With all the hatching, I did learn a few things! Well, maybe I should say: I learned enough to have more questions!!!! :)
>> The Blue Andalusian rooster was gone January 4th. I began to save eggs for my mom's incubator 22 days later... and yet now that the youngsters are 4 months old... there is one young pullet that shows very much Blue Andalusian traits!!! She is definitely from the Blue A. rooster.
SO: Hens and roosters must be seperated more than three weeks to insure 'clean' eggs.
>> Two week old eggs may hatch as well as one day old eggs. In one incubator, I had the same percentage of eggs hatch from two-week old eggs as from one-week old eggs, and more of the older eggs hatched than eggs laid the day they were placed in the incubator.
>> At least here in Montana, 65% humidity in the incubator during incubation is the minimum for good results.
>> At least in our experiences this year, hand turning 6 times a day is somewhat better than hand turning 2-3 times a day, but the auto turner does as well as hand turning 6 times a day.
I think there may be more interesting observations, but at the moment, as I type, I can't remember them! :)
The MOST IMPORTANT OBSERVATION, so far, is that my GREY over GREY produced 100% GREY. I didn't specifically know if I hatched a speckled over black egg... in fact, I don't think I got a single chick from my good old speckled rooster, over any hen. But if our old 'heritage' grey were 'blue', there should have been at least one or two black or speckled chicks. My speckled hens gave me speckled and greyish chicks when with the grey rooster, and the black hens gave me black chicks when with the grey rooster. But all the grey/grey ones produced grey chicks!
June 21, 2010
May 14, 2010
Working on my "Chicken Plans" in 2010!!!
I haven't updated my blog FOR A LONG TIME, but decided I should update the chicken posting. These posts have been a great reference/record for myself.
My GOALS for 2010 are:
1) See what 2nd generation Austra White chickens do. Austra White is a 'hybrid', so the sucessive generations will not be the same. Mom kept hers through many generations with some changes, but the good traits remained.
2) Hatch eggs from our 'heritage' greys/blacks/speckles to improve and increase my flock.
3) Seperate my hens/roosters in such a way to see how breeding grey to grey, and speckled to black, hatch out. This will be one step to determining if our greys are 'blue' or 'self-blue/lavender'.
In January, I made three pens within my coop. I kept the Austra Whites and Black Australorp chickens in the largest pen, and divided my 'old heritage' chickens. One pen had the grey rooster and my grey hens. The smallest 'cage' had the speckled rooster with my black and speckled hens.
Right and in the foreground, are the Austra White chickens. Left is the 'cage' with my speckled rooster and hens. In the back, behind, is the grey chickens.
Mid January, my sisterinlaw gave me back three grey and one black hens that I had given her several years ago. They would be getting some age on them, but still laying and I was very glad to get them. I thought it would 'increase' the genetic pool ... even though they would have been chickens I hatched, they would be a different generation, and more distantly related from my rooster.
For nearly a month, the grey and speckled hens stopped laying many eggs! They were not happy about any part of my plan! They could still see the nests they were used to laying in... and tried desperately to get back to them. They didn't like different roosting places. And the speckled rooster was used to being The Boss and he was so hurt that he was penned up with only 7 hens!
In February, I ordered a new incubator, and my mother and I began setting the incubators. I had so many questions! I marked each egg as to which pen it was from (sometimes, I knew exactly which hen laid it).. and the date it was layed. We could tell by color and shape, which type of hen had laid which egg. The Austra White #1 bunch had a tapered tinted egg. Austra White #2 bunch had a nearly round white egg. The Black Australorp hens laid a dark brown egg. The black hens of our old ones laid a darker, almost pink egg. The speckled hens laid a very, very light tinted egg with a defined pointed end. The grey hens gave us a pinkish-beige smaller egg.
I built a set of wire dividers to put in my incubator when I took out the turner near the time of hatching, to act sort of like a big 'pedigree cage'. Each type/breed of egg went into a different section. I put little rubber bands on the chicks hatching in each section. We kept track of which eggs hatched best: fresh, average, or old. We kept track of percentages of hatch, length of incubation, etc.
From February to May, we set an incubator 8 times. I must admit that Mom's old Brower galvanized incubator with hand turning, did very well. And my old Little Giant incubator 9 years old, did terrible. The new Hovabator incubator didn't do as well as it should have the first three times... about 44% hatch. The last time I set it, I decided to throw away all the instructions and follow my instincts as far as temperature and humidity, etc. The hatch was 62%.. but the Austra White, Black Australorp eggs hatched 100%, with the very poor hatching of the eggs from our hens bringing down the overall average of that set.
Last year I had 11 hens go broody... this year, I had very few, and they began late!!!
The hens I set had a better percentage of hatching, but again... the Austra White eggs hatched much, much better than the ones from our 'heritage' hens.
