Anyone hatch out their own meat birds?

[Molpet]

you have to restrict the food to get them to live long enough to lay eggs.. see the toad link R2elk posted above for more info

 

[eatwhatyougrow]

Or order the slower growing red or white broilers. This is what I am working on...
I also enjoy the Toads thread. Interesting reading...
Also read so of the old papers from the 1900-1940s on what breeders were doing back then will help you understand the how of it. It took some of those guys 10-20years to come up with stable crosses they were happy with.
Most of your slower broilers (basically) are a dual purpose crossed on the CX to get a good size meat bird. You won't get the results the store gets unless you grow them the way they do.
But if you are looking for freedom from reliance on the hatchery. And still want a big bird. Look in capons. That is how it was done int the old days take a Delaware, capon them finish them out with some milk soaked grain and you can then be self sufficient and get a good sized good tasting bird. It just all depends on your reason for doing it....

 

[eatwhatyougrow]

I'm not sure how well this will show up but I figured I'd give it a shot anyway...

I posted on here a couple of years ago about when my dad and I used to caponize many chickens. I got some chickens again this spring and caponized an americauna and a buff orpington, both of which are doing well. It had been a long while but it came back pretty quickly.

It is of the utmost importance to take them off feed and water for at least 24 hours and preferably 36 hours prior to surgery. They'll be fine.

Attached is a scan of the instructions that came with a set of Beuoy tools that were made probably in the 1940s. In the second column it talks about taking them off feed and water. I hope it is readable. If anyone is interested, I can scan the rest of the pamphlet as well. It is very old.

Found this on another thread. Again note the date but this gives you an idea of how they used to do meat birds and be self sufficient...

 

[Minky]

The birds I bought were called "White Rock Cornish Cross (broiler )" The hatchery has recommended a revised feeding schedule for healthier birds, slower growth--right on the website AD. Do you think I'd be able to keep on of these hens to maturity and breed them?? With what? My Cream Legbar? or do I try and save a rooster and a hen and breed them together? I have the space. But I only have one rooster. My ideal bird would have big thighs since I like those best.. Even if my WRCX laid fertilised eggs- I'd never get enough form one hen to feed my family.
Trying to start living off all (or mostly all) our own grown or raised food. I love this conversation and will be following along on the TOAD thread- but there is just hours of reading to do!!!

 

[Molpet]

They are what we shorten to cornish cross or CX for short. To keep them for breeding after a week or two old feed them 2x a day what they eat in 10 min and then pick up the leftovers. I kept them with layers and made them free range and get exercise. Otherwise they just sit and get heart disease and leg problems... most of the time the cockerels get too big of a chest and can't breed, but the toads have a CX father. .. you would be getting breeding stock from the hens you keep, not meat. My CX was a terrible layer, an egg every 3 days if I was lucky... I only had a mixed roo so I used him. I hatched 3 cockerels and 1 pullet around halloween 2016. 2017 I put a cockerel over all the pullets in that age range, the older hens didn't want anything to do with a younger man. I hatched out 80 some chicks and kept some for this year breeding.

 

[Minky]

And how do they compare to the CX?

 

[chickengeorgeto]

... Is there a way to breed a bird big enough for eating using a Cream Legbar rooster... Would an Orpington /Legbar cross be a decent size... Or a Barnavelder /Legabr cross... Can I let 4 or 5 young roos (less than 16 weeks old- free range with my main rooster and my egg hens, or would I need to free range them at different times/or keep them in a coop... [/QUOTE]
Yes, but all meat birds are hybrid crosses so they don't breed true. Real meat birds like Cornish Xs don't forage well at all. Lets be realistic, foraging requires movement and movement requires energy so any movement by meat birds to find food detracts from their ability to pack on the pounds. In fact some broiler/fryers today are processed at only 4 weeks old.

Furthermore eating chicken is in the eye of the diner. I use to always eat all of my game chicken pullets that were not destined to enter my breeding program. That is once they got a little bigger than a quail. A dozen small pullets, some veggies, and a homemade biscuit crust made a killer pie. So you can definitely eat all the Orpington, Legbar or Barnavader crosses you desire as long as you fully cook them. But then again I have a definite love of homemade chicken pie.

Below notice how the broiler/fryer chicken has changed over the years under the influence of selective breeding.

 

[Molpet]

And how do they compare to the CX?

The free range CX at 12 wks were 8#. The 1/4 CX at 16-20 wks were 5-7# dressed
For cost, speed and feed conversion mine is not close to a commercial hybrid ... The toads are close, maybe in a few years I will be too

 

[JayColli]

@Minky in Canada you have some good options for slow growing heritage meat birds, Coucou de Malines come to mind in Ontario as I know there are at least two good breeders in your province but you could also look at Bresse or LF White Cornish.

 

[eatwhatyougrow]

https://archive.org/search.php?query=subject:"Capons+and+caponizing"

Found this cool site while looking for info for myself.....has all these old papers you can download them and print them.....okay i am going back to it.....I only have like 4 downloaded so far....