Hi Everyone,
It\'s been awhile and I just wanted to say I hope all my fellow ABC members and aficionados are doing well - along with all your birds!
This has been a very hard year for me. I was losing birds right and left. My plan was to hatch a ton of birds and then cull like crazy. Ah well, what is it they say about the best laid plans?
I still have some problems with the black ticking in the hackles showing up in the females and I haven\'t been able just yet to connect it to anything specific. But then again, I haven\'t gone out yet and made my inventory with observations in order to then go back and look at my breeding plans for a comparison. I will be doing that before long so I can decide what my breeding pens will be for next year though.
I did make some significant progress in the tail color of both my males and females. I have several males now with no red in their tales and I have several females now with a lot more black and blue (respectively) in their tales. Of course, wouldn\'t you know it, my best looking Wheaten pullet with the blackest tail is clean-faced. Ugh! I haven\'t decided for sure yet but I think I\'m going to breed her anyway.
I still have a long way to go to get clean hackles on my W & BW males. That is one of the things I\'m working hard to get to. Jean\'s males are such that certainly make me envious and if you haven\'t seen hers, their hackles are really clean with no black that I could see at all.
I didn\'t make the State Fairs this year. Long story but just wasn\'t really up to it nor did I have much in very good condition. I did do well at the Cascade Spring Show and am pleased with those results while looking forward to the Winter Brisk in December. I hope to have a few birds that are old enough and in good enough condition to take.
This has been a VERY strange year weather-wise and it\'s been very hard on the birds. I am starting to see some nice new blue eggs appear but most still have a long ways to go. I\'ve still got two-week old birds in the brooder!
The color on the new eggs is very good and I hope to make some improvements in the productivity. I am really going to have to watch that after the problems I had with the previous birds.
I am also noticing that my birds just don\'t seem to have the weight on them that I think they should. Their breastbones are too pronounced and hardly seem like they have any meat on them at all. I\'m not sure yet if it\'s just the Ameraucanas though.
I\'ve heard from a few people now that they seem to be experiencing the same thing and one person told me they noticed a significant difference after taking them off of Purina Layer Pellets. In fact, now that I think about it, I think a couple of people have said something about Purina Layer Pellets having changed or something. I need to give the Purina folks a call I guess. Anybody else on here experience a problem with Purina Layer Pellets?
I could go on about feed questions but I think I\'ll leave that discussion for another time. I should mentioned though that I think one of the problems with the younger birds not putting on weight is that I\'ve regrettably had to have them on antibiotics for quite some time to get over CRD or other respiratory problems. I think I\'ve finally got everything cleared up. I just took them off chloratetracycline and now have them on some ACV in their water and will follow that up with some Rooster Booster once they finish that. Plus I\'ll add some VigorPlus and scratch to their feed now.
Well, I think that\'s about it for now. I am truly envious of all those who\'ll be at the National. I wish there was some way I could make it. It would be just great to meet all of ya in person. Here\'s wishing those of you who can attend the very best.
Hope everyone has a fantastic remainder of what\'s left this year.
God Bless,
