Nankins

[griffinkid02]

Sorry for the "nothing" post, need to bring this one back up on my page.

 

[Micki]

With my first group, when I started figuring out who the cockerels were and they started fighting more and more, I borrowed some large parrot cages from my sister and put some of them in those. I had two cockerels that got along and they went into one cage, and another cockerel was by himself. I kept the cages next to each other though because I didn't want the loner to forget he is part of a flock. The "Loner" turned out to be Ricky Roo, the one who is happiest when sitting on someone's shoulder! I was afraid that my birds from Mary Ann would not be as acclimated to people as my Lund birds, since it's a bigger group and they have not gotten much individual attention. I was pleasantly wrong! Same as you, I go into the runs (I bring a chair though..lol, or just stand), and I wind up covered in friendly little birds!

You may have to figure out a way to separate some of your cockerels out of the flock until you are ready to start culling. I also have a large guinea pig cage that I have used to transport birds, and I may use that to separate some of my current little cockerels. I wouldn't worry too much about the pullets fighting as long as they have enough space and aren't fighting out of sheer boredom. The girls have to work out their pecking order, but in my limited experience, even though they may look fierce, I have never seen them injure each other. I also bought some cheap parrot toys when my birds were little and I was worried about boredom. They were hanging toys with coconut fibers and I would sprinkle feed all over it so they could hunt and peck for feed on the toys. They seemed to enjoy that. Something to keep them busy. I would sit in the coop/run with them for awhile at least once a day if you can do it. Again it gives them something else to do and think about and of course helps keep them tame.

I have identified two, possibly 3, RC boys that I need to find homes for. I hope to be able to tell for sure by the end of this week. I have my two RC boys from Lund, and I don't need any more RC boys, so that makes culling that group easy. My SC boys from Mary Ann are another story. I only want to keep two of them and I think I have 5, maybe 6. I want them to mature a lot more before I decide who to give away. I do not relish the thought of bringing birds back into the house to live (the dust gets everywhere!), but I may have to do so. Is anyone within 100 miles of the St. Louis area who would like a few Nankin cockerels? So far I don't see any faults with any of them. They are all quite possibly good show birds.

My suggestion Tyler, but as you know I'm very new to this too, is to start looking critically at your cockerels and start trying to figure out who to cull. You want to wait as long as possible (I have heard recommendations of a year if you can), but you also can't have them tearing each other up for a year. Look at the standard and if you see any disqualifications on any of your boys pop up in the coming weeks, you know they need to go. How many boys are you wanting to keep? RC or SC? I read somewhere that breeding RC and SC together can produce some goofy looking combs. I'm not sure if that's an accurate statement or not, but I am keeping my RC groups and SC groups separate. The two cockerels I gave away, one had a telescoping RC comb (disqualification), and the other had a bent SC. The bent SC may not have been genetic and his offspring may have been ok, but he was VERY light colored and had almost white legs (white legs are not good). I know you shouldn't cull based on color alone, but compared to my other birds, you could really see a difference and I had to cull someone. I told the lady I gave them to what their faults were, and she is keeping them as pets and not as breeders. The two got along great and had never been separated. So I hope they are doing well.

Anyone who gets these posts....PLEASE feel free to add your comments! If you disagree with something I've said, PLEASE let me know! I want to keep my mistakes to a minimum and need any advice that I can get!

 

[griffinkid02]

I have several who just don't look like their tails will be colored right, almost total buff color with very little of of the black, although we don't have any sickle feathers yet of course.it's also way to early to have any idea of tail angle, but yes. I'm already looking. I need to get not only the new standard when it is printed but a list of full on DQ's. Sadly the one's bleeding were ALL hens, but I don't think it was deliberate. as you said the hens bumped chests and scolded each other for awhile the settled down in a corner to roll their eyes at the boys. I think the tail feathers just got broke in the jostling and then since there was a bit of blood there was obsessive picking until I had to remove them. On a good note all signs of blood were gone by that night and the girls safely and successfully went back in with the main hordes the next morning after a good meal. I have no trouble with fighting in the brooders, even when chicks get switched to a different flock, it's only in the run.... go figure.

