The amount of work y'all put into these videos is astounding. Great points, concise logic. Thank you

@HickorycroftFarm

6 ай бұрын

Thank you! We have been trying to get better at the filming and such, so thank you so much for the encouraging words! We do really think through (or overthink in some cases) things before we make a move, and it's so hard to condense that all into a video, but I'm glad it came through in the discussion!

You look like John Mellencamp. The new silkies are cute. My dad had bantam chickens when I was in high school they were so cool.

@HickorycroftFarm

11 күн бұрын

The switch to silkie chickens has been fantastic. We are really enjoying them and they fill all our needs in a super cute package, 😆

I enjoyed your talk and explanations. It was very informative! Thank you!

@HickorycroftFarm

6 ай бұрын

Thank you glad you enjoyed it! It's always so hard to convey how much thought goes into all our decisions sometimes.

Change is inevitable. Hope everything works out for you. Keep it up.

@HickorycroftFarm

6 ай бұрын

Well we will see how things go. So far its been positive but like all change there will be bumps along the way for sure!

Sad to hear the geese are going -- y'all are my favorite resource for goose videos on KZread.

@HickorycroftFarm

6 ай бұрын

It was not a quick decision and not a happy one either. We really liked the geese and the American Buff geese in particular, but we were at a point where we needed to figure out how to make it work better than it had been (i.e., making it a bigger focus, which required space and infrastructure) or end that part of our homestead journey. But the goose videos are still there, and I'm glad you enjoy them so much (we try with everything we do to be practical about doing it so always great to hear that feedback).

It will be interesting to see how this works out! I have plenty of space but only raising chickens right now but that will change as we add more animals!

A big change!

@HickorycroftFarm

8 ай бұрын

it is. Change is a constant in life though sometimes its not great and sometimes in the end its better so we will see where this leads us.

I wish you all the best! I understand that sometimes a change is necessary. I should add that I had a reserve champion at the OPB show; hatched from one of your Partridge Chantecler pullets you sold me. I have 3 lines, and some connections. Should your situation change, I would be happy to put together a quality starter flock for you. I would add one more point, you did the Partridge Chanteclers on a large scale. At this time, I do not even come close to the number of birds you had. But I have connections with several other breeders that are committed to producing quality birds and our agreement is that about every 4 or 5 years we would trade quality breeding stock to keep our smaller flocks genetically fresh. So really, you could say I have more than five lines as a genetic resource. So I only keep the best of the best. It is something like your sheep, you can only keep so many males, and sometimes you need an outside animal to keep the genetics fresh. I have said too much. I just wish you and your family the best and I understand you have got to do what you have got to do, and thank you for the great breeding stock, they have added so much vigour and size to my show line. Yes I will keep watching your awesome videos!

I would like to say to you the reason why your birds were healthy is because you didn't lock them up. When your chicken are locked up the poop accumulates and the way birds eat is by scratching the ground were they also poop when locked up. So your birds were kept away from their very unhealthy pens. Also the wild birds get into your chicken pen looking for food so the less time your chickens spend locked up the healthier they will be. Also open. Spaces reduce stress of the Peking order. Keeping your birds locked up will not prevent avian flu it will increase the chances of it. Any bird you get will be healthier finding their own bugs and grasses, weeds and worms. Their diet will improve so much when they are free to findwhat their bodies need for themselves.

@HickorycroftFarm

8 ай бұрын

we 100% agree with everything you have said here and in an ideal world we would never have to worry about any of this kind of thing. I think we may not have been super clear in the video but for us its not a case of keeping the birds confined/locked up all the time, but rather if (or more likely when) we have to do that for a short period of time etc. we can and while they still would not be as happy as birds out doing their thing (and there is a huge conversation we did not get into in this video about our personal feelings on the direction the world is going vs where it likely should be going but we will save that for another time) they are still given the infrastructure we have better able to be kept in that confinement for what we hope will only be a short time each year (based on the "trends" the last two years particularly in the spring....). There are some interesting things about the silkies to that we haven't touched on that we have been noticed that also tie into some of what you said (like the pecking order, cleanliness etc.) which over this summer at least has been interesting to see as a contrast to the full sized chickens. But again we will get into that in another video.

@marlenepopos12

8 ай бұрын

@@HickorycroftFarm I had silky-smooth for a few years. There eggs were small. They do make good brooding hens. But the roosters can attack you. So there are good and bad traits.

