Developing My Own Breed Of Large Gamefowl For Free Range Survival (Junglefowl x Liege)

[Az OEGB]

That survived

 

[troyer]

6 months this week. As of tonight he’s 4lb.

That's good size for the breeds you're working with.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

Did you get any indo x liege hens

No, they all perished a short time after being turned out.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

I am trying to toughen up my bitties so that their immune systems develop better before turning them out to free range to that end, I’ve instituted the following changes to my rearing regime.

1. Whenever possible, I will prefer hen raised broods that brood on green grass from day 1. I currently have 1 hen with 3 bitties started immediately on grass. She is a pure Cracker with 3/4 Cracker offspring, all of her and Lanky. I shut them in a small run and coop the first couple of weeks then turned them out. They return to the small coop at night.

2. When I must artificially incubate, bitties will go outside on the grass on day 2 of life. I have a buddy that actually puts his out to free range on day 2 and has good success. He uses a tipped over feed trough, a heat lamp, and a wire cage. They can come and go at will. Here is his setup:

However, my bitties require more protection because of the number of snakes on my place:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/snake-wars.1555692/

Therefore my solution is a more secure small coop:

We’ll see if this makes them tougher. This first batch of 11 3/4 and 1/2 Crackers is being started after being a few weeks old. Ideally I would want to start them on day 2.

When they stop using the heat plate and roosting up in the coop I’ll open the coop to the yard and shut it to the run below. As I crank out more bitties I’ll put them in the run and graduate them to the coop and free range as they grow.

 

[Az OEGB]

I am trying to toughen up my bitties so that their immune systems develop better before turning them out to free range to that end, I’ve instituted the following changes to my rearing regime.

1. Whenever possible, I will prefer hen raised broods that brood on green grass from day 1. I currently have 1 hen with 3 bitties started immediately on grass. She is a pure Cracker with 3/4 Cracker offspring, all of her and Lanky. I shut them in a small run and coop the first couple of weeks then turned them out. They return to the small coop at night.

View attachment 3329945

2. When I must artificially incubate, bitties will go outside on the grass on day 2 of life. I have a buddy that actually puts his out to free range on day 2 and has good success. He uses a tipped over feed trough, a heat lamp, and a wire cage. They can come and go at will. Here is his setup:

View attachment 3329949View attachment 3329950

However, my bitties require more protection because of the number of snakes on my place:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/snake-wars.1555692/

Therefore my solution is a more secure small coop:
View attachment 3329948

We’ll see if this makes them tougher. This first batch of 11 3/4 and 1/2 Crackers is being started after being a few weeks old. Ideally I would want to start them on day 2.

When they stop using the heat plate and roosting up in the coop I’ll open the coop to the yard and shut it to the run below. As I crank out more bitties I’ll put them in the run and graduate them to the coop and free range as they grow.

That’s a good idea

 

[SunflowerKing]

I am skeptical about any wholistic natural medicinal product. If it was really effective then it would be widely known and the pharmacological world would not have bothered to synthesize a drug. To convince me requires some sort of proof.

Cant sell something to someone if they can easily grow it on their property... like wormwood for instance.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

I took some pics of Indo today. It took about 300 pics to get a handful that were decent. He normally poses well but the breeze was strong today and my daughter kept him stirred up.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Your birds are looking great.

 

[MysteryChicken]

One of my Malays kinda resembles your Liege with feathering, & leg length, which is kind of interesting.

He was close to 7lbs at 4 months. Need to weigh him again.

 

[Az OEGB]

Lanky has been isolated from a mature cock for 19 days.

View attachment 3271286

How big is lanky