The well-known, but rare in our time, the Liven breed of chickens has an unusual history. It was bred at a time when selection was not given much attention, and the people were mainly engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry. Since the household at that time was the main way of living, the peasants tried to find the best breeds of animals and birds in terms of productivity and keeping conditions. Livensky chickens have become one of the results of folk selection.
How the Livenskaya breed appeared
Calico, another name for the Livensky breed, was received by the peasants of the Livensky district. The new variety is endowed with good meat and egg production. In addition, chintz chickens are unpretentious in food and growing conditions. In view of what they began to enjoy popularity among the people there.
The Levenskaya calico chicken began to enjoy widespread popularity in the post-war period. Birds of this variety began to be raised in domestic poultry farms. Since individuals are endowed with high productivity.
However, with the arrival of the 60s and the appearance of Leghorn, the calico breed was gradually ousted from the industrial segment. As a result, by the end of the 80s, the thoroughbred Livenskaya became a rarity in our country.
But with the advent of the 21st century, the breed began to gradually revive again. And today, more and more kennels are working to revive and increase the number of this amazing breed.
Egg production
Full maturation of birds of the Liven breed begins by the 9th month of life. But some of them can lay eggs as early as 6 months. However, it is considered a late maturing breed, as a result of which it is rarely used in the early stages of business development.
Laying hens produce 150 eggs per year. Despite the low figure, the weight of one egg is quite large.
Liven roosters
Important. The calico breed is distinguished by the seasonality of egg production. So, in the period from 3 to 5 months, they bring 50% of the total volume. Incubation during the spring months also yields the best results: about half of the total population.
The scientists analyzed the quality of the eggs. So, it weighs no more than 60 grams per year. The total weight of the shell is 12%, and the yolk is 30%. The older the hen, the larger the egg it can lay. The size depends on the amount of protein. In older birds, it is dense.
Depending on the chicken, the porosity and size of the shell varies greatly. Flavoring properties may vary based on the diet of the poultry. In spring, the nutritional value of eggs is minimal due to vitamin deficiency and relatively poor nutrition. At the end of autumn, the farmer will not be able to receive eggs due to molting.
You can read about which breeds of chickens are the most egg-laying in our article.
Bird characteristics
Livensky chickens belong to the meat-and-meat direction and have a number of advantages:
- the average live weight of a chicken is 3.5-4 kg;
- plumage has several tones;
- the body of the hen is powerful, horizontally elongated;
- the average live weight of a rooster reaches 5.5 kg;
- the male is endowed with a massive body;
- the head of a rooster is small in size with a leaf-shaped comb.
The main feature of this breed is in color. As a rule, one feather can have up to three different colors.And in roosters, the color of the feathers is black with golden and silver blotches. In addition, this species of birds is characterized by unpretentious care, which makes it very popular in many farmsteads.
Minuses
Livensky chickens grow rather slowly. This can of course also be attributed to some of the breed's faults.
Sometimes Livonian chicks fledge poorly. Bald spots may be visible on their body. At the same time, other individuals usually quickly notice such a defect and begin to peck at the body of the “comrade”. The Livonian chicken farmer should keep a close eye on this. The high percentage of pecking is also a disadvantage of the breed.
Males of this species of females never beat. But the Livonian chickens of the "cavalier", if he is not able to stand up for himself, oddly enough, can peck to death. If the hens show aggressive behavior in the flock, of course, the cock should be replaced.
Breed benefits
The description of this breed will be incomplete if you do not list all the advantages of calico chickens, which have a number of:
- large carcasses and good quality eggs. Moreover, the increased egg production does not fall even in the cold season;
- the meat of the breed in question has a delicate taste;
- calico individuals are not whimsical in food. Moreover, the birds feed, due to which they replenish the menu with green mass;
- chickens of this variety can feed on crushed grain and many food waste;
- individuals are endowed with resistance to various ailments and are highly resilient;
- they can easily tolerate even very low temperatures and can live in unheated brooders.
Although chickens do not lead an active lifestyle, the greenery seen behind the walk can make them fly over. Therefore, when making a walk, make a barrage as high as a person's height.
