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I had to turn one of my Reese Legbar roos out to free range today. He was the best looking of the 4 I kept and I had him in with the Reese pullets, but he turned mean and started attacking me. I tried humiliating him and even hurting him. Then I switched him with one of the others and put him in with the 2 other roos and a bunch of non-Reese hens. Today he came at me repeatedly, so I grabbed him and tossed him out of the coop. I found him this evening sitting on the ground outside the window, longing to get back in with his flock. I suppose a fox will get him eventually, but I can't perpetuate his genes now that I know he is people-aggressive, I have a low tolerance for that.
 
dheltzel said:
I had to turn one of my Reese Legbar roos out to free range today. He was the best looking of the 4 I kept and I had him in with the Reese pullets, but he turned mean and started attacking me. I tried humiliating him and even hurting him. Then I switched him with one of the others and put him in with the 2 other roos and a bunch of non-Reese hens. Today he came at me repeatedly, so I grabbed him and tossed him out of the coop. I found him this evening sitting on the ground outside the window, longing to get back in with his flock. I suppose a fox will get him eventually, but I can't perpetuate his genes now that I know he is people-aggressive, I have a low tolerance for that.
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Is he flogging you?
 
dheltzel said:
I had to turn one of my Reese Legbar roos out to free range today. He was the best looking of the 4 I kept and I had him in with the Reese pullets, but he turned mean and started attacking me. I tried humiliating him and even hurting him. Then I switched him with one of the others and put him in with the 2 other roos and a bunch of non-Reese hens. Today he came at me repeatedly, so I grabbed him and tossed him out of the coop. I found him this evening sitting on the ground outside the window, longing to get back in with his flock. I suppose a fox will get him eventually, but I can't perpetuate his genes now that I know he is people-aggressive, I have a low tolerance for that.
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That's such a shame but mean roos can't be tolerated.
 
Free Feather said:
Is he flogging you?
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He was trying, but his size had him falling a bit short of actual damage. I have dealt with my fair share of mean roosters and have enough experience to get the better of every one now in a fight. My fear is for my niece (or anyone else) that has to go in there. That, and I've decided one of the most important things I want to breed for is docility, in both sexes. Some of my customers can keep a roo and want a breed recommendation for a roo that is a good protector, but completely safe with children. That can be a fine line, but I always prefer to lean toward the safe with children part. All my other roos I would trust completely with any young child. A few would even allow them to pet them (a bit).

This goes even more with the turkeys because a large tom could hurt even an adult. The peas would get more of a pass on this, but currently they are far to timid to be a problem.

I did finally get the peas to eat from my fingers this weekend. Bits of bread are just too tempting for them, those normally "regal and stately" birds act like a bunch of kids with a broken pinata when I start tossing bread in their aviary.
 
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Chaos18 said:
Anybody have a recomendation for a digital thermostat for a homemade bator?
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For regular use, I have Accurite thermometer/hydrometers from Walmart: http://www.walmart.com/ip/AcuRite-Digital-Humidity-and-Temperature-Monitor/16888914
I calibrate/test them with a baby fever thermometer, but they are a lot more hassle to check with. I calibrate by putting the Accurite in the middle of a styro incubator that is running, right under a vent hole, then put the child therm in the vent hole. Let them sit there for an hour or so, then push the button on the child therm and see if it matches the Accutherm.

The Accurite doesn't show "point values", only full digits, so I look for 99 and am ok with that, trusting the digital incubator thermostat to keep it right to the fractional degree.

I have a Brinsea spot check. I bought it because I thought it would be the best possible, but I'm not happy at all with it, definitely not worth the money, IMO, I trust a child thermometer more.
 
dheltzel said:
For regular use, I have Accurite thermometer/hydrometers from Walmart: http://www.walmart.com/ip/AcuRite-Digital-Humidity-and-Temperature-Monitor/16888914
I calibrate/test them with a baby fever thermometer, but they are a lot more hassle to check with. I calibrate by putting the Accurite in the middle of a styro incubator that is running, right under a vent hole, then put the child therm in the vent hole. Let them sit there for an hour or so, then push the button on the child therm and see if it matches the Accutherm.

The Accurite doesn't show "point values", only full digits, so I look for 99 and am ok with that, trusting the digital incubator thermostat to keep it right to the fractional degree.

I have a Brinsea spot check. I bought it because I thought it would be the best possible, but I'm not happy at all with it, definitely not worth the money, IMO, I trust a child thermometer more.
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Thanks for the recomendation on that. I'm trying to get some stuff together to build a bigger incubator and was looking for a digital thermostat
 
dheltzel said:
I had all the incubators turned off for about 2 weeks, but the Reese Legbars started laying about the time I turned off the incubators, so I started up just the small one (Genesis, only holds 42 eggs in the turner). Then I bought a Brinsea as a loaner and "had" to test it, so it's been incubating turkey eggs for the last 3 weeks. Last night I turned on the Sportsman and set about 40 new eggs, so I figured I should turn off the other 2 and consolidate all the eggs in to that. There are "only" about 90 eggs in there in total, so I'm still showing a lot of restraint. But if anyone is looking for chicks or poults, let me know, I'm about to be overrun.

I really want to keep the first 5 Reese Legbars I hatched, they are all pullets and have all the best qualities I am looking for in the chicks, easily sexable and very distinctive crests even at 3 weeks of age. But I have more hatching and will be selling most of the rest.

I am going to start hatching in earnest at the beginning of January. There is a lot of interest already, with people willing to keep chicks indoors in Feb and March, or setup a heated area in their coop. I don't believe there is a bad time to get chicks started, but earlier in spring is perfect because they will start laying in the summer with the long days and be in full production over next winter.
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It sounds very exciting.
yippiechickie.gif
Cannot believe that spring chicks are coming soon! I prefer to start chicks in Feb or March, since we haven't had electric in the coop yet and they will need to stay indoor until warm weather comes. I'm trying to convince DH to pick up the chicks from you if you have all the chicks we want at the same time. I would like to have a Rhodebar, a Bielefelder, a Rees legbar, and a California Grey pullet chick. If you'll have a green egg layer, I would love to have her too.
 

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