Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Gwen Giffen" <ggiffen@1st.net>]

I looked at the price of incubators and have been reading for the past year 
about people working kinks out of fridg-a-bators they've built, and I tried 
using a shoebox and heating pad a couple of times, very UNsuccessfully. Of 
my commercial hatchery Rhode Island Reds and White Pekin Ducks, only one hen 
and one duck exhibited broody instincts, and their rooster and drake 
respectively called them away from the nest too often for a hatch. I know of 
a woman who sells eggs off her farm from her Golden Comets. People buy from 
her to have fresh rather than storebought. She buys from a hatchery and 
feeds mostly grain. If one goes broody, she dumps water on it, or culls it. 
I offered through someone who buys from her regularly to purchase any broody 
hens, but haven't seen one yet.

I've learned a lot on a yahoo group:
[All_Poultry_Talk_All_The_Time]

What I learned there is why I decided a broody hen would be best. Also there 
is some talk about new restrictions on shipping poultry. If and when this 
bad strain of bird flu gets to the U.S., it may become much more difficult 
to buy peeps from a hatchery, not to mention an increase in price and 
decrease in availability of meat and eggs. It is happening in Europe 
already. It will then be important, IMO for many to have small flocks to 
insure the ability to not only feed ourselves and be able to have eggs 
locally, but also to help keep the gene pool large, and help replenish what 
is lost.

In the short time I've been looking for a broody hen I've discoverd more 
local enthusists than I knew existed. I don't think it will be a problem to 
find people to swap, barter and share with to prevent inbreeding. With 
farming careful inbreeding is desireable at times too, remember.

Chickens eating raised maggots does not bother me. My chickens are free 
range - they choose what they eat, and what they choose ain't pretty 
sometimes. We supplement them with feed. They do not like the maggots on the 
moles my cats bring in - and the cats won't eat the moles either. They do 
love japanese beetles; but they also like tomatoes, beets, grapes and 
gooseberries, not to mention the delicacy of fallen apples and the worms in 
them. Gardening is a bit more complicated with free range poultry. Our eggs 
are very good too however - deep yellow yolks with lots of omega fatty 
acids. That is worth keeping a few silkies and cochins.

Gwen


> > Now that's a concept, Harvey - no incubators. In your experience is that
> > better for the chicks? One more area where rising cost of electricity may
> > slow down production of chicks commercially. Or if folks are off-grid 
> > they
> > look for ways to cut down the kilowatts. Hmm?
> >
> > paul tradingpost@lobo.net
>
> Better for the chicks, are you kidding me?! Better in every possible
> way. Read any advice on brooding chicks artificially, and you will be
> told to avoid drafts and keep temp at 95 degrees. Well, my first batch
> of chicks this spring went direct from the nest to the pasture with the
> mama hen. First couple of days, daytime temp's were 45-50 degrees, with
> 20-25 mph winds. Water froze in the waterers overnight. No prob--didn't
> lose a single one--mama knows just what to do.
>
> I hatch using natural mothers mainly because I like more natural
> methods, and because I love seeing the mother hens taking care of their
> young. But yes, it is very much in my mind that there will come a time
> when use of lots of electricity to incubate/brood artificially will not
> be so casual a thing. So I work to preserve and enhance the broody
> instinct in a portion of my overall flock. (The trait has been bred out
> of many modern hens.)