Texas

[TherryChicken]

On a happy note, my family is enjoying watermelon and so is my flock. It hits the spot in this heat. My Chinese geese and white ducks have pink faces again. But they are heading to the pools to wash off, lol.

were doing the same here , but my ducks and quail wont eat it. Only my chicken n rabbit will

 

[henless]

Is there anyone here that can't cull their birds for any reason at all? I can't do it. I've culled 2 birds in years.. I just can't do it

I never have, but plan on it in the future. Yard bird tastes so much better than store bird. I haven't decided if I want to skin the chicken or go ahead and pluck the feathers. Skinning would be easier, but the skin is the best part of a yard bird.

If I was rich, I would buy one of those pluckers!

Just had a thought... Harley is getting into chickens BIG TIME. He might get him a plucker to pluck all his chickens and maybe I could borrow it!

 

[TherryChicken]

 I never have, but plan on it in the future. Yard bird tastes so much better than store bird. I haven't decided if I want to skin the chicken or go ahead and pluck the feathers. Skinning would be easier, but the skin is the best part of a yard bird. 

If I was rich, I would buy one of those pluckers! 

Just had a thought... Harley is getting into chickens BIG TIME. He might get him a plucker to pluck all his chickens and maybe I could borrow it!   

lol that would make thinkgs easier

 

[Starfire669]

were doing the same here , but my ducks and quail wont eat it. Only my chicken n rabbit will

My ducks came running to get at it first lol. Daisy and Ebony were especially quick to get some. Those ducks eat like pigs!

 

[winteree]

If you go on BackYardHerds.com they have threads about raising rabbits. I have taken a look at some of them and I have considered raising some for meat. They have some good information. I remember when my dad did it, and the meat was excellent. Rabbit stew and fried rabbit, yum!!

rabbit and duck are two of the only animals i wouldn't eat they are just too cute i culled a spring hare for my great aunt once and couldn't bring my self to eat it.

 

[Starfire669]

If you go on BackYardHerds.com they have threads about raising rabbits. I have taken a look at some of them and I have considered raising some for meat. They have some good information.  I remember when my dad did it, and the meat was excellent. Rabbit stew and fried rabbit, yum!!

I would do rabbits for meat in a heart beat. But I have no place to put all the hutches I would need to build. But rabbit is so yummy, maybe that will be something I look into for next year, lol. My husband is going to kill me. I was thinking of aqua phonics for fish and better gardening next year and now rabbits too!

 

[winteree]

idk why, but I just couldn't do that. I have a chick that needs culling, but I just can't do it.

here is a easy cheap culling chamber that i made for a kitten a few years back (the kitten had been partly run over and i didn't have the money to have it euthanized) but it works on just about all small animals. It's basically a plastic shoe box, with a glass of vinegar and baking soda, with one of those bathroom organizers in it so the animal doesn't run around in the chamber it's quick the chick drops in a matter of seconds (make sure you keep it in the chamber until it stops breathing) then break it's neck and bury it. I got every thing i needed for this set up at the dollar store.

 

[bnjrob]

I may have to try Java hens later. I'd like to keep some broodiness in my hens but not too much. And if rocks and Javas are related I might like the Java breed. At least I know to talk to you if I want a couple pullets to try, lol. I am not going to hatch any chicks this year if I can help it, I want to wait till the ladies are more mature. So guess next fall is when I will attempt to let a hen go broody or incubate. What incubator would you recommend? I don't have one yet, but am looking for one that can also do duck and goose eggs, just in case none of my ducks or geese go broody. I am also feeding flock raiser to my flock, it's much easier than having 1 goose/duck feed and 1 chicken feed. Plan on switching to the Purina all flock layer feed once they get to laying age for the same reason.

If you want, we can exchange phone numbers through PM, that way we can exchange ideas that work on our respective breeding goals without blowing up the Texas thread, lol.

You're right on with waiting until they are older to hatch from them. I think it's better that way if you have a choice.

With us, we were stuck trying to hatch from pullets/cockerels just to increase the numbers of live chickens to make sure that if something happened to the original birds, we'd have backups available. We've had to hatch from pullet eggs twice now - last year because it was the first year of serious breeding and we needed more birds period - and then this year we had a bloodline appear that was thought to have died out with their owner and me and the guy that wound up with just a handful of birds from that rare line, did not want to risk waiting another year to get more birds from that bloodline on the ground. I've seen subtle differences in how things go between using pullet/cockerel eggs and this year when we used fully matured hen/cock eggs from our original bloodline birds. I think the experienced breeders were correct to tell me to wait at least until they are a year old, preferably two years old before hatching from them if possible.

