The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[rowerjen]

Yes, I said $1600.00. And that was the cheapest of the three for sale, the other two were over $2300.00 each. Needless to say I WON"T be buying that.

For that much I should be able to hire a geneticist for a personal tutorial!

 

[aoxa]

I was going say "Did you say $1600.00 DOLLARS? I may just remain unedumacated. What makes a Silkie Sizzled or Frizzled? What happened in the very beginning to cause the feathers to look like this? I don't need big details but can't imagine. I'll look up those other people to read what they say. I'm not interested in getting into breeding them but they are cute

Here are some good posts I found about it:

Check it out

http://www.amazon.com/Poultry-Breeding-Genetics-R-Crawford/dp/0444885579

Looks like it is first edition. Must be some kind of valuable book.. Maybe you can find a print somewhere...

 

[arkansaschicks]

Hey I have a quick question. I am considering adding to my flock this spring but the only place I have room is in a 1/2 acre yard and coop with 3 roosters. My 3 roosters are almost 2 years old and get along really well. If I added about 12-15 pullets to the yard do you think the roosters would hurt them? I would not put the girls out there till they were about 8 weeks old. Just wanted to get some thoughts....its not something I have to do its just all my other girls are now 3-4 years old and are slowing down in the egg department.

 

[Bulldogma]

Check it out

http://www.amazon.com/Poultry-Breeding-Genetics-R-Crawford/dp/0444885579

Uhhhh... do they have it in paperback? Perhaps that would knock a few hundred dollars off the price? Sheesh! I can take a college level genetics course for less than the cost of that book. Wow!

Hey I have a quick question. I am considering adding to my flock this spring but the only place I have room is in a 1/2 acre yard and coop with 3 roosters. My 3 roosters are almost 2 years old and get along really well. If I added about 12-15 pullets to the yard do you think the roosters would hurt them? I would not put the girls out there till they were about 8 weeks old. Just wanted to get some thoughts....its not something I have to do its just all my other girls are now 3-4 years old and are slowing down in the egg department.

Any time you change the members of your flock, you can expect your flock's dynamics to change. Roosters that got along before might start fighting and the girls may quickly become "over-used." Then again, if they are free ranging on that 1/2 acre from sun up to sundown, they may all do just fine. You never know. It's like a classroom full of 3rd graders. You can randomly select 3 classrooms of 18 3rd graders... because each of those kids has his/her own personality, each of those classes will have a completely different dynamic and feel. One classroom will be more difficult, one will be really easy. Just depends on the students in the room and how they mix.

A 1/2 acre is a pretty good amount of space for that number of birds... but just expect your roosters to have a few scuffles and possibly beat up on the pullets a bit. Make sure the chicks have a way of escaping the roos - like an area with an opening only the chicks can fit through when they need to escape.

I haven't tried this specific situation myself (yet) so lets see if some long-time chicken keepers have some advice based in experience. I would hate to misinform you.

 

[TexasLisa]

I use my best quality temp/hygrometer at egg level inside the Genesis. It has been reliable and accurate in the LG. Using it helped give me 100% hatch in the LG. It showed the digital one built into my Genesis to be off slightly. I'm going to keep using it because I trust it. The Genesis is really holding the temp and humidity steady. I finally figured out I only need to add one teaspoon of distilled water per day (dyed blue with food coloring so I can see it through the window) to hold it to 33%.

Thanks so much for the reply!! I guess I need to get me a temp/hygrometer and start playing around with my Genesis.

Lisa

 

[Mumsy]

I"m back a day early! The romantic weekend cut short because we both agreed it was more important to get our new Silkies and eggs home and safe. I get a rain check for another.

My head wants to explode from all I saw, heard, experienced, and brought home. I don't even know how to explain it all yet. I took lots of pictures but I was so over whelmed by Karen's generosity and knowledge, not to mention her amazing collection of the most beautiful Silkies I've ever seen! I couldn't focus on focusing my camera or getting the flash to work inside the barns.

