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Messages - Don

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586
Exhibiting & Promoting / Re: North Carolina fall shows
« on: October 31, 2014, 06:42:48 AM »
Contacts for show info:

Winston-Salem,  Forsyth Fowl Fanciers, Dixie Classic fairgrounds
Nov 29 - weekend after thanksgiving,  judges Tim Bowles, Ed Mongold, Frank Harris
    statefan10@yahoo.com     Mark East   Ph. 336 341-9281


Smithfeild NC,  Cape Fear Poultry Assoc,  Johnston County Livestock Arena
Dec 13.
http://www.capefearpoultryassociation.embarqspace.com/forms/4536250598
    Sultanlady@embarqmail.com    Carolyn Lynn  910-897-8001

587
Exhibiting & Promoting / Re: North Carolina fall shows
« on: October 23, 2014, 07:44:50 PM »
Glad to hear some folks are coming out to the Winston-Salem show especially.  How can you resist the home of Krispy Kreme and Texas Pete, not to mention a few other products.  It is known as the Camel City too.  John Marshall usually shows as well as a few others from central NC.  Beth, see if you can enter some birds in the open show too, maybe some bantams also?  I would like to see the junior birds judged in the open show too but that might take some time to change. 

Jeff, bring as many as you can.  All the birds are still trying to finish feather so don't worry so much about the condition.  Hopefully Susan can make it and we can all talk a bit about some shows for next year too.
It might be helpful to get several locations on the books so folks can plan.

The Smithfeild show should be well attended also, so plan now.  There is still plenty of time to get an entry ready.

588
Housing, Health & Hatching / Re: Help
« on: October 23, 2014, 06:34:43 AM »
It is hard when the family pets get confused.  Our family Aussie got a couple of growing chicks when she was young and out with me tending to the birds.  She learned though and was a great protector dog and would herd them back into their part of the yard when they strayed.  It takes a lot of patience but worth the effort.  And your family will be happier too.

589
Exhibiting & Promoting / Re: 2015 Ameraucana National Meet Decided
« on: October 23, 2014, 06:25:15 AM »
A school bus just might be the thing.  Just swing down thru the southern route and we can meet up.  But it just won't be the same without Beth and fuzz.  I understand, It's always great to take advantage of travel to see others folks and places along the way.

Shakti, bring the banjo along and you can entertain between shows.  And Larry can do the peacock dance again.

We will see what kind of details Paul can can provide after their show in a few weeks.  Looking forward to details.  What are the entry fees for a double show Paul?

590
Anyone from around the carolinas going to the "ohio" next month?   There was a breeder supposed to meet us in Lucasville that did not work out. 

591
Housing, Health & Hatching / Re: Incubator parts
« on: October 18, 2014, 07:20:23 PM »
I would expect all the poultry supplies to carry comparable parts.  Twin city, cutler and Smith all have websites where you can compare.  Dickies incubator also in Ga. makes a unit very similar to the old sportsman models and carries parts for these at pretty good prices.  Their turners should fit in the new units but I'm sure they will tell you if you give them a call.  They only make a couple models of the cabinets.     http://dickeyincubators.com/Dickey%20Incubators.pdf

592
Breeding / Re: Is it just me?
« on: October 18, 2014, 08:16:39 AM »
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.


593
Exhibiting & Promoting / Re: 2015 Ameraucana National Meet Decided
« on: October 18, 2014, 07:55:45 AM »
Susan, I don't play the banjo but do look around at van rentals and keep me posted of any deals.  I will definitely pencil it in and wait for Paul to give us more info on the show later next month.  We should be able gather several folks from our region.  Anybody between the carolinas and Arkansas?

Gordon,  I was inspired by Paul and others showing displays this year. So I guess that would mean at least 14 LF for me.  So maybe not 15 people/passengers.  But we need to have room for a half dozen folks, a bunch of birds and and yes, room for purchases too.  ...  Maybe it's time to switch to bantams too.

594
Exhibiting & Promoting / Re: 2015 Ameraucana National Meet Decided
« on: October 17, 2014, 04:37:17 PM »
Sounds like a good idea.  Do you know anyone with a large 15 passenger van we can borrow?  For some reason the intro of the Beverly Hillbillies comes to mind.  You know, the one of the flat bed truck with all their belongings strapped on top.  Mind you, I'm much too young to have seen this as an original broadcast, only on cable reruns.