My GOALS for 2010 are:
1) See what 2nd generation Austra White chickens do. Austra White is a 'hybrid', so the sucessive generations will not be the same. Mom kept hers through many generations with some changes, but the good traits remained.
2) Hatch eggs from our 'heritage' greys/blacks/speckles to improve and increase my flock.
3) Seperate my hens/roosters in such a way to see how breeding grey to grey, and speckled to black, hatch out. This will be one step to determining if our greys are 'blue' or 'self-blue/lavender'.
In January, I made three pens within my coop. I kept the Austra Whites and Black Australorp chickens in the largest pen, and divided my 'old heritage' chickens. One pen had the grey rooster and my grey hens. The smallest 'cage' had the speckled rooster with my black and speckled hens.
Right and in the foreground, are the Austra White chickens. Left is the 'cage' with my speckled rooster and hens. In the back, behind, is the grey chickens.
For nearly a month, the grey and speckled hens stopped laying many eggs! They were not happy about any part of my plan! They could still see the nests they were used to laying in... and tried desperately to get back to them. They didn't like different roosting places. And the speckled rooster was used to being The Boss and he was so hurt that he was penned up with only 7 hens!
In February, I ordered a new incubator, and my mother and I began setting the incubators. I had so many questions! I marked each egg as to which pen it was from (sometimes, I knew exactly which hen laid it).. and the date it was layed. We could tell by color and shape, which type of hen had laid which egg. The Austra White #1 bunch had a tapered tinted egg. Austra White #2 bunch had a nearly round white egg. The Black Australorp hens laid a dark brown egg. The black hens of our old ones laid a darker, almost pink egg. The speckled hens laid a very, very light tinted egg with a defined pointed end. The grey hens gave us a pinkish-beige smaller egg.
I built a set of wire dividers to put in my incubator when I took out the turner near the time of hatching, to act sort of like a big 'pedigree cage'. Each type/breed of egg went into a different section. I put little rubber bands on the chicks hatching in each section. We kept track of which eggs hatched best: fresh, average, or old. We kept track of percentages of hatch, length of incubation, etc.
From February to May, we set an incubator 8 times. I must admit that Mom's old Brower galvanized incubator with hand turning, did very well. And my old Little Giant incubator 9 years old, did terrible. The new Hovabator incubator didn't do as well as it should have the first three times... about 44% hatch. The last time I set it, I decided to throw away all the instructions and follow my instincts as far as temperature and humidity, etc. The hatch was 62%.. but the Austra White, Black Australorp eggs hatched 100%, with the very poor hatching of the eggs from our hens bringing down the overall average of that set.
Last year I had 11 hens go broody... this year, I had very few, and they began late!!!
The hens I set had a better percentage of hatching, but again... the Austra White eggs hatched much, much better than the ones from our 'heritage' hens.
January 7, 2010
Summary of 2009 Chicken Experiments
I tried some 'experimenting' with my chickens in 2009. I found a hatchery selling Austra Whites, which my mom had originally started her flock with, and was a major part of the 'heritage' of my 'handed down' hens I like so well. So, I ordered chicks of Austra Whites.
My mom also had a grey rooster of unknown breed as part of her flock, and we have had a great admiration of the grey hens/roosters in the 'handed down' chickens. And I have had a type of black hen that is very nice.
I had a few questions: was the original blue rooster a Blue Andalusian and would that have explained the few greys and blacks, plus the speckled ones we are now getting in the 'handed down' flock? Are the speckled ones similar at all to the Austra Whites? For the past 18-20 years, I have kept a 'closed flock'... in that I didn't introduce any new breeds, just kept hatching eggs from my hens. But prior to that, I had purchased a few chicks from the local feed store, not remembering their breeds, but am guessing by past photos that I had a few Brown Leghorns, and possible Black Stars, etc. etc. Over the past 18-20 years, I have culled any young fryer that showed traits of the above, but maybe they had some input into our flock.
So, I decided to try chicks of several breeds, at similar age of chicks hatched from my 'handed-down' flock, and have some fun.
I tried Blue Andalusian, and discovered body shape and disposition, as well as feather-growing patterns (I am not sure of the term for this!), were different than our 'handed-down' greys, blacks and speckled. I tried the Black Australorp and the Black Star, and can be reasonably sure that these are not in the good black hens of mine.
The Brown Leghorn pullets are nice, and fairly close in temperment and body shape/size.... so some of the good traits in our 'handed-down' flock may have come from a rooster I had 20+ years ago??
OVERALL:
The Austra White did as expected.... we are very happy with them. They acted and looked, from the day old chicks to laying pullets, as Mom remembered.
The Blue Andalusians were okay, but not what we wanted, and so I gave them away a few days ago.
