Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[Blarneyeggs]

find the bowl of food with the meat on top..

These have to be the healthiest looking meaties I have ever seen.

 

[barbiegirl]

I'm so upset. I moved my BLRW to the coop and run. They were doing good today. Checked on them a few times today. Went to boyscouts and came home by 8:30. Went down to put the chicks in the coop and only found 3 out of 4. I'm upset, my stomach is upset and i knots. Don't know what happened to her. It was looking as if I had 3 roos and 1 pullet. They are 8 weeks old. I am hoping she will be running around tomorrow morning when I go out to feed them. Fingers crossed.

 

[BullChick]

I'm so upset. I moved my BLRW to the coop and run. They were doing good today. Checked on them a few times today. Went to boyscouts and came home by 8:30. Went down to put the chicks in the coop and only found 3 out of 4. I'm upset, my stomach is upset and i knots. Don't know what happened to her. It was looking as if I had 3 roos and 1 pullet. They are 8 weeks old. I am hoping she will be running around tomorrow morning when I go out to feed them. Fingers crossed.

 

[BullChick]

I have 2 broodies tonight. Good thing Mama couldn't take the BR, and Fisherlady hasn't gotten a response from her guy. Of all the pullets I ordered for their desire to brood, it is a Golden Buff that is broody! The BR is shocking too. I was sure the Jersey Giants would be the mothers. Looks like I have to re-think my chicken math.
How old of chicks are okay to bring in June?

 

[Blarneyeggs]

I'm so upset. I moved my BLRW to the coop and run. They were doing good today. Checked on them a few times today. Went to boyscouts and came home by 8:30. Went down to put the chicks in the coop and only found 3 out of 4. I'm upset, my stomach is upset and i knots. Don't know what happened to her. It was looking as if I had 3 roos and 1 pullet. They are 8 weeks old. I am hoping she will be running around tomorrow morning when I go out to feed them. Fingers crossed.

oh no! Fingers are crossed for ya!

And anyone looking for a bator:

http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/grd/3809791250.html

 

[BirdbyGavin1103]

J

Ha Sounds like me. 2 months ago I only wanted 6 layers.... I think last count we were at 46 chickens and 4 ducklings, and no eggs since I don't have a bator....yet

. I really need to figure out what to do with the ducks, I don't mind if they end up on the table, but as far as my sister is concerned they're "hers" ....Other than buying them she has yet to put a dime into them, or a minute into their care (not to mention she's moving into a 3rd floor apartment in WB in the next week or so), so as far as I AM concerned they're mine

. Sorry for the rant, but it's just like "her" dogs, cats and fish, they're only "her's" when we try to find new homes or in the case of the ducks freezer camp. On another note, I've looked up the procedure to caponize roosters, and I'm just wondering if anyone on here has done that. It looks fairly simple, and I plan on "practicing" on the roosters that will be culled anyway (once they're culled) so I can get anatomy and such down. Any guidance would be appreciated, the info on I found on the other threads was helpful, but I figure the more info the better it will go for me and the boys.

just wondering what your reasoning is behind wanting to caponize some of your birds? What kind of anesthesia will you use?

I have a few reasons top is to curb aggression, second is the quality of the meat (you'll pay at least twice as much for capon in the store or a restaurant because of tenderness, quality/taste and size), third is males or straight run cost less so as long as I go with dual purpose or "slow grow" broilers it would be well worth it, last would be to keep one or two for broodies. I don't plan on any anesthesia, from what I've read (and know from a bad vet experience) you're more likely to kill them (often painfully) if you're not properly trained, plus it's been done for millennia without anesthesia. Also from what I've read they don't react much, if at all, when the incision is done.

 

[LeBlackbird]

For real? I was told it was a Red Star or a Red Comet which were both sex linked. But I don't know much about chickens

Sexlinks are (rec?) white based (maybe silver based, not really big on sexlink genetics), so the tail would be mainly white. His black tail is a giveaway that he's a Rhode Island Red Here's a comparison (not my birds)

Rhode Island (black tail)

Red Star (white tail)

 

[LeBlackbird]

I have a few reasons top is to curb aggression, second is the quality of the meat (you'll pay at least twice as much for capon in the store or a restaurant because of tenderness, quality/taste and size), third is males or straight run cost less so as long as I go with dual purpose or "slow grow" broilers it would be well worth it, last would be to keep one or two for broodies. I don't plan on any anesthesia, from what I've read (and know from a bad vet experience) you're more likely to kill them (often painfully) if you're not properly trained, plus it's been done for millennia without anesthesia. Also from what I've read they don't react much, if at all, when the incision is done.

