Ari_m
In the Brooder
- May 3, 2020
- 27
- 27
- 49
I’d love to hear anyone’s experiences with good quality(not hatchery) Wyandottes- and hybrids as well! Photos, growth rates, average finishing age & weights, are all greatly appreciated as well.
I live in a neighborhood and have gotten along well with my sweet Delaware rooster who only ever crowed when a predator was around. All my neighbors loved him and no one was bothered by the occasional crowd. Sadly, he died last week due to heart problems. He was over ten pounds and had the nicest fleshed breast on him- I couldn’t feel his keel well when I picked him up. He was great for my own backyard meat source, but not anymore.
However, I have found a Wyandotte rooster someone is rehoming with a similar disposition/ a “low crower”- so I have a chance at another rooster. But it would be a 5 hour drive round trip to get him, so I want to be sure before making the decision. He is a golden laced Wyandotte, and looks to have nice width, a decent breast, and nearly as massive as my Delaware, at only 7 months of age. Not scrawny like other Wyandotte roosters I’ve seen.
I had set a few dozen eggs from my Delaware in the incubator last week and I have 2 chicks developing. I thought I could cross this Wyandotte to these(if there’s a hen), and a bresse hen- for hybrid vigor, increased breast size, and a better growth rate. I should also be able to do a gold/silver sex-linked cross with this one, and sell the females at hatch so I save on the feed bill- selling the hens would pay for the feed to raise the males until processing age, without needing to waste my feed on the females I won’t be keeping.
I live in a neighborhood and have gotten along well with my sweet Delaware rooster who only ever crowed when a predator was around. All my neighbors loved him and no one was bothered by the occasional crowd. Sadly, he died last week due to heart problems. He was over ten pounds and had the nicest fleshed breast on him- I couldn’t feel his keel well when I picked him up. He was great for my own backyard meat source, but not anymore.
However, I have found a Wyandotte rooster someone is rehoming with a similar disposition/ a “low crower”- so I have a chance at another rooster. But it would be a 5 hour drive round trip to get him, so I want to be sure before making the decision. He is a golden laced Wyandotte, and looks to have nice width, a decent breast, and nearly as massive as my Delaware, at only 7 months of age. Not scrawny like other Wyandotte roosters I’ve seen.
I had set a few dozen eggs from my Delaware in the incubator last week and I have 2 chicks developing. I thought I could cross this Wyandotte to these(if there’s a hen), and a bresse hen- for hybrid vigor, increased breast size, and a better growth rate. I should also be able to do a gold/silver sex-linked cross with this one, and sell the females at hatch so I save on the feed bill- selling the hens would pay for the feed to raise the males until processing age, without needing to waste my feed on the females I won’t be keeping.
