Nankins

[griffinkid02]

Wow, they are beautiful. Mine look nowhere near so lovely. I'm still waiting for all the bald patches to have their big boy/girl feathers. No one has any idea about the early crowing?

 

[Micki]

This is my only female from Lund Poultry that survived the post office fiasco. We brought the Lund birds inside to band them before the Mary Ann Harley birds caught up in size and we couldn't tell them apart. Her name is "Sweetie". All the Lund birds were born in January. My daughter sat down at he piano and Sweetie got very interested! She also started laying eggs this past week! Yay!

 

[Hangtown Farms]

They look like a seabright shape kind of. Really neat

 

[Micki]

This is "Scrappy", the only SC Lund cockerel I have left. I gave two boys away, one SC and one RC. That leaves me with 3 Lund cockerels and the one pullet.

 

[Micki]

These 3 pictures are of my favorite bird, Ricky Roo. Even if he turns out to not be show or breeding quality for some reason, I will keep him just because of his personality. This birds personality needs to be passed on though. He is super calm and friendly and very affectionate. He loves to sit on your shoulder. He is the one with the bald spot on his head. I am anxious to find out from his offspring if that is genetic or not. He not only wanted to sit on my daughter's shoulder while she was playing the piano, he started crowing! I guess he thought she needed accompaniment I know you're supposed to be businesslike and not get attached to your "stock", but this bird will live with me for the rest of his life.

 

[Micki]

This is Nico, my other RC Lund cockerel. He saw the mirror on the buffet and flew up to it to admire himself...lol. I know I'm being silly, but in the one picture I envision him saying, "Look! This picture shows off my good side! And my other good side too!" I had him and Sweetie in a pen together and they were very happy, but since he is RC and she is SC, I split them up last night and put some of Mary Ann's girls in with him, and put her in with a group of SC's. She wasn't happy about it at first, but is ok today, although I didn't get an egg today. I put some older cochin girls in with him for the time being so he'd leave the little Nankin girls alone! They do not seem ready for his affections yet .

 

[Micki]

Cooper12, I think they are closely related to the Sebright. If I remember correctly Sebrights came from Nankin stock? Is that right?

 

[griffinkid02]

That is correct according to most theories. I don't think we know EXACTLY what all went into the golden Sebrights, but most authorities agree that the Nankin was used. I can see it in them, just a certain posture and relaxed confidence

 

[Micki]

<<I can see it in them, just a certain posture and relaxed confidence>>

I agree Tyler. Sebrights, Nankins, Seramas, and some other bantams have that regal posture that is so beautiful. I think that's what sold me on the breed. I had never seen one in person, only photos online, until I got this first group in the mail! When I decided to breed chickens, I checked the ALBC website. I figured if I was going to breed something, it might as well be something on the critical list, and maybe I could help preserve an endangered breed. After studying about all of them a bit, I chose the Nankin. I liked that regal posture and that they were bantams (take up less space!). I'm glad I chose them. They are so friendly! I walk into their pens at dusk to secure them all in for the night, and I wind up with birds on my shoulders, arms, head...wherever they can find a place to land! I have thought about making them some trees...like those parrot trees that cost hundreds of dollars. They would be thrilled to be able to roost on those at night! I need to make some better roosts in there for them. Right now it's just a few branches a few inches off the ground, but they apparently want something higher. The pens are 6 feet tall so have lots of room. Hmmmm......this weeks project perhaps .

 

[griffinkid02]

Oh. I have a story to tell. I meant to post this sooner.
So, Thursday I put off working on the coop o build a temporary run that the nankins can play in and get fresh air/grass while I'm working and present to supervise. Well I have 32 of the little ones, sadly I had to separate them into two groups back a few weeks ago for pecking issues. I think I posted about that in a mild panic, well I make sure that the two brooders stay close together so that they can see and hear each other, and I have to keep them all in the same pen for about 30 minutes at a time when I clean the brooder boxes, every 3rd day. I have NEVER had a "Pecking order" problem with them because they all "know" each other. I didn't anticipate one with the run. So, Friday morning I let them out into their new play-toy while i washed the car, and intended to take them down to the coop with me while I worked on it.... I was WRONG! I spent the entire day mediating fights between young cockrels and even the pullets! I ended up with 4 birds in isolation because some pinfeathers in their tails got broken and had started to bleed. I ended up crawling into the run WITH them to remind everybody that there was only ONE alpha roo on this property and he keeps a stick within reach.

On a positive note, once I was sitting down in the run with them (in the poop and all

), they immediatly stopped their fighting and were far mor interested in ME. it took all of about 5 minutes for them to associate "The Hand" with the rest of me, and then they were up on my hands and knees and across my lap trying to figure out where I'd hid the treats. THAT was really awesome, getting to interact with them in a setting where their first raction wasn't "It's coming from above! Quick, crowd into the far corner! Oh, wait, it's just the food bowl again. ATTACK!"