My 4H used to do Capons as a meat project. Just do a lot of homework and take your time! Also, make sure to thoroughly disinfect incision area, as infection is the leading killer of freshly caponized birds.
BorderBrigade, the top two reasons I see birds caponized are the following;
A, Caponizing meat-type birds for the reasons said above
B, People that cannot keep intact roosters because of various reasons (Living in a suburban enviroment, having too many roosters, curving aggression, etc) and are attached to that particular bird. Caponizing is the only way available to fix those problems that don't include killing or rehoming.

Capons are usually larger, calmer, and quieter birds. They are often times near the bottom of the pecking-order totem pole. They aren't as crazy and spazzy as intact roosters, so they live peacefully with hens without causing damage. Capons are just lazy birds. Not sure who told you Capons make good broodies. Capons don't contain the hormones or instincts necessary to hatch or raise chicks, I've never heard of that occurring anywhere

 

[fisherlady]

Someone did it in the fall...Fisherlady maybe?

No, I haven't caponized yet... still looking for an old farmer who does them so I can watch it done before jumping in myself. Would love to know how, many of our hatched birds would be much better for meat (since we don't need them to be roos) if we could caponize them.

If I were to clean out the coop the broody is in, and put some 12-week-old chicks in there, along with a few of the old flock. Do you think it would totally tick her off? She is a laid back girl ... When she isn't broody anyway. Most of you seem familiar with the shuffling around when you have chicks coming out of the incubator. I can also put the broody alone in a small coop. If I do, should I put her sister (BR) in with her for company?
And another question. I DO need to downsize my flock. Anyone wanting my layers is going to have to get over bare backs. I am nervous about putting the 2 cockerels (already in the big coop together) alone in a pen. Worse would be to put the other cockeral in with them. He is a good husband, but with only 4 girls, he is over mating too.
In English, should I leave the roosters where they are because no one is bleeding? If not, how can separate them from the girls without them killing each other? BTW, I do have aprons. The roosters flip them up.

We put one of our broodies in a nest box 16" or so off of the floor in the meaties pen! She is perfectly happy to set their and they can't reach her to bother her. She gets down once or twice a day and scares them all away from her so she can scratch a bit and do her feed/water/dust routine. The meaties give her a WIDE berth! LOL
I think housing her with youngsters will avoid her being picked on... rare to have teenagers harass adults, let alone risk the wrath of a broody, but it may need to be temporary because teenagers can be hard on baby chicks. At our place the adult hens and roos all respect the broody and are good with babies, but the danged teenie boppers can be idiots sometimes. They may not challenge the broody, but they may bother the little ones unless they have plenty of room to spread out.
If the two broodies get along then just put them into the seperate coop, give each their own nest area. Watch after the hatch to make sure that they are either good with each other's chicks or at least leave each other alone. How they act after hatch is totally hen dependant... so is a wait and see thing for us silly humans.

I have 2 broodies tonight. Good thing Mama couldn't take the BR, and Fisherlady hasn't gotten a response from her guy. Of all the pullets I ordered for their desire to brood, it is a Golden Buff that is broody! The BR is shocking too. I was sure the Jersey Giants would be the mothers. Looks like I have to re-think my chicken math.
How old of chicks are okay to bring in June?

I wish that fellow would get back to me on what he wants to do... as of now, I say don't worry about him, if you have a good home for the little ones then go for it. Don't hold them for a 'maybe' thing!

 

[BirdbyGavin1103]

I have a few reasons top is to curb aggression, second is the quality of the meat (you'll pay at least twice as much for capon in the store or a restaurant because of tenderness, quality/taste and size), third is males or straight run cost less so as long as I go with dual purpose or "slow grow" broilers it would be well worth it, last would be to keep one or two for broodies. I don't plan on any anesthesia, from what I've read (and know from a bad vet experience) you're more likely to kill them (often painfully) if you're not properly trained, plus it's been done for millennia without anesthesia. Also from what I've read they don't react much, if at all, when the incision is done.

My 4H used to do Capons as a meat project. Just do a lot of homework and take your time! Also, make sure to thoroughly disinfect incision area, as infection is the leading killer of freshly caponized birds.
BorderBrigade, the top two reasons I see birds caponized are the following;
A, Caponizing meat-type birds for the reasons said above
B, People that cannot keep intact roosters because of various reasons (Living in a suburban enviroment, having too many roosters, curving aggression, etc) and are attached to that particular bird. Caponizing is the only way available to fix those problems that don't include killing or rehoming.

Capons are usually larger, calmer, and quieter birds. They are often times near the bottom of the pecking-order totem pole. They aren't as crazy and spazzy as intact roosters, so they live peacefully with hens without causing damage. Capons are just lazy birds. Not sure who told you Capons make good broodies. Capons don't contain the hormones or instincts necessary to hatch or raise chicks, I've never heard of that occurring anywhere

I read it while doing my research, apparently they can be "trained" to sit. I'm doubtful, but I'm willing to try if the hens won't. Figure the worst that'll happen is I lose some eggs.