Who here is into Photography?

[Chipper Chicken]

@Birdrain92
Those Are Some Beautiful Birds!! Thank you. I had a runaway male peafowl adopt me years ago, he was a hoot! Scratched up my car tho Fed him so he stayed, his former owner decided it was just easier I think and never bothered to come get him even after leaving messages. But I eventually moved and he adopted my sister. Your birds are gorgeous! Nice breeding stock. I'll have to go look at your taming them posts.....I just bought some white peafowl feathers last month at Corvallis. So pretty.

Will you get into showing your Australorps at all? I just wondered as you mentioned the wide hips. Will you be doing any trapnesting to determine which hens lay best? Also, Have you looked at the SOP compared to your pullets? I thought from Dunlaps pictures they looked pretty good, but Really I know almost nothing. Trying to educate myself here so hopefully I can make good decisions. I could just get them from the farm store I suppose, but if Dunlaps are superior, well that would just be a much better start to raising them!

IMO, Veterinary medicine can be a tough but rewarding career choice, but I don't think you'd regret it if that's what you choose.

 

[Birdrain92]

I probably won't show the Australorps. Mainly because when it comes to shows the show standard can be different from production requirements. For example, because I knew how to get certain traits by adjusting their nutrition I could get some of the perfect traits for production. Also genetics helps too. Dunlap has a good blood lines and is where my Australorps are from. Though nutrition plays a big role into it too. With the higher protein and the right calcium level in the feed in encouraged my pullets to grow wider hips, allowing them to lay larger eggs with less strain meaning better productivity. With a higher protein it can also help them mature faster too. Not much faster but put them ahead. When I establish a breeding program I will try to separate some of the hens off of the better hens so I can promote good genes. I'll get a picture of my pullets tomorrow and show you where some hens would be better suited for show and some better suited for production. Though most of them would work well for production but I still have a couple pullets that would make better show hens.

You can see it too with the duck breed I raise; Indian Runners. Indian Runners were bred to produce a large quantity of eggs. So far my hen has been laying everyday since February and still continuing. Except she doesn't meet the show standard since she her hips are too wide and she has too much fat. The Indian Runner duck show standard wants them to have a body that line up with the neck, very skinny. It helps to have a little bit of width to help egg production but too much will not help either.

I prefer productivity versus show standard. Sometimes I don't always agree with it and I prefer to have productive lines instead of show lines. As for peafowl there's no standard at all.

 

[Chipper Chicken]

I probably won't show the Australorps. Mainly because when it comes to shows the show standard can be different from production requirements. For example, because I knew how to get certain traits by adjusting their nutrition I could get some of the perfect traits for production. Also genetics helps too. Dunlap has a good blood lines and is where my Australorps are from. Though nutrition plays a big role into it too. With the higher protein and the right calcium level in the feed in encouraged my pullets to grow wider hips, allowing them to lay larger eggs with less strain meaning better productivity. With a higher protein it can also help them mature faster too. Not much faster but put them ahead. When I establish a breeding program I will try to separate some of the hens off of the better hens so I can promote good genes. I'll get a picture of my pullets tomorrow and show you where some hens would be better suited for show and some better suited for production. Though most of them would work well for production but I still have a couple pullets that would make better show hens.

You can see it too with the duck breed I raise; Indian Runners. Indian Runners were bred to produce a large quantity of eggs. So far my hen has been laying everyday since February and still continuing. Except she doesn't meet the show standard since she her hips are too wide and she has too much fat. The Indian Runner duck show standard wants them to have a body that line up with the neck, very skinny. It helps to have a little bit of width to help egg production but too much will not help either.

I prefer productivity versus show standard. Sometimes I don't always agree with it and I prefer to have productive lines instead of show lines. As for peafowl there's no standard at all.

That sounds like good solid reasoning and work! I may have to come back and pick your brain more if you don't mind.

Edited to add I'm looking forward to your pictures too! That is so impressive what you're doing, and since I'm planning on getting the same bloodlines it will help me tremendously! Thank you!

 

[Birdrain92]

That sounds like good solid reasoning and work! I may have to come back and pick your brain more if you don't mind.

Edited to add I'm looking forward to your pictures too! That is so impressive what you're doing, and since I'm planning on getting the same bloodlines it will help me tremendously! Thank you!

I don't mind. I enjoy sharing my knowledge to others; one of those things I love to do, especially involving poultry.

 

[Mountain Peeps]

 

[Birdrain92]

Beautiful photos! I love the doe and the snow pictures! I love the winter and snow. Probably since I was born in February.

 

[Birdrain92]

Photos of my Black Australorp pullets! All 5 months old and there are 24 of them. No cockerels nor roosters. I have 6 of them are now laying.

 

[Chipper Chicken]

Photos of my Black Australorp pullets! All 5 months old and there are 24 of them. No cockerels nor roosters. I have 6 of them are now laying.

Beautiful birds! I can't wait to get some just like those! Did you order pullets only?

 

[Mountain Peeps]

Beautiful photos! I love the doe and the snow pictures! I love the winter and snow. Probably since I was born in February.

Thank you!

 

[Mountain Peeps]

These are my favorite! Australorps are such beautiful birds!