rachels.haven's Journal

[Mini Horses]

Well, he's cute! I'd file his bottom beak just a touch to have it close better. It may break naturally with free range eating. Ya know how kids grow...

 

[fuzzi]

One thing about these hatcheries... They are HATCHERIES.... most all of them contract out for a good number of the breeds they hatch to sell the chicks. Nearly all of them get their bantams from other breeders that they contract eggs from. Some may keep some of the more popular large fowl breeds for consistency of chicks..... But there is no way they will keep all of the specialty breeds they offer, especially the bantams...
It is interesting that they have something like Sultans... because they are fairly "rare".... but then with more and more "small farms" popping up where homesteader types want something novel, the "odd stuff"... is gaining some ground. That is actually good for some of these endangered breeds and varieties... The only bad thing is that suppliers of eggs usually have to be able to guarantee a certain number of eggs, so they are not just breeding and collecting from the best... and therefore the "purebred" qualities are sometimes compromised... Still, if someone wants to get into a certain rare breed, even finding something like this is a start... if they want to have birds that can compete in shows, they will have to learn to "breed up" and only keep the best of the best. The rest make nice cute backyard birds to add variety to someone's flock. All the culls cannot go in the soup pot. Like with the goats... you try to keep and breed to improve on what you have... and some get sold to others... might be better than what they have, to improve their flock... might be a start for someone... might just be for a "pet" type situation.

Most all bantams are fair layers... being much more seasonal than large fowl. Many will lay pretty good for their first year or 2, and some will lay into the colder weather. Most do not lay much in the winter... but some of them are not bad. The good thing is they don't eat what the large fowl do, and most become pets to a degree so the owners are not so focused on eggs. Never going to get the kind of production that the hybrids in the large fowl that are strictly bred for laying and lay themselves out in a couple of years. Even the leghorns, like the buffs that I got, will lay decent but not like the production leghorns. Some of the breeders have chased type and color that they have sacrificed the production qualities of what the leghorns were known for. But egg production is not something a judge can "see"... and production is next to impossible to "prove" .... At least with dairy cattle... there is "milk testing" like I do, to help prove what a cow produces, so not only can she be exceptional in a show ring, meeting qualifications of size, type, etc and so on... but proving her value as a producing animal also. Same as beef cattle..... producing a calf and that calf being exceptional as far as true to type... same as sheep, and goats... with you milk testing goats also... so they fit the type etc of their respective breed, but also that they can be "proven" with milk testing as to whether they are also doing what they are claimed to do.
Since chickens lay only 1 egg every 20-26 hours... the egg cannot travel the whole oviduct from yolk to laid egg faster than that... there are no ways of doing a "laying numbers" test... They do trap nest counting on some of these big farms where they are developing laying breeds/hybrids... so can get a "total numbers" of eggs laid per hen an d can breed from the ones that produce the most... But again... there just isn't the same way to prove it like with milk testing and calf weight gain, growth and all that they measure in beef cattle... Or in meat breeds of sheep and goats and hogs...

My bantam Sussex pullets are laying almost every day. The two year olds appear to be laying 3 or 4 eggs per week. That's fine for me. I enjoy their personalities. I do want to improve the breed, hence my separation project this year.

 

[farmerjan]

Some strains , "families" of different breeds are better layers than another strain of the same breed. I think Sussex's... both bantam and large fowl are pretty good layers from what I have heard . Same with the Plymouth Rocks... some colors better than others... My sister had White Leghorns as a kid and hers came from an exceptional show strain... but they laid really good overall... Most laid good for years... My ex and DS have Old English game bantams... they lay good in the early spring and summer, into the fall.... but are abysmal in the cold weather. My black Langshan bantams years ago laid quite good overall... The big Langshans laid okay but it was a smallish egg for such a large bird. My New Hampshire large fowl laid good over the whole year for the most part.
One thing @fuzzi ... I am no expert on the Sussex... but the speckled Sussex that you have will get "whiter" as they age... it is just part of the breed "quirks"... not bad, just the way it works. Most of the "speckled breeds" are the same way... I know Anconas will get bigger white speckling as they go through molts and get older... Most of the "better show birds" of the breed are younger ones... because of the white speckling... but an older bird that might be "too white" will be a fine breeder if his younger coloring was closer to what the "standard" calls for.

