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  1. mandelyn

    Breeding ginger broilers

    Breeding hybrids is tricky because by the 3rd season, the results get sloppy and they start to divert to various backgrounds of their breeding history. Most offspring will lose growth rate, or size and the pool of decent replacement stock dwindles. It can be done with selection and much sorting...
  2. mandelyn

    How do you put weight on your birds?

    Definitely take some time time to sort/select your way through your flock looking for "table traits" to help the genetic side of how meaty they may get. That's all done through feel of the bird and getting hands on with the feel and structure. Going into dual purpose, I didn't know how varied it...
  3. mandelyn

    Processing Video - Hand Plucking - Cooked same day

    Several months ago I started documenting my flock and methods on YT. Finally got to do a processing video. Our freezer didn't have any chicken in it, since we were between harvest batches, but I did have a group of 14 week old American Bresse cockerels. So I went out and selected one that looked...
  4. mandelyn

    Raising Marans for meat.

    I spent 6 years working on dual purpose Marans, after trying 4 different lines I finally landed on some Black Silvers that fit the bill better, needing less breeding work in the table side of things. I was on a mission to improve growth rate, fleshing, SOP traits and keep egg color good. Got...
  5. mandelyn

    Bresse farms miss leading sales tactics…

    Yes, Frank in Florida has great stock!
  6. mandelyn

    Bresse farms miss leading sales tactics…

    I'm not sure if they went through the auction they use down there or if it was a direct sale. The other breeders working on them got them through Justin. The folks working on them are in the variety FB groups and posting their progress there. Most of them eat through their culls to monitor the...
  7. mandelyn

    Bresse farms miss leading sales tactics…

    Greenfire Farms imported the colored birds originally but they proved to be "leaky" and not breed true, showing silver and pattern leaking. So they sold them on and now Justin has them. There are now breeders working to clean up the colors into predictable solids and working on expressing the...
  8. mandelyn

    Any market for Ayam Cemani meat?

    A friend of mine is going to use Svort Hona and Bresse to create a fibro meat bird for the local Asian market. Here, 1lb Silkies are $18-$30 in the stores. She's going to aim for 4lb dressed weight. Ayam can be tricky to get a hold of and the quality of breeding varies tremendously. Her plan of...
  9. mandelyn

    Changed our flock to all 1 variety, for meat AND eggs

    Still going strong! We're seeing good fleshing throughout growth with dress weights typically in the 4lb-5lb for 16-18 week old cockerels. The pullets start laying in the 18-22 week range, I haven't pushed them for faster after seeing that their growth drops off with the first eggs. So the...
  10. mandelyn

    Changed our flock to all 1 variety, for meat AND eggs

    I feel like I've been through the gauntlet of poultry raising now, 25ish years into it. We've had most varieties at this point. I used to think it would be "quaint" to have a different variety in each of our pens, like a collection. Then I went down the rabbit hole of breeding and learning about...
  11. mandelyn

    Black Silver Marans... Who has them?

    That's what the Marans people call them because the desired look is a clean chest (on the cock bird) without leakage, much like the desired look for a Black Copper, just in silver. Birchen implies that there is silver on the chest, so from a color standpoint if they have Silver on the chest...
  12. mandelyn

    Black Silver Marans... Who has them?

    There's something about the contrast between the black and the silver that makes it my favorite chicken color. Especially when the color is clean and correct and it took me 5 years to breed my group towards better feather color. This year a couple sprouted up pretty decent! There's so...
  13. mandelyn

    Meatbird or rooster coop or run

    I have a 9x13 ish coop in a 1/8th acre field to grow out boys in. There is a brooder "insert" with 2 lamps in case it's cold out and they're still pretty little. There's also 2 tractors, 5 grow pens in the barn and 9 brooders, so that I can hatch ongoing and once I'm up and going there's usually...
  14. mandelyn

    Accidentally cut the crop

    To avoid the crop or leakage from anywhere else, I started using small (6 inch) ceramic knives for the detailed work. We "do the deed" up high on the neck, while they're in a cone. After they're scalded/plucked and it's time to process them down, I take the head off from the upper part of the...
  15. mandelyn

    Dual Purpose Success

    Greenfire line, once removed through a breeder. This past summer I added some from Bresse Farms for a strategic line cross, though the stock was "meh" besides 1 boys and 3 girls. Enough to do something with, at any rate. This is the boy I kept from the Bresse Farms, too long legged and his...
  16. mandelyn

    Dual Purpose Success

    Depends. If they're an outright cull, then they stay for supper. If they're acceptable chickens and I don't need them, then they go with the extra boys that have breeding merit that I also don't require. I can only fit 3 great boys at a time for each variety I have.
  17. mandelyn

    Dual Purpose Success

    For 5 years now we've been solidly, personal use, dual purpose and haven't had to buy any chicken or eggs at the store. It took a lot of learning to figure it out, but through selective breeding, decent flock size (50+ birds at any given time) and growing out a LOT of chicks in order to find the...
  18. mandelyn

    Are temperament and intelligence hereditary in chickens?

    There's a certain temperament I look for in my roosters, in addition to everything else, and it has proven genetic. I like a smart, savvy rooster with the skills of a gentleman, non aggressive towards people and not lacking in vigor. There's some differences from one to another and each will...
  19. mandelyn

    Proud Farmer moment!

    I love our Bourbons! My MIL insists on cooking a Thanksgiving bird along side ours, for whatever reason. Last year, her $0.99/lb Butterball that she cooked in a bag was grey in color. GREY!! Ours was a much more appetizing color. She tried to send the grey left overs with us and I accidentally...
  20. mandelyn

    Proud Farmer moment!

    The Bresse have a thinner skin, more mild dark meat on the thighs, fat marbling where they can get fat more evenly dispersed over the body and not globby, the breast meat is the "short fiber" type and not the longer strand type of texture. Chicken tastes like chicken, the differences are more...
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