I lost the Phoenix rooster, and so also gave away the Phoenix pullets.
I have some young breeding stock of my 'handed-down' greys and blacks.
Here is a photo of my coop in November, before The Fox and culling the Blue Andalusains:
In the front, left is the one Brown Leghorn pullet. Next roost back, l to r: 2 Austra White pullets, with black legs, one of my grey pullets, and a Blue Andalusian pullet. Behind them: starting on the right: my young grey rooster, to his right is the young speckled pullet, and a Austra White with yellow legs. In the back, facing the wall, is the Blue Andalusian rooster, and facing front is the Silver Phoenix rooster.
My mom also had a grey rooster of unknown breed as part of her flock, and we have had a great admiration of the grey hens/roosters in the 'handed down' chickens. And I have had a type of black hen that is very nice.
I had a few questions: was the original blue rooster a Blue Andalusian and would that have explained the few greys and blacks, plus the speckled ones we are now getting in the 'handed down' flock? Are the speckled ones similar at all to the Austra Whites? For the past 18-20 years, I have kept a 'closed flock'... in that I didn't introduce any new breeds, just kept hatching eggs from my hens. But prior to that, I had purchased a few chicks from the local feed store, not remembering their breeds, but am guessing by past photos that I had a few Brown Leghorns, and possible Black Stars, etc. etc. Over the past 18-20 years, I have culled any young fryer that showed traits of the above, but maybe they had some input into our flock.
So, I decided to try chicks of several breeds, at similar age of chicks hatched from my 'handed-down' flock, and have some fun.
I tried Blue Andalusian, and discovered body shape and disposition, as well as feather-growing patterns (I am not sure of the term for this!), were different than our 'handed-down' greys, blacks and speckled. I tried the Black Australorp and the Black Star, and can be reasonably sure that these are not in the good black hens of mine.
The Brown Leghorn pullets are nice, and fairly close in temperment and body shape/size.... so some of the good traits in our 'handed-down' flock may have come from a rooster I had 20+ years ago??
OVERALL:
The Austra White did as expected.... we are very happy with them. They acted and looked, from the day old chicks to laying pullets, as Mom remembered.
The Blue Andalusians were okay, but not what we wanted, and so I gave them away a few days ago.
I lost the Phoenix rooster, and so also gave away the Phoenix pullets.
I have some young breeding stock of my 'handed-down' greys and blacks.
Here is a photo of my coop in November, before The Fox and culling the Blue Andalusains:
In the front, left is the one Brown Leghorn pullet. Next roost back, l to r: 2 Austra White pullets, with black legs, one of my grey pullets, and a Blue Andalusian pullet. Behind them: starting on the right: my young grey rooster, to his right is the young speckled pullet, and a Austra White with yellow legs. In the back, facing the wall, is the Blue Andalusian rooster, and facing front is the Silver Phoenix rooster.
Doing what they should be doing: Laying!
In December, I had 48 chickens in the coop, 44 hens, young and old. Six of the 44 were molting.
All of December, I would gather 24 + eggs one day, and 32+ eggs the next! WOW!
All of December, I would gather 24 + eggs one day, and 32+ eggs the next! WOW!
I was feeding them alfalfa hay and wheat, plus the coop was warm and I turned the light on.
My Greys -- 1/10
Final Report on My Greys "Heritage/Handed Down" -- January 2010:
I have had some nice pullets from my greys and the other 'heritage/handed down' hens!They were nice, sensible chicks, and grew up well. Matured quickly and butchered into a nice fryer.
The pullets began laying at 3 1/2 months of age.... and have laid well: approx. 4 eggs per 7 days.
Their eggs sized up quickly from the first smaller sized ones.
The grey and black ones from 'My Own' eggs are similar/identical. The speckled ones from 'My Own' eggs are slightly smaller, especially in the head and amount of feathers, possibly in body width. Other than shape, they seem similar in laying, attitude, and community behavior. Possible... maybe... the speckled hens are not as happy when the temps drop in the high minus zeros.
I had saved 3 grey 2008-hatched hens and 4 grey pullets from 2009... but The Fox took a few. I now have 3 young grey pullets and one older grey hen. The nice NICE grey rooster survived and has all my future hopes planted on him!
I also lost one black hen to The Fox, but still have 2 black 2008-hatched hens and 1 black pullet from 2009. I have 3 speckled 2008-hatched hens and 1 speckled pullet from 2009. I also kept the speckled 2008-hatched rooster.
Austra White -- 1/10
Final Report on Austra White -- January 2010:
The Austra White chickens were great! I can only praise and highly recommend them!
They have no flighty-ness, and are wonderful foragers and live well with other chickens, even in crowded conditions. They have taken the cold VERY well, and have laid VERY well.The Austra White chickens were great! I can only praise and highly recommend them!
