Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[fisherlady]

if he is a pain, just imagine 10 or 15 of his boys (or girls) running around in the grow out pens acting just as bad... if you are looking to have a next generation rooster it will be a pretty iffy thing with him as the daddy. It's hard to do in the nice looking ones for sure... it really sucks when you have one turn.

 

[wingstone]

Quote: That's funny, I bought mine at a yard sale and the purpose of it was for a chicken dust bath, then I got ducks and they now have it

 

[OneMountainAcres]

I agree with this......  they will eat it and prefer it after a few days! 

I guess I'll have to make more then. I only made one batch as an experiment lol.

Don't we all have a turtle sandbox?.

Of course! Ours is in the shed just waiting to become a dust box once the coop is done lol.

 

[Sally Sunshine]

You know who you are.....

 

[troyer]

kind of leaning that way also,,,, It is just frustrating since that mean boy just started that behavior a couple of days ago, but each day has gotten a little worse,,,, forgive the picture but I lost count of how many rounds we went today while i was cleaning out that pen.... stupid boy,,,, I had a pitchfork in my hand.... DUH....

I have a good friend that has been breeding chickens for 17+ years and he has found that a manfighter will produce manfighters. The manfighter roosters tend to produce hens that carry the manfighting gene. Even if the hens themselves never attack you some of her offspring roosters will. I have some of his bloodline now and have a pullet whos grandfather was a manfighter, being bred to a cockerel that is out of a manfighter rooster. Neither one has ever flogged me, but I watch them very carefully and hope they never do. I have also found that they tend to become a manfighter only after they are a year old and older, some don't until their second year.
As I understand it from him, it's the hen that gives the manfighting gene to the roosters and the rooster that gives the gene to the pullets. If both parents carry the manfighting gene all the offspring will be manfighters, although the pullets/hens probably won't show it. I have not personally experienced these things yet, but I have no reason to not believe it. So far I have never kept a pullet that comes directly from a manfighter rooster, I just don't really want to take the chances of making the gene permanent in my breeding flock.
Another one of my friends kept a hen that he knew had the manfighting gene and bred her and her offspring to a proven non-manfighting line of chickens for 10 years. Even after 10 generations he had over half of the offspring roosters come out as wicked as ever, determined to kill all the people they ever came into contact with. The manfighting gene usually did not show up until they were in the 12 - 18 month old range.

 

[wingstone]

Quote: since he is showing this at only 6 months old, he is almost hopeless...... and I tried every trick today with him, as soon as I would turn my back he would start again...

but that is worrisome since the white bresse was only imported a few years ago, just how big is that gene pool....

I know he has to go, just so d*** frustrating...

 

[Reyvaughn]

So adorable!

Are the eggs really that good? This may sound really stupid, but I've always said no to ducks because we don't have a pond, and I just assumed I needed one. Are they harder than chickens?

Duck eggs have larger, richer yolks and thicker whites. As you may already know, many people prefer to use duck eggs for baking because they make everything fluffier. Because they are rich, I have spent a little extra time on the toilet, if you know what I mean... I like to poach mine and put them over braised spinach. Break the yolk and there's your warm salad with warm dressing. Mmmm...

To add to SS's reply...
I have a nickname for ducks. Pigs with Wings. Yep. That's what they are. Mud, drilling holes in the ground, getting muddy trying to swim/preen in 2" of muddy water, splashing muddy water all over everything, watery and projectile poop... But, the eggs... I have a kiddie pool for mine. During the winter I hang a 2.5 gallon bucket for them. Other than the fact that they are so messy with water, no, they are not harder than chickens. Messier, but not harder. Mine stayed outdoors all the time - even in rain, snow, sleet, freezing rain, frigid temps - whatever. They had a 10x10 shed to go in but never did. Not even to lay their eggs. This time will be different for them, though. I am using my 10-12x20' concrete dog kennel for them. No mud... well. Just poop based 'mud'. I'll figure out a way to let the free range after it warms up.

 

[stake]

Is it bad that I want to sleep with the babies? Wonder if my husband would mind. My sister got to sleep with them last night. I'd probably not get any sleep for watching them.

When should I add grit to their diet? In a separate dish? Mixed with the starter feed?

LB:
If you are giving them grower crumble, the grit is in there...about grit in general, I used to leave a bowl available and have since removed it....I had on chook go down from an infected crop...the vet noted that birds will eat too much of it and it can cause problems...so since my crew has access to my backyard, they can get what they need while scratching around....my two cents....

 

[stake]

For the Duck folks.....freebies in NE PA

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/865276/we-need-to-give-our-ducks-away-pittston-pa

 

[GR Chicks]

I would give the wuss a chance, perhaps if he was alone with the hens he would snap out of his wussiness.

Duck eggs have larger, richer yolks and thicker whites. As you may already know, many people prefer to use duck eggs for baking because they make everything fluffier. Because they are rich, I have spent a little extra time on the toilet, if you know what I mean... I like to poach mine and put them over braised spinach. Break the yolk and there's your warm salad with warm dressing. Mmmm...

To add to SS's reply...
I have a nickname for ducks. Pigs with Wings. Yep. That's what they are. Mud, drilling holes in the ground, getting muddy trying to swim/preen in 2" of muddy water, splashing muddy water all over everything, watery and projectile poop... But, the eggs... I have a kiddie pool for mine. During the winter I hang a 2.5 gallon bucket for them. Other than the fact that they are so messy with water, no, they are not harder than chickens. Messier, but not harder. Mine stayed outdoors all the time - even in rain, snow, sleet, freezing rain, frigid temps - whatever. They had a 10x10 shed to go in but never did. Not even to lay their eggs. This time will be different for them, though. I am using my 10-12x20' concrete dog kennel for them. No mud... well. Just poop based 'mud'. I'll figure out a way to let the free range after it warms up.

Thanks, we have a dog kennel with a 5x6x8 attached house the run is 17ft cement and fenced. My hubby uses the run for firewood, but maybe I can work on finding a new home for that

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