Rhode Island Red Chicken

[Thomaspaul]

I have 21 Rhode Island Red Chicken which are now 7 months old that I have had since they were 2 weeks old

They have been fed proper Chicken Feed since I had them but they have not started laying yet

They have plenty of food everyday but always when you give it to them they cant eat it fast enough

When we bought them we were told when they were 6 months old they would start laying

The Pen they are in is plenty big enough and always have plenty of water

In the Pen next to them is 13 Bantams which are fed the same food and they are producing

10/12 eggs every 3 days

[andycrosby]

once again you do NOT have Rhode Island Reds, you have Warrens , ISA Browns, Which lay at 20 weeks old ( 5 months ) Check to see if you have a mite or flea problem , increase the day light, or you have been riped off they are all males, last thing they or something else is eating your eggs if it is them kill them all, welcome to poultry farming

[ozzydom]

Do they go "Cock a Doodle Doo" at 5am ?

[Thomaspaul]

From Original Poster

Now 8 and a half months and no eggs, Have been ripped off for sure. They are

NOT Males. And do not have Fleas or Mites, The bantams beside them are perfectly healthy and

because they have had the same feed everyday egg production has gone UP to 25 + eggs per week,

13 Bantams have producted 25 Eggs in 4 days and up to 7 in one day

Now am fattening them up for meat as I have given up on them. The Language problem is always the barrier

and the amount of knowledge the thai sellers have is negligent

Will go down the road and by some more Bantams

T . I T .

[andycrosby]

can we please see a photo ? All hens will lay at 20 weeks , 5 months old ... I can not understand it but a photo will tell me a lot

[Thomaspaul]

From the Original Poster

As requested herewith photos of the Chicken We killed one and there was

no sign of any eggs inside it Looks now that they are moulting now with a lot of small feathers in the pen

A thai man who speaks English and had worked for 2 Canadians who kept chicken for 5 years

came to look at them and said they were not mature enough yet and we should wait about another

4/6 weeks I showed him the Bill of sale and asked him if it said what kind they were, He said no just Egg Laying Chicken He even checked what we were feeding them

The only other thing which should not effect it is they were not injected for Bird Flue

After phoning first to check availabity and then driving 100k and asking us what we wanted we were given a choice

2 week old not injected or nothing

This about sums this country up

[ozzydom]

Definately hens, think its a case of where are the eggs going ,maybe one of the chicken eggspurts might shed light on the problem.

Good looking chickens by the way.

Edited February 25, 2012 by ozzydom

[andycrosby]

yes they are girls and they look great , They are warrens they have white feathers under the red case of more food by the sound of it dont worry about the jabs its to late. and dont get down because of the late start they will lay for longer,,You do not need to kill a bird to see if it is in lay there is a bone above its arsehol_e if it is close she is not in lay a bird in full lay will be three fingers wide. Keep at it mate nothing lost apart from the one you turned into soup

one last thing just poped into my head there on old ground have they been wormed ? if not thats your problem 99%

[andycrosby]

sorry but I am going to jump on this post I just hatched 150 pure rode island reds last night , if you want a few or all contact me by PM or my phone number is on my home page

[ozzydom]

sorry but I am going to jump on this post I just hatched 150 pure rode island reds last night , if you want a few or all contact me by PM or my phone number is on my home page

Andy, I am in the market for a 60--100 egg incubator ,if you happen upon one in your travels.

[andycrosby]

I have two ozzy the first is to big 10,000 eggs and I have a Thai one from BKK they do many sizes and so far its been ace the company is called Siam incubators and the model is the black chick, there on the net just do a search

They do two types the cheaper analog style is a no no go with the digital plug it in and put eggs in in side it . It is the way forward price i paid 36k for a 288 egg machine think they have them from 20 eggs up

Hope this helps my old mate

[andycrosby]

ps sorry we sold all the chicks

[ozzydom]

I have two ozzy the first is to big 10,000 eggs and I have a Thai one from BKK they do many sizes and so far its been ace the company is called Siam incubators and the model is the black chick, there on the net just do a search

They do two types the cheaper analog style is a no no go with the digital plug it in and put eggs in in side it . It is the way forward price i paid 36k for a 288 egg machine think they have them from 20 eggs up

Hope this helps my old mate

Thanks for that Andy, We did nearly 600 Muscovy,s for the table this year in very short order so I will up the anty a bit .

Have done a bit of selective breeding and kept only the biggest and best for the breeding flock ,They are all black and white as we found they kill at about 50% better weight than whites ,problem is (isnt there always a problem) plenty of fertile eggs and not enough broody,s .

[andycrosby]

mmmmmmmm were going off the post a bit , but dont we always LOL .. all Whites are kept because the meat is lighter and is considered better to eat. The problem is with muskies there are never enough eggs so 1) keep taking them away incubator for 35-38 days 2) cross breed them with another duck , the offspring are sterile , but grow very very fast and this is how the big boys do it

Now I said this for the benifit of others not that i would try and teach a grandad to suck eggs, ozzy

[ozzydom]

mmmmmmmm were going off the post a bit , but dont we always LOL .. all Whites are kept because the meat is lighter and is considered better to eat. The problem is with muskies there are never enough eggs so 1) keep taking them away incubator for 35-38 days 2) cross breed them with another duck , the offspring are sterile , but grow very very fast and this is how the big boys do it

Now I said this for the benifit of others not that i would try and teach a grandad to suck eggs, ozzy

Many thanks for that andy, I consider a day when I dont learn something new a wasted one.

