Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

Well it is that time of year for looking back on last year and planning and dreaming for this coming breeding/hatching and buying season. Though I know some breed and hatch all year long.

The beginning of last year health issues got in the way, so I got a late start to everything poultry breeding plans, gardening... etc.... so did not accomplish much of what I planned or dreamed I wanted to do. Hoping 2017 is a much better year!!!

This melting snow and forecast above zero temperatures has spring on my brain, even though I know winter has barely started.

I am sticking with working with and attempting to breed, in small numbers, 7 breeds of chickens this year... BC Marans, Cream Legbars, Bielefelders, Cuckoo Malines, Mottled Houdans, Ayam cemani and Svart hona. I also have my Beltsville Small White Turkeys for breeding.

Not getting any new chicken breeds to raise for future breeding, I repeat NO new chicken breeds!!!

I have ordered a few chickens from Performance Poultry to raise a few extra hens for egging eggs (Exchequer and Rose Comb Brown Leghorns and Whiting True Blues).

I also ordered a few more Mottled Houdan chicks, as I only have a trio of 2016 birds and want to add a few more. If everything goes as planned I am picking up a few 2015 and 2016 birds next weekend (Malines, Bielefelders and Cream Legbars) to eventually add to my current stock. Which will give me Bielefelders and Cream Leagbars from 3 different breeders to use for my breeding.

My new projects for 2017..... there always has to be new projects....lol

1. get some jumbo Quail again to raise and breed. Al if you have any this Spring I will be in the market. I will also hopefully replace a few of my fancy quail, snowflakes and Californias that were killed by the weasel.

2. Black East Indie Ducks - I ordered 4 ducks for fun, only ever had ducks once, in university my roommate and I kept a couple Pekin ducks and then ate them. Not sure if I will keep the ducks long term. I blame Sandy for the ducks

3. Turkeys - I currently have my BSWs, but looking to add a few more turkeys in 2017. One of the projects I wanted to start last year, but did not work out, so hopefully this year will be better. I will hopefully get some Chocolate turkey hatching eggs from Silkie Sue, plus I have ordered some hatching eggs from BC for May shipping, so hopefully this year I can raise up a few chocolate turkeys so I can breed some in 2018. Along with the chocolates I want to raise a few Spanish Black turkeys to try and produce sex-linked turkeys in 2018. I also ordered a few Sweetgrass turkey hatching eggs along with the chocolate eggs.

4. Meat Chickens - I plan to raise some meat birds this year, I ordered a few last year, but changed my mind and sold them the next day. I will raise any extra Bielefelder and Malines roosters I produce for meat, but will order a few as well. I am hoping to try the Mistral Gris chickens from True North Farms.

Well those are my plans, not sure why I wrote this, partly because not tired, nothing on TV and don't feel like marking school assignments. lol But I guess I can read the post later in the year and see if I actually accomplished anything I planned to do.

I plan a bunch of garden plans this year as well, but that is another day and another post. I am in the planning process right now of redesigning the hoop house breeding pens I built last year, too short (about 4 feet tall) so not a fan of them.

Well good night/morning...

Anyone else have any specific breeding plans or goals for 2017?

JimW

I'll wear that blame with pride Jim. Haha!

Won't be long before you have more ducks than chickens. Ducks are the best!

Jim, you really need some Speckled Sussex........

Dominion Link wrote:QR_BBPOST Jim, you really need some Speckled Sussex........

HaHa you are not helping. lol. I had a few young ones back 2 years ago, but fix got them. I really, really like their look, I might add a couple to my eating egg flock, just for variety.

I think EVERYBODY needs some Speckled Sussex, I must say they would have been on my list if it wasn't for the single comb, and the fact that self-sufficiency was a main goal here, I didn't want to be purchasing chicks every year, so would have to keep a rooster.
I think the planning and dreaming exercise is a very good idea Jim, sometime you have to write things to clarify them in your head