@justesaint-louis864

8 ай бұрын

@@HickorycroftFarm hahahaaa, for having one last Summer I can tell you one advantage... their poop are incredibly smaller!!!! Size of a 'rat shit' hahahaaaha easier to clean!

@HickorycroftFarm

7 ай бұрын

@@justesaint-louis864 agree they are much easier to clean or keep clean than the larger birds (the silkies that is)

Aww Silkies are so sweet. I've never considered raising them for meat.

@HickorycroftFarm

8 ай бұрын

Well that will be something we will be talking about in the near future. The metrics of keeping them for meat is way different than larger more conventional chickens but its still interesting (so stay tuned)

Your barn is beautiful!

@HickorycroftFarm

8 ай бұрын

Thank you! It has been amazing having a barn of that size since we moved here (it was a huge selling feature for us)

Interesting perspective … I predict you are going to miss your birds. I would find a close farm Or friend to host your best line , as you say change happens 😊 Never say never they won’t be back !

@HickorycroftFarm

5 ай бұрын

Very true, never say never! We were just commenting back to another comment and just thinking that so much has changed on-farm and off-farm (that still affects us) in the last two years, and it's really felt like a period of quite a bit of change. Honestly, though, we don't make so many changes like this very regularly, so we will see how things go in the near and distant future!

@mindenhillshomesteadyukefa8091

5 ай бұрын

@@HickorycroftFarm Will be watching this closely. I started my clans of Partridge Chanteclers last winter, and are in development, this post is so interesting because I went opposite , I had heritage 10 years ago then Silkies & Production birds years back and now have returned back to 2 heritage birds. I based my decision on nutritional value of free range & and meat quantity & quality over the penned up Silkies and ISA birds… my family was complaining why our eggs were not orange lol. In addition no one liked the taste of the production birds & off colour of the other.. I never tested the nutrient contents of the eggs of meat so it’s maybe a bold statement that is what my decision to return to heritage was based on, but we did not find it the same. Totally understand your side as well , selecting breeds that can be raised inside there are many benefits as well. I found when I let my smaller birds go I had some different predator issues not common to the larger birds ! Best of luck Wishing you only success.

Thank-you for sharing your reasoning and changes! I wish you all the best with your new ventures. We did a similar change this last year, but went with Icelandics- not quite a bantam but not quite full-size. I still have a few chantecler layers around. If you want small, have you raised quail? We have jumbo quail and love their fast turnover rate!

@HickorycroftFarm

6 ай бұрын

We are still somewhat interested in quail, haven't taken the plunge for a few reasons but it always comes up again at the back of our minds. The only part we don't love about it is being tied to the incubator (though I know it is easier to incubate quail than most other birds).

Chicken math defies logic.

@HickorycroftFarm

6 ай бұрын

It certainly can at times!

I’ve noticed that you seemed to have quite a few silkies. They are pretty adorable. Too bad I had hoped to get a couple of your PC chickens.

@HickorycroftFarm

8 ай бұрын

yah we made the switch over pretty quickly and though its not a great feeling getting out of the PC's we are happy with the switch for a whole bunch of reasons but we did not want to put that in today's video just kind of keep it to the changes and why we changed then follow up in a few weeks or so to talk about why we chose Silkies etc. (Think it will be an interesting discussion)

@bettinah.7429

8 ай бұрын

@@HickorycroftFarm you have to do what works for you. Do you have any PCs left?

@HickorycroftFarm

7 ай бұрын

@@bettinah.7429 we have four older girls one is a pet basically and the other three just are here kind of thing

Have you thought about trying Shetland Geese?

@HickorycroftFarm

8 ай бұрын

Yes we have in the past, but they are very rare here from what I know and able to fly a bit better than the larger breeds which can make "keeping" them where they need to be a bit harder.

So Romeo and Juliet are no longer. Well, I understand your decision and I'm sure you are happy to have a bit less chores to do :)

@HickorycroftFarm

8 ай бұрын

Romeo was unfortunately killed this spring by a predator and though we did not get into it to much on the goose side of the discussion the space part of things really influenced our decision after that happens (it was right at the time when the biggest conflict between geese and sheep starts at the end of June so was a big blow when it happed...). Even though geese are pretty "extensive" when your raising them we also were having issues with Ravens stealing eggs (and then that means no goslings). and of course with the geese there is no way to "lock them up" when the threat of avian influenza comes knocking and keep them happy and breeding etc. without some seriously massive infrastructure and then your not taking advantage of the qualities that make them so valuable. Anyways its a long discussion all this and hard to wrap up in a shorter video for sure but none of this was made lightly as a decision.

