Meat Bird Project - Delaware, White Rock, Dark Cornish

[KoopOnTruckin]

Well I haven't been able to get weights on any of my chicks because of a broken scale but just looking at them it is easy to tell that my Del's are the biggest, followed by the WR's, DC, and then Dorking.

Also I am super excited, I found some Standard White Cornish. They are a 4 months old, 1 rooster and 2 pullets. Going to pick them up in a couple of days. They are "show stock" and where raised for showing at a fair. So I will get to play with them and get to make some crosses with what I have now. It should be fun.

And I forgot to comment on the BEST part of your post - getting LF White Cornish?!? That's awesome!! I will definitely have to keep track of your progress with those, maybe hit you up for a couple offspring when they get older...!

 

[KoopOnTruckin]

I'll be posting updated weights tonight! I may up the protein in the feed a bit as it looks like the overall growth rate is already slowing quite a bit and the pullets are only about 4 weeks old now.
Not sure yet, we'll see

On another note, they are all getting much less frightened by me handling them! But boy, they give me a hard time catching them haha. They know that they're getting faster and like racing me now, which can be fun... Sometimes

Looking forward to seeing the weights. Yes, seeing the difference still in the weights of the 2 groups, they were only on different amounts of protein for like 2 weeks maybe, it's worth going with whatever the highest protein you can get. I'm even looking into a 27 or 28% protein for another type of bird altogether (the type eludes me right now, I think my lack of sleep is catching up to me...) that I'll likely use when my DC/WR crosses come to fruition.

 

[Bigshooter]

I would say that my DELs look like they'd be the heaviest, but it's mostly just fluffy feathers. The weights don't lie... Maybe try a "lady justice" approach and hold what looks like the largest DEL in one hand and the largest WR in the other hand and see what feels heaviest?

I have held a few of the biggest of both a bunch of times now, and I still believe that my Del's are the biggest without a doubt.

 

[KoopOnTruckin]

Interesting, I'm wondering if my Dels are just smaller than others. I'd definitely be interested in weights if you are ever able to get some.

 

[Dlmillion]

Here my updated spreadsheet with weights from this week.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8In3P9Jq5XKUEtWbnJvVnpXXzQ

Overall growth weight dropped from about 40% to about 20% which seems like it is just a bit too drastic. Perhaps it's just human error and im doing a poor job at giving them enough food. I must confess i have been very occupied with work and building this coop that there are times where they go a bit longer than i'd like getting their feeder refilled. I am going to go another week with the same feed and if the growth rates don't go up, i'll up the protein content a bit.

Delaware are still definitely the smallest for me. The Australorps and New Hampshires are still neck in neck, excited to see if one starts outgrowing the other as they mature more!

 

[Ulladh]

Ben a while since I got to see this, on holidays at the moment for little over a week so can't wait to see the difference. Sometimes it takes a while away to really notice!

I'm the broiler post, after investigating I too found white rocks mentioned as the base female stock for both the "ross" and "cobb" that in the UK are both separate companies, same idea though. Lesser known is the Hubbard.

Definitely feel my proteins too low, found out it was only 20% but that's because game bird season is over here and I couldn't get my 28% partridge starter, which I find even better for.chicks because it's smaller bite sizes and less dust.

I'll have to wait until next year I suppose. Definitely it seems crossing your WR hens and a faster growing or bigger roo will help! Do you know any commercial guys near you to "borrow" a roo? If he is in parent stock that is.

Think I've mentioned before but I'm going to try the commercial roo who is the grand parent with my la bresse. So he should throw super fast growing offspring but that are still capable of breeding

 

[KoopOnTruckin]

Here my updated spreadsheet with weights from this week.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8In3P9Jq5XKUEtWbnJvVnpXXzQ

Overall growth weight dropped from about 40% to about 20% which seems like it is just a bit too drastic. Perhaps it's just human error and im doing a poor job at giving them enough food. I must confess i have been very occupied with work and building this coop that there are times where they go a bit longer than i'd like getting their feeder refilled. I am going to go another week with the same feed and if the growth rates don't go up, i'll up the protein content a bit.

Delaware are still definitely the smallest for me. The Australorps and New Hampshires are still neck in neck, excited to see if one starts outgrowing the other as they mature more!

I'm surprised, your Dels are all pullets, so I just compared to my Del pullets and mine are only slightly larger than yours. At 4 weeks, my Del pullets (24% protein) averaged 295.5 grams, yours (18% protein) averaged 281 grams. I'm assuming your Del stock is much better than mine.

GREAT notes at the bottom! Love how detailed you're being.

 

[Dlmillion]

@KoopOnTruckin I guess there is very much the possibility of the stock I got being better, or perhaps it's just got to do with climate or maybe the extra scraps and weeds I toss in occasionally. I fear it would take a great deal of experimentation and observation to really identify how to maximize growth efficiency. It's becoming more clear to me that, to answer all the questions that keeping popping up in my mind, it will take several years of keen observations and rather detailed record keeping to get a grasp on chickens the way I'd like to! Mind you, this is more of an exciting realization than anything because I know that there's always more that can be learned and the questions are limitless! I look forward to spending many years raising chickens and really just getting to know all that I can about them through real life experimentation.

I figure that spending 5-10 minutes a week keeping some notes will be well worth it in the long run. I am very much enjoying myself with the whole process as of yet. I will, however, be very relieved when I finish this coop and be able to relax a bit more haha.

 

[Dlmillion]

One thing that I am definitely curious about, is how our growth rates change as winter approaches because it'll start getting quite cold here with significantly shorter days.
Should be interesting data at least

 

[Kiki]

Guys keep up all the good work!
I love reading everything and taking notes for my FUTURE project!

Thanks!