I often spend sleepless periods dreaming and scheming, and pairing up birds in my head or changing my mind about previous dreams, schemes and pairings lol. I find that once an idea has solidified, if I write it out for all to see, I'm more likely to actually follow through. Plus, it's awesome to be able to bounce ideas off the fine folk on this board, as often you all will see things I'm missing, or remind me to either check myself or encourage me full steam ahead.
My plans for this year with the chickens are to hold steady. There is some new blood needed in my bantam breeding project, and I got a mottled Java and a speckled Sussex rooster from WaupoosCowgirl with that in mind, but have changed my mind. I need to add a crested bird, so Jim, if you should happen to get any oopsie breedings between your mottled houdans and your bielefelders, I am interested in chicks :D
Looking at what I've got, only one hen is a good match for the Java rooster, so not sure what I'm doing with him yet. The SS rooster was small, and started rattling 3 days after I got him, so he was a good match for the stewpot.
I'm continuing to plug away at the Giants, if I can get breeding condos set up so I can actually get some eggs. I have some new blood for them too, that I'm pretty excited about.
Year before last, I crossed a mixed heritage turkey onto a meat turkey, and ended up with one Tom I was happy with. He's monstrous, but not so wide and off balance that he can't breed, so last year I tried him over his granddam and was happy with the results again, two young Tom's, nice full breasts. This year I'm hoping to try one of them over the Beltsvilles. And hopefully get some #@$& girls, as Lacy hasn't given me a single &$#@ female poults in two years, and only one in the two years before that! I also want more Beltsvilles so there will be two groups of turkeys. So the plan with the turkeys is to hatch, hatch, hatch. If the Beltsville girls don't go broody on a pile of rocks--those buggers go broody at the drop of a hat and will sit on anything, or nothing. One girl hatched 3, steamrolled 3, and refused to get off the dud eggs and dead poults even when the live ones starved. I turfed her out, and she picked a corner and sat on nothing for weeks. Another girl thought a brush pile at the edge of a field was a great spot to sit. I found her spot in the afternoon, and came back with a cage after dark to move her before the coyote found her, but too late. This year I'm going to try to hatch all their eggs myself and actively discourage broodiness. Maybe then I'll get more than a handful for a change, and maybe even some hens :hairpull:
Everybody is staying locked up this year, unless I find a good LGD. I hate to do it, but I'm tired of them being predator bait, especially the bantams and ducks. Nothing really bothers the adult Giants, but I swear everything else screams "Come eat me!"
I wasn't going to breed EEs or general layers this year, but I have 2 people wanting some EEs, so I'll set at least one batch in Spring and leave things up to the hens after that.
I'm planning to incubate every Embden egg I get. I really like those geese. They're only a year old this spring, so I expect fertility will probably be nil, but hope springs eternal. However, I'm about done with the brown China's and will be freezering all the ganders. Sure will cut down on the noise levels around here!
Coyotes took over 50 Muscovy last year, including a couple of my best. If I want to continue with them I need new blood, but I did anyway as bottlenecking is imminent. I'm unsure what I'm doing there, I think I'll probably keep the two or three hens I have left worth breeding, and three drakes, and let nature take its course. Though if some nice birds cross my path for the right price, I probably won't say no lol.
There are some breeds I'd really like to get, or get more of, but I've determined I have enough on my plate this year. Except for a dozen spangled Hamburg eggs in March. Just for fun :) If anything hatches, they will be merged with the Roadrunner Chicken project. Now if I could just get my hands on some Brabanters...NO! Bad Jan! Lol

Jan...I see your feed bill...and your plans...and I think we should nominate your hubby for Sainthood (lol). I look at your list and it makes me tired.

I'm gonna build a corn crib and I'm gonna grow a half acre of corn (which means I must build a fence). I have the geese for weeding. Gonna plant some trees. I still want to go to Germany.
I'm gonna get lots of chicks from True North Farms and most will hit the freezer. Got to get my barn and landscaping sorted. I'll raise a few bantams and maybe quail. Time to stop thinking and go and cut fenceposts.

Jan,

Not sure if I will have any Bielefelder x Houdans, but I have a lone Exchequer Leghorn hen I could put with my Houdan rooster or a Cream Legbar hen with my Houdan roo to make crosses?

Baron, that sounds like a good amount of corn. I wish I had some flat, not rock land I could plant on here.

Count me in for the True North order.

JimW wrote:QR_BBPOST Jan,

Not sure if I will have any Bielefelder x Houdans, but I have a lone Exchequer Leghorn hen I could put with my Houdan rooster or a Cream Legbar hen with my Houdan roo to make crosses?

Baron, that sounds like a good amount of corn. I wish I had some flat, not rock land I could plant on here.

Count me in for the True North order.

Ooh, either one of those would work, but my preference would be the houdans/leghorn cross...I don't really want single-combed blue egg layers popping up on the off chance they get mixed up with EE eggs..Though the bantams are locked up separately...heck, if you're strapped for space, put the Legbar in there too and I'll take a mix :D
Having a pen that's a mix of 12 breeds isn't the same as having 12 breeds :)
Bert, hubby is no saint! The feed bill for his cows and pigs has more than quadrupled this year thanks to a hay shortage. We're having to kill a couple this week coming before the poor buggers starve to death because the price of hay is over 100 a large round, and the cows alone go through a bale every 3 days.

Www I will try to make some houdanxleghorn crosses. I don't have leghorn rooster so she has to go somewhere. I will hopefully have an extra legbar hen I will put with the Houdan as well.

Wish you luck with the hay definitely getting expensive.

Jim