Incubators.....my favorite is the Brinsea which costs an arm and six legs. Could only afford the 7 egg capacity one, but did get the one with the automatic humidity pump. It's pretty much put the eggs in and go. Love it. Some people have had problems with the electrical connections on Brinseas but we haven't. It is great for keeping a consistent temp and humidity even in our house where we don't have central heat and air and the temp/humidity in the house fluctuate a lot.

Also have a Genesis Hovabator 1588. It's the Styrofoam, circulated air kind. It's ok. It's more affordable than the Brinsea but the thermometer is wrong on it and so it requires me to play with it to get the right settings down. It does hold the 41 capacity chicken egg turner that they sell at Tractor Supply, so that was cheaper than buying the whole kit with the turner included. I hate the open water tray for humidity but I found an after market humidity pump that works in it - stick the tubing into a container of water and put the other end through a hole in the Styrofoam and then I don't have to be worried about spilling water or checking water levels frequently depending. For a "cheaper" incubator, I like it but not as much as the Brinsea. It takes getting to know its quirks and isn't quite as self-running like the Brinsea is. But there is more room in it compared the more compact Brinseas.

Have been thinking about making my own with acrylic panels from Lowes since I discovered that you can get the various incubator components online - the thermo/hygrometer control panels, the fans, the heaters - everything. Have a friend that is using a ReptiPro brand, which apparently is also not real cheap, but she likes it and she is doing duck/geese with it.

The only reason I don't feed layer feed - besides most layer feed having lower protein, is the worry of calcium levels for the males being too high. So I just put out the oyster shell for the girls once they start laying. Having to do tons of different feeds - that's a pain. Have thought about the fermented feed and some friends swear by it. But with so many chickens, I just couldn't see toting out feed once or twice a day to the pasture for that many chickens. That and we really want to get back to the old-fashioned farm birds. The ones that don't need me to do special stuff in order for them to survive and thrive. I can't find anything in the antique books I read about fermenting feed for chickens. The farmers threw the chickens outside, survival of the fittest. The chickens ate grain that dropped out of the livestock bins and any grain that the lady of the house threw out to them. They ate grain from the farmer's fields, they ate the kitchen scraps, including whey, milk, cream. They foraged for bugs and vermin and were supposed to do their own part in hustling up some food. So I struggle with trying to get these guys to where they are not thrown to the wolves, yet can still eventually be self sufficient like old timey chickens were, once we have enough that we can let everyone free range all the time without me standing in the pasture with the shotgun to protect them.

 

[bnjrob]

Wow, what a learning experience haveing chickens. i had so many preconceived notions about chickens. They are as different as people even within the same breed. Our 2 leghorn roos (1 white, 1 brown) are growing so fast. They were hatched on 3-18 and both are already interested in the girls chasing and trying to jump their bones. \

Issac, (the brown) is already trying to crow....he sounds so funny. He hasn't gotten the whole thing down yet only the long errrrrr at the end and he sounds like a badly rusted hinge. LOL. On the other hand...My 5 month old mutt roo Kanga goes thru the motions but nothing comes out but a squawk.

So far my main mature roo Abraham has allowed Kanga to mount and try, but yesterday he came running to a hens rescue and pinched Kanga"s toe enough to make him limp a bit....guess he wasn't doing something right. Thankfully there has been no real aggression. Only time will tell as the leghorn and SLW roos mature as to which stay. Even though Abraham is aggressive towards me he will stay for now mainly because of his large size and he is good at his job...very protective and produces fertile eggs. Gotta love chickens!!

Sucks when the people-aggressive roosters have qualities that are so good you have to keep them for a bit.

 

[winteree]

Is there anyone here that can't cull their birds for any reason at all? I can't do it. I've culled 2 birds in years.. I just can't do it

the only time i have had that problem is when i'm culling for meat. When i helped my grams cull her meat birds a few years back i couldn't touch any of the birds to be culled barehanded i had to have my elbow high rubber gloves if i did touch a cull meat bird barehanded i was done for the day i would have to go inside and sit down. it took about a week to cull all of the birds because we had to hand pick. If fact when i get my own meat birds this year im going to break out my gloves again.