Is it just me?

[Russ]

Ok I have a confession to make, with the wonderful time I had at the Nationals and now Fowl Fest. I am seriously thinking of firing up the incubator. When I was unloading birds tonight I found myself putting them together in trios and quads. Has anyone else started putting together there breeding pens or am I alone? I never thought of the points you get when you win at the show but now I am starting to obsess about them and how many I need to get to 800  . After the two shows I have attended I find myself already thinking about next year and what shows I will be attending. I even think my wife is on board with my madness, we were discussing new trucks, campers and trailors to haul chickens and save hotel bills  Is this normal behavior or is this my O.C.D. kicking in?

[Mike Gilbert]

Russ, unless you would be hatching for some spring shows, resist the urge to hatch now.   Most anything you hatch now would be past prime for next fall unless you keep them in separated conditioning pens - and then they would be prime candidates for a molt about the time of your fall shows.    I know, I know, I used to do it too - but no more.   

P.S.   What happens when you get to 800 points?   Do you get to wear the pointy hat of the Grand Poo Bah?

[Sharon Yorks]

Hatching now is perfect for shows like Canfield, OH in early June (come on down!) and for kids wanting fair projects. In the last two days I have been also figuring out which pullets are going to be with which cockerels. Yes, it's OCD...Obsessive Chicken Disorder 

[Russ]

thats funny i am not sure but 800 is the first number on our exhibator deal. And in true o.c.d. Fashion now i want to find out. Curiousity is what it boils down to i think. I was thinking of hitting spring fowl fest. Oh and bill robbins suggested nov & dec to put shorter legs on cornish? Mike i must just get excited to easy haha

[Tailfeathers]

I agree with Mike and I also don't hatch in the Fall & Winter.  Partly because by the time this time of year rolls around I'm so sick & tired of taking care of chicks that I wanna break but mostly because I've found my chicks hatched late in the year just don't do as well.  As it is now, I've got some 8wk olds that probably won't grow as well thru the winter.

I hatched a ton of chicks this year in the hopes of making some giant moves forward and it seems like all I'm ever doing is cleaning brooders and chickhouses.  That and moving birds around at night in the grow out pens because they never seem to get back to the right ones. 

Not only that but I'm already going thru 75 lbs. of chick feed PER DAY!  That doesn't include Layer Pellets and Flock Raiser.  Though I did just lower the feed bill this evening when I sold $150 in roosters and gave away another 15 or more. So now I've got at least 40 less birds to feed.   

Bad news is that's only about 1/3 of what I still need to pick thru of which most are still Ameraucanas that will take many more months before I'll be able to tell whether I can cull them. Good news is it's getting harder and taking longer to look them over to make the decision.

I also agree with Sharon.  Yes, it's OCD...Obsessive Chicken Disorder!!

God Bless,

[DeWayne Edgin]

My thought is, if you are breeding to show the pullets then the fall is not a good time to breed. But if you are breeding for a project or to improve on traits or just the birds in genneral. The fall is a good time to breed. I like having my pullets in the winter months when the days are shorter and my birds are not laying good. The spring time seems to be the best time for egg production and if you hatch in the fall, they seem to start laying in the spring time sooner. You can take a year off of a three year breeding project also by breeding in the fall.

[Don]

I had not traditionally hatched in the fall but have noticed a few folks starting layers in the early fall.  It does seem to work well with layers for spring eggs.  I did have a small group a few years back that hatched in October and they did not grow as large as summer birds.  Not good for LF but I think it's used as a way to limit size by lots of bantam folks.  Btw, I don't think this method is fair to artificially reduce birds size.  The next generation of off spring will return to oversize birds again so they do this just to win not to improve the birds.

But you do touch on a good point, are we more concerned with improving the breed/variety or is it more important prepping for a show.  I know it's both in a perfect world.  But I think our first priority should be improving the birds.  IMO the shows should be a place to compare overall progress first, compare condition a distant second importance.  I think others may have expressed a similar thought at some point.  So if you can make improvements say by three, four generations in two years, and you don't break the bank/ domestic politics, I say go for it.  You may want to keep the fall hatching to a few really important matings.  Lots of folks have different approaches and sounds like a bit of experience both ways. Also a time to rest/reset is important too.

[DeWayne Edgin]

I haven`t had any size changes in my birds by breeding them in the fall. I keep their feeders full all of the time and i give them scraps from the fridge. I do only breed a few that i am needing the most. I raise the chicks in my basement and it helps keep my basement and my upstairs floors warm.

[greeneggsandham]

Birds must molt at different times around the country.  I wouldn't be able to hatch a fall hatch right now even if I wanted to.  The older birds are either molting or have slowed way, way down and the younger ones haven't started to lay yet.  I usually hatch in March, just in time to make a November show with young ones.  Getting good hatches even then is difficult.  Still pretty cold here.  Hatches seem to do much better in late April, May, but birds are usually not old enough for shows then.  I really would like to try raising a late spring hatch though.  I have a hunch that more females may be produced then.

[Mike Gilbert]

Hatches seem to do much better in late April, May, but birds are usually not old enough for shows then.  I really would like to try raising a late spring hatch though.

That's where bantams have the advantage.  April chicks can be ready to show by around October 1st.
 And they eat SO much less.

[Russ]

not to mention mike that they take up less room growing and hauling to the shows. Plus if your kids are vertically challanged like my daughter they are alot easier to handle for them

[Beth C]

We've been making a slow shift that direction. I still have the LF lav, buff, and black but anything added the last 2 seasons has been bantam.

As far as hatching now, they are still molting, but if I was getting eggs I would be setting them. Our winters are short & mild and our summers are long & brutal, so I have to do things backwards from most of you guys just to keep 'em alive!

[SkiBuny]

Yes Russ, it IS totally normal!!! I have obsessive chicken disorder too!