About two hundred years ago, an unusual breed of chickens was bred in Russia. For its unique singing, it was called Yurlovsky vociferous. Chickens have a long melodious voice, forcing everyone who hears them to stop.
A bit of history
The breed was formed in the Kursk and Oryol regions. In these regions, residents selected only the strongest roosters to receive offspring. As a result of this work, a new breed of bird was bred.
For the first time, breeding chickens with a strong voice began in the village of Yurlovka. Roosters were determined only by voice quality. The lower the timbre, the more valuable the individual was considered. In the nineteenth century in the Kursk region there was a hunt for roosters. Locals tried to get the most vociferous birds. There were even competitions in cock crowing.
At the bazaar, the owners of chickens, under rhythmic pats on the table, "measured" the voices of roosters. It was a whole tradition. Long breeding work on breeding vocal specimens led to the fact that representatives of the breed formed strong vocal cords, an unusual appearance and high productivity.
Breed description
Yurlovsky chickens are one of the most unusual representatives of the species, which stand out among other breeds. They are distinguished by endurance, massive legs, powerful body. Roosters can be aggressive, and chickens are excellent brood hens. They carry large eggs of a brown hue.
Chickens of the Yurlov breed are distinguished from the rest by their unusual exterior. They are characterized by:
- Wide and elongated body. It is long enough, deep.
- Chickens have a fairly large head with a wide frontal part.
- The superciliary arches hanging over the eyes. At the sight of a bird and its particular arrangement of the superciliary arches, one gets the impression that it is aggressive and ready to attack at any moment.
- Eyes can have a very different shade. Depending on the plumage, representatives of the breed may be with red, orange or brown eyes.
- Long neck.
- The earlobe is red. The hue color determines the color of the shell. Chickens with a red lobe carry brown eggs.
Yurlovsky chickens have a very different color. They can be black, silver, dark yellow, black with a silver pattern. Most often, black and black-silver individuals are found.
The bird has a very beautiful magnificent tail. It contrasts perfectly with the plumage of the body. Chickens have a small wingspan, they are pressed tightly to the body and do not perform any function. The abdomen has clear boundaries, it is powerful, full.
Features of development allow the use of the breed for fattening for meat. When rearing poultry, the weight of roosters reaches five kilograms, and hens weigh about four kilograms. For a year, laying layers can lay up to 180 eggs, each weighing over 90 grams. The eggshell is very strong, brown in color. When the chicks are hatched in an incubator, the breed has a high hatchability level of about 85%. When grown, almost the entire stock of young animals survives (95%).
Bird keeping
Disclosure of their potential depends on the conditions of keeping chickens. The breed does not tolerate closed cramped spaces, so they are not suitable for cages. They need to provide a good walk. The breed is aggressive, so there should be enough space for its representatives. The temperature regime of the content must be observed without fail. Ideally, the temperature should be the same throughout the year.
For Yurlov chickens to be productive, it is necessary for them to provide the following conditions of detention:
- The place where the bird is planned to be kept should be well ventilated, without drafts. For this purpose, a ventilation system is mounted in the chicken coop. The place for walking should be spacious. So that the chickens do not run away from the allocated territory, it is fenced with a metal mesh.
- For chickens, a place is organized in which a constant temperature will be maintained.
- In the first seven days of life, it is recommended to feed the chicks with feed, egg or semolina, you can give millet. From the very first days, constant access to water is also provided.
- The chicken coop should have well-equipped nests and spacious perches.
- The chicken coop should have good flooring. Moss peat is best suited. It will protect the bird from infections and colds. Peat absorbs moisture well, this is especially important when chickens come in with wet feet.
Yurlovskie roosters
Chickens Yurlovsky vocal are not used in industrial cultivation. This breed is found only in private courtyards. The bird is famous for its unpretentiousness, endurance, strength. Most representatives of the breed can be found in the Voronezh, Kursk, Bryansk, Oryol regions.
Most often, the Yurlovskaya breed of chickens is used for crossing when breeding new lines of birds. It is from vocal new species that they receive high productivity and endurance. In breeding, when breeding different breeds with Yurlovsky, May Day, Zagorensky, Moscow and some other breeds were obtained.
Feeding
The Yurlovskaya breed of chickens does not need a special diet. The only thing required is to properly feed the chicks. Usually they are given a boiled egg and semolina. Gradually mixed feeds, crushed grain feeds, vegetables, greens are introduced into the diet.