 

[rachels.haven]

I'd be afraid to start a large scale breeding project because I'd want a row of 2-3+ covered, kennel type breeding pens and a bachelor pad. I'd have to be breeding some pretty nice chickens to justify the expense. And with bird flu and other chronic diseases bird people often will brush under the rug I'm a little afraid to dream.

 

[farmerjan]

Hence the reason most poultry people have scores of breeding pens scattered everywhere... and then sandwich in a few more....

 

[rachels.haven]

Hence the reason most poultry people have scores of breeding pens scattered everywhere... and then sandwich in a few more....

Oh geeze! I thought you were going to tell me the big secret on how to AVOID doing something like that. Someday I'll just go for it.
This pen I'm putting up for my hatchery birds this year should probably just be thought of as a test/beta pen, filled with beta birds.

 

[Mini Horses]

All of which is why my birds free range & get into confinement only when I want purebred. So that can be done by isolating hens for 3 wks, then add roo. OR confine boys to a bachelor pad for a month, then put hens up, add roo & collect eggs for a week. Hens are happier with only a week penned! Bad boys! Mostly, BYM is great here. Pretty eggs, happy hens -- even broodies! I love the pretty show birds but, not gonna show. Done with that stuff. . I'll just appreciate at shows.

 

[SageHill]

I'd be afraid to start a large scale breeding project because I'd want a row of 2-3+ covered, kennel type breeding pens and a bachelor pad. I'd have to be breeding some pretty nice chickens to justify the expense. And with bird flu and other chronic diseases bird people often will brush under the rug I'm a little afraid to dream.

I saw a video somewhere of a fantastic set up absolutely gorgeous -- in a farm type of view, not a 'I love chickens fancy schmancy' type. Made me want to do it. Oh gawd.

 

[farmerjan]

@SageHill .... okay find the video for us now, don't leave us hanging.

I went the route of all separate pens years ago... had some real nice show birds... Then went to letting them run together except at breeding time and then separation... All depending to how many of what, as to how to do it. Also depends on the "agreeability" of the breeds and roosters. Some just DO NOT mix well.
I like the letting the hens mostly run together and then pulling for breeding with certain males. But... you sorta need a male or 2 for every 6-10 hens for "protection" of watching the skies etc for predators... to do the warning... Males develop better plumage when out running loose if they are not fighting amongst themselves. Tails do not get broken up against cage walls, dividers, etc...
They are happier out running loose... but AERIAL predators are the problem during the day... ground predators are more persistent at night. If you have a "chicken proof" dog that can coexist in fields, yards etc with chickens, they are your best bet for some protection.
I like to have them out together if they get along and if I am not breeding. But I do have to deal with hawks and eagles..... as well as dogs, coyotes, foxes, possums, skunks, raccoons, you name it... lost several here at the house over the last couple of years... and most were "lost " during the day... and there was one less chicken type hawk here this past year. I think the mate left since I did not see it but once or twice, after the first one disappeared... Am not at all sorry they are gone..
HAVE to lock in at night.... @fuzzi guards against ones digging in/under, with her wire on the outside etc on the ground.... I like to lock in a "coop" or building of some type. I will have some sort of more "weather proof" coops for the winter... these larger "pens" or chicken runs are fine for the warmer weather... and the tops are perfect to keep out any hawks etc...
Eventually I think it will be a mixture here again... especially with the fence getting put up to try to keep them more contained. But I do like the coops with attached runs to keep the breeds separate, and then let the different ones out loose for several hours at a time...