Okies in the BYC The Original

[poultryand bees]

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Depends on who you ask. NNbreeder will tell you Naked Necks lay a large brown egg year round, because they adapt better to weather changes than some other breeds. Some folk like Rhode Island Reds. I like a "production" breed like the Black Sex Links or Golden Comet. I think that TJ's NaNa's family likes Cinnamon Queens.

I will also say that some breeds are not known for laying large eggs. For instance, Dominequers don't seem to lay an egg any larger than a medium sized egg. Jersy Giants don't seem to lay an egg that is very large, although you would think that they would since they consume so much feed.

Most of my hens are about 2 years old since I repopulated with chicks in September 2008. I am in the process of growing hens to replace them, since out of 15 hens in the laying flock, we are getting about 8 eggs each day. My replacements will primarily be NNs and marans, although if I can figure out what I ordered in 2008, I may order some more of the golden comet/golden buffs/red sex links ???? I need to at least figure out whether I got them from McMurry or Meyer or Mt. Healthy so I can figure out what I ordered

 

[poultryand bees]

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A Bobcat!

I guess that the way you relocate a bobcat is "very, very carefully." Yikes! You are way too close to me and I don't want to think about there being any bobcats in them there woods.

 

[nnbreeder]

Ok here is the pic. The eggs on the left are from the bantams and the ones on the right are from a bantam/standard cross so she is about mid-sized.

 

[nnbreeder]

And here is an egg from George's pen, the Mad. Game.

 

[poultryand bees]

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Are your toulouse geese the "standard" variety or the Giant Dewlaped Toulouse? One of our BYC folks, ashester, is looking for a Giant Dewlaped Toulouse goose hen.

mine dont have that extra baggage so they are not the dewlaped , i seen some of them when i was googling pics , but i havent seen a dewlap in person , wonder if i could use a dewlap gander on these girls or would it matter

I imagine the girls won't care one way or another, although I think the Dewlaped Toulouse is a larger goose than your hens. Ashester is the person to ask. He has done a lot of research on this topic.

 

[poultryand bees]

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Now you are really bragging. Wow!

 

[poultryand bees]

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those are some large eggs! Even the "bantam" eggs are large. Do I need to place my order for pullets now or would you prefer that I wait until Spring? I would like to begin the spring with my pullets all laying, although it might be a good idea to stagger them a little so that I don't have everyone in mass production mode at Easter, when eggs in the grocery store are less than a dollar a dozen.

 

[poultryand bees]

Does anyone have a report on the Newcastle auction this evening? I thought about going, but got busy doing something else and didn't want to be rushing in at the last minute. Besides, my Sportsman is about empty so I can clean and sanitize it this week.

I just want to know if I missed any really good bargains on cages or pheasants.

 

[nnbreeder]

Many of the geese sold as Toulese are actually Pilgrims . The greys are females and the whites are males. As I found out when I entered our Toulese in a show, they were Pilgrims, mismarked and DQed. The Pilgrims are a much lighter built goose both in frame and size and ours have wonderful temperments.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilgrim_Goose

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toulouse_Geese

 

[poultryand bees]

I think geese are cool looking, but almost everyone has a story of being intimidated/attacked by a goose as a child - so we likely won't get any - at least not right now (never say "never") I would be interested in opinions on the "friendliest" variety of geese - something that will be an object of beauty but not try and throttle small children and scared adults at every opportunity.