Another advantage of the Livensky chickens is that they make good hens. According to experienced farmers, individuals can bring two broods of chickens in one summer season.
Well, as for the roosters, they do not lack courage. If a kite or a dog attacks, they enter into a fight with them without hesitation.
Features of the content
The quality of egg products and egg production depends on the conditions in which the poultry is kept. Calico chickens do not like crampedness; the room for their maintenance requires a spacious one. The bird loves to walk, so you need to build a place for walking. If there is an opportunity to take a walk in winter, the bird will use it. In winter, to increase productivity, you can pour horse manure, which the chickens are happy to rake and eat.
Product quality depends on feeding and seasonality. In the spring, a low egg production rate is noted due to a poor diet and a lack of vitamins.
Young chickens before the onset of egg laying should be placed in the chicken coop to get used to the new conditions. Before this, hens with a live body weight are selected, in which the feather cover has changed. The bird is examined and a special liquid or dust is applied for prevention from red ticks, feather eaters, lice, and other pests.
In order for the chicken not to suffer from infectious diseases, it must be vaccinated.
In winter, chicken coops for calico chickens do not need to be specially equipped and insulated, birds tolerate low temperatures well. But it is important to monitor the temperature in the room, it should not drop below five degrees. The flooring must be thick and dry. Find out what the floor should be in the hen house from this material.
It is optimal when chickens are kept in the same room with other animals, but separately. It is not recommended to set the nests high due to their heavy weight. There should be enough space for nursing chicks. This will protect them from damage. But if it cracks, the bird can peck it.
Conditions
In order for chickens to rush in winter at the proper level in the hen house, artificial lighting must be installed. This article will tell you about infrared lamps for a chicken coop.
The creation of artificial light accelerates the development of reproductive function in layers, prevents the appearance of molting ahead of schedule.
There is no need to light the house at night, the bird needs rest. An electric lamp is suitable for creating light. Hang the lamp at a height of 2.1 m. The feeding area, perches and drinkers are lit first. Young hens, hatched in spring, begin to light from October 1 to early March, until there is enough daylight.
The bird tolerates low air temperatures, but does not like drafts. It is dangerous for her health.
Food
A chicken with an average productivity of up to 200 eggs per year needs up to 40 kg of concentrated feed, 15 kg of herbs and vegetables. The daily diet should be 300 kcal and contain almost 20 grams of fresh protein. With increased egg production, feed consumption increases.
In chickens, the weight reaches 3.5 kg. Naturally, with good conditions and sufficient feeding, this weight increases.
One third of the diet is sprouted grains. You need to feed a bird in a private backyard three or four times a day. Mineral feed and chalk with shells are poured into separate containers.
Experiments have shown that for good egg shell texture, birds are supplemented with calcium supplements in the afternoon.
During molting, chickens require fortified food, which includes sulfur. The balance of the diet determines how quickly the bird will change its feather cover. It is recommended to add beans and dairy products to the feed. A good result can be seen when pine needles are included in the diet.
Disadvantages of Livenok chickens
In addition, the shower has advantages and disadvantages, which include the following:
- in comparison with other breeds, young animals of this variety need more time for feathering;
- Livelings are not early maturing chickens. As a rule, it takes about 300 days for a chick to become an adult, ready to lay eggs. But, here it is worth emphasizing that if you provide good nutrition and good care conditions, an adult bird becomes in six months;
- offspring of this breed are shy. However, adult chickens become phlegmatic;
- often adults peck young animals and pluck out feathers;
- sometimes laying hens eat laid eggs. This also applies to hens. Cases have been recorded when the black cough pecked at the eggs that it incubates.
If you plan to further sell eggs, bubbling hens should be driven from the nest. Since these individuals have a strongly developed sense of incubation.
When they start to rush
As mentioned above, under good conditions, the breed in question begins to lay eggs as early as 7 months.
Important: Chickens lay large eggs. However, during the incubation period, the weight of the eggs decreases significantly. In addition, in late autumn, the number of laid eggs also decreases.
