Modern breeders have bred a huge number of breeds of hens, both egg and meat. One of the best today is considered to be Hercules. This is a very productive and also quite unpretentious hybrid in care.
Hercules chickens: description
The color of the bird of this breed can be either colored or pure white. The main distinguishing features of Hercules chickens include:
- well-muscled body;
- wide chest;
- volume stomach;
- strong thick legs of yellow color;
- bright red comb and earrings;
- neat, raised up tail.
Experienced farmers are advised to pay attention to their heads when buying chickens. If the diurnal chicks sold are really Hercules, they should have no scallop at all.
According to breeders, these chickens have their own advantages. These include primarily unpretentiousness, as well as a calm, friendly disposition. Hercules cockerels fight very rarely, including with representatives of other breeds. With geese, ducks, turkeys and so on, this bird gets along very well.
Productivity
Hercules hens lay almost as many eggs as ordinary laying hens. With good care of one individual, you can get 210-220 pieces. Eggs are quite large in size. The taste in them is very good. Farmers praise them for a very large yolk of saturated bright color. The mass of one egg is usually 64-66 grams.
The weight of a bird of this breed is also gaining very well. Chickens can reach a weight of 3.3-3.5 kg, males - from 4.3 to 4.5 kg. At the same time, their juicy and tender meat is considered more delicious than that of laying hens. You can cook from it not only soup. It differs from broiler meat in a more natural aroma.
Feeding Features
Hercules chickens, the characteristics of which were given above, are actually very productive and quite rightly deserved excellent reviews from the owners of household plots. In the first months of life, a bird of this breed is usually kept on balanced feed. In this case, the chickens develop well, grow quickly and do not get sick. Later, the bird begins to give natural feed. Judging by the reviews of the owners of household plots, Hercules rush for quite a long time - from 2 to 3 years. Calcium and nitrogen-containing mineral additives are given to them without fail, otherwise the chickens begin to peck eggs. When kept on meat, this condition can not be observed.
From natural feed give cereals (mainly wheat). You can also feed bran and vegetable mixes in boiled water, broth or skim milk. Be sure to give these chickens vitamin supplements, meat and bone meal, chalk and yeast in small quantities. Otherwise, like broilers, they can "fall to their feet." Of course, placed in the barn and containers with small pebbles. Chickens peck them for better grinding of feed.
What you need to know
Metabolism in meat and egg chickens is slightly worse than in the same laying hens. The diet of the breeds of these areas of productivity is similar. The only difference is that meat-egg hens are fed 15-20% more. In this case, it is very important to ensure that chickens do not overeat hercules. If they receive too much vegetables and grain, their body weight may increase too much. But not at the expense of meat, but because of the accumulated fat on the internal organs, which depresses the hormonal system. Such chickens begin to hatch much worse, and their eggs lose their biological value.
Therefore, it is important to ensure that grains and mixers in the feeders do not lie down. Eat everything that they are offered, hens should be a maximum of 30-40 minutes.
Sometimes the owners decide to breed such a bird as hens of the Hercules breed on their own. In this case, the males are usually fed separately during the breeding season. The peculiarity of the behavior of this poultry is such that the "gentlemen" usually pass the "ladies" to the feeders first. Therefore, males often remain hungry, which, of course, cannot but affect the quality of the offspring. To prevent this from happening, it is worth stuffing separate feeders on the walls in the barn. They should be located at such a height that only cockerels are comfortable to eat from.
Vitamin supplements for the winter
Hercules chickens , reviews of which are very good, can be carried in the cold season, of course, only with proper nutrition. Take care of a full diet of hens in the winter from the summer. Be sure to prepare vitamin supplements. It could be:
- herbal flour ;
- pulp from fruits;
- dried duckweed or elodea;
- silage.
In summer, chopped dandelion, plantain, sow thistle and euphorbia should be added to the mixers.
What should be a house
Hercules are not very demanding on the conditions of the chicken. The house is usually built frame-panel board. Inside, feeders and drinking bowls are installed, as well as perches and nests are filled. A window in the chicken coop should be required. Heating in the house is usually not satisfactory. However, a thick litter (at least 40 cm) of straw is worth putting. In the winter period of time, various kinds of biological processes begin to occur in it, accompanied by the release of heat. That is, such a litter begins to act as a “soft” heater.
Perches are set at a height of 80-100 cm. Nests of standard sizes are nailed next to them. The feeders are equipped with a spinner. If this is not done, the chickens will climb into them and scatter the food.
With outdoor maintenance, a walk is arranged in front of the shed. From the chicken coop, a sufficiently wide manhole should lead into it. Hercules - chickens are calm, but it’s worth putting a reliable fence around the walk. Otherwise, the bird can go into the garden and peck, for example, tomatoes.
When kept in cages, you can slightly reduce the cost of growing such a bird as hens. Feeding them, however, in this case has some peculiarity: vitamins of group D are necessarily introduced into the diet. It can be D 2 or D 3 . Their use helps to strengthen the body of the bird and increase resistance to disease. In the cells of the chicken, the meat and egg directions of productivity grow a little faster.
Hercules Price
It costs a bird of this breed a little more expensive than laying hens. The price of daily chicks, for example, can range from 40-50 rubles. Teenage chickens cost about 60-100 rubles. In Russia, Hercules chickens are difficult to buy. They are sold and bred mainly in Ukraine.
Laying hens (the price of such chickens is about 35 rubles) are cheaper, they give a little more eggs, but meat in such quantities as from hercules, of course, is impossible to get from them.
Breeding Features
Hercules chickens were bred in Ukraine by crossing four different breeds. Since they belong to crosses, it is impossible to breed them “in themselves”. However, some summer residents, who have already managed to assess the merits of this breed, believe that in the first and even second generation from these chickens you can get very good, quite productive offspring. But still it is better not to take risks and buy an incubation egg at the poultry farm.
Chick Care
Hercules chickens, the characteristics of which make it possible to judge them as very unpretentious, should receive a sufficient amount of nutrients, vitamins and minerals. This is especially true for small chickens. They are looked after in approximately the same way as they are for laying hens. Only feed in the early days give them a little more. It is best to use "Start" for layers or broilers (can be mixed). It is allowed to feed with traditional delicacies - boiled egg, millet and cottage cheese. Five-day-old chickens can already be given finely grated carrots. A little later - thoroughly washed greens.
Lighting in the nursery for chickens of this breed in the early days should be around the clock. Later, artificial daylight hours are gradually being reduced.
Chicken meat and egg breeds are more resistant to disease than broilers. However, they are inferior to hens in this regard. Therefore, you need to carefully monitor the health of such chicks. Of course, you should observe the temperature in the manger. In the early days, the air in the box should warm up to at least 29-30 degrees. Six-day-old chickens already have enough at 26 ° C. Next, the temperature must be reduced by three degrees every week until then, until it reaches 16-18 ° C.
Chick drinkers should use drip or nipple drinkers. It is impossible to allow the chicks to get wet. If this happens, the chicken must be dried as soon as possible and placed in a very warm place. Manganese is added to water in small amounts.
Thus, hens of the Hercules breed are characterized by very good productivity. Caring for them is easier than broilers. At the same time, they are gaining weight very well, and besides, they are carrying quite well. This explains their huge popularity among farmers and owners of small household plots.