing what my birds produce! The British Practical Poultry magazine article on rare breeds suggests to hatch at least 100 birds from each trio every year and select carefully for type. Cull like crazy. Repeat for a few years and hopefully the flock will have improved. I would prefer to have 5 or 6 hens with each rooster if that doesn't overcrowd them in the pens I have. I'm still not sure how I'm going to go about it all next spring, considering space issues. Perhaps I need to build a few giant covered pens to keep the hatches in until the following fall and then start culling. I know it's better to wait a year, but I don't want a bunch of cockfighting going on and I also really don't want to feed several hundred birds over the winter. All of the challenges really make this fascinating! We shall see how it all turns out!

M.

 

[DaughterOfEve]

Nicki love the hen in the last pic. She's a real looker.

 

[Micki]

Thanks Daughter of Eve . I'm guessing Nicki = Micki . Since I have no other females to compare her to right now, she looks beautiful to me! I'm hoping I have a nice dark great type SC male in my new batch to match her with.

 

[griffinkid02]

Well, I should specify, also, that culling will mean something slightly different for me. I intend to keep ALL of my hens, Roos arn't so lucky, I only need a couple of them and beyond breeding purposes they are mostly useless, lol. Any hens that I do not intend to breed will be with my regular laying flock. Bantam eggs seem to me about the perfect size for pickling and then when one decides she wants to go broody I can stick my other layer eggs under her and she can be a momma. Hens can be useful even if they aren't passing on their genes. And that is my intended fate for non-show quality hens. The roos are SOL, but no plan is perfect. Now the best quality birds of my bunch I will keep seperate and just breed them for the preservation effort.

 

[griffinkid02]

Oh, about what age should I start being able to tell my RC from my SC? I'm starting to seem slight differences in combs NOW, but at this point that all it is: is differences. I can't tell yet which lumps and bumps are going to become what, lol.

 

[Micki]

My chicks are 5 wks old and the RC's and SC's are easy to tell apart now. I have 16 SC's and 9 RC's in my new batch. Your SC's will have a little ridge come up. It is probably there already if you look closely. Have fun making guesses and then see how right you are! That will be easier and quicker than trying to figure out how many are cockerels, another fun guessing game .

I'm sure you posted it somewhere, but I'm too lazy to scroll back are re-read everything. Who did you get your birds from? Mine are all from Lund Poultry and Mary Ann Harley. If yours are from a different line, maybe we can do some Nankin chick or egg trading next spring!

Micki

 

[Micki]

griffinkid, that's pretty much my breeding plan too. Right now just starting out, I only plan to keep 5 cockerels. The rest will probably be SOL, except for the one I allowed myself to get attached to. Even if I don't use him for breeding, he will stay as a pet. I'm hoping that none of my hens have any serious faults and I can split them all up amongst my 5 breeder boys. I would much prefer to be able to give my culls away as pets, but that is hard to do with extra boys. My daughter has a friend who will eat them if it comes to that (I already gave her two Silkies and a few Cochin bantam cockerels). When I do cull, I have thought about posting the culls at the feed stores. I would just have to make it VERY clear that the birds are not to be used for breeding if they have major faults. Breeding quality extras I would love to give to someone else who wants to breed them. I don't have enough females yet to offer trios.

Micki

 

[griffinkid02]

Micki, Mine did indeed come from Mary Ann, once I have these grown out and picked my breeders, I plan to look for another bloodline, but for now I have all the chicken I keep fed, lol.

 

[RioLindoAz]

I don't understand why feather plucking is such a problem around young Nankins. It may be that they require higher quality feed and more space because of their long history as expert free-ranging birds. When I was raising my chicks, I had a lot of problems with bloody backs and feather picking. As mentioned earlier, violet iodine spray should be used on open sores. This really helped with preventing infection. Also, I recommend brooding them directly on grass. This provides plentiful distractions for young Nankins, and benefits their overall health. In addition, be sure to feed high quality crumble. The recommended protein for chicks is 22%. Their feed should be nothing short of this. If pecking problems persist, a water soluble electrolyte can be used. The first few weeks with my Nankins, I had awful pecking problems and I realized the main problem was nutrition. Allow the chicks a variety of treats daily (avoid baked items and too many greens).