When young chickens are just starting to lay, the size and clutch of eggs will be small. As a rule, in the first year, the number of eggs laid by a young woman is 80 units. However, next year, a healthy chicken will postpone up to 200 pieces. In the third year, the number will increase to 250-270 units.
As for the egg, its weight reaches 90 grams. The shell is endowed with a light brown tone, and there are often two yolks inside. Giant eggs are in demand. In view of what, breeders give preference to this breed.
Breeding
Breeding a Liven breed chicken is a profitable business. Farmers and amateurs will always be able to provide themselves with tasty and healthy products. They keep a young bird on their farm, which they either breed on their own or buy.
Breeding a breed of Livensky chickens is not at all difficult.
There are two ways to breed poultry: incubating the eggs with a brood hen or using incubators. You can find out about the incubation of turkey eggs here. Incubation is carried out in March or April. When incubating eggs, two rules must be observed:
- the laying hen covers all the eggs with its carcass;
- the number of eggs is odd for better distribution under the bird.
For breeding, eggs are taken while they are still hot. Indicators that are guided by the selection of poultry:
- The body weight of a chicken at 5 months is at least 1.5 kg, for a rooster 2.2 kg.
- Poultry weight per year: chicken - at least 2 kg, rooster - at least 3 kg
- Egg mass during the incubation period is not less than 57 g.
- Productivity for the first year is 75 - 80 eggs.
Growing young animals
*Optimum temperature is one of the main indicators of the breeding of chicks. It should be kept at a certain level, temperature drops are not desirable. The incubator thermometer is located above the eggs. Read about the "Ideal brood hen" incubator here.
The second indicator of incubation is humidity. It depends on the evaporation of moisture from the eggs through the shell and affects the exchange processes inside it. The incubator must be supplied with fresh air to provide oxygen to future chicks. During the usual incubation of chickens, the room is additionally illuminated with an infrared lamp.
The nature of the Livensky individuals
The character of the breed in question is very friendly and calm. However, these chickens cannot be called active. Which makes breeding and raising calico chickens convenient. In addition, the breed has another indisputable plus, they are silent.
The breeder does not have to worry about the rooster waking up with a hungry cry with the sunrise. However, there is also a drawback, calico roosters, individuals are very pugnacious. Moreover, they can bully not only to other birds and animals, but also to the owner.
With all the pros and cons of the variety in question, it should be noted that it will not be difficult to breed this breed. An adult hen has a well-developed maternal instinct, and eggs have excellent incubation qualities.
Reviews of poultry farmers
Valentina Igorevna, Moscow, 45 years old.
I will probably be the main critic of this breed. I didn’t like the Livenskaya chintz one at all. She raised 4 breeds together with the Livenskaya, and abandoned it in the first place. Initially, I decided to buy a bird after I read a loud description about the breed on the Internet. They supposedly brought it out among the people, and then she was super productive and everything like that. For me, the description of the Livenskaya chintz seemed to be the standard of a domestic chicken. As a result, it is not at all what is written about. At 5-6 months my roosters weighed from 2 to 3 kg. In a year, they gained a maximum weight of up to 4.5 kg. But the meat is just awful. It can only please those who have not eaten broilers at all and do not know that the chicken should be tender and soft. The meat is tough just awful. Egg production did not please me either. I got chickens at about 7 months. The eggs are large, I agree. And chickens lay well, with 5 chickens 3 eggs a day stable. But only before the onset of heat. A little heat and that's it, they stop rushing. They take a vacation, so to speak. Further? I continue. We get to the character. Also terrible. Chickens are terribly territorial. As soon as someone crawls into their territory, they immediately give the go-ahead. Roosters are generally like security. They go after chickens and protect them from everyone. You will come up to the chicken, you are already ready to rush. As already mentioned, I didn't like the breed at all, the productivity is not very good, and even aggressive.
Nikolay Alexandrovich, Minsk, 53 years old.
