Sexing chicks

We hatch our own chicken eggs from our Ameraucana/Easter Egger chickens and many people want to know the sex of the chicks. I don't blame them ... if you want hens and end up with a lot of roosters... well there is just so many roosters to have!

To be honest, as hubby Jim says - "I've got a 50-50 chance of getting it right.
So, regardless of what you have been told - it is NOT as reliable as you think, unless you've been doing it for 60 years like Hugh Grove (see The Joy of Sexing link below)

FEATHER SEXING: Feather sexing is based on feather characteristics that differ between male and female chicks. The method is very easy to learn by the poultryman, but the feather appearances are determined by specially selected genetic traits that must be present in the chick strain. Most strains (breeds) of chickens do not have these feather sexing characteristics and feathering of both sexes appear identical.

VENT SEXING: Vent sexing of chicks at hatching has complications that make it more difficult than sex determination of most other animals. The reason is that the sexual organs of birds are located within the body and are not easily distinguishable. The copulatory organ of chickens can be identified as male or female by shape, but there are over fifteen different different shapes to consider. Therefore, few people have experience with determining the sex of birds because of the difficult nature of the process. Most of these highly trained individuals are employed by large commercial hatcheries. The training to be a chick sexer is so difficult and lengthy that the average poultry owner finds it unjustifiable.
You can't wait more than a day or two in order to vent sex.

- Mississippi State University 

EGG SHAPE: Although J. Mulder and O. Wollan swear that they raised 23 pullets from 23 eggs by comparing the shape of their hen fruit (according to them, eggs that eventually hatch into pullets are more oval than the pointy eggs that eventually hatch out as cockerels) . . . other chicken raisers disagree — sometimes most emphatically — with this bit of barnyard wisdom. 

"The fact is," says Veronica Waters (of Wellton, Arizona), "that one hen will lay an egg of almost identical shape every day. This shape also differs from one breed to another. Therefore, the egg's form cannot indicate the sex of the chick it will produce. If it did, all the layings of a particular fowl—or of a particular breed or strain—would be of one sex. Common sense, or any familiarity with chickens, will tell you that this is not so." 


- Mother Earth News

Of course, if you can wait, after a few weeks you can sex you chicks by their comb (roosters are generally a teeny bit larger)

Here is  a chart to help you with some clues from Sage Hen Farm - " It is absolutely, positively guaranteed not to be 100 percent accurate. Please don't use this chart to compare chicks of different breeds, since they will not develop the same way or at the same rate. I have purposefully omitted reference to days or weeks when to expect to be able to observe difference since they will vary so widely by both breed and individual."

Clues for Sexing Chicks After a Few Weeks,
based on secondary sex characteristics

ait or Characteristic		Cockerel		Pullet
		Heavy Breeds (Asian, American, English)	Mediterranean & Other Light Breeds
Comb & Wattles		Comb early to turn pink. Later comb and wattles noticably larger & redder	Comb early to turn pink. Later comb and wattles noticably larger & redder	Comb and wattles usually remains yellowmuch longer
F e a t h e r i n g	EARLY	Still mostly fluffy & downy	Fairly quick feather development	Quick feather development
	LATER SIGNS	Development slow and in patches. Some barenessat shoulders, back & wing bows	Development only slightly slower than pullets	Even development on back, chest, & thighs. Reaches complete feathering sooner
	FINAL CLUES	Development of long, pointed & shiny hackle and saddle feathers	Development of long, pointed & shiny hackle and saddle feathers	Feathers in hackle and saddle areas are oval & rounded
Tail	Stumpy, curved; slow to develop	Curved, but only slightly shorter and slower to develop than pullets	Long, straight; quick to develop
Legs		Long, sturdy; spurs developing	Long, sturdy; spurs developing	Short, delicate
Head		Larger & more angular	Larger & more angular	Small & round
Size		May be larger (perhaps shorter in length but stouter, more thickset) or becomes noticably larger	Becomes noticably larger eventually	Small, although may be longer
Posture		Upright & erect	Upright & erect	Lower set
Behavior		May be more alert, aggressive, & noisy; will emit pre-crowing chirps before crowing	May be more alert, aggressive, & noisy; will emit pre-crowing chirps before crowing	May be more docile, but can also be aggressive & noisy

For more information, read: The Joy of Sexing 

                    Sixty years spent telling one newly hatched bird from the next

Un-Schooling

Thinking about homeschooling? Think Un-schooling - or the "self-learning" philosophy.  
Describing unschooling is difficult. As the wonderful Unschooling website  describes it - it is like describing red to a blind person. Many have different ideas of unschooling.

