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Is that current science? It does not change genes to do this--same as humans. Within one generation of not using the feed, they will be right back to what they were. It is not permanent.

If you pump up a chicken and make it grow more meat because of feeding methods, that will not change the genetics. The next generation would need to be on the new feed to get more meat or it will go back to scrawny. The famous example is if you cut off a mouses leg, the missing leg will not be...

Watch the documentary called cooked and then rethink this whole subject. Post back here after you watch it.

I watched a very good documentary on Netflix called cooked by Michael Pollan. He has some very interesting observations about food and our evolution with it. One thing to watch out for is the Snake Oil salesmen when it comes to nutrition. They are out to sell stuff--books, programs and even...

If you can slaughter, process and cook before rigor starts, and it is a 14 week old bird, It will be tender. If rigor has set in, it will be tough until rigor is gone. Supposedly pithing(poking the brain through the nostril) will lessen rigor but I have not tried this.

Yes! It allows rigor to stop.

I have a pdf in my files with details:

Thanks Karen! It is a good article--and they stressed temperature as the most important factor. Adequate turning, temperature plus or minus .5F from 99.5 and humidity in the 25 to 50% range with fertile eggs will get a hatch rate over 80%. Other things like the CO2, cooling cycle and misting...

You are doing great! It is not all luck but a lot of good husbandry.

You are talking about the theory that they can either make meat or eggs but not both? You are proving that one to be false. I have seen this with Pita Pintas too. The cockerels are big fast and the pullets\hens lay lots of big eggs. The number of egg laid has to do with the ovaries producing...

And it is a lot harder to dry pluck a chicken.

One advantage of dry plucking is that you can use the feathers for art and jewelry stuff--like tying fish lures. Does anyone sell feathers here?

Don't go over 150 for the water temperature and it only takes a couple of minutes. Use a thermometer to make sure the water is not too hot. What you do is use tongs to push them down and swish them about. You are ready to pluck when a wing feather pulls out easily. A squirt of dish soap in the...

I shared an order of SG Dorkings and Partridge Rocks from McMurray--The first batch came with over half of them dead and dying. The replacement shipment was the same. Eventually we got a refund. It was February but still, so much death is terrible!

Those are nice guides! I did not read anything in them about culling for pelvic bone size though. When I said pinced tail I was not talking about wry tail. @Alaskan read the guides--it has great stuff about important things for egg production, like correct feed, not too much protein, light...

The best layers from the hatcheries are often a bit pinched in the tail. I think maybe a guy that was into phrenology may have been a bit off on this one. Can you quote some recent scientific poultry research papers?

Yes and many are starting the show season--That take up a lot of time. When the light goes low and egg production drops(Cock birds lose fertility too) they stop for sure in the Fall. With the recent heat wave, many cannot get fertile egg because of that. We are not talking about big hatcheries...

This is normal for breeding chickens. Most Breeders stop hatching now and start back up in January.

Yay! I have posted about feather fixer before--Amazing stuff! Around here, TSC carries it.

Yes, it is called inbreeding and is what you need to do to get a show quality breed--or just to get the genes to stick. It is fine to do this with chickens. after 4 or 5 years you will want to bring in some fresh ones--looking for points that you need to fix in your flock.