595
Exhibiting & Promoting / North Carolina fall shows
« on: October 16, 2014, 06:37:39 AM »
There are several ABC meets at shows here in NC before the end of the year. 

Morganton Oct 25th, Entry Deadline this Saturday.
Winston-Salem Nov 29
CapeFear in Smithfield, Dec 13 (I think this one was planned to be the state meet)

Who is planning on attending/ showing at these locations?

596
Thanks to all that worked so hard to put the show together and bring the report to life on the forum.  The show was great and it was very nice to be able to meet so many folks. It's really nice that All the club can go back and compare the nationals for several years.  It's only because Sharon, Paul, Angela and so many others took time while at the show for this effort. 

597
I've never forced molt, but then never felt like I had much control when the cocks and hens molted.  The old timers used to say you could do this by feeding all corn during the last heat of the summer/fall.  Any sudden changes might trigger a bird to start.  You might also change the duration of light suddenly to help the trigger.

Really nice coop Duane.  I'd like to have about a dozen of those in my yard.  I expect the dropping boards save many a mishap with the multiple hens.  I've had lots of white birds with yellow spots caused by roosting pen mates.  I know that Max has a bank of pens for conditioning LFs in individual pens.  Anyone have pictures of other facilities for larger numbers of males?

598
Housing, Health & Hatching / Re: Processing
« on: October 12, 2014, 10:13:01 AM »
You might try some local ad sites to find someone doing processing fairly close to you.  Sometimes we see folks offering grass fed broilers within an hour of our city.  They may have some basic equipment that will help in processing, less time  and labor.   You might also be able to sell some of the cockerels, recoup some expense and share with others.  I've found several groups that value "slow food" flavor chicken much more than what we've become used to in the grocery store

599
There are so many different approaches to providing conditioning pens and I always am interested in pictures of folks facilities.  The main goal is to get the birds separated into areas where they can't pick or soil each other.  I've heard some folks will keep 2-3 females together.  But they don't provide roosts unless they have dropping boards.  Obviously they need to be dry so a raised pen is easy to rake droppings and replace dry shavings.  Wire is a problem if they can back into or rub feathers.  So most folks will make the wall surfaces of plywood except for the front.  Just make sure you have enough ventilation in the heat.  Pen size is determined by the breed.  I might suggest min 2' dimensions for LF and 16" for bantam AMs.  Bigger birds such as Rocks will probably require more.  Make sure they can move and exercise for bone/muscle growth. You might be able to build some pens along the inside of your breeding pens.

As far as time, I've always heard that it takes about six weeks for the primary wing and tail feathers to grow.  The trick is to time the molt to coincide with the shows.  Natural molts are hard to predict especially with our current strange weather.  I think the shows in the south are typically later in the year because our birds naturally molt later. The fairs in the north are finished much earlier than ours start because of the seasonal differences.  I've never done  Forced molts but lots of folks might chime in to give you their advice here.

I expect you can get many different ideas for feed during conditioning.  Make sure it's a good ration you trust.  Variety is my preference to make sure the birds have a variety of minerals/proteins.  I only feed corn when it's really cold and they need the calories. But wheat and oats are good in small amounts.  Grains are good and easy to sprout or mix with oils or vitamin mixes.  Some will use cod liver oil, garlic and brewers yeast, red cell, clovite, etc. 

Spend time with them, feed them treats, meat scraps, dog burger treats.  Handle them, stretch the wings as the judge will in the show hall.  Use a judging stick, to try to calm and pose them.  Anything to get them comfortable will help them in the show hall.  There are lots of tricks to get them to "show" better than the competition.  Patty suggested to use a treat with a specific noisy wrapper, condition the bird to approach the front of the pen.  Unwrap and crinkle one of these as the judge approaches your birds cage.   ..... I've even seen showmen flick corn into a competitor bird's pen to have the competition break stance just as the judge as making those last placements.  Not that I would suggest this!  But some folks really want to win.

600
Ameraucana Marketplace / Re: LF buff/wheaten cross cockerels
« on: September 26, 2014, 11:35:18 PM »
Pretty nice buff all around John.  What would you guess he'd weigh? I agree with mike, the legs look much better than the buffs or wheatens that I've seen.  I've also noticed some of the families are tending more crow headed.  He appears that he would counter that as well.  How much are you getting for them?

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