Here is Brandon, 7 years old, working with his Dad on the chainsaw.

http://www.highlonesomeranch.com/Homeschooling.htm

Ducks for Eggs, Meat or Both?

Ducks are one of the easiest of all poultry to raise. Ducklings are a great animal to start with. Whereas chicks grow into chickens quite quickly, ducklings take their time to mature. Which gives the kids a longer time to play and handle them. They greet you when you come by  and will follow behind you.  Ducks are great at foraging and getting rid of bugs, slugs and other creepy things. Some ducks have been know to eat a snake, mice and small vermin.



Many people feel duck eggs are unbeatable for baking and pastries. And some people that have allergies to chicken eggs can eat duck eggs (or quail eggs)

EGG LAYERS:
Some ducks are very prolific at laying eggs - Khaki-Campbell are strictly an egg-laying duck. They will lay 300 - 325 eggs a year! They continue through the winter. They will be good layers for 3 to 4 years. The females are seal-brown and the males are the same with touches of darker brown. They are excellent forages and withstand cool climates very well. They weigh about 4 1/2 pounds 

The Welsh Harlequin is a fairly new breed, developed by Leslie Bonnett in Wales from two off-colored Khaki Campbell ducklings in 1949. They are excellent egg layers, and will still set on a nest - a trait that has diminished in some breeds. They can also be sexed just after they hatch by the color of their bill: darker is a male and lighter are females. This disappears after a few days. They also have a pretty feather color and are just a nice duck to have around..

Indian Runner ducks are raised for eggs. Because of their size, they are not used for meat.

Under refrigeration (34 to 40 degrees) eggs can be kept safely for up to six weeks. By sealing freshly laid eggs in a plastic bag their refrigeration life can be lengthened to two months, as the bags help prevent moisture loss from the egg. Duck eggs also have a longer shelf life than chicken eggs.

MEAT BREEDS:

White Pekin:  The most popular breed for meat is the Pekin (also called the Long Island duck) and is the major breed raised commercially. They are large white ducks, with the males reaching 9 pounds and females about 8 pounds. They are a bit high strung and are not good setters.

The Pekin dress out nicely because their white skin looks good roasted.

Muscovy (Mus-coh-vee): These ducks have the best tasting meat - some compare the meat to veal, with less fatty taste compared to other ducks.
 The drake weighs about 10 pounds, and the duck about 7. They reach market weight at about 8 - 10 weeks. (Although, if they are kept for breeding, they do get larger)They are great setters, but do not lay a lot of eggs - about 40 - 45 eggs a year).

Some people consider them ugly because of the large red warty caruncles above the beak and around the eyes. 
They are one of the only ducks of the larger breeds that fly very well. Many states require breeders to clip their wings to prevent them from flying away. They do like to roost in trees.

Although the Muscovy is a tropical bird (originally from South America) it adapts well to cooler climates and can thrive in a climate as cold as 10 degrees F

Rouen

Rouen ducks look very similar to the ancestor of most modern duck breeds - the Mallard duck, and, as such, the male has a beautiful green head. Because of this, Rouen ducks are popular for various ornamental reasons, and the fact that they are pretty docile ducks.

 The Rouen is a popular farm flock breed, and is a very good meat breed.  It is slower growing than the Pekin, but it reaches the same weight over the 5 to 6 month period of feeding and foraging under farm flock conditions. 

 They are poor layers, producing only 35-125 eggs yearly. 

