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Thank you, Miss Lydia! I am very excited to have this wonderful resource at my fingertips!
I have some minor questions I haven't seen addressed in the first 80 pages of this thread, but if the answers were there, please forgive me. I read until my eyes cross at night, I swear!
* I have begun to supplement my regulars feed with plenty of leafy greens. I have read that greens are high in folic acid, and other birth-defect-preventing minerals, vitamins and compounds. It has been likened to women wishing to conceive taking folic acid in preparation to conceive. I understand a min. of 6 weeks of supplementing greens, in advance of collecting eggs to hatch, is a good guide. I feed grass, dandelions and clover. My question (finally, I know,
) is, does anyone here feed or supplement anything specific and/or out of ordinary to their hens (or roos) to help prepare them for successful breeding?
I am kind of a freak about all the reading, research and fact-analysis about (well, everything) my chooks and their upbringing. I talk to everyone about everything they know, read everything, and then try to decide what is best for our flock. Often I have leaned in favor of the Old Ways (as per actual homesteading, covered-wagon travelling Great Grandmas and Grandpas), but also consider and incorporate the latest technology, information and advice as it applies to my situation.
I obtained my first 6 1-week-old chicks last May, and first, just wanted sweet, healthy, egg-layers, which I was handsomely rewarded with (Blessed be!). The very instant they were all laying, I began to yearn for a roo, and to create a flock of my own. I feel buying chooks is kinds of a genetic crap-shoot, and want to be a little more in control about my own breeding.
Then I got roosters. 5 of them (talking of hatchery crap-shoots!
) in a batch of 8 straight run, purchased for me by my neighbor and close chicken-croney) . So, I had the opportunity to observe them all as they grew; behavior in the flock, aggression toward people and the hens, and general physical characteristics. All along, I had my heart set on one (the only one with a name, from 4 weeks-old), but he began to be more aggressive than I liked. One roo emerged as a polite, charming little man, who was beautiful and seemed to be a good FlockFather to me.
Having so many roos began to drive my poor hens crazy, and egg production has suffered this summer for it.
In a bit of amazing fortune, my husband's aunt and uncle came to visit the week the boys all turned 20 weeks, and they happen to live on a Century Farm in ND, and usually process 100 birds at a time. When I asked them to give me a live tutorial on processing roos, they sighed and asked "how many?" When I said 2, their eyes lit up, and Uncle Marty started sharpening knives.
So, now I have a balanced flock, the hens are happy and laying, and my eggs are fertile, so of course I am now obsessing about
the next thing which is hatching fuzzy butts.
I finally grasp the nature of "chicken math" (which I also have found includes subtraction), and am so excited about this whole process.
Thank you all for having shared your experiences. As with all things chicken, I see so many different stories, and see that I will continue to have to learn everything and then call an audible about what we will do in this flock, in any given situation.
As I mentioned, I am so delighted to have found this thread before I got ready to allow AliceAnn to complete her life's work. She is a serious broody, who commits to the task, regardless of eggs, golf balls or anything. But I have seen how she tenderly rolled the golf balls, arranged them just so beneath her...and she didn't google a single thing! She had never set a clutch in her life, yet she knew exactly what to do.
I can hardly wait to document this experience, as I have all the rest of our milestones ( first roost in the brooder, noodle-lympics, first day in coop, first egg, first perfect egg day, first rooster, etc, etc...ad nauseum to anyone who doesn't have a baby, a puppy or a chicken they love~ I feel sad for them).
Thanks for being my forum about this. My obsession drives most people crazy...it is great to have a team of folks who already are!!!
Brightest Blessings!
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