Very nice looking flock. KudosI am working on setting up my breeding pens for 2013. Pen 1 will be my non crested roo with 6 crested pullets. The pullets are
now about 23 weeks, and the roos are about 17 weeks. Pullets in pen 1 are all from Jordon Farms stock, and the roo is from kimberly35042. Here are photos of the group in Pen 1. I will work on getting pics of the planned Pen 2 group, which will be a crested roo over 10 non crested pullets.
I have great hatches at home but have had lots of people saying the same thing about the chicks getting to lock down and then quitting. I am starting to realize just how sensitive they are. Add to my list of Serama, Silkie, Lakenvelders & Polish. I can hatch these exact breeds from home like crazy but shipped eggs not so good.
Another problem I have is the chicks hatch, then die within days.Not just one or two...batches. AggravatingNo matter how I brood them. Other breeds are healthy and strong, others not so good.
On a happy note: I set 6 SFH eggs and 5 developed and hatched yesterday. Can't wait to see how they feather out. 4 are brownish and one black and yellow. These are the first I hatched this year. I have people looking for chicks and young pullets and I want to add some to my layer flock for pretty. Plus they are great layers.
Quote: i hadn't really thought about proteins, but i guess it would depend on what diet they've been used to for generations. ie bugs, greens and household scraps vs layer pellets. my birds all get a combination of whatever i've got, plus bugs/greens as they're available, and some household scraps too (what the dog and macaw don't get LOL).
the dog eats raw, and i caught one of the roosters trying to steal a turkey neck (raw) from him the other day. LOL that did NOT go over well with Sunny, who'd wandered off to go water a tree or something...
I have been wondering a lot about the diet, too. The eggs I got from Kimberly35042 for the NYD Hatch I had 8/8 hatch!!!1 was slightly cracked and 1 had a completely blown aircell, and they still hatched. They are all growing very well and I think I have at least 5, maybe 6 pullets out of the 8! I asked her what she feeds them and she told me that they free-range all day and get some scratch. I don't believe she gives them any layer feed. They are obviously getting everything they need. Perhaps the layer feed is too rich for them - kind of like feeding a donkey on grains and alfalfa. I do know mine would rather be outside foraging than inside at the feeder.
I'm not saying that vitamins are not necessary, but I've never given any type of supplement to my birds and have had no problems. I used to let them out to range in the afternoons, but can't do that anymore because of all of the abandoned dogs running loose. Now they are confined all of the time. I feed chick starter until about 18 weeks, and then switch to 16% layer crumbles. I do feed them fresh greens from the garden as often as I can as well. I must admit though that I have had much better luck hatching my own eggs than with shipped eggs.
Do you know if crested is dominate or recessive? I have wondered which was dominant as it would depend on whether they were homozygous or heterozygous for that trait. Say crested was dominant but you had two birds carrying a recessive gene for non crested it would be possible to get non crested from two crested parents, and vice versa. I haven't had these long enough at this point to even make a guess.
