BCM Roo x Red Selinks - 3 generations and they're a new BCM?

draye said:

Here in Arkansas we are allowed 199 hens after the 200 th comes along then it is considered a business.

That is laying hens only not roosters and baby chicks.

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Well, here in Ontario if you have more than 100 layers, you must buy market quota. Quota costs ~C$200-$250 per bird (for egg production only). Quota applies to meat birds too (not sure what the fee is) but we are allowed 300 per year without quota. Needless to say its been a hot topic for many years, as it dramatically affects heritage bird owners. If I have to buy quota, clearly I will want as many eggs as possible, or the highest meat to food conversion. Both expectations require the hybrid birds, and naturally dissuade heritage birds.

As such, our markets don't have any variety in eggs or chicken. Heck, I'm not even allowed to sell my eggs/meat at a farmer's market without quota. Further, I cannot deliver product without quota, so restaurants are pretty much out too. Finally, all meat birds must be processed at provincially approved and inspected processors, even those I sell at my farm gate.

All-in-all its a pretty frustrating set of constraints, so it means no small farmer can think of chickens as their sole source of income.

enola said:

There are no breeds of chickens that lay black eggs. Please be sure and document how you accomplish this.

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Ayam Cemanis (probably spelled horribly wrong) Are totally black, inside & out, and, as I understand it, lay black eggs

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I hope you don't mind, but this is my thread. Enola pointed out the issue about "black eggs" 9 months ago, I have no idea why its back in the thread now, but its meaningless. Many people refer to Black Copper Maran eggs as "black eggs", get over it. I don't care about actual "black eggs", that is not germane to the thread. So, lets leave that breed out of this thread as it has nothing to do with the purpose of the thread.

Thank you.

@NTBugtraq

Any updates on this project?

Yesterday I processed 17 generation 2 birds from my project. The results are extremely disappointing. The majority of the birds ended up between 1.6kg and 2.0kg, and most birds processed @60% of original weight. This results in a terrible yield, especially considering they are at least 20 weeks old. The feed conversion ratio is just not worth it.

So I have decided to cull cockerels at 3 weeks, using comb and wing feathers as the basis. I'm sure I won't catch them all, but I will severely reduce my feed bill for birds prior to 20 weeks (when my pullets typically start laying). I have quite a few cockerels in my young birds coop I will have to process too...

I'm open to any suggestions. Raising the birds to a weight they can be processed costs about twice as much as I can get for the processed bird.