Sagitta Breed - Looking for Info

BoiseBurb

Hatching
9 Years
Apr 2, 2010
8
0
7
I have three banty hens in our suburban backyard for two years. We dabbled with ducks, which quickly became dinner. A friend and I are going to dabble with raising some cockerels for meat. He has a 7 acre space with no animals and was thinking this would be a good start to see if he would enjoy it. Important things for us in this process was to keep the costs low, the time short, 12 or less birds, and easy to care for.

I am staying away from cornish cross because I have moral issues with the breed. I called up Dunlap Nursery, planning on ordering a red cornish cross (who's legs wouldn't buckle and 12 weeks to fryer stage). I avoided that breed when I was told we would have to monitor the feed.

Dunlap suggested the breed Sagitta (that's how they said it was spelled). It was a new dual purpose breed that would be at fryer stage in 12 weeks. That's what I ordered. I went looking for information on the web about the breed and have found nothing, nada, zilch. Any information at all would be truly helpful!
 
Here's some info from Dunlap Hatchery I received when I picked up the cockerels last Tuesday: The Sagitta is very good dual purpose chicken. The males make a good substitute for a broiler, while the hens will lay a large brown egg. The roosters will wigh approximately 5 lbs. at 12 weeks of age, and get bigger if kept longer. The hens will weigh approximately 4.5 lbs. at 12 weeks of age. They are a docile bird with a low mortality rate.

I still don't know if this is a Dunlap developed breed or if this came from some other hatchery. There was no information on which breeds were used to create this breed. So in all reality I'm still lacking the more detailed information.

The chicks vary in color. Out of the twelve chicks, two were sick and died within two days. The others look healthy. Still, any info would be great!

sagittachicks.jpg
 
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I'm wondering all this as well. I just got three of these chicks from Murdochs this evening, so it will be interesting to see how these do.
 
Going to watch this thread and see if you get some answers.

This year I decided to raise meat and egg birds. It get's very hot here. I have Game hens that I was using for eggs. Heard Maranas had a great taste. I've been hatching a mixture of the two. I have a few others hatching them out also.

I figure the combination should give me large brown eggs and nice meaty birds.

I'd like to find out more though about these birds. You'll have to keep us updated as you go.
 
So Far I am pleased with the disposition of the birds. They are quite calm and at the same time very aware of their surroundings. I have had them outside for a few days and are fine around people, but leary of other activity. They are doing well and are healthy. Here's a picture at 10 days.

birds10days.jpg
 
That manual made me throw up a little. At 3 weeks I had the birds outside in a little movable cage. They seem to be thriving. Dunlap Hatchery said they would self regulate their feed and they somewhat do. The temperature has been between 67 degrees and 40 degrees so I can see them eat more than if they were in chicken jail (sterile pen).

I get a sense there may be some cornish game type traits. I hope I'm wrong.


Chickens at 19 days
chicks19days.jpg
 
That is a really cute coop!!

Do you have more pictures of it? I was wondering how the door works and how the inside looks.

Or what are its measurements?

Thanks!
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I checked Dunlaps website, and the Sagrittas are not on there yet.

I'll watch your progress reports.
 
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I think you may be right to be honest. We'll see how they look, but they are looking, on paper anyways, to be some sort of cornish type bird
 

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