How to choose breeder vs freezer camp & other newbie questions...

[imacowgirl2]

I have a batch of 10 straight run New Hampshires from Freedom Ranger Hatchery because in my quest to find a sustainable meat bird, they seemed to be closest to meeting all my criteria.

My plan is to keep 3-4 hens and 2 (maybe 3, but doubtful unless someone has a really good reason that I'm not thinking of) roosters to breed and send the rest to freezer camp. But now I'm trying to figure out how I determine who goes to freezer camp and who becomes a breeder. Since I'm breeding to have a sustainable meat flock, I'd prefer larger birds that grow relatively quickly...but I also would love to be able to auto sex my chicks at hatch (a number of my chicks showed the dorsal stripes/head spots that should make this possible) and good temperament is also important to me, especially in roosters. Is it as "simple" as picking the biggest birds who grow the quickest, have good temperaments, and still look like a good example of the breed to become my breeders and everyone else goes in the freezer? Or is there something I'm missing? I'm thinking temperament is probably something I'm not really going to get to select for since roos true temperaments don't show until maturity, and I'm hoping to process these guys (I say guys, but they're straight run, so pullets and cockerels) around 12-14 weeks.

Second question...should I feed these guys anything special to help them maximize their weight potential? I plan to not really let them free range, except occasionally, but do plan to let them roam in our run which is 10x30ish.

Any other advice for a newbie? In the future I may consider breeding a cross instead of straight NHs, but for at least my first year I want to get the basics down and get my feet wet (and some meat in the freezer ).

 

[Molpet]

Some reading material https://bramblewoodhill.com/breeding-chickens-meat-production/

I have meat mutts. At harvest age I kept all the pullets and 3 cockerels that weighed the most. Then I looked at confirmation and temperament.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

http://heritagebreedmarketplace.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/ALBCchicken_assessment-1.pdf

Most of us winter two cocks. The primary reason for that is if you lose one you've still got a back up. Another reason is that a full evaluation of birds for the standard takes over a year. You're not breeding to the standard so that doesn't matter.

Pullets have a market value beyond broiler age. They can be sold at Point of Lay for a fair price.

If you've the space and inclination for a closed flock then multiple pens and using spiral breeding will work well for decades.

There is no reason to cross the breed. You could get a hold of standard bred New Hampshire in the future and compare your stocks performance side by side to determine which line to continue with. And there are a few lines of New Hampshire that were bred for meat quality instead of to the standard you could look into acquiring also. Depends which direction you want to go in the future.

 

[imacowgirl2]

Thank you both for the links, I will be taking a peek at those later today!

 

[Ridgerunner]

I have a batch of 10 straight run New Hampshires from Freedom Ranger Hatchery

Should be decent stock from Freedom Ranger compared to other hatchery stock but I'd have started off with more. I once got 7 pullets out of 7 straight run chicks. I learned then to order how many of what sex I want. It will be interesting to see how many of what sex you get.

You are right, there can be quite a difference in quality of the chicks. The more you have the better chance you have to get a really good one. Besides, this would put more meat in your freezer this year.

But now I'm trying to figure out how I determine who goes to freezer camp and who becomes a breeder. Since I'm breeding to have a sustainable meat flock, I'd prefer larger birds that grow relatively quickly

My general rule is to eat the ones you don't want to breed and breed the ones you want to eat.

Larger is an obvious criteria. I think early maturing is also a good one, they should reach butcher size with a little less feed and work from you. You plan to butcher at 12 to 14 weeks. That's the time to check for maximum growth.

You may want to evaluate this age criteria. A lot of it depends on how you want to cook them, especially the boys. When the hormones hit the texture and flavor change with the boys, not so much with the girls. But there can be a lot of difference in size in just a couple of weeks, for the boys especially. I don't know your experience level with butchering and eating chickens. For our own reasons some of us like to butcher at a fairly young age, some later. We all have our own sweet spot based on how we cook them, size, and how we feed and raise them.

I personally like to evaluate my pullets for egg laying before I decide which ones to keep. Early egg laying is a plus, rate of laying is important to me. When I'm trying to fill an incubator I want them to lay enough eggs. I want them to lay a hatchable egg. It doesn't happen often but you can get a hen that regularly lays a flawed egg.

