Pushkin chicken: photo, breed description, reviews

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

For breeding in small household plots, as well as on farms, Pushkin's chicken is just perfect. This bird belongs to the meat and egg direction of productivity and is distinguished by a calm, benevolent disposition.

History of the breed

Pushkin's chicken was bred in our country at the Research Institute of the Academy of Agricultural Sciences in 1976-2005. Such popular breeds as Leggorn, Australorp, Moscow Whites and Broiler-6 cross were used as parental breeds. Selection was carried out by free mating, as well as group selection by live weight and conformation. Pushkin chickens were approved as a breed in 2007. At the moment it is one of the most popular in Russia. This is the only breed bred in our country over the past 30 years.

Appearance

Pushkin's variegated or striped chicken looks very nice. Laying hens have fluffy plumage with a beautiful white down. It is thanks to the latter feature that the carcass of these chickens has a very attractive presentation. Pushkin cockerels are white in color with rare dark spots. The main features of this breed can also be attributed:

• High, thin neck with a pronounced feather mane.
• Sharply downcurved ivory beak.
• White high legs with four toes.
• White curved claws.
• Trapezoid body, tapering towards the tail.
• Wide chest.
• Vertical tail.
• Wings slightly down.
• Dense fluffy plumage.
• Rose-shaped low red crest with pronounced spikes.
• Protruding orange eyes.

The skin of this bird is absolutely white, without any shades. Some farms breed Pushkin chicken and other colors. However, variegated (with black) in hens and pure white in males is still the most common.

Reviews about the Pushkin breed

The nature of these chickens is quite phlegmatic and very friendly. Feedback from farmers about this breed is simply wonderful. Pushkin's get along with other poultry very easily. If something frightens them, they do not start to fuss, like laying hens of other breeds, but simply cling to the ground and calm down. Catching a chicken if necessary is completely easy. Between the layers of this breed there is never any conflict - neither because of food, nor because of nests.

Ingenuity is another undoubted advantage of such a bird as Pushkin's chickens. Reviews about them in this regard from the owners of personal plots are also very good. These wonderful birds understand the requirements of the owners literally instantly. Suchcomplaisant nature is one of the main reasons for the huge popularity of Pushkin's chickens among household owners.

Productivity

For the most part, Pushkin's chickens, which have only positive reviews on the Internet, are kept for the sake of getting eggs. One laying hen can lay up to 260 pcs. in year. But this, of course, is a record. However, under normal conditions of detention, less than 200 pcs. in a year, the owners usually do not receive. Pushkin's ones start to rush quite early. Their eggs can have both pure white and light cream shells. They are quite large in size. The weight of the eggs can vary from 58 to 61 g. According to the feedback from the owners of the farms, their taste is simply wonderful.

The fertility of Pushkin eggs is very good - 95%. At the same time, the survival rate of young animals is excellent - 95%. Adult chickens - under normal conditions - about 87%.

Meat at Pushkin's is also very tasty. As in the case of egg-laying breeds, extra males in the brood, as well as hens, are slaughtered after a decrease in productivity after a few years (4-6). These birds grow quite large. The weight of a cockerel reaches 2.5 kg, laying hens - 1.8-2 kg.

Features of care

Pushkin's chicken is kept in approximately the same conditions as laying hens. That is, the floor method is usually used in an unheated barn. This bird is not afraid of frost at all. When it was launched, this was one of the main accents. Fluffy plumage, high legs and even a small one pressed to the heada comb, which is almost impossible to freeze - all this makes it possible to successfully keep chickens even in the most severe climate of the middle zone and Siberia.

Pushkin's striped-motley chickens will feel good in a poultry house built from absolutely any materials. However, concrete walls will still need to be insulated. Usually a barn for chickens of this breed is built from sleepers or made of frame-panel boards. A very thick layer of sawdust or straw should be laid on the floor. In winter, it will act as a "heater".

Perches are placed at a height of 70-80 cm. Nests can be nailed to the barn wall. They are not placed under the windows, as well as perches. Despite good he alth and endurance, chickens of this breed, like any other, are afraid of drafts.

Features of breeding

The Pushkin breed of chickens, reviews of which allow us to judge it as very calm, can give quite viable and productive offspring. Despite the docile nature, bettas are very active. Usually for 20-25 chickens one such “macho” is bred. If there are fewer laying hens on the farm, it is worth leaving the cockerel calmer with them. Due to such high activity of cavaliers, there are practically no unfertilized eggs in nests.

The incubation instinct of these birds is almost lost. In some cases, Pushkinskaya can sit on an egg. However, most often hatching chicks for no more than two weeks, and then simply abandons them. Therefore, eggs are usually laid in an incubator.

Feeding Features

Since the Pushkin breed of chickens, reviews of which are really good from private traders, belongs to the meat and egg direction of productivity, its representatives should be fed a little differently than ordinary laying hens. Chickens of this variety are slightly prone to overeating. Overfeeding such a bird is highly discouraged. The fat deposited on the internal organs will inhibit the hormonal regulation of egg production. However, of course, it is also impossible to underfeed the birds.

On average, chickens of meat-and-egg breeds are fed approximately 15-20% more than ordinary laying hens. The diet of this bird includes foods such as:

• whole grain (preferably at least two types);
• crushed (also two types);
• wheat bran;
• boiled potatoes;
• fresh vegetables;
• greens (nettle, quinoa, carrot and beet tops, etc.);
• back;
• feed yeast, bone meal, s alt, shells.

Pushkin's motley breed of chickens should receive wet mash in such quantities that they are completely eaten in about 40 minutes. Under no circumstances should they be allowed to go sour.

Feeding schedule

The schedule for filling the feeders of Pushkin's chickens should be something like this:

• at 6 o'clock in the morning the bird is given a whole grain, about 1/3 of the daily value;
• at 8 o'clock in the morning you can put a wet mash of vegetables with the addition of bran;
• grate vegetables again at 12 o'clock;
• at 18h the grain is applied again (remaining 2/3).

Before collecting eggs for incubation, that is, during the periodfertilization, it is desirable to give food to cockerels in separate feeders. In order for the chickens not to eat from them, they are nailed to the wall of the barn at a certain height. In this case, males will be able to reach the feed, but laying hens will not. To improve reproductive ability, 50 g of germinated grain per head is added to food. During this period, bettas should also be given special preparations enriched with vitamins A and E (20 g per 1 kg of feed).

Of course, chickens (Pushkin striped and motley) also need fine gravel. It promotes grinding of the feed. Place it in the chicken coop in separate containers.

Features of caring for chickens

Chicks of such a bird as the Pushkin breed of chickens, which are described in detail above in this article, are distinguished by vitality and endurance. At first, they are usually given a specially designed start food for chickens. On the fifth day, they begin to pour fresh, finely chopped greens into the manger. Week-old chickens can already be fed crumbly mash on yogurt or meat broth. From the 10th day they begin to give boiled potatoes. Any wet food should be eaten by the chicks in a short amount of time. Residues must be removed immediately. Sour feed will surely lead to poisoning of chickens and, most likely, to their death.

When growing Pushkin chicks, like any other, it is very important to observe the temperature regime. No additional heating even in a warm roomnewborn chickens can die from hypothermia. Therefore, immediately after hatching and drying of the fluff, they are taken out of the incubator and placed in a nursery with an air temperature of about 30 degrees. On the sixth day, it is reduced to 26-28, and then - by 3 degrees every week. At the age of one month, chickens just feel great at 18 degrees.