Summary of Damerow Gail's Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens

Everest Media

Description

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.
Sample Book Insights:
#1 The American Poultry Association’s American Standard of Perfection describes and depicts the one-hundred-plus breeds currently recognized by the American Poultry Association. The American Bantam Association publishes its own standard, which doesn’t always agree with the APA Standard.
#2 The classification of large breeds indicates their origins. The American, Asiatic, Continental, English, Mediterranean, and Other classifications are for large breeds, while the Bantam classifications are specific to bantams.
#3 The most common variety among chickens is the single comb, a series of upright sawtooth zigzags. Other varieties include feather placement or comb style.
#4 A strain is a group of chickens bred with emphasis on specific traits. Strains are derived from a single breed, selected for what the owner perceives to be superior qualities. Whether or not these chickens are considered purebred is a matter of contention.

Sujets

• Agronomie
• Agronomy for Sustainable Development
• Agriculture
• Animal husbandry

Informations

• Publié par: Everest Media LLC
• Date de parution: 26 mars 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669365549
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Insights on Damerow Gail's Storeys Guide to Raising Chickens
Contents Insights from Chapter 1 Insights from Chapter 2 Insights from Chapter 3 Insights from Chapter 4 Insights from Chapter 5 Insights from Chapter 6 Insights from Chapter 7 Insights from Chapter 8 Insights from Chapter 9 Insights from Chapter 10 Insights from Chapter 11 Insights from Chapter 12 Insights from Chapter 13 Insights from Chapter 14 Insights from Chapter 15
Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The American Poultry Association’s American Standard of Perfection describes and depicts the one-hundred-plus breeds currently recognized by the American Poultry Association. The American Bantam Association publishes its own standard, which doesn’t always agree with the APA Standard.

#2

The classification of large breeds indicates their origins. The American, Asiatic, Continental, English, Mediterranean, and Other classifications are for large breeds, while the Bantam classifications are specific to bantams.

#3

The most common variety among chickens is the single comb, a series of upright sawtooth zigzags. Other varieties include feather placement or comb style.

#4

A strain is a group of chickens bred with emphasis on specific traits. Strains are derived from a single breed, selected for what the owner perceives to be superior qualities. Whether or not these chickens are considered purebred is a matter of contention.

#5

The different feather patterns include barred, penciled, spangled, and laced. The commercial production lines are often hybrids, developed for efficient egg or meat production.

#6

The origins of many of today’s breeds, varieties, and strains can be traced back to the wild red jungle fowl of Southeast Asia. Over tens of thousands of years, chicken keepers have selectively bred their flocks to favor different combinations of characteristics related to economics, aesthetics, and other factors.

#7

The best layers average between 250 and 280 eggs per year. The best breeds for egg production are the Mediterranean breeds, especially Leghorn.

#8

The most efficient layers are small bodied and flighty. The most efficient laying breeds are also nervous or flighty. Kept in small numbers in uncrowded conditions, with care to avoid stress, these breeds can work fine in a backyard setting.

#9

The most efficient meat strains were developed from a cross between Cornish and an American breed, such as New Hampshire or Plymouth Rock. The 1- to 2-pound (0. 5 to 0. 9 kg) Cornish hen is nothing more than a 4-week-old Rock-Cornish hybrid.

#10

Meat breeds are broad breasted and more laid-back than layers. They are not as efficient at converting feed to meat, but their meat is more flavorful than that of a fast-growing hybrid.

#11

If you want the best of both worlds, you can compromise by keeping one dual-purpose breed. Dual-purpose breeds don’t lay as well as laying hens, but they lay more eggs than meat birds.

#12

Dual-purpose breeds are ideal for family self-sufficiency because they lay better than meat breeds and grow bigger than layer breeds. They are not as efficient at producing eggs as meat breeds, but they grow bigger and tend to go broody, which makes them better suited for use as meat birds.

#13

Some breeds are inherently more self-reliant than others. For example, chickens that have been bred in confinement for generations are less aggressive foragers than breeds that have been allowed to exercise their foraging instinct.

#14

The Standard describes the ideal shape, or type, for each breed. A chicken that comes close to the ideal is said to be true to type or typey. Exhibition strains are generally less typey than production strains, since their owners emphasize economics rather than aesthetics.

#15

The history of chicken breeds is a story of how they have been developed and changed over time. Breeds and varieties proliferated in the United States between 1875 and 1925, fueled by interest in both unusual exhibition birds and dual-purpose backyard flocks.

#16

Some breeds are quite rare and face extinction without a serious conservation effort. The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy periodically conducts a survey to identify the most endangered old-time production breeds significant to the United States, locate existing flocks, and tally their numbers.