The chicken is pretty good, but controversial. It seems to be laying well, the eggs are large and tasty, and then bam and that's it. Productivity drops. At the same time, they do not fade, there is no stress and everything is done. Some strange jumps.I have been raising the Livenskys for more than one year, the same thing. In terms of growth, the bird pleases, it is gaining weight very quickly, for me they only lag behind the Jersey, and overtake the rest of the breeds.
Chick care
The offspring of chintz chicken are born strong, the survival rate reaches 98%. Day-old chicks are brown or contrasting yellow. However, as mentioned above, babies fledge slowly.
As for further care and feeding, it is not much different from the traditional one. Within a day, it is recommended to give chopped boiled eggs mixed with semolina.
On the second day of life, you can add green mass to food, and on the fourth day, fat-free cottage cheese is introduced.
In addition, experienced poultry farmers give a few more recommendations for caring for young animals:
- once the chicks hatch, the brooder will need to be kept at an optimal temperature. If the kids are cold, they will clump together. And if it is hot they begin to breathe heavily, become lethargic and sleep a lot;
- water for squeaks is served from special drinking bowls. Remember not to let your chickens get wet. Otherwise, they will freeze and hurt;
- clean the bedding regularly. The best bedding for babies is the husk of seeds. You can buy it at the creameries;
- thoroughly rinse the drinkers and feeders after each feeding;
- on the first day of life, you will need to give the young animals the Baytril antibiotic. A week later, drinking is repeated with the use of Baycox.
Important: To speed up the process of feathering in babies, add burned adult feathers and ash to the feed.
And the last thing, so that young animals develop intensively, feed them with food high in protein. Also, don't forget about multivitamins and mineral supplements.
Feeding rules
You can not worry about the nutrition of adult chickens, reviews say that these are absolutely unpretentious birds that can eat everything they are given. However, in order to maintain high performance and maintain the health of the laying hens, it is worth taking care of a balanced diet.
In the summer, it is best to give the grouse the opportunity to graze - eat greens, all kinds of insects and breathe fresh air. The diet should contain 3 types of feed - wet mash, combined and dry grain. Regarding the diet - it is recommended to feed the quads 3 times a day.
In winter, workers do not reduce their egg production, so it is especially important to maintain their health with vitamin supplements. In addition, they will be happy to peck chopped root vegetables, pumpkin, vegetable (after heat treatment) and meat waste.
Of course, it is most convenient to use ready-made industrial feed for meat and egg breeds, but such a diet will be more costly for the owner of the chickens. Russian peasants at one time worked on breeding this breed precisely because they needed an unpretentious bird that would be picky about feed. And they did it.
Adult care
In order for the calico breed of chickens to grow well and delight with giant eggs, it will need to provide conditions:
- the pen for this variety should not be cramped;
- Livensky chickens love free grazing. Therefore, before breeding this breed, fence off the area for walking in advance;
- do not be afraid to let the birds go for walks in winter. They are adapted to low temperatures and like to peck at snow;
- before the onset of cold weather, most poultry farmers insulate their chicken coops. This procedure is not necessary if the calico breed is grown;
- the litter in the brooder must be dry and thickly laid;
- do not set the female nest too high. Remember, this breed is large and heavy;
- make sure that there are enough seats for layers. Otherwise, you can find cracked eggs in the morning;
- provide the birds with calcium, add broken shell rock, chalk and fishmeal to the diet every day;
- try to add chopped greens to the mash of chickens. Green onions will make the eggs large. And for the winter period, prepare dried nettles ahead of time.
If you prefer to feed your birds with wet mash, do not leave them in the feeders for more than three hours during the summer. Otherwise, the food will deteriorate, and the chickens that ate it will get sick.
Well, that's probably all. It remains to add, the heaviest rooster, experienced poultry farmers recommend sending it to soup. The fact is that this breed is noticed in cannibalism. Therefore, if there is no desire for the whole livestock to suffer, a rooster for females should be left of medium size.
Summarizing all of the above, we emphasize that chickens, Livensky breeds are a successful combination of meat and egg qualities. Therefore, if you are just planning to start breeding birds in the courtyard, you should take a closer look at this variety.