@justesaint-louis864

8 ай бұрын

@@HickorycroftFarm You seem really preoccupied with this disease... for what I know, in the States it was deliberately inocculated in the flocks of the big producers... So... this goes with the 'state of the world', you know.

@littlehomesteadbythebeach

8 ай бұрын

I know you did think about it a lot before taking a decision. I know you care for your animals so I know you made the right decision!@@HickorycroftFarm

@HickorycroftFarm

7 ай бұрын

@@justesaint-louis864 oh its a big rabbit hole to go down for sure unfortunately. Its not the only consideration but the space side of things if (or when) we have to lock them up (at least temporarily which seems to be the trend) is a big factor regardless if we agree or not on the policies 'on the books" in Canada

It’s not April 1st yet guys! 😂

I just want to share the name of the chicken breed that will outproduce all others in egg production, while eating less, and pass their egg production genes to others by crossing the rooster to other hens. It is the White Leghorn. The White Leghorn might not be as cold tolerant as other breeds, but if kept indoors during the cold months, you will have no other chicken that will produce more eggs of a better quality for less feed than the White Leghorn. And like I mentioned, you can cross the Leghorn rooster with any available hen you might have around, and their chicks will be a much better layer than the mother ever was, while keeping the Leghorn breed pure, because that is where the gold is. Get them while you can, and handle the chicks as much as possible while they are small so they will not be as wild as they tend to be without much human contact. They are also great for confined areas, as they were bred for that purpose, to produce eggs in battery cages.

@HickorycroftFarm

6 ай бұрын

I absolutely agree. If you want the best egg production, the Leghorns will do that, and they have such a long history as a type of chicken, too. The downside for us is they won't sit, and we like using broody hens to raise any replacement birds etc. But we did talk about considering Leghorns at one point and time.

@cubaniton74

6 ай бұрын

@@HickorycroftFarm They don't sit on eggs, that is the rumor, but every once in a while, one will go broody, and if not, then just keep an old hen around whom you know that has gone broody in the past, and she will be a great foster parent for a clutch of eggs, then there is the incubator too, if you don't mind raising the chicks yourself.

Wow, chris, this is a shock. I was not so long ago talking about you with one of the main producers in Qc of Partridege Chantecler because we were talking of genetic issues. His chickends are mostly everywhere in Quebec. There is kind of a interbreeding problem. And I was planning to contact you to exchange some of my Partridge with some of yours for next Summer... Will you have some birds still that I could get from your homestead next Summer? Or did you already gave them away? If they're already gone, could I get the names and contacts of the people who got them? I would like to get in touch with them, so that I could either exchange of buy chicks from them? We had some exchanges some months ago, if you don't have my email I could write back to you again for those contacts. Also about Silkies, had one temporarily last summer (to keep company to one of my Chantecler) but I was told they need heat in winter. Have you thought about that. They don't have undercoat I believe. But they are so cute...and docile... almost a pet. Mine sang everynights. You're one of the persons who made me choose Partridge Chantecler breed, imagine! Anyway, sometimes decisions have to be made.... You'll surely love the Silkies...

Am I understanding correctly that Canada has a poultry lockup mandate when avian flu is a risk? Here in the US it is not a requirement, but if it is found in your flock you are required to cull all the animals.

@acdcacres

7 ай бұрын

No, there is no mandate, at least not country wide. It is just an encouraged protocol.

@HickorycroftFarm

6 ай бұрын

yes, as mentioned, there is no mandate (or law) about locking your chickens up, BUT there is a policy. Since it's not a law, they can't charge you if you let your chickens out, BUT it's been on the books for several years (forget off the top of my head when it came into effect, but it's in the video, I think). But policies are funny things that when they sit there long enough, the "expectation" is that everyone "complies" with them. And that's where laws and such get changed in the future. It's like the seeds of what will come to pass. Basically, it's the expectation that all birds be kept in captivity (except ostrich, emu and rhea) and be kept isolated from all wild birds, wildlife and other livestock and humans as the best practice endorsed by the agencies.

gotta love government control which is the real issue

@HickorycroftFarm

8 ай бұрын

There is a much bigger discussion on that topic as it relates to food, poultry and chickens but I'll leave that for another day. The hard part is there is truth on both sides BUT its all perspective and metrics (i.e. scale)