Swedish is a medium sized duck that weighs between 6 1/2 to 8 pounds; the male usually weighs more than the female. Blue Swedish ducks are very calm and make good ducks for beginners and will go broody. The Swedish is considered a dual-purpose duck for both meat and eggs.

 Blue is the standard, but there is Black, Silver, Yellows and Splash color patterns.

A good layer, the Swedish will lay about 130 -180 eggs per year, and reaches table weight by about 16 weeks.


The Swedish may also be crested.

So which duck do you choose? For eggs production we prefer the Welsh Harlequin. The ducks lay a lot of eggs, and are a pretty duck that seem relatively calm. The Khaki Campbell is too flighty a bird for me.
For meat, the Muscovy is the best tasting with a less greasy taste (which turns off a lot of people)

My all time favorite duck is the Rouen. I like their calm personality (they come when you call them). They do like the schedule and want to go into the barn at night... which makes it easy for us to keep them safe. Every night they will walk single file from where they were foraging to the barn and patiently wait by the door.
And the males are pretty ducks with the green Mallard colored head..

Why Raise Ducks?

Why would you want ducks?

Ducks are a very hardy bird. They seem to do well in all kinds of weather. They require less attention than a chicken. They don't forage as well as most geese, they do augment their diet by foraging, and lowering your feed bill.
Ducks need very little housing and do not require a pond or creek, but if you have one, they will be very happy birds!

They will rid your garden, yard or orchard of snails, earwigs, slugs or any other bug they can find. They will fertilize your soil and you can collect their flowers to make earrings, feather dream catchers, etc.

Ducks have personalities! They frolic on a pond, waddle mechanically in a line to some distant object. They make very good pets.
As an 8th grader, a friend and I did a science project involving 8 ducks. When the project was over, we found homes for 7... haha. It was my way of keeping the duck. I named him Dandelion for his yellow duckling down, but he turned out to be a very large white Pekin. I would fill a baby pool full of water, and sit outside with him as he splashed and cavorted around. He would follow behind me where ever I walked.

Some ducks are great for egg production, and some are good for meat production. There isn't a dual purpose duck. Duck eggs are wonderful for baking... a little larger than a chicken egg. They can also lay almost as many as a chicken!

Ducklings 101 - Feeding

If you buy your babies from a hatchery, you will need to dip their beaks in water to give them a drink first thing. A good way to to this is as you take them out of the box, and you count them to see if they are all there and healthy, simply dip their beak, and set them in the brooder you have set up waiting.

If you are going to feed a commercial feel, be sure you do not get a feed that has any medication in it. The medication is for coccidia  a common parasite that chicks could get. Ducks are not able to have that medication as it can be deadly.  The protein content may be too high for them also. 20% is all that is needed.
A good duck or turkey starter would be a good choice.


The duckling will eat a little, swish their beaks in water and eat a little more. Water is very important as they can choke on feed without water.

If you would like to feed your ducklings a homemade feed, here is a tried and true formula:
Feed 3x a day:
BREAKFAST: cooked oatmeal, covered with a little water.
LUNCH: scrambled
eggs covered with a little water
DINNER: homemade whole wheat bread covered with a little water, or milk.
Tender young green leaves should be offered at each meal.
They also like chopped green onion,s and dandelion greens. Watercress is also a favorite.

Duckling 101 - water and baths

Many people like to think that their ducklings can just be put near the creek or in the bathtub and will just swim and swim... like you see in the wild.

Mother ducks have an oil gland at the base of  their tail, that they use to grease their feathers to make them water proof. She will also do this to her ducklings. The ducklings oil gland is not developed yet.

If you want your baby to swim, provide a small pan with warm water, and an easy way for them to get in and out and quickly under a heat lamp.

By doing this, their oil gland will develop and they should be swimming by the time they are 6 - 7 weeks old!

If the duckling gets water logged, you may have to dry it with a hair dryer, or it could easily get chilled, and possibly die.