They matured early, and began to lay at 3 months of age. The roosters were okay for butchering... light as expected for a hybrid cross including White Leghorn, but very acceptable.
The roosters matured VERY VERY early, and began to crow and look for hens at 2 months of age. This is the only 'fault' I can find... because it is a fault. The roosters began to hunt for hens, harass any hen they found, and in general caused quite a 'ruckus'. I began to butcher the 'cull' roosters at 2 1/2 months of age, and they were light, as expected for that age and the breed. I saved two roosters until 4 months of age, when I chose one to keep and one to butcher, and at that age, the butchered one produced a nice well-meated body. Next year, I will simply have a seperate pen for the Austra White males... and I am expecting them to gain a bit quicker, when they don't have the opportunity to range 'hen-hunting'.
I read somewhere that Leghorn meat tastes differently than the meat breeds'..... and in comparing notes/fried chicken with my sister-in-laws', who have Buff Orphingtons and Light Brahmas, as well as Cornish Rocks.... we have to agree that is very much true! When someone says: oh, I remember farm fried chicken... it tasted so good, we are betting they remember eating a 'egg-laying' breed, and are comparing that flavor to the flavor of the commerically produced 'meat-breed' chicken. There is a difference... hard to describe, but we generally summarized it as: leghorns crosses have a bit more 'dark' meat, and that flavor while the meat breeds have larger white meat portions, and generally all their flesh tastes a bit more like white meat. I definitely found I preferred fried chicken from my old 'heritage' flock or the Austra Whites/Brown Leghorns over the Orphingtons/Brahmas/Black Australorp.
The hens began to lay early, and have laid very reliably since. The eggs remained small, pullet-sized for a bit longer than my old 'heritage' greys.
The Austra White chickens were not 'pets'... they didn't want to follow me back to the house, yet they would come greet me if they thought I was carrying the scrap bucket. In the coop this winter, they have been very vocal, greeting me with a low clucking and talking as I clean the coop, etc. They come to look at my overshoes, and see if there is any bits of hay to pick.
Overall, these Austra White chickens are just what I want! :)
I received chicks from two hatcheries. One hatchery sent chicks with pullets/black legs and scattered black feathers and roosters/yellow legs and all white feathers. The other hatchery sent chicks with pullets/yellow legs and a few small black feathers ... roosters/yellow legs and all white feathers. From all I can read and learn from growers... the 'breed' is actually a 'hybrid cross'... and the chicks with the black legged females were either a first cross or close to the first cross. The chicks with the yellow legs were from a flock some generations from the original mating of a White Leghorn female and a Black Australorp male. Or maybe they were a mating the opposite way???? White Leghorn male and a Black Australorp hen???
I am not sure what I will get from mating an Austra White with an Austra White.
The hens in front of the rooster and at the very front/bottom of the photo are the yellow-legged hens. The rooster is from the first batch of chicks.
The two white hens in this photo are Austra Whites from the first batch. The grey hen is one of my 'heritage' greys.
Black Australorp-- 1/10
Final Report on Black Australorp-- January 2010:
I have enjoyed the Black Australorp hens! I have 5 and plan to keep them with the Austra White flock/rooster. They were very placid... more extreme than calm, so placid seems more appropriate. They didn't do anything cute or clever, but neither did they do anything bad. They seemed to stay close to the coop, but seemed to stay out later in the evening... they seemed to like the dark! I thought I would lose some of them to predators, but didn't... even The Fox didn't get a single one of these!They sized up quickly, but matured slowly. Our neighbor had Black Australorps also, and had two roosters in her bunch. They were very, very difficult to tell which was pullets and which was roosters! We had to go by the starting spurs and the longer feathers at the base of the tail. This would be a negative thing, if I had many of these to sort and butcher. I didn't have any roosters, so cannot say what they butchered like. The neighbor's BAs appeared to butcher out similar to the size and shape of my old 'heritage' greys. (She had one of my grey roosters of approx. the same age.)
They began to lay at 3 1/2 to 4 months of age, and have laid very, very well since. In late November, I turned a light on in the coop, as I wanted to see which breed was laying which eggs, and how many they would lay under optimal conditions. The Black Australorps had been laying several months, and so of course, two decided to set! I eventually convinced them to stop, and am hoping they have the same idea when it is Spring! I think they would make great setting hens and very good mamas.
I do not plan on keeping a seperate flock of Black Australorps, or very many hens, but I will see how they set and hatch... and what they produce/add to the Austra White line. The Austra White is actually a cross between a White Leghorn hen and a Black Australorp rooster, so I don't think knwo what I would get with a cross between the Black Australorp hens and the Austra White rooster... but the eggs from the AW hens and the BA hens will be obviously different, and I can sort out the BA eggs when setting a hen or incubator.
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