The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[loveourbirds]

i have dark and white laced red cornish. they are a slower growing very solid chicken. as adults you will be amazed by their weight, and strength. i was looking through my pictures, but for some reason i dont have pics of them.

ive been away a few days, not i gotta catch up

243 missed posts.

 

[Sally8]

Chick #8 is almost out of the shell. Cecilia has 5 chicks under her. 1 died in the shell, 1 hatched yesterday and 1 is all but out now. They are hatching 1 every day. They haven't skipped a beat. I just feel that these last 2 are too small to be put under Cecilia. She takes her chicks out all over the yard and these last 2 are so small in comparison. A few days ago I read where someone put week old chicks under a broody hen. Maybe I'll try in a week when these are stronger.

 

[loveourbirds]

Quote: take your fastest growing rock males and put over your fastest growing cornish females. also breed an intentional line of fastest growing on each breed for 3-4 generations. you will be amazed at the livability and growth rate. i never attempted a second cross from the first line, and would like to hear if anyone else has.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Chick #8 is almost out of the shell. Cecilia has 5 chicks under her. 1 died in the shell, 1 hatched yesterday and 1 is all but out now. They are hatching 1 every day. They haven't skipped a beat. I just feel that these last 2 are too small to be put under Cecilia. She takes her chicks out all over the yard and these last 2 are so small in comparison. A few days ago I read where someone put week old chicks under a broody hen. Maybe I'll try in a week when these are stronger.

I want to hear how this turns out. I've heard both ways...some reject and some accept.

I thought I was getting a broody but it was short-lived. She only stayed in the nest for 1 day. Maybe it is just the beginning and she'll go back over the next few days. That's what my girl did last year.

Anyhow, I'm picking up some chicks that are from 2 hatches that are 6 days apart. I was going to try to put them under her if she stuck to the nest to see what happened. Probably no such luck. And now, with the contamination scare, I'm not even sure if I should put the chicks on the brood side of the hen house where I'd normally put them. (It is where I went into...that part is open when no one is brooding so all the chickens can go in there.)

 

[Kacey's Krazee's]

take your fastest growing rock males and put over your fastest growing cornish females. also breed an intentional line of fastest growing on each breed for 3-4 generations. you will be amazed at the livability and growth rate. i never attempted a second cross from the first line, and would like to hear if anyone else has.

Darn! I processed all my White Rock cockerals earlier this spring! I only kept the pullets. I thought about doing it the other way around, putting the Cornish cockeral over the white rock hen. what is the advantage of the way you suggested? What does the rooster carry over that the hen dosen't provide?

 

[armorfirelady]

I guess it's just one of those cultural things...hard for me to think of eating feet

but I could probably use them in a broth

I don't think I could eat the feet either. Or make broth from them. As for giving them to the dogs well I understand the reasoning but I cant picture me sitting there watching them walk around with a chicken foot in their mouth

Quote: So is it good or bad to have them?

Chick #8 is almost out of the shell. Cecilia has 5 chicks under her. 1 died in the shell, 1 hatched yesterday and 1 is all but out now. They are hatching 1 every day. They haven't skipped a beat. I just feel that these last 2 are too small to be put under Cecilia. She takes her chicks out all over the yard and these last 2 are so small in comparison. A few days ago I read where someone put week old chicks under a broody hen. Maybe I'll try in a week when these are stronger.

I have never had broody hens are chicks but I would think she would keep even the new ones all together? Or did she leave the nest already & these are ones you put in the incubator?

P.S. I think you just want chicks in your fancy brooder again

 

[loveourbirds]

Quote: i tried it both ways, i had faster growth with the rocks over the cornish. however, i do think the cornish over the rock gives larger breasts. but the growth rate was always slow for me. the cornish roosters are a little more agressive, the hens under then always looked "overused". if you can find a breeder who has bred rocks up for growth and meat, i would get a couple roosters from them.
just so im being straight with everyone, it takes years to breed a cornish rock cross like the one you buy. i have looked and looked and never found true white cornish. that cross is not just cornish and rocks, there is some orpington in the mix and probably a few other breeds. the orpington in the mix has happened more over the last few years, to whiten skin and legs for cosmetic reasons.
another little hint, look for smokey colored white rock chicks. the same gene that makes them smokey makes them stay whiter and more appealing to the eye.

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

I have 2 Blue cockerels from a small breeder in WA, one had a vaulted skull, the other did not. As they are growing, now 6mo, there is a notable difference in the puffiness to the crest of the vaulted boy.

Vaulted preference is up to the individual person. I have both in my yard, there is a difference between them. The vaulted ones tend to have more feathers that block the vision. Poor Marsala has a HUGE vault and cannot see unless we trim her crest around her eyes. She is not show quality so I don't mind trimming so she can see.

 

[aoxa]

All of my female adults have vaulted skulls. I could easily tell, as I bathed them all during some point of their quarantine. None of my 3 boys have vaulted skulls as far as I can tell. I have maybe 20% chicks hatched with vaulted skulls out of them. I can't really tell how great they are yet, as the oldest is only 6 weeks old.

I'd love to get rid of the adults at the next spring sale (June 2014) so I can keep the younger up and coming. Though I will likely keep two of the older hens, as they are very pretty.

 

[Pozees]

Mumsy sounds like you are getting a nice hatch, if drawn out. I was only thinking out loud about how you might increase hatch rate when it sounded as if you might only get a few, but things have progressed since then, yay!

Leah's Mom - if you have Oxine, you can make a spray with 1/8 tsp per quart of water and disinfect everything you touched and even mist your birds to help protect or support them. Chances are things are fine and you have nothing to worry about, just one of those things I do since I caused a Marek's outbreak in my flock by mixing hatchery-vaccinated chicks with those hatched here that are unvaccinated. Can you say guilt? I lost several Speckled Sussex and one Rhode Island Red. The vaccine the hatcheries use is a triple vaccine that includes live vaccine for chicken Marek's, unlike the one we can buy and administer ourselves which is only turkey Marek's. The same effect as the vaccine we can buy can be accomplished by running poults in the flock or by adding turkey manure/bedding to the coops and runs. Turkey Marek's causes a mild infection we don't even notice, which stimulates the immune system in chickens so that when they are exposed to chicken Marek's their immune systems recognize and fight it. The issue with live virus vaccine is that vaccinated birds shed the virus.

The University of New Hampshire published a paper that says if you have an adult (> 6 months of age) flock of chickens, they have been exposed and are immune, that Marek's is everywhere. Wild birds carry it, and it is transmitted via dander.

Chickens 6 months of age and older are generally immune.

One thing to know about Oxine - out of the bottle it is an antibacterial and fungicide; "activated" with citric acid, it becomes a virucide (sp?), but cannot be used while birds are present, and one must/should wear a respirator when using it.

It kills germs on contact and quickly becomes harmless after that. Once mixed with water it is effective for 48 hours. I keep a spray bottle with me at all times when I am in the chicken areas now. I wash and spray all my food dishes every night, and have been adding Oxine to the drinking water at a rate of 1/8 tsp per gallon. I am about to taper down to every other day to get back to ACV in the water.