Processing Day Support Group ~ HELP us through the Emotions PLEASE!

[BCMaraniac]

That is what I am banking on ROn!!


The single comb will be a bugger-- but with this brutal winter I have looked to see who lost combs and who did not . . . . my thought is housing needs to be totally without drafts , and lots of birds together that can snuggle side by side. Also thicker tips are less effected than thin. Tall tips more effected than short.

My Bresse essentially self-dubbed when we had -13 degree temps. They were inside a metal barn in an oak lined repurposed horse stall, and the barn was closed. I used deep litter, which had fresh shavings, and they nested in a corner on the ground together.I even had a large pallet leaning up against the wall at an angle where they slept. I did all I knew to do. Now that they are dubbed, hopefully there will be no further problems. In retrospect, I guess I should have turned on a heat lamp that was hanging in a corner of the stall that I had closed up last spring and used for a brooder.

On the other hand, my Black Copper Marans rooster insisted on roosting outside up against the coop. He had a 3-sided protection with the wall of the coop along with a tarp beside and above him that was being used to protect their run from the snow/rain and wind. He only had a little dusky area on one tip which has since resolved. He didn't lose any comb whatsoever.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: While I appreciate the skill to caponize, for several reasons I will not be doingit. Mostly the time involved-- while not much , I already have much to do with spring coming and gardens to work. Otherwise I rather enjoy the tougher meat-- I actually feel like I am eating, somthing about the biting and chewing process that lends to satisfaction-- just somthing that I have noticed: if I eat soff foods I'm back looking for more. Hard to lose weight that way!! lol

 

[Arielle]

Quote: THe most comb damage was in BCM and SS that roosted in the rafters of a 2 stall barn witha metal roof and open ends-- good for horses, not for chickens, turkeys were fine.

 

[BCMaraniac]

THe most comb damage was in BCM and SS that roosted in the rafters of a 2 stall barn witha metal roof and open ends-- good for horses, not for chickens, turkeys were fine.

If mine had roosted in the rafters, I know there would have been more draft, even with the barn closed. I was concerned about the Bresse when the temperatures dropped, so I made them as cozy as I could, and they bedded down together exactly where I wanted them to......but it didn't work. It got below zero a week or so later, and that time I turned the heat lamp on. They stayed around it, but not directly under it those nights.....I guess it helped. Now that it has warmed up, they are roosting in the rafters or on the 12 foot oak wall between two stalls, and the other stall houses my capons. I did nothing different with them and not a single problem. There were more of them, they nest on the ground at night, even though they have a roost......and they have no combs!!!!

I guess there are some advantages to being castrated.....

 

[ronott1]

My Bresse essentially self-dubbed when we had -13 degree temps. They were inside a metal barn in an oak lined repurposed horse stall, and the barn was closed. I used deep litter, which had fresh shavings, and they nested in a corner on the ground together.I even had a large pallet leaning up against the wall at an angle where they slept. I did all I knew to do. Now that they are dubbed, hopefully there will be no further problems. In retrospect, I guess I should have turned on a heat lamp that was hanging in a corner of the stall that I had closed up last spring and used for a brooder.

On the other hand, my Black Copper Marans rooster insisted on roosting outside up against the coop. He had a 3-sided protection with the wall of the coop along with a tarp beside and above him that was being used to protect their run from the snow/rain and wind. He only had a little dusky area on one tip which has since resolved. He didn't lose any comb whatsoever.

I read somewhere that it helps in the cold if you teach the rooster to tuck his head under his wing like the Hens do. I have seen my hens doing this but not the roosters.

I hope this is helpful. We do not go below 25 in the winter here so frost damage is very rare.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: DO you mean the combs stayed tiny?? Like agirls comb??

One of my BCM dubbed ALL the points and then some. A most original looking comb now-- like a perfect mohawk!!!

Quote: Lucky you on the temps!! For me it is a reminder why there are so many different chickens and why we should get what works in our area.

 

[Beekissed]

Did you all read that article about the Bresse? They capon at 10 weeks!!

 

[BCMaraniac]

DO you mean the combs stayed tiny?? Like agirls comb??

One of my BCM dubbed ALL the points and then some. A most original looking comb now-- like a perfect mohawk!!!

Lucky you on the temps!! For me it is a reminder why there are so many different chickens and why we should get what works in our area.

Oh, yes, the combs stay tiny! See the bird in my avatar? That is a capon at around 20 weeks. He is one of the ones that I am getting ready to process. He weighs 10 1/2 pounds now. The combs are barely light pink. The hens have more comb than the capons! I caponized a Bresse cockerel at 11-12 weeks, and that huge comb he had(the Bresse get those huge combs very early) and within a week, it shriveled up to almost nothing, and is quite pale. It was striking how it just seemed to shrivel up.......didn't get frostbitten either....LOL

One of my Bresse roosters dubbed the points and then some, with the Mohawk look going on......the other barely has nubs, just enough to be able to tell where the points used to be.

 

[jajeanpierre]

Arielle,

When you caponize and tear the membranes around the organs, there is scar tissue that develops, which can make eviscerating a bit more challenging than a CX, but nothing like what Kassaundra and jajeanpierre were describing, at least that has been my experience. I do however have some older full capons..approx 10 months old... that I will be processing soon, so I will have a better idea about how difficult evisceration is in the older capon. I will let you know. These birds were caponized at 6-8 weeks of age.

A little Silkie pullet had drowned in my pool right before I processed the slightly younger cockerels. The pullet took a few minutes to do--everything was easy. The cockerels? The garbage can looked awfully inviting. I just flatly refused to throw them out and stuck it out. I was exhausted in the end, partly from being four weeks out of cervical spinal fusion surgery but mostly because they were just that hard to process. I have another to do when the roosters in the group of 5-week old chicks grow big enough to start acting as protectors of the free range flock.

Question for those who have integrated chicks to their existing flock--how do I do it?

I have some Ameraucana chicks, maybe 5 weeks old that I want to go out with a free range flock soon. They are pretty small--Cornish X they are not--so won't be going out for a bit. At what size do you put chicks out free ranging?

The flock I want them to go into consists of all one-year old birds: a Ameraucana rooster, a Ameraucana hen, two ditzy Polish hens and a bantam Plymouth Rock. I will be integrating two Ameraucana hens back into this flock--they were taken out of it in January when I wanted to get them ready for a show, then they had all kinds of crop/health issues. The two Ameraucana hens are still separated, finishing out their quarantine because they ended up being penned near my birds that were at poultry shows and are still in quarantine.

I have found the Ameraucanas a bit on the tough side. I was thinking I should get the chicks in with the main flock while it still only has only one Ameraucana hen who could be a bully. How do roosters take to new additions? My neighbor's hen has been trying to make her home on my side of the fence, and there was a huge kafuffle when the flock had her trapped in the corner and it sure sounded like the rooster was in the middle of the melee. He is extremely protective of any birds that make distress calls, even the roosters in the other flock.

I would really appreciate suggestions. Thanks.

 

[BCMaraniac]

I read somewhere that it helps in the cold if you teach the rooster to tuck his head under his wing like the Hens do. I have seen my hens doing this but not the roosters.

I hope this is helpful. We do not go below 25 in the winter here so frost damage is very rare.

Now, Ron, do you have any suggestions as to how to teach a rooster to tuck his head??

I would love to hear it!