So what's up the the english Whites

[Stellar]

I disagree with red lights. It disorients their sight so it's harder to find their food and water. White light is best and what I personally recommend. Some birds are aggressive sadly, every bird is different. Red light also emits way too much heat which can bbq your quail.

 

[deerman]

Quote:
Red light for heat.....white light for sight.........running white lights 24/7 no wonder you have pecking problems.
Watt size for control of amount of heat.


Never had any trouble ,with any chicks finding food or water under red brooder light ??????? wonder why so many are sold.

 

[Buttercup Chillin]

I have a theory. I don't like my theory, but there might be some fact in it.

I keep thinking about the RIR chickens and now the Coturnix and wonder if the same thing is starting to happen. The Rhode Island Reds never used to be aggressive. They were Dad's favorite back 60-70 years ago. Now they are aggressive, not all lines but mostly. Breeders forgot to breed for temperament as well as to the standard.

So when you pick your breeders are you looking at just color, or just size, etc. I know I have an aggressive female out there, but I choose to breed her anyway because of her size. Yet in my chickens I won't put up with such behavior, no matter how close they are to their standard. But these are my meat birds and once she went to a breeder pen she settled right down. So I figured, OK I'd keep her and I still have her. Her daughters are not like her, but I have made changes since raising her, too.

But if you are selling birds or eggs you might want to put temperament on the list when selecting your breeders.
30 years ago the Coturnix were not aggressive at all. But I was only familiar with the Pharoah size and wild color back then.

Now I am breeding for size only. That was the plan anyway. Everyone of my breeders have been selected for size. I don't hatch and set every female I get in a breeder pen. I select only the largest from each hatch for breeders. Its taken me 8 months to get what 45 breeder hens out of hundreds and hundreds of birds. Now my standard is rising for my birds so there will be even less going into breeder pens. Should I take temperament into consideration, when I am after size and color?

But now I have Whites and they are the 1st generation from sports of the Big Jumbo Browns. So now I am trying to decide, do I select for their color spots (cause some are really pretty) but they tend to be a little smaller? Or do I select for size only and should I even consider temperament? Do I go for the pure White and set aside all else? Because they absolutely shimmer in the daylight and are just breath taking. These Whites are more flighty than the Browns but are much nicer in temperament so with these birds I don't think I have a problem.

But I can see where things might have gone wrong for others. Like the RIR and the BW they could get even worse temperaments if we aren't careful.

 

[Stellar]

I never said I had pecking problems....

 

[JJMR794]

Quote:
THAT WOULD BE "CHECKMATE"

PERSONALLY I RUN ALL WHITE LIGHTS FOR HEAT WITH COTURNIX AND NEVER HAVE ANY ISSUES EITHER. SPECIFIY "FOR COTURNIX" SAME IS TRUE OF CHICKENS, DUCKS, AND TURKEYS... FOR BOBS CHUKAR PHEASANTS I DO USE RED LIGHTS AS THESE ARE YOUR REAL AGRESSIVE SPECES, COTURNIX ARE NOT... MUCH AS DEERMAN HAS ALREADY POSTED "YOU THINK THESE ARE BAD TRY PHEASANTS" (OR SOMETHING VERY SIMILAR TO THAT EFFECT)

 

[deerman]

Temperament can be breed out of any bird if you keep that in mind.

Even with gamecocks, very few are mean to people ,like other roosters...because those in the past where bred to fight, and the old timers didn't want manfighters.

If you have mean bird ,i wouldn't bred from them.


Still if them have more daylight , the more time to get bored and more time for fighting..

 

[Buttercup Chillin]

Well, we're in trouble in the south then cause they get a lot of daylight here. Then add in hot weather and don't forget the extremely high humidity. Makes for such comfortable living conditions for all kinds of critters.

 

[deerman]

Quote:
THAT WOULD BE "CHECKMATE"

PERSONALLY I RUN ALL WHITE LIGHTS FOR HEAT WITH COTURNIX AND NEVER HAVE ANY ISSUES EITHER. SPECIFIY "FOR COTURNIX" SAME IS TRUE OF CHICKENS, DUCKS, AND TURKEYS... FOR BOBS CHUKAR PHEASANTS I DO USE RED LIGHTS AS THESE ARE YOUR REAL AGRESSIVE SPECES, COTURNIX ARE NOT... MUCH AS DEERMAN HAS ALREADY POSTED "YOU THINK THESE ARE BAD TRY PHEASANTS" (OR SOMETHING VERY SIMILAR TO THAT EFFECT)

True with those birds , but if the red light help those other birds like bobs, ringnecks, and etc .

Sure they would help with agressive corturnixs....heck i could raise coturnixs with any light...even pink, purple , or rainbow. Now I don't have any killing others either.

 

[deerman]

Gave my advice , works great with aggressive breeds.....nothing wrong trying it on aggressive corturnixs........take it or leave it......

I am not losing birds.....works for me.

 

[Buttercup Chillin]

Just remembered, Blue lights for Coturnix. Read that on the Web a guy in Canada didn't like the red lights or didn't work - I don't remember - but he used Blue lights. That's were I got the idea to use it on my Buttercup Cockerals and it works on them to calm them down but it doesn't heat all that much, here that's good. Now, I know why. Blue letting them see the magnetic lines and all.

The article was about the guy in Fredricksberg or somewhere in Canada that had to get special permission to raise his Coturnix in town ad this was in the 90's I think. Noticed it a few weeks ago, when I was looking for something else.

Can't use any of the above here. Problems here happen when its 114* heat index, thats over 100* + 92% or so humidity for weeks and months into the future with no or little let up. Tempers start flaring in all species - then the problems begin about Aug/Sep. No heat or light needed. Why I use Blue Tarps to make canapy porches to keep the direct light off of them. Then drop down the tarps to help keep them warm in the winter, cause I don't like frozen eggs. Winter time here is a breeze compared to Cincinnati or anywhere in MI.

Different areas of the country, different problems at different times, need different solutions. Just keep trying till you find something that works for you, people.