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RELUCTANT RUBY: Housebound
and egg bound
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.. Hens give troublesome trio the red card
I'M STILL dithering about launching into a full breeding programme with the Scots Dumpys which will mean segregating the cockerels from the hens and then pairing up selected couples and building different pens.
Once I do that when I incubate eggs I will have a rough idea of what is going to hatch whereas at the moment it's a bit of a pot-pourri. Serious breeders must be reading this with equal measures of disgust and horror, I've no doubt.
So in the hen pen it's a bit of a free for all which causes its own problems as the hens just want to focus on laying eggs and chillin' and the cockerels want to do what they do.
The result has been chaos so I've put Napoleon, Horatio and Jumpin' Jack in the poultry equivalent of the sin bin these last few days to give the girls a break and a chance to restore their ruffled feathers and dignity. Poor Ruby was egg bound last week, she was so stressed out she wouldn't leave her little blue home pictured above and to the right . I gave her a warm bath, 20 minute massage, copious amounts of top dollar virgin olive oil at both ends, and then steamed her bottom. After a quiet overnight stay in the kitchen she resumed normal service which was a relief - I really did not want to get out the rubber gloves! An egg block is potentially fatal.
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| WRONG SIDE OF THE WIRE: Jack, Horatio & Napoleon |
Many poultry breeders are surprised that three of my 15 Scots Dumpys are cockerels and that they all live together in the same pen quite happily. Of course they do have their moments but in the pecking order of things Napoleon is the boss and he runs a disciplined outfit.
Dumpys really are a lovely breed and they are very friendly, each one is a character. Quite why they've become an endangered species is beyond me.
I don't know 'out about breeding animals, but it would look to me that if you segregated the males it would be easier to guess which are homozygous and which are heterozygous for the short legged character. From what you wrote earlier, the heterozygotes would probably give a higher survival rate in the chicks, though to be exact you'd need to guess what the females are too. You might develop a trade secret - use only long legged males (homozygous recessive) and homozygous dwarf females - probably all the eggs would then be viable, and all the chicks dwarf. You could do the same by reversing it. If you like, send me the results when the time comes..
ReplyDeleteNow for something else. When a brood hatches and starts wandering around, find a trowel and pick a time when no-one else is around. Then, take the brood for a walk, using the trowel to uncover worms as you go. You will find that the same one or two always take the lead in working with you, and these are the most intelligent. Use them for breeding.
ReplyDeletewow, thanks for that David. That's a brilliant tip re-the worms.
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks for the info on the long and short legs situation, but I also have a colour problem as well since there's a mix of cuckoo coloured Dumpys and black Dumpys.
Do you have your own smallholding?
Nope Yvonne, it's all childhood memories. Nowadays I breed sunflowers in various countries, and do most of that by computer..
ReplyDelete@David - that sounds fascinating. Do you grow them as well and for flowers or for seeds?
ReplyDelete