You generally look at the boys for meat quality and the girls for egg laying. They both contribute genetically to all phases but roosters don't lay eggs so it's hard to evaluate them for egg laying. Most people are just interested in eating the cockerels, not the pullets, and the body conformation is different so it is easier to select the boys for meat traits. But since the hens contribute genetically just as much as the roosters to meat traits, keep the daughters of your better meat roosters. Just like, if your goals were eggs, you'd want to keep the sons of your good egg layers.

and still look like a good example of the breed

I agree with Egghead, if your goal is just meat, why is this important? If you are breeding for show, breeding to the SOP would be important. Maybe if you are planning on selling hatching eggs or chicks this might be important. But if your goal is meat what difference does it make if the comb stands upright, the eye color is right, or if the feather color/pattern is off a bit? The more traits you are breeding for the more complicated it gets to pick your breeders. Keep it as simple as you can.

Or is there something I'm missing?

Always is, but I don't know what. Things hardly ever turn out the way you plan. That's why you get your feet wet, just try and see what happens. Be flexible.

Good luck!

 

[3KillerBs]

My general rule is to eat the ones you don't want to breed and breed the ones you want to eat.

Superb advice!

It doesn't happen often but you can get a hen that regularly lays a flawed egg.

Yes, I have a SLW whom I can't use to start my Silver-Laced Australorp(ish) Project because every egg she's ever laid has either had heavy calcium deposits, wrinkles, or both.

 

[Molpet]

Superb advice!



Yes, I have a SLW whom I can't use to start my Silver-Laced Australorp(ish) Project because every egg she's ever laid has either had heavy calcium deposits, wrinkles, or both.

Yes the only half cx pullet that hatched laid double yolk eggs

 

[imacowgirl2]

Should be decent stock from Freedom Ranger compared to other hatchery stock but I'd have started off with more. I once got 7 pullets out of 7 straight run chicks. I learned then to order how many of what sex I want. It will be interesting to see how many of what sex you get.

I originally ordered 15, 16 arrived, but early losses brought me down to 10.

You may want to evaluate this age criteria. A lot of it depends on how you want to cook them, especially the boys. When the hormones hit the texture and flavor change with the boys, not so much with the girls. But there can be a lot of difference in size in just a couple of weeks, for the boys especially. I don't know your experience level with butchering and eating chickens. For our own reasons some of us like to butcher at a fairly young age, some later. We all have our own sweet spot based on how we cook them, size, and how we feed and raise them.

I want to aim for maximum size I can get while still getting a somewhat tender bird...I plan to cook at least 80% of them whole in the pressure cooker though, so I'm not sure if that gives me more leeway on the tenderness side of things or not? What age would I need to process them to be before the hormones hit? I'm not sure yet what amount of flavor I'll like, since I can be somewhat picky about my meat, and I'm used to eating birds from the store.

My only experience with butchering and eating non-store-bought chickens came from one time about 10 years ago that my father in law butchered a bunch of old hens; they were butchered, cleaned, tossed in ziplock bags and put in the freezer -- and came out of the freezer inedible as far as I was concerned when my mother in law fried them up. To say it was awful is an understatement...especially since it was the hot summer and I was 8.5 months pregnant on butchering day.

Since then, I've done a ton of research about how to let the meat rest to let rigor mortis pass, using shrink bags to package for the freezer, etc, and I'm obviously going to be working with younger birds, so I'm hoping my results are much more palatable to myself and my family.

I personally like to evaluate my pullets for egg laying before I decide which ones to keep. Early egg laying is a plus, rate of laying is important to me. When I'm trying to fill an incubator I want them to lay enough eggs. I want them to lay a hatchable egg. It doesn't happen often but you can get a hen that regularly lays a flawed egg.

I definitely want enough eggs; so do you raise the pullets to point of lay and then select and eat the rest at that point? Or do you do something else with the unwanted pullets (sell, etc) at that point?

I agree with Egghead, if your goal is just meat, why is this important? If you are breeding for show, breeding to the SOP would be important. Maybe if you are planning on selling hatching eggs or chicks this might be important. But if your goal is meat what difference does it make if the comb stands upright, the eye color is right, or if the feather color/pattern is off a bit? The more traits you are breeding for the more complicated it gets to pick your breeders. Keep it as simple as you can.

Good point...I guess I wasn't really thinking about it as detailed as eye color, feather pattern, etc -- more just an overall nice to look at bird with no deformities, etc.

Thanks for all the advice so far, its been super helpful!

 

[Molpet]

Spent hens are not fried... rubber bands fried would be better lol

Suggested cooking methods based on age of harvest

 

[3KillerBs]

my father in law butchered a bunch of old hens; they were butchered, cleaned, tossed in ziplock bags and put in the freezer -- and came out of the freezer inedible as far as I was concerned when my mother in law fried them up. To say it was awful is an understatement.

Oh dear!

The old girls would have made the world's best slow-cooked chicken and dumplings instead of the world's worst fried chicken.