The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[MumsyII]

Sally...I'm doing it very simply. My five White Silkie hens are bred to my #1 Silkie roo that is unrelated. All of their chicks are my F1. I will judge their over all quality and keep back the best pullets. When I hatch chicks from my #2 roo, the chicks will still be F1 but they will be toe punched as being from pen #2. And so on with my #3 roo. All off spring from the five hens no matter which cock I use this year will be F1 offspring.

Next year I will take those F1 pullets and breed them back to the roo that sired the best over all quality chicks. Their offspring will be F2.

Breeding in this way will over time give me the type of White Silkie that I find desirable. I will use this same process to breed my HRIR flock.


My first F1 pen of White Silkies.

 

[delisha]

Please let us know what is going on after her bath. I hope it is not internal blood.

 

[delisha]

F1- F5 are used to show where you are at in a breeding program.

For example..lets use a chicken that has yellow legs..the chicken should have white legs. The body is beautiful, the feather quality is great. The only fault is leg color.

You need to find a bird with the correct leg color or an over exaggeration of what you want.

The first breeding of that pair is called F1. You might need to breed 200 chicks to make two correct colors. Those look like correct colors, however they also carry that yellow gene. You breed those correct color legs together and cull all the ones that are not correct. That is F2. You take all of the correct colors you have bred and bred it back to the original correct colored legged bird. Those are F3. You cull all the incorrect and bred the correct together. You keep repeating the cycle until you can bred true. That is F5. You also need to keep *type* while changing colors of legs. Type is more important than color. If you loose that you went backwards. You need to build the house before you paint it.

..Sometimes you never get there..

The BLRW foley line has been worked on for 12 years. It is now breeding true in his lines..Everyone else probably has F2's or 3's. Most people do not breed and cull. They get a male and a female and bred it and call it a pure bred when it most likely came from a hatchery or feed store. They are representatives of the breed and not true.

Foley BLRW

Hatchery

I am sure most notice the color..the color is not the problem. That can be fixed in F3 if the proper bird is used in F1 and F2.

 

[jlynnet]

Are they really $55 a chick though?!

Yep. I did buy mine as a group on an auction site, so they were cheaper. They are excellent quality!

 

[Eggcessive]

You're right. They won't use them if it is burning them. Good point.

They don't use my fire pit either.

I have many compost piles where I had dumped all the litter last year. They spread it all through the forest floor maybe 40 feet around. This has all dried out and turned into earth and they use this to dust bathe mostly.

I did have it in a big heap sitting for me to mix in to our soil for gardening, but they had other ideas. I didn't want to take wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow to where it would be out of their reach, so I let them have at it.

Has anyone ever heard of taking the litter and putting it in a garbage bag with a few holes in the bottom and running water through the bag to create a sort of liquid fertilizer for the garden? Susan's client mentioned it, and I think it's a pretty brilliant idea in theory. Anyone try it?

Burpees calls this "manure tea" and I have tried it in 5 gallon buckets. It has to steep for a couple of days, then you pour it on the plants. My husband's brothers had the biggest laugh when I told them about this--they thought I had made it up, LOL.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

..Sometimes you never get there.. The BLRW foley line has been worked on for 12 years. It is now breeding true in his lines..Everyone else probably has F2's or 3's. Most people do not breed and cull. They get a male and a female and bred it and call it a pure bred when it most likely came from a hatchery or feed store. They are representatives of the breed and not true. Foley BLRW

Hatchery I am sure most notice the color..the color is not the problem. That can be fixed in F3 if the proper bird is used in F1 and F2.

The shape is totally different. They are both very pretty, but the top one looks like she knows she is special. Now I want one. Or several.

 

[aoxa]

The shape is totally different. They are both very pretty, but the top one looks like she knows she is special. Now I want one. Or several.

That's actually a REALLY good hatchery bird. Best case scenario.

 

[aoxa]

Just how it should be.

I love this sign. I may just make my own with that saying.

 

[BlueMouse]

It's funny, because after reading about people's turkeys stomping their chickens and being big bullies, I've been worried about continuing to let mine free range some with the rest of the flock. Watched for a while today. Nope. Mine are still big scaredy cats. They live in fear of my rooster, and Mrs. Bennet my boss hen told them what for when they got too close to her. She scared the poor turkey so badly that it tried to fly up onto the roof of the coop.... and fell off

Maybe my turkeys are just "special?" They're going to be specially tasty come november, that's for sure! I want to keep one because they're so funny and adorable, but my hubby won't let me because they eat so much. Spoilsport. Maybe if we ever get the bigger barn built and real pasture I can keep a pair.

we're getting ready to finish fencing at least part of our yad to try and keep the fox out. Do you guys think that 3/4 acre is going to be enough free range for 8 birds that they won't need supplemental feed, or do you think that I'll have to feed them some once we get the fence up?

 

[MEMama3]

It's funny, because after reading about people's turkeys stomping their chickens and being big bullies, I've been worried about continuing to let mine free range some with the rest of the flock. Watched for a while today. Nope. Mine are still big scaredy cats. They live in fear of my rooster, and Mrs. Bennet my boss hen told them what for when they got too close to her. She scared the poor turkey so badly that it tried to fly up onto the roof of the coop.... and fell off

Maybe my turkeys are just "special?" They're going to be specially tasty come november, that's for sure! I want to keep one because they're so funny and adorable, but my hubby won't let me because they eat so much. Spoilsport. Maybe if we ever get the bigger barn built and real pasture I can keep a pair. we're getting ready to finish fencing at least part of our yad to try and keep the fox out. Do you guys think that 3/4 acre is going to be enough free range for 8 birds that they won't need supplemental feed, or do you think that I'll have to feed them some once we get the fence up?

My eight girls free range for most of the day on most days, but I still offer pellets free choice in the run. 10lbs last them about two weeks.