Someone tell me if this idea is even feasible.

[Ridgerunner]

I don’t know if this will help you or not, but this video shows how one company in Canada raises the parents of the broiler chicks. It involves keeping several separate flocks. Four produce the grandparents of the broilers, two produce the parents of the broilers, then finally the flock that produces eggs to hatch the broilers.

You would need to know how to select the best breeders from either of these flocks to maintain the quality of the birds. You would also have to selectively feed each flock so they don’t get so big they can’t breed or suffer the health problems of the broilers.

Broiler Chicken Videos

I really don’t think it’s feasible on your scale, plus just getting the original great-grandparent stock for the four different original flocks is probably going to be real difficult.

What might work for you is to select breeding stock from your broiler chicks and limit their feed so they never get too big to breed or develop the health problems the broilers experience. I think it will be really difficult to learn how to feed them to keep them within weight limits, but it’s probably possible. I don’t think your stock will remain as good as the 4 way hybrid crosses you are getting, but you should be able to produce some decent stock.

Good luck!!! You have selected a difficult challenge.

 

[dbaydak]

Nice to meet you Ash10383. Yeap we are definitely neighbors. We also do a lot of shopping at Rural King in Tiffin.... they have great sales and good prices. We should keep each other posted on how are birds are doing, and how they finish out. I will try and get some decent pictures of our baby Jersey Giants.... they don't look like much right now, all fuzz. We also have 6 Brahams, that are suppose to be good dual purpose birds, but it looks like most of them are going to be roo's. Great to meet you, look forward to hearing from you and how your flock is doing.

 

[AgroUrica]

I don’t know if this will help you or not, but this video shows how one company in Canada raises the parents of the broiler chicks. It involves keeping several separate flocks. Four produce the grandparents of the broilers, two produce the parents of the broilers, then finally the flock that produces eggs to hatch the broilers.

You would need to know how to select the best breeders from either of these flocks to maintain the quality of the birds. You would also have to selectively feed each flock so they don’t get so big they can’t breed or suffer the health problems of the broilers.

Broiler Chicken Videos

I really don’t think it’s feasible on your scale, plus just getting the original great-grandparent stock for the four different original flocks is probably going to be real difficult.

What might work for you is to select breeding stock from your broiler chicks and limit their feed so they never get too big to breed or develop the health problems the broilers experience. I think it will be really difficult to learn how to feed them to keep them within weight limits, but it’s probably possible. I don’t think your stock will remain as good as the 4 way hybrid crosses you are getting, but you should be able to produce some decent stock.

Good luck!!! You have selected a difficult challenge.

Thanks for those links. I'll definitely check them out.

Since posting this thread I've corresponded with Dr. Chris McDaniel, poultry specialist at Mississippi State University. Here's what he had to say:

I wish I had better news for you, but the commercial line broilers you are already buying are hybrids. They have been produced by crossing pure lines. If you were to breed the broilers that you have, you will not end up with birds that produce as well as the current broilers you have. In addition, if you allow your current broilers to reach sexual maturity, their livability, egg production and hatchability will very likely be horrible, because they have been bred so extensively for meat production. You would really need to buy day old broiler breeder chicks from one of the primary breeding companies in order to produce true commercial broilers that have great performance characteristics. Some of the broiler primary breeding companies include: Aviagen ( http://en.aviagen.com/broiler-breeders/ ), Cobb-Vantress ( http://www.cobb-vantress.com/ ), and Hubbard ( http://www.hubbardbreeders.com/ ). Of course, other breeds of chickens besides commercial broilers, like White Rocks or Rhode Island Reds, may be available in your local area. These birds do not covert feed to muscle as well as commercial broilers, but they reproduce easily.

So now it's on to Plan B.