The American Hollands Chicken Thread & Census

[smoothmule]

I noticed CSU moved on to Java's. Any idea when they will begin the Barred Holland's? My "chicks" are growing so well, I'm going to have a lot of questions when they're old enough to critique. They have already moved from inside my chick building to a fair sized free standing wire bottom pen with a heat bulb. It seemed plenty large for them but they have grown so rapidly I'm going to have to move them to another pen very soon and they'll stay there until I have their pen done. The pen is up, needs a top and roosting area so I'm looking at some small sheds or may build one.

How young can they begin laying?

 

[jenjscott]

Depending on the line, and the weather, and the daylight......lol. anywhere from 4 mos (not very often) to 6 months, but probably somewhere in between.

 

[smoothmule]

Wow, that's pretty early.
I still think of mine as babies, here are some photo's I took today.....it was so beautiful out. I moved them from their smaller pen to the larger wire pen. They have a roost in this one and I fixed the front end with a heat light and covered the wire for a windbreak since we'll still have some pretty cold nights. They've done very well in the smaller wire pen but growing so fast they went from plenty of room to crowded in just 3 or 4 weeks.

 

[msladyhawke]

Mine are still young yet. The 2 below hatched 2/9. Enjoying watching them mature.
Chick "a"



Chick "b"


And then I have one more that hatched yesterday. Sooooo cute.

 

[msladyhawke]

Can anyone give me an idea how quickly hollands develop? My Langshan mature sooooo slowly. How long do you think until they are old enough/mature enough to show? Anyone showing their hollands this year?

 

[smoothmule]

Okay now, is there someone who is going to coordinate breedings here? With so few breeders, I think we need to develop some sort of Co-op of breeders willing to work together to keep our small flocks diverse enough.

I put together a group of black Araucana breeders, 4 members so far. The plan for 2 yrs is to breed what we have, bring in more lines when possible and cull hard for a flock of our best in 2015. We will begin at that time to send our best cockerel from our flock to the next breeder and we will do this in a circle so that we all keep pullets hatched and cull pullets and hens each fall, send the best cockerel to the next breeder to use for 2 yrs then pass cockerels again, sort of a spiral or braided breeding and the flocks will be closed once we start passing cockerels.

Many flocks have been maintained like this pattern for 30+ yrs without adding new lines. I know the ALBC coordinated efforts nation wide to help the Buckeye breed, does anyone know if they're wiling to help the Barred Hollands in the same way? I have 2 cockerels so I intend to separate my pullets into 2 breeding pens so I'll develop 2 separate lines. The pens will grow as I hatch more pullets for that pen but I'd like to hook up with other breeders for adding cockerels.

 

[mhollow]

Although the barred holland breed is new to me, you can count me in. I welcome any guidance provided by the ALBC and/or any other Holland breeders. I also plan to run two breeding pens provided I have the stock worthy of doing so.

 

[TheNuttyChick]

I would love to have a few, but from what I've seen, they're pricey. If I'm wrong please let me know or PM me with info.

 

[smoothmule]

Although the barred holland breed is new to me, you can count me in. I welcome any guidance provided by the ALBC and/or any other Holland breeders. I also plan to run two breeding pens provided I have the stock worthy of doing so.

What do you have so far?

 

[smoothmule]

I would love to have a few, but from what I've seen, they're pricey. If I'm wrong please let me know or PM me with info.

They can be but you can buy day old chicks from Ideal hatchery too.