I'm in love with the cockerel and pullet she paired for me and she gave me a hen that has a crumpled foot as company for the pullet. The little gimpy hen is simply GORGEOUS and the sweetest little bird if she produces chicks for me, I will be over the moon.
Two dozen mixed eggs are now in the Genesis 1588 incubator. Karen gave me a great tutorial on how to use it with her eggs.
I'll share more of my incredible experience at Catdance Farm tomorrow after I've rested from a twelve hour round trip car ride plus two ferry trips. I'm exhausted.

I will leave you all with this tantalizing tidbit. I was given a tour of FOUR barns filled with the most consistently typey and beautiful Silkies I could ever dream of seeing! I was near hyperventilating at each pen. They just got better and better to the very last pen. Amazing! A few pictures. More tomorrow.


Karen and her magnificent German Shepherd Mickey, taking us on the tour of the breeding pens where my eggs came from.



One of dozens of pens. I forget what these are. I heard the term 'splits' a lot.


Frustrated my camera pooped out for this picture. Karen took this Buff cock out of the pen to show me. He was the deepest red buff colored Silkie I've ever seen. Stunning! My picture cannot show his color but he was nearly red and came from Buffs. I think he was in a Porcelain project pen.


I think this is another Porcelain pen. Gorgeous birds.

Ok. Time for a glass of wine in front of the fireplace with my sweetheart. He is a very dear husband for making this long trip in one day. We did have a lot of fun even though is was cut short.
Tomorrow I'll play with my new trio and take better pictures. I love love love them so.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Can't wait to see those photos tomorrow!

 

[arkansaschicks]

Thanks BDM what you said makes sense. I just was thinking the girls would not get "over used" until they matured a little bit and also having that much space all day every day would help. What would be a good number of hens to roosters?

 

[countrygirl74]

Question on rooster behavior... and a pretty funny (and yucky) story go to with it!!

All of our chickens are 18 weeks old and I had mentioned a short while back that my EE roo is constantly going after my RIR girl.She spends most of her time in hiding these days. While lately he has been trying some of the other girls, they seem to fight back more so the RIR gets all the constant abuse. We notice that sometimes it actually seems worse when we're outside, near or in the coop. It makes me feel bad to come out as it seems that he abuses her more when we're around. Well, someone told me that you shouldn't allow your roosters to mount when you're around to show them that you are the boss. So, I decided to try it today to see if he would settle down instead of being more abusive when we're there. I was in the duck pen and my 12-year-old daughter was in the chicken pen when he tried it again! I told my daughter to grab him up and show him who's boss and give poor Esther (the RIR) a break. Well, she did grab him up and then yelled "Ewwwww!, Mom!!! I have chicken sperm running all down the front of my jacket!!!" Sure enough, she did. I was laughing of course while she was totally grossing out, holding the rooster at arm's length at this point.
Anyway, my question is, do I just let him continue to mount the hens right in front of me several times over just while we're out feeding, etc. or is it a good thing to not allow him to do this? What are your thoughts, opinions, and experience? This rooster is very nice so far, don't want to do anything that would cause him to become mean or anything.

 

[Sally8]

Question on rooster behavior... and a pretty funny (and yucky) story go to with it!!

All of our chickens are 18 weeks old and I had mentioned a short while back that my EE roo is constantly going after my RIR girl.She spends most of her time in hiding these days. While lately he has been trying some of the other girls, they seem to fight back more so the RIR gets all the constant abuse. We notice that sometimes it actually seems worse when we're outside, near or in the coop. It makes me feel bad to come out as it seems that he abuses her more when we're around. Well, someone told me that you shouldn't allow your roosters to mount when you're around to show them that you are the boss. So, I decided to try it today to see if he would settle down instead of being more abusive when we're there. I was in the duck pen and my 12-year-old daughter was in the chicken pen when he tried it again! I told my daughter to grab him up and show him who's boss and give poor Esther (the RIR) a break. Well, she did grab him up and then yelled "Ewwwww!, Mom!!! I have chicken sperm running all down the front of my jacket!!!" Sure enough, she did. I was laughing of course while she was totally grossing out, holding the rooster at arm's length at this point.
Anyway, my question is, do I just let him continue to mount the hens right in front of me several times over just while we're out feeding, etc. or is it a good thing to not allow him to do this? What are your thoughts, opinions, and experience? This rooster is very nice so far, don't want to do anything that would cause him to become mean or anything.

I haven't a clue but funny story. I'd be grossed too!