How About a Jumbo Co Op

[JJMR794]

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ALL OF BILLS BIRDS ARE LIKE....


I KNOW I KNOW, DONT TOUCH ME I CAN GET ON THEM MYSELF..

HE HE...

 

[JJMR794]

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WHEN YOU GET BORED RIGHT?

 

[Buttercup Chillin]

I would have to be really bored to weigh a chicken on there. THose Buttercups are much worse than Coturnix and I hate weighing them. I am sorry, I just don't want to do all this weighing everyone does.

 

[deerman]

have a idea for all , try weighing them by grams.....28 g per oz. 454 g per lb. don't forget layig hen will have the weight of the eggs also, so a heavier hen maybe one laying larger eggs, toget true weight of hen , weight one not laying(just cut LIGHT hours for a few days)
JMO

 

[Fat Daddy]

Old joke right on the tip of my brain about "hen weigh"....Mad cow disease set in I guess, cant pull it up. Maybe just punished the ol gray matter too much as a youth, either way its gone.... Never mind, Bill

 

[RiverOtter]

Thanks guys, I'll check out Walmart's website.
I understand those who don't want to weigh, it's a PITA. But how else am I to know if I have managed to raise the Elusive, Mythical, 14+ oz quail?? I don't think the weight of un-laid eggs will throw the results too much as I'll only be weighing until they're 8 weeks - that is butcher age, right?
I may be proven wrong with my scale, but in most birds, smaller females lay before their heavier sisters so I'm guessing early-laying females may have a slightly heavy weigh-out if they are about to lay but will not have the over-all growth of the late bloomers.

My friend's $$scale weighs to the .01 of a gram, but I don't think I need to get that picky about it.

 

[Buttercup Chillin]

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This is an old strain, you can turn the lights out for weeks and these girls will keep laying. Only when there's a freeze, then they clamp up and say you want me to do what.? "I'm not going to freeze my behind off. Well if you insist, here's a little 4g for breakfast. Enjoy." Honest, I heard them talking about going on strike. Last night I got 20/35 eggs, adn they are still going back to size.

No these gals start laying early and yes by the time they have been laying for a few weeks you have your 15g eggs and now its regular to get 17g from all ages. Yes, the yolks are big to match the size of the eggs. Don't stress on the egg weight or you are going to miss your best breeders. Look at the size of the breast meat under that skin and the thickness of the legs. You know you got your big girls then when those areas keep getting bigger. Now the boys need work, I admit that. But when I match them up I try to let the girls pick their own mates. It seems to be working. I pay attention to who those big girls let hang out in the sand box with them. Those boys get big too, it just takes them longer.

I am pretty sure that if you select your breeders before they start laying you will miss the best ones. Go ahead heres an experiment for you: weigh before they lay and leg band them, then every week up through week 8 or so and band the biggest each week. See who has the most leg bands then. I only weigh at 6 and 7 weeks, but not all have 2 leg bands, but those are my best breeders I use the one band girls to fill in. Remember, its not this batch that is important, its the next one, the one that you are selecting breeders for. Until they stop gaining size, then they have reached their full potential. My birds have not reached their full potential yet. So I am still selecting for size.

The F1's were bigger sooner and this batch of F2's are chubby things with some heft to them already, at 2 weeks they look like smaller adults. THey only had a few days of being in the ugly stage. I weigh when I get ready to start selecting for breeders and only then. I weigh only when they start to put on their adolescent weight and that includes the eggs, if they are early breeders. You need to see the pelvic spread to select your breeders, you are not going to see that until they start laying. Little butts do not lay big eggs, but wide hips do. The eggs get stuck and you do not want those hens in your line if you are breeding for size because their daughters will have the same problems - its genetic. So if you have a big girl and she has a narrow pelvic spread, she will not be a good breeder. I have not had this problem since the first batch, so I don't stress about it.

One thing I do different than some is grind their feed for the first week or so. They do eat more. I just compared Purina startena to the Lonestar Starter/grower brands. Purina is 3x larger crumble, so that is when I started grinding and forgot why. Lately, I had to bite my pride and go get them some Lonestar and noticed immediately, and knew why I ground it. I already had a little grain mill so its no big deal for me. But it might be important in getting them off to a good start, because these babies hatch ravenous. I am not the only one that grinds and has big birds.

 

[Madcap621]

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Not interested in writing the book, BUT I sure do want a copy! A day late & a $ short but am loving this thread!!

 

[Robo]

When the co-op starts lets record the weight of our breeders each generation so we can tell how much bigger our line is getting. We need someone with good stock so we can get new blood every few generations.

 

[Buttercup Chillin]

Robo, this line has not had new blood added in at least 2 years that I know of. They are still getting bigger. There are 4 varieties in the line, the Jumbo Browns are 2, the Whites and the M. Gold that are darker then most. I will not be adding new blood outside of this line. That is why I did not join the CO-OP. These birds were obviously bred differently than the norm.

I suggest that you grow them out and hatch more before you decide to add them to your birds or add new blood to them. But keep the above in mind. It was done without new blood lines.

I need to back up and go in a different direction and see the offspring before I decide to add new blood.

More than likely I add new blood for another project that I want to play with.