[peterb0576]

going bacvk on post,do you think you could be over feeding them? this could be a problem ie to fat we have about 1500 crosses Rhode islands etc

the problem we found with laying is poor light,they require about 16hrs of light we give food with about !7% protein and the odd veg we feed them at the same time everyday,try changeing there food and give them more light

[andycrosby]

I dont think Thomas will mind me saying this, We found the problem in the end when he drove down to see me for the weekend, 850 km for a man near 70 , I take my hat off to him. The Answer was They were not getting enough food a growing egg layer wants to be eating about 150 grams of food per bird per day. So if you put 200 grams in the growth should be even in the flock

Just before they start to lay they eat less because the are done growing, but at this stage protien should be uped from 14% to 18% for the energy it takes to produce an egg

[kikoman]

I have 20 warrens (X Rhode Island reds) they have been laying eggs for over a year and a half, our egg production has gone down from 17 eggs a day to 12 per day. I have seen nothing that looks like they are in the process of losing their feathers but our overall eggs per day has fallen by about 33%, We are in the process of trying to buy 20 more hens to bring in some new layers. I also raised 11 warren roosters, and I decided against keeping one to breed my hens because they were so violent.

We also purchased some large white Muscovy ducks (3 females and 1 male) to use to hatch our eggs, it is not cost effective to buy am incubator with the amount of eggs we plan to hatch.As my limited experience with a Muscovy, that would hatch any eggs we placed under her. When our ducks start laying ,I want to look into purchasing some fertilized Plymouth Rock eggs or full Rhode Island Reds eggs, to start preparing for our future laying hens and a good gentle Rooster.My preference's is to buy Plymouth Rock eggs as I find they are good dual purpose birds, meat and layers.

If Andy or anyone has fertilized eggs that can be purchased and shipped to me, I do not need them now but will need them , as soon as my ducks start to lay. I will only need 6-12 eggs.

Thank you for the way to find out if a hen is laying or not as I will soon have to start to cull my non layers.

Also to the OP hope your hens start laying soon.

Cheers:

[Thomaspaul]

Andys comment about the non laying problem is a combination of

more food and better food.

One of the things to come out of our discussion is that the bagged

food that you buy is not the full package.

What he was buying and mixing himself is far better and cheaper

Going down to see Andy killed 3 birds with one stone

(1) More Chicks ( Impossible Up here).( 2 ) Getting Males for breeding

and most important (3) Someone to talk common sense without

translating and thai bullshit

[andycrosby]

got his first egg today , I have a few spare BPR Roosters if you are passing Ill let you have two for free Kikoman ? I put 200 pure RIR in the incubator tonight , 21 days time if anyone wants any be warned they go fast, these are a great utility bird the males get very big , they are very soft and never fight

[kikoman]

Andy,

Thank you for your kind offer, where are you located, so I can see if I can make it down there from Nakhon Sawan,

Thank you again.

Cheers:

[andycrosby]

I am in Maha Sahakham about an hour below Khon Khaen, It might be a little two far for a couple of cocks., but as they say in Thailand up to you and your most welcome anytime

[kikoman]

Andy, as I said thank you for the offer, that would be great if I could get down there to pick up the roosters, but that would be a problem as I do not drive in Thailand and bus service to there is 3rd class from Nakhon Sawan, please do not hold on to the roosters for me! I would love to get them , they would be the answer to my future dream of an egg laying flock of chickens, but one day , I will be able to travel down to see you and your operation, and hopefully you will have something available for sale.

Thank you again,

Cheers:

[andycrosby]

No problem mate, I always have a few spare cocks on death row, I normally kill 10 at a time eat them and kill the next 10. I counted 40 today that are very close to eating size and I have a few spare turkey stags that are ready for the pot..

[Biltong]

got his first egg today , I have a few spare BPR Roosters if you are passing Ill let you have two for free Kikoman ? I put 200 pure RIR in the incubator tonight , 21 days time if anyone wants any be warned they go fast, these are a great utility bird the males get very big , they are very soft and never fight

Hi Andy

I am desperate to get my hand on a few decent chickens, both for eggs and meat, so I'd be more than happy to drive up and buy a few chicks and roosters from you. At the moment I only have regular Thai chickens, and they're just not worth the effort really. The fight like hell, they eat a load of food, and in return, I get very few eggs.

If you still have some chicks available, and perhaps a rooster or two, please could you give me your contact details and I'll try my best to get up there within the next day or two.

You can either send me a PM, or contact via thai dot tropicals at g mail dot com.

Hope to hear from you soon.

Shawn

[andycrosby]

i am hatching every 21 days or so and can you tell me how many you want but I have back orders to fill

If you want something from me the time frame would now be 42 days time unless you want just a few chicks then i can sort you out sooner but send me an email its on my profile page

[Biltong]

Cheers, thanks Andy. I'll email you a little later in the day once the sun is up.

[andycrosby]

There are now some rare breed chickens here does anyone know anyone who breeds or keeps something odd ball if so I would like to talk to you

[David48]

There are now some rare breed chickens here does anyone know anyone who breeds or keeps something odd ball if so I would like to talk to you

It appears that this OP has something maybe you haven't seen before?

[handydog]

I crossed Araucana over leghorn/highline red, to give me hens that produced blue/green coloured eggs daily.