Breeding a meat hen with a RIR roo?!

[The-White-Elephant]

Here's a few from my crossing.

Big Boy(RIP)View attachment 2919158View attachment 2919159View attachment 2919160Big Boy's Brother, (Butchered)View attachment 2919162Sister(Butchered)View attachment 2919164Sister(Kept)View attachment 2919170There was originally a total of 10. 4 boys, & 6 girls.

2 of the boys died from Mycotoxicosis, from eating moldy feed. So that left me with 8, so not that bad.

Those look big! Are they bigger than jersey giants?

* did you make a new breed?*

 

[The-White-Elephant]

Big Boy was 15lbs, & 24 inches tall when standing fully.

Big Boy's, Brother was a bit lighter, between 12 ½, to 13lbs. He was a bit shorter too.

The pullets were almost the same size of the cockerels, & weighed about 9 ½ - 10lbs. Smallest was around 8lb - 7lbs.

Not a new breed, but was actually planning on using Big Boy for a new Breed project. But some careless person wrung his neck.

So sorry for him. But wow! They’re just as big as JG

 

[MysteryChicken]

So sorry for him. But wow! They’re just as big as JG

But we're abit faster growing then the JGs.

 

[The-White-Elephant]

But we're abit faster growing then the JGs.

Yeah, they take a long time to grow. But I’m glad that yours turned out!

 

[Morrigan]

I've not crossed McMurray reds before, but I have crossed a heritage rooster (Naked Neck) to other slow broiler hens -- Moyer's reds, a Red Ranger hen out of an Idaho hatchery and a slow white broiler from the feed store.

I've been pleased with the results. The offspring are a bit slower to grow out and a bit smaller than the true broiler stock, but much bigger and faster than my attempts to breed heritage on heritage. I typically got 4 to 5+ pound birds after 13 weeks from my hertiage/broiler rooster crosses. I waited a bit longer to process the hens, but got similar weights and tasty, tender hens at around 18 to 24 weeks. Overall, I found it an easy, and more enjoyable alternative to constantly ordering meat birds from the hatcheries.

 

[Torinik]

Alright, everyone... I want to find out if anyone has tried this (Was it a great idea? Was it a terrible idea? Is it worth a shot?):

It's not a direct answer to your question, but what I have done is breed a white broiler (CX) to a brown layer hybrid.
I was on F3 last season and have some real beasts walking around now. The small ones and slow growers were culled and eaten.

You can expect to see some very varied outcome. Just in feather color the offspring of those 2 has ranged from black to white and pretty much everything in between. I've had one with the weirdest grayish-blueish combination I have ever seen, not even mentioning the eyes of that one. And another dark grey/light brown combination and sort of golden laced. Very beautiful chickens to look at, but especially the first one had a very nervous character.
I've had very small and narrow chickens and big ones that are still here and turned out to be good to very good layers. Differences in sizes and growing speeds have been extreme in these first three generations.

So, it goes all over the place. I think you can expect the same with a meat hen and a RIR.

I'm hoping to get more consistency next season with the F4, especially with size and growing speed because that's basically the only thing I'm selecting on for now.

I'd say it's definitely worth a shot. If shoot you might miss, but if you don't shoot you will most certainly not hit anything.

 

[Ridgerunner]

All questions, opinions, and perspectives are welcome! Thank you everyone!

MysteryChicken's comment reminded me of a different perspective. What are your goals for a meat chicken? What traits do you consider good? A lot hinges on what age you butcher the chicken which affects how you can cook it. Some chickens can get huge but they grow slowly. For a long time they are more bones than meat. Can you wait for them to pack on meat? How important is early maturity for you?

How do you feed them? How important is