Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[centrarchid]

I do same now. Culls given / sold to others not likely to breed them. Sadly that repressents 99% of folks out there. Birds kept for further breeding according to SOP and my production criteria.

 

[centrarchid]

I must make a descision about selection criteria for my dominiques. It deals with age at harvest for meat. The age must be consistent and great enough so animals will be muscled out. They have to do this in a free range setting with a restricted feed ration where > 1/3 of nutrition derived from forage (green plants mostly with animal protein considered insignificant). The question is should 16 or 20 weeks be used as harvest age? Pullets I think should be about 4 lbs and cockerols 5 lbs live weight, respectively. Four week increment desired to make setting dates of harvest based on hatch date simple. I want to follow guidelines of ALBC but age for harvest not detailed.

 

[cubalaya]

thats the age that we are processing. 18 weeks for the australorps and 20 for cubalaya. i think the delawares might be ready at 16 weeks.

 

[saladin]

Quote:
Actually, if the birds you are starting with are hatchery stock birds, then the chances of them being really what they are suppose to be is slim anyway. There are exceptions (Shady Lane, Sand Hill, some breeds from the other hatcheries), but this is sadly the case.

If selling just sell them as 'Hatchery stock __________.'

 

[OwensMom]

Quote:
Urban Chaos, this has been my dilema as well. I would like some "Heritage" birds bred to the SOP for egg production but I don"t necessarily want to breed. Leave that up to people with more knowledge than I have. I'm finding it hard to acquire that stock and am not sure why. Anyone with insight, please weigh in.

 

[centrarchid]

Quote:
Urban Chaos, this has been my dilema as well. I would like some "Heritage" birds bred to the SOP for egg production but I don"t necessarily want to breed. Leave that up to people with more knowledge than I have. I'm finding it hard to acquire that stock and am not sure why. Anyone with insight, please weigh in.

OwensMom,

I had a breed (American Dominique) of interest. Looked up organizations on internet interested in the breed and found the Dominique Club of America. Then scanned membership / authorship for members near me (Missouri) and contacted closest. Then arranged meeting with party at poultry show. Learned a lot and setup to acquire first birds. More fun than ordering from hatchery.

 

[centrarchid]

Quote:
I am going to settle on 20 weeks as my dominiques should be more similar I think to you cubalayas. Are you free ranging your birds?

 

[OwensMom]

Quote:
Urban Chaos, this has been my dilema as well. I would like some "Heritage" birds bred to the SOP for egg production but I don"t necessarily want to breed. Leave that up to people with more knowledge than I have. I'm finding it hard to acquire that stock and am not sure why. Anyone with insight, please weigh in.

OwensMom,

I had a breed (American Dominique) of interest. Looked up organizations on internet interested in the breed and found the Dominique Club of America. Then scanned membership / authorship for members near me (Missouri) and contacted closest. Then arranged meeting with party at poultry show. Learned a lot and setup to acquire first birds. More fun than ordering from hatchery.

Centrarchid, thanks for the advice. Hope to get down to Denver to meet some folks and try that approach. I've had hatchery chickens and I'd like to move on. Thanks

 

[centrarchid]

OwensMom.
The hatchery route is excellent start. Helped me sound intelligent or at least like I had a little experience beyond games.

 

[OwensMom]

Hatchery birds kind of helped me narrow the field so far as what breeds of foul that I liked. But since I found this site and know the difference in Quality and authenticity I now want the real thing. Just difficluty to acquire. I don't live in a breeding hotbed to say the least. Iam determined to get obtain a few nice birds.