Grilled Brussels Sprouts

I got some brussel sprouts the other day and have really enjoyed them fresh. This is a recipe I will have to try next.

http://recipeswelove1.blogspot.com/2013/06/grilled-brussel-sprouts.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FHSPfBX+%28Recipes+We+Love%29

Sometimes the good-byes lead to joy

We delivered Mariann's horse this weekend.

I have been putting off finding her a new home for a lot of reasons, but it was time. She's 23 and we knew she needed to be somewhere she could live out the rest of her life.
In delivering her, we met a wonderful couple who wanted Princess for their neighbor girls - These girls have wanted a horse all their lives - you know how girls and ponies are.
Judy and David were the type of couple you wish to aspire to be like. Loving, giving, gentle. We knew Princess was in a good home. In fact, I was surprised that I didn't cry - and I really thought I would! But I felt so good about her new home, that I was relaxed when I left her.

After a very hectic weekend, I finally had a chance to look over my email, and I received probably one of the most descriptive and gracious emails I have ever read.:

Good morning, dear friends,

Just had to let you know how much Princess has already won our hearts, and the hearts of people in the neighborhood. Our oldest grandchild came over a few hours after you left and her daddy hopped her on and gave her a ride. Last evening another son brought his girls by for us to babysit, and Hannah, their oldest daughter, wanted a ride. (the pictures sent) So did Jenna, our dau-in-law. Princess has been fed carrots, stroked, whistled to, and loved all around.

This morning in the new freshness of dawn I walked out to see her. The sun was spreading long shadows across hill and dale and the smell  of drying hay hung in the air. Guess who I found at the fence? Jenna stopping by on her morning walk to again say hello.

Half an hour ago there was a knock on our door, and there stood the smiling faces of our neighbor's girls--Sarah Dale and Grace Marie.  We went out together, introduced ourselves all around and they are still out there, taking turns riding Princess bareback.

Your sacrificial sharing has, within 24 hours, already blessed the community. Princess will be loved and sought out for company on a daily basis. Thank you!

We've been looking for a horse for months--I cannot help but feel the Lord had His hand in making our paths cross.

Wishing you God's blessing and peace in the days ahead.
Rest in His grace, David and Judy Yoder

Bobcat Part 2

The day after we spotted the bobcat, we headed to Ohio to visit our brand new grandson (this makes #2 happy happy).
We put the chickens in the coop with their food and water, we locked  the rouen ducks in their enclosure, and prayed that the bobcat wouldn't jump into the Swedish duck pen, or the Welsh Harlequin duck pen.
We left early on Friday morning and came back Saturday evening - because of my elderly mother living with us, and our animals, we can't leave for much longer than 1 night. We make sure everyone has lots of food and water that will last them until we got back.
We had a quick but very enjoyable visit, and when we arrived home last night, we checked the pens... the bobcat had apparently gotten a rouen through 2x4 fencing... all that was left were a pile of feathers on the outside of the pen.

Everyone else was fine, so we headed for bed. This morning we discovered that the bobcat had found the Swedish duck pen and one of my females was gone. Of course, she was the only one with the crest on her head. *frustration*

So tonight all the ducks are in lock-down. The dogs have been allowed to spend the night outside and hopefully this will at least deter the bobcat until we can figure out what to do. From what I have read, they are not easily discouraged from such easy "Happy Meals" we are supplying!

Bobcat

On a normal day, I wait to open the chicken coop up (to give the girls time to lay their eggs). They have an outside enclosed run (for early morning) but I let them wander outside all day getting bugs, worms, grubs, seeds, scratching and dust bathing. They have free-range and it keeps the bugs down and the feed bill down. As I'm heading out today, I hear a terrible commotion... There to my wondering eyes is a HUGE cat... "BOBCAT!" running around their enclosed pen. The chickens are going crazy! I headed back into the house, still screaming "JIM!!! BOBCAT!!!"
Needless to say, the bobcat took off, and my chickens are probably not going to lay for a day or two.
They are staying in the coop today. I can hear their exclamations as they are discussing the events of the day.

Now I know that the live-trap we use for raccoons and 'possums is totally useless ... and apparently my dogs are too..