In winter, the bird is made with mixers, you can add a small amount of potatoes to them. You can steal grain, corn. When feeding, it is important that the bird does not get fat, otherwise it negatively affects egg production.
Features of poultry breeding
According to the description, Yurlovsky chickens belong to meat and egg breeds, therefore such a bird is ideal for both eggs and meat. It turns out a lot, with excellent taste.
You can start breeding birds of this breed in several ways. If you have an incubator, you can buy eggs and breed your own. For this, medium-sized eggs are selected. The main thing is that the laying hens were kept together with the roosters and were not older than six years. When selecting eggs, attention should be paid to their shape. Too round, pointed, not suitable for incubation. Each egg should be checked with an ovoscope for microcracks and other shell damage, as well as to assess the condition of the air chamber: normally it should be at the blunt end.
Another way to get chickens is to buy ready-made chickens. In this case, they are provided with proper maintenance and a diet rich in nutrients is made.
You can find out how much an adult chicken costs and get an adult animal. However, this choice is not always successful, because adult birds can hardly tolerate feed changes, moving.
Breed productivity
The breed of chickens is chosen because of their high productivity. With proper care, the live weight of laying hens can reach three kilograms, and the weight of roosters reaches five. In the first year, the chicken lays up to 180 cream-colored eggs and weighs about 60 grams. In the second year, the egg mass becomes 10-20 grams more.
With good care, chick survival is 95%. Layers perfectly preserved instinct of incubation. Because of it, the bird is used to get one-day chickens.
Despite all the advantages, chickens have disadvantages. The main one is late maturity. Layers begin egg laying at the age of six months. Despite this, chickens are very unpretentious to the conditions of detention and feeding.
How much is a chicken
Knowing how much the chicken costs, you can decide what is best to buy - an adult or give preference to chickens, or choose hatching eggs.
On average, the price of a weekly chicken is about 200 rubles, and chicks at the age of two weeks will cost three hundred. Adult laying hens, from the age of six months, stand in the region of three thousand. The cheapest way is to buy an incubation egg - they ask for an average of 150 rubles for it.
Disadvantages of the breed
Any breed of chickens has its advantages and disadvantages. Among the shortcomings, increased aggressiveness is distinguished, especially in roosters. Often these birds peck. If you make a choice in the direction of the most vociferous individuals, then their egg production will be reduced.
Chickens react negatively to confined spaces and insufficient space for walking. In order for the bird to feel comfortable, it is necessary to provide for it a good walk, open space.
Color
There are different colors of chickens. Most often there are white-silver, black-silver, black-red. Less common are Yurlov representatives with salmon color.
Plumage is rare. Through it, you can feel the skin. The peculiarity of the breed is in the magnificent tail. It perfectly contrasts with the rare plumage of the body.
Coop Construction
When breeding poultry for their own needs, it is enough to have twenty individuals. For their maintenance you will need a chicken coop for 20 chickens. You can do it yourself. The construction itself takes a little time, the main thing is to decide on the materials from which it will be built, and the type of construction. It is best to build a chicken coop with a fenced-in type of walk. He will protect the territory on which the bird can safely walk.
To start building a chicken coop for 20 hens follows with the layout. If hens are kept in it all year round, then the shed must be insulated. In winter, in cold weather, the temperature in the room should not fall below two degrees.
The chicken coop area must be at least 7 square meters. There should be no drafts inside. In order to have access to fresh air, a pull-exhaust ventilation system is mounted.
Near the chicken coop, the territory of the paddock is getting bigger. Its area should be at least nine square meters. Other breeds of hens need a smaller area, but the Yurlovskys in cramped conditions begin to behave aggressively and peck each other, eat eggs.
The paddock is fenced with a mesh fence. Due to the structure of the wings, the bird does not fly. Therefore, the upper part does not need to be covered with a grid. A fence with a height of 1.6 m is quite enough. By the way, for some breeds it is necessary to make a ceiling of a net so that the hens do not fly away.
Public opinion
One of the easiest breeding breeds are Yurlov chickens. Reviews say that these hens need only be fed. With the right diet, the bird carries large eggs.
Layers themselves hatched chickens, solving the problem of updating livestock.
In conclusion, it is worth noting that this breed is best kept separately from others, since it is aggressive. In order for the chicken to lay an egg all year round, care must be taken to prepare high-quality feed and provide a warm, clean chicken coop in which the temperature will be comfortable even in extreme cold.