#17

Bantams are miniature chickens that weigh 2 pounds or less. They are typically raised as pets, and their history closely follows that of the Industrial Revolution and the movement of families away from farms.

#18

The majority of chickens will brood, but some more successfully than others. The instinct to gather eggs in a nest and keep them warm for 21 days until chicks hatch has been selectively bred out of layer strains.

#19

Keeping chickens as pets is becoming more and more common. If you plan to raise future generations for show or sale, get one of each breed. The easiest way to deal with chicken accidents is to have your family spend time visiting someone else’s chickens before making your own commitment.

#20

The hackle is ideal for fly tying because it’s lightweight and floats on water like the insect it’s designed to imitate. The best feathers come from fast-growing hard-feathered breeds in colorful varieties, such as barred Plymouth Rock, blue Andalusian, buff Minorca, and silver-penciled Wyandotte.

#21

You can turn a good profit marketing feathers or selling products made from them. You must first find out what type of feathers are in demand for the market you’re interested in and what they’re worth.

#22

Whether you keep hybrids or purebreds depends in part on whether you want to incubate your flock's eggs. Hybrids result from matings between different breeds or highly specialized strains within a single breed. Only by reproducing the cross can you get more chickens exactly like them.

#23

The decision of whether to keep purebreds or hybrids depends on whether you intend to show. Most shows require entries to conform to breed descriptions in the Standard. Show birds should be purebred, although some breeders secretly cheat by crossing their birds with other breeds to improve their appearance.

#24

Hatch eggs and care for newly hatched chicks. Unless you are particularly adventurous, or have prior experience running an incubator, start out with live birds.

#25

Chicks are a better bet than eggs, and they are cheaper than older birds. They will bond with you more easily than started or mature birds. Unsexed chicks are mixed in gender exactly as they hatch, or approximately 50 percent cockerels and 50 percent pullets.

#26

If you’re establishing a laying flock, you can be sure to get the number of hens you need by buying sexed pullets. If your poultry project is strictly for meat, you can save money on chicks and grow out the birds faster by getting all cockerels.

#27

Started birds are a good option if you want to show. They are less expensive than proven show birds, but they are also less likely to have serious faults than chicks since birds with serious faults are culled early.

#28

The most expensive birds are full-grown ones, but they also offer the fewest surprises. Excess age can be a problem if you're buying mature birds for laying or breeding.

#29

It is important to purchase birds from a flock that is enrolled in the National Poultry Improvement Plan, which certifies flocks to be free of several serious diseases.

#30

To be sure you are getting a young bird, carefully examine it. The breastbone is fairly flexible in a young bird, whereas it is rigid in an older bird. The muscle is soft in a young bird, whereas it is firm in an older bird.

#31

The best place to buy birds is from a reputable breeder who keeps records on breeding, production, and growth. If you can’t find someone local who has the birds you want, seek a reputable seller who will ship them.

#32

If you’re starting a laying flock, decide how many eggs you want and size your flock accordingly. As a rough average, you can expect two eggs a day for each three hens in your flock. If you have an excess of roosters, they’ll fight.
Insights from Chapter 2

#1

When you get your chickens home, you will notice that each has a distinct personality. They communicate with each other and you using sounds that have specific meanings.

#2

Chickens make a variety of sounds, and each one means something. Anyone who spends any time around chickens can tell by the sounds they make when they are frightened, contented, cautious, or a whole host of other emotions.

#3

The chicken’s sound system is similar to human language. It is able to distinguish specific sounds, uses sounds to denote environmental events, and produces sounds for the benefit of others of the same species.

#4

Chicks make a variety of sounds when they’re content or unhappy. The happy sounds tend to be upward in pitch, while the unhappy sounds descend in pitch. The sound of a chick that’s scared or lost is similar to the distress peep but louder and more insistent.

#5

When dealing with chicks, make low-pitched, brief, soft sounds to attract, calm, and comfort them. High-pitched, long, and loud sounds scare them.

#6

When a hen starts peeping before her egg hatches, she will respond by clucking her chicks. The cluck is a low-pitched, repetitive sound made by a hen with chicks. The food call is a high-pitched sound repeated more rapidly than the cluck.

#7

Hens can be very talkative, and some breeds are just naturally more talkative than others. Some hens make a howl sound when they are laying an egg, and others cackle after they lay an egg and leave the nest.

#8

The sounds hens make are called broody hiss, broody growl, and singing. The sounds are made when a hen is irritated or defensive, and they indicate that she is wary and has her guard up.

#9