Everyone is growing like weeds! the assortment is great in this hatch, i'll be selecting a good amount of breeders out of it, but will make a select few available. These are US lines so a bit of fresh blood is always a good thing with fertility and vigor! Birds will be available at MT Forest buy sell trade at the end of april along with a selction of others from my domestic lines.
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There is a colour explosion in my incubators! I have never seen soo many different colours and patterns of coturnix before! Just goes to show that they can possess as much variety as buttons in a much more tolerant package! I will have some available for mt forest and will be offering some throughout the season in mixed hatching eggs.
Stay tuned for updates Time for the annual update on the orpington program! I hatched a lot of birds this year, but on the advice of a couple good friends and a judge, i took the road of cull hard. Fancy way of saying as soon as a chick or bird showed a quality less desirable then its hatch mates, it was removed from the grow out pen. It looks like the selection has been working, I'm down to 12-15 pullets and 5 or 6 cockerels out of the dozens upon dozens that I hatched this spring. the pullet pictured left is only 5-6 months old and already bigger then the hen she came from. the girls this year have improved size over their mothers, and are showing a better overall type i think. There is however a lot of maturing left to do. I became interested in peafowl many years ago but didn't try to get any until the last couple of years. Like most new and unique animals i've dealt with I wanted to get a handle on their requirements, and see what was out there. At potentially $100+ a bird, it wasn't something i wanted to dive into and make a mistake with. Last year I tried my first batch of eggs last year and although they grew, they failed to hatch. This year with the help of one of my slate turkey hens, i managed to hatch out 6 peachicks. 2 dark pieds, 3 black shoulders and 1 normal.
It will be 2-3 years before these chicks are able to produce chicks themselves, but in the mean time they are proving to be entertaining birds. I have gotten them some friends as well, a trio of silver pieds. Granted I'm a bit behind schedule, but the whirl wind that is the harrow fair has come and gone nearly a month ago lol. I put in a good showing for quail, orpingtons, araucanas, marans and turkeys. The turkey program has paid off very well, one of my 2012 produced blue slate pairs took champion (jake) and reserve (jenny) turkey. I couldn't be happier. Many first and seconds all around and Champion Quail as well with a young male jumbo brown coturnix. What a busy spring this has been! Thanks to Barry and Diane for taking me with them to mt forest, and Mike for helping to man the table, the sale was a great success. I had a chance to meet many great people and see quite a lot as well! I decided to sell off my breeding groups for Silver laced wyandottes and partridge chanties, although i liked them both, my time seams a bit too short and i really want to focus on my orps, araucanas and marans.
Somehow i managed to make it home without a single new bird! first time for everything right? lol. I had brought up many turkey poults, chicks and quail for assorted Spring is here! OK well not officially but my birds sure think it is! Production is coming up, and I've started one incubator with the second scheduled to go on near the end of march. As many of you know I have waiting lists for my hatching eggs and chicks, getting on it early is the best way to get what you are after, but it is a first come first serve affair, there's no telling when the girls will stop laying. I don't sell hatching eggs locally, only chicks. Hatching eggs are for those too far away to get chicks. hatching eggs carry a fair amount of risk, please don't order them if you do not understand those risks. I cannot guarantee a hatch on shipped eggs because of the way they could be handled during shipping or because of different incubators. That being said, i have had eggs shipped to me from across Canada, averaging about 50% hatch, my best was 11 out of 12 eggs.
For those wishing for chicks I will be doing 1 trip to mt. forest on april 29th. I do not expect to do any additional trips this spring or summer. All orders have to be made in advance as i will only be hatching what is ordered. There is limited space so orders should be made as soon as possible to guarentee that you get what you want. chicks are NOT sexed. For those in Essex county or traveling here, i can hatch desired quantities at just about any time. Depending on distance i can deliver or meet you somewhere. Araucana $8 for 5 or less, $7 for 6-10, $6 for 11+ Orpington buff $10 for 1-9, $9 for 10-19, $8 for 20+ Orpington blue/black/splash $9 for 1-9, $8 for 10-19, $7 for 20+ Marans blue/splash $15 for 1-6, 12 for 7-15, $10 for 16+ Chantecler Partridge $6 for 1-8, $5 for 9+ SLW $6 for 1-9, $5 for 10-19, $4 for 20+ Turkeys Slates $10 for 1-8, $9 for 9-19, $8 for 20+ bourbon reds $10 for 1-8, $9 for 9-19, $8 for 20+ The first hatch of the season is nearly here for me. I have 37 turkey eggs, 7 araucana eggs and 13 coturnix quail here (as well as 20 or so at a friends house). I had set 40 turkey eggs, but pulled 3 early, they were fertile when cracked but were probably just old (or got to cold as i was collecting since for 2.5 weeks). the quail fertility was high also, 95% developed with both batches(non starts weren't cracked to check). The first batch of slates has already hatched at a friends house, 100% start, but 2 died early on. The next batch of turkey eggs have already been collected and are slated to go in on the 12th of march. The larger cabinet incubator will be fired up the last week of march for all the test hatches for the rest of my chicken breeds. once fertility has been established and is acceptable, those that are first on the list will have first option for shipped eggs. Wishing everyone a happy and productive spring! What a strange winter we've been having... or maybe more accurately not having? I'm not fond of the cold everyone who knows me will attest to that lol, but i have spent more time outside this winter then any other in memory. So with the mild weather for such an extended period of time, the turkey hens have been laying since mid november? There abouts. I've been collecting eggs for a week or two now and set the first batch last night. Sure felt odd setting eggs in the middle of a wee snow storm! Early poults are a great way to go though. I'm sure this is the first of many to be set. The hovabator is officially full now, so if i want to set any more i will have to break out the big incubator.
happy hatching all! The bunnies have landed lol. This is the first litter of mini lops in about 5 years for me. They are out of my broken chestnut pair from the states. She kindled 5 healthy kits, 1 was a bit smaller at first but is growing along with their siblings, no losses so far. Unfortunately it has suddenly turned cold but i'm hoping it will warm up asap, but until then, moms doing a great job keeping everyone warm and full. There are 4 brokens, and 1 solid. of the brokens there are 3 showable, and 1 is right on the fence of being a showable charlie, will have to see when it furs in, but likely will be a pet or breeder. Of the other 3 brokens, 2 have strong heavy and well balanced patterns, the 3rd is a bit light in quantity but has enough to be showable. I'm will have to wait and see how they grow and fill in, but i intend to keep a doe or 2 from this litter assuming there are some lol.
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News from the Rene Farm, all our projects, shows and points of interest. Keep up to date on our breeding progress as well as animal sales. Archives
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