The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: Fowlman on August 21, 2014, 09:16:37 am
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All around POL apart from the young cockerel.
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They are lovely, a credit to you. :thumbsup:
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Ixworth
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I keep looking at these .Would love to no egg production .eggs make good money and they look good .I'LL do a breed each yare this time blue marran /cuckoo marran german dark egg sex linc but I do not no egg numbers .You need 200 egg avarage
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They will lay 200-250 eggs a year.
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I no its bad but looking at the pics a legbar crossed whith these .whot a hen you would have
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Ixworths lay much better than most legbars. Too many fakes out there.
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Nice looking birds Fowlman :thumbsup:
Mine are excellent layers :thumbsup: laying almost every day.
Almost as good as my WLH's ;)
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Thanks Dave
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How do I put pics up on the forum? I've got some at 18 weeks / 16 weeks/ 12 weeks. Looking at them I see one obvious cockerel and he looks meaty. Like really tasty. The others, I just don't know. I've either been mega lucky with the amount of hens or I have to wait a little longer.
I bought any old eBay eggs, hoping to strike a good strain and I'm pleased so far. Really like the birds I have hatched. Look like proper, practical chickens. Still going to be 24 weeks for slaughter though. But that's OK with me.
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When you reply click on attachments at the bottom. Look forward to your pics.
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Here's some of mine with Marans at same age for comparison. The bigger ones are 17 weeks and the ones on straw are 9 weeks.
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they are nice looking birds-look a decent size compared to my slow growing SGs at the same age! I was quite tempted by Ixworths before I got into SGs, look practical-I was warned that there was a lot of not so good strains out there so its hopeful that you managed to get nieces ones Stereo.
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I couldn't really source any decent breeders locally so took a punt on some. I can always eat them if they are no good! I've got one very obvious cockerel although he hasn't really filled out yet and I think 24 weeks will be target. The rest I'm not sure yet. Either I've been very lucky with the amount of hens or they are developing more slowly.
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The breed is slowly growing despite some obvious crosses out there being sold as pure. Next year should be a good year for the breed.
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Fowlman, have you found your ixworth a to be a bit on the feisty side? I've got some infighting going on which is not helped by me being unable to sex them at an early age. None of my other breeds have ever done this so it's a bit shocking. I had to seperate a pair today.
The only way I have of sexing at the moment is size and saddle feathers which don't seem to be apparent until 20 odd weeks. Lovely looking birds though. A practical breed which really appeals to me.
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I found the Ixworth mostly easy going until young cockerels reach a certain age and then can be a bit spicy but more space generally helps. I have a young cockerel ( i think ) coming up to the 20 week mark but it is still being kept in check by older pullets. Sounds like you have more than one male in same pen and reaching teenage puberty so to speak. On the whole quite a docile breed.
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The ones that are fighting are about 12 weeks now. They'll be going out into the bigger pen at the weekend though.
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That should help.
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Another question for Ixworth keepers. Do your cockerels ever crow? I've got a couple now reaching 24 weeks and haven't seen them crow once. The Marans they are in with never shut up. Pretty desirable trait if that is the case.
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Could be that the Marans are more dominant so the ixworths are just keeping quiet.
The Cock birds I had crowed at about 14 weeks
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Seems to vary but they arent as vocal as some breeds, got a 22 week old cockerel yet to crow.