 

[Micki]

Their tail feather colors may change A LOT. I had one male whose tail feathers were striped crossways, like a turkeys. After the last molt, and they are only 4 months old, the stripes disappeared. They also came in much darker this time. The birds will molt several times in the next few months, so I wouldn't worry about tail feather color at this point. The almost white legs that hadn't darkened up much in 4 months made the difference to me on the one with the crooked comb. If he had been a female, I would have kept it and checked the offspring. And they may have darkened up further with time. I would hold on to your boys for at least 4 months if you can. It would be great to have a list of all the DQ's. I knew the telescoping comb was a DQ so that bird was an easy decision. I have a girl with crooked toes, and if she was a boy, she'd be culled. But since I only have a few RC girls, I need to keep her. Like my boy with the bald spot, I will watch her offspring closely. I will not sell offspring or eggs from either until I have hatched a batch from them and see if those things show up. If they do, neither will be used as breeders anymore.

The longer we can keep them and see how their body type and coloring are the better. The severity of the cockfighting will be the deciding factor on my SC boys that have few faults. If I were to find someone to take my RC boys right now though, I'd probably try to throw in one of my new SC boys too, even though it's a bit early to start culling them. I would just have to hope I wouldn't be giving the best one away! I wish that I'd had more Lund birds to choose from, but I have what I have. I had my mind set to use my Lund boys with Mary Ann's girls, to hopefully help with some genetic diversity. I believe Lund's birds originated from Mary Ann's flock, but they say that in even just a few generations enough diversity will occur to be able to consider them a completely different flock. I hope that most of my decisions work and that my choices can help keep the breed going strong. I guess I will find out!

 

[griffinkid02]

Awesome, thanks for the answer Micki. I'm going to try to get some up to date pics tomorrow. Maybe I'll have time to just sit and watch them play in their run instead of working with them "just" out of site while i'm trying to finish their coop before they start picketing me over still being in brooder boxes, lol.

 

[franciscreek]

Tyler,

if you post a few pics we might be able to help you with some obvious culls.

i don't usually have problems with cockerels fighting. I raise mine in groups of 10 or 12 and have only had one cockerel I had to seperate. How big are your pens? Pen size might have some thing to do with it.

 

[griffinkid02]

too small to leave them in for much longer, but not so smal that they fight. I have started turning them out into a little run that I threw together with some scraps during the day when I can keep an eye on them then putting them back up at night. The boys like to chest bump and dance with each other for a few minutes when first turned loose, but it's mostly play. The disaster I had last week was me putting to brooding groups together at the same time, lol. Lesson learned. I will try to have pics on here tomorrow.

 

[griffinkid02]

Dang I wanna post the video that I made of the first group playing last week, before I put the second group in, but it won't let me upload directly from my computer the way I can pics.....

Anyway, here are some of the horde, I don't expect to be able to pick culls from these since they are through screen, but it's still early to be culling anyway I think. But without further ado,

My at the time 5.5 weekers:


yes that pullet(I think) is giving me a grand case of the stink eye


Oh, look! More stink eyes, lol

 

[Micki]

Love the pics Tyler! I'm not sure if I mentioned it before in all my ramblings, but I have found that the best time to really spend time with the birds about half an hour before sunset. Sometimes they are a bit rowdy during this time, but they are starting to think about settling down for the night, and ROOSTING. Which is where i come in . They love to jump up on my shoulders, arms, head, when I'm in the pens at this time. I figure it's really good for socializing them with people. Once one bird jumps up, the others get curious and want to jump up too. Squatting down brings even better luck getting them to jump up, but it's hard for me to do (one of the signs of being half a century old *sigh*). A chair works better for me .

 

[Grumpypantsmomma]

Nanny My very first Nankin she will be going on a year her soon. Just love her to pieces, she now has a little cockerel and some more little hens to hang out with and teach!



Did I mention i have 11 extra nankin cockerels for sale if anyone is interested, only problem is the boys have flaws due to being hatchery chicks. some are to light and some with the wrong color legs and what not, only two have the potential to be what i need and i will post pics later for you to judge! Oh did I mention Nanny is a hatchery chick as well!