Show Off Your American Gamefowl and Chat Thread!!!

[sdm111]

If u know the nesting sites to put shell can't u just put boxes?

 

[centrarchid]

Shell goes into boxes instead of straw / hay.

 

[kingcocker]

Long story short I have one pen with a pair of blues and all other hens are single penned.

I have found that if they don't grow together it'll be a problem having good hens in the same space.

 

[roosterhavoc]

I have found that if they don't grow together it'll be a problem having good hens in the same space.

They did I separated them to single mate.

 

[roosterhavoc]

 

[centrarchid]

I have found that if they don't grow together it'll be a problem having good hens in the same space.

You can keep larger groups together (6+ individuals) of birds that can not be kept in groups of 2 to 3. To pull off I introduce them into a henhouse 20' x 20' at the same time early in the morning and as you would predict a battle royal ensues. Doing so on a Saturday for me enables frequent checking throughout the day. The individual dust ups will be prone to interference from other combatants. Seldom do you get past noon before pecking order is worked out and most of the scrapping is done within about 15 minutes of the introduction. The outcome is usually similar to what you see by mixing flocks of dominickers which even typical backyard folks do. We used to keep pullets in groups of 50 without too much damage as such were even used for some meager egg production. Pullets / hens that get down are often in poor shape anyway and should not be kept. Spurred hens might have had advantage in causing damage but we never saw logic in selecting for that phenotype as it had no apparent bearing on the male side phenotype.

 

[JShubin]

You can keep larger groups together (6+ individuals) of birds that can not be kept in groups of 2 to 3. To pull off I introduce them into a henhouse 20' x 20' at the same time early in the morning and as you would predict a battle royal ensues. Doing so on a Saturday for me enables frequent checking throughout the day. The individual dust ups will be prone to interference from other combatants. Seldom do you get past noon before pecking order is worked out and most of the scrapping is done within about 15 minutes of the introduction. The outcome is usually similar to what you see by mixing flocks of dominickers which even typical backyard folks do. We used to keep pullets in groups of 50 without too much damage as such were even used for some meager egg production. Pullets / hens that get down are often in poor shape anyway and should not be kept. Spurred hens might have had advantage in causing damage but we never saw logic in selecting for that phenotype as it had no apparent bearing on the male side phenotype.

Good advise. I see this when I free range my hens.

Large flocks seem to moderate the dominant hen... because there is always a hen who is more dominant, even if she is less dominant than another. For example... Hen 'A' beats hen 'B', Hen 'B' beats hen 'C', but hen 'C' beats hen 'A'... in a loop, so that nobody is ever at the very top or very bottom of the pecking order. In my experience I would say this only starts to work when you reach about 6+ hens...

 

[JShubin]

 

[sdm111]

hope u don't learn the hard way those won't coexist

 

[roosterhavoc]

Sound advice for laying hens and even multiple roosters of the laying variety. I've kept as many as 15 roosters together without too much trouble.
That will not work with these birds. Like sdm111 said.
At the very least the hens will lose eyeballs and be lacking an awful lot of feathers. Which isn't worth it.
I originally had my two ruble hens in a 4x8 pen. One day the Wheaton was missing half her cape. Some birds just won't get along period. Protein levels in food was fine.