West Virginia Flock Talk

[nj2wv]

I am in harrison county. I raise mine for eggs and meat. I have over a 100 but I lost count lol. They go in the coop at night and free range all day. I only have hatchery birds but I'm ok with that. I ventured into meat birds this month. Maybe I will try ducks geese or turkey too.

 

[ikto]

Morgantown here. We raise Ameraucanas for eggs and are phasing out our Rhode Island Reds, all free range. I literally just butchered our Red rooster and an old stew hen an hour ago. We also started raising free range Guineas for meat and just got three Ringneck Pheasant hens and a boy in a flight pen.

We've been talking about raising some Freedom Rangers this season for personal meat as well as to see if selling meat is worth it.

 

[nj2wv]

I am doing my first batch of CX. They should be ready the end if March. I bought a few Dixie rainbows from southern states last year but a fox ate them. I think they are the same as freedom rangers but just a different name. The rest of my flock is an assortment of almost every kind of standard breed. I have about four Banties.

 

[Beekissed]

Morgantown here. We raise Ameraucanas for eggs and are phasing out our Rhode Island Reds, all free range. I literally just butchered our Red rooster and an old stew hen an hour ago. We also started raising free range Guineas for meat and just got three Ringneck Pheasant hens and a boy in a flight pen.

We've been talking about raising some Freedom Rangers this season for personal meat as well as to see if selling meat is worth it.

Curious as to why you are phasing out a layer breed and keeping a breed not known for good laying if you are raising chickens for eggs?

 

[ikto]

Curious as to why you are phasing out a layer breed and keeping a breed not known for good laying if you are raising chickens for eggs? 

Our EEs are just hardier and better foragers. They always look healthier and although the RIRs lay larger eggs more often, I prefer the richer EE egg. And they are so much more entertaining!

 

[Roan]

Morgantown here. We raise Ameraucanas for eggs and are phasing out our Rhode Island Reds, all free range. I literally just butchered our Red rooster and an old stew hen an hour ago. We also started raising free range Guineas for meat and just got three Ringneck Pheasant hens and a boy in a flight pen.

We've been talking about raising some Freedom Rangers this season for personal meat as well as to see if selling meat is worth it.

Curious as to why you are phasing out a layer breed and keeping a breed not known for good laying if you are raising chickens for eggs?

@ikto , I'm outside of Morgantown. Fairview side, I'd love to visit your farm and see how you raise your flocks! I'm always curious to see how others do things. If that's okay, could you shoot me a pm?

@Beekissed , Our Ameraucanas are much more productive than our RIR's and PR's combined. I'm sure I read somewhere that Ameraucanas are a very productive egg layer and from my own experience, this has been the case. I'd love to know why you would think differently. Is it from personal experience or have you read this somewhere? If you've read it somewhere, I'd love to know where. Thanks.

By the way, my dad just surprised me with a dozen Buff Brahma chicks. More chicks to find housing for. LOL And I must confess, I am not a fan of feathered feet so this will take some getting used to. Also, are there any special care requirements for feathered feet? I don't want to see them get all mucked with feces and such. We usually free-range our birds but dad wants us to keep these separate for him. So that means a run. <sigh> I really don't want them to come down with something like muck-foot syndrome or something.

On a better note, our BA rooster (Big Daddy Crow) is now the proud father of 6 beautiful Dino-Birds! They hatched in the New Year's Day Hatch-A-Long and so are just over 2 months old now. They are HUGE! We crossed them with RIR's, BPR's and Ameraucanas.

At 2 months, our young cockerel is already crowing, the pullets are already starting to sing and they can't walk...they stomp! LOL I finally was able to move them to the outside starter house yesterday which is not a day too soon since they would not stay in the brooder any more! LOL

When in the main house, which is connected to my sub-house by a solid wall, you could hear them in here thumping around. I can't wait to see just how big these little beauties will get! For Thanksgiving, we hatched out 4 Ameraucana pullets and these Dino-Birds are already bigger than they are!!!

Anyway, just thought I'd share...wasn't planning on posting so much. LOL

 

[Beekissed]

Personal experience, other people's personal experience, reading about their stats, etc. They aren't known for excellent production...more of a 4-5 eggs per week kind of laying in peak season, if that. If you have some that are outlaying RIR and PR, either you have a very good line or your RIR and PR lines are pretty crappy...or both. You'll not see any EEs out there winning awards or breaking records on egg laying in a year.

That's one reason you won't find anything in their breeding or contributing breeds being borrowed and used to produce production layers for commercial use. They are more known for broodiness than for laying, which is another reason they aren't stellar layers.

 

[Roan]

I re-checked my sources and I stand corrected. Thanks for correcting my error.

But I'm not sure why our Ameraucanas out-lay our RIR's and BR's. We've been getting blue eggs through most of February (albeit not many) and have only just gotten a brown egg yesterday (3/9/15). But come to think of it, our RIR's and BR's are older now and we've got new mixes that look very Ameraucana so that could be the difference.

But anyway, we're planning to breed BA's and start phasing out the other breeds...well, BA's and BB's (I think those are the initials for Buff Brahmas).

 

[angelwannaB]

hello everyone, I am a Md transplant in the southern coal fields of Mingo county

so glad to find members so close & Bee I am very interested in your lifestyle & approach to managing your flock. We just took over a flock, they seemed healthy but I have a hen in dire stress. brought her in the house, thought she was bound because she seemed to not be able to lay, today she layed an egg but can barely walk & sounds croupy...slings her head from left to right...gasps for air & holds her beak open...I think she may have gapeworms

I dont want her to die, she looks like a leghorn, she is running a fever & has a bare bottom, today I chked her vent after she laid the egg & it was protruding so I gently pushed it back in & it has stayed put so far

I am so corncerned over her breathing, what should I use to treat the gapeworms

 

[Beekissed]

Welcome to the thread!

Mingo...that's a tough county, so I wish you all the best in that area. My dad was from Wyoming and we still have distant kin there.

I've never had gape worms in my flocks, so can't really recommend much in that area. I can only tell you what I'd do in this case and that's cull that bird. She has too many problems~prolapse, bare bottom(who knows why but shouldn't have that at this time of year), respiratory distress of unknown cause. Even if you were to get her back in shape with some kind of treatment of parasites, she still has the prolapse and potential for further disease due to a poor immune system. She also is suffering and will suffer even further each time she lays an egg and has to get it past that prolapse.