You filthy swine!

[Southside]

Mike you are onto something there with the egg production observations. I have had CC's lay eggs in the past, and this season, when they managed to hide in a tractor for longer than intended, we have also butchered them and had the ova tract full of developing eggs much the same as a layer that gets whacked by a predator, those were always in the summer when they have full, lush, grass.  I had one tractor that ran way late this fall, we just harvested them last week - they were huge, plenty active, no issues with mobility or sores, but way big, they ran out of large volumes of grass a month earlier and had some immature oat, rye, and clover to graze on but nothing compared to what they normally get.  There were 22 in that last group - not a single egg showed up in the tractor nor the birds, not even egg development.  Not sure if part of that would be related to day length or not as I know my Guinneas will stop laying come September, but it's either intake, daylight, or a combination of the two that are impacting things for sure. 

[mike_belben]

I have been convinced by way of much meandering study that in humans, its dietary.  Lack of essential cholesterol & fatty acids in the diet causes a rationing of hormones for lack of raw material inputs, thus the follicle doesnt get stimulated to produce a viable egg.  This is greatly compounded by excess carbs, which play a major role in poly cystic ovarian syndrome. 


I could be wrong about it crossing over to a chicken but i find it funny that the same dietary changes thatve fixed me and my wifes issues also coincidentally jumpstarted a chicken. My original plan was to let the last handful of birds breed just to see what an f2 cross would look like but it never happened.

[barbender]

That bird has sn amazingly red comb!

[mike_belben]

I was really surprised by her comb telling pretty clearly how things were going inside.  It faded and keeled over a bit whenever she was getting too much corn and confinement but a few days of go work for your own lunch and itd perk back up and get firm. 

My guess is its like peripheral neuropathy (red blood cells and small vessels stiffening from sugar damage) but i dunno.

[mike_belben]

[mike_belben]

The pigs are another unique story of experimenting and observing and comparing that i dont feel like typing all out.  But theyre pretty good at rotating thru different things i want them to till up and im eager to see how my first farrowing goes.

Will be my 2nd Kidding season, pretty happy to say ive still got some green stockpile in january without feeding too much hay and very little grains, still maintaining body condition pretty well.  Forage managing is a lot of work but i dont think theres any profit in scaling up a case of mismanagement.

[Nebraska]

Looks good Mike.

[mike_belben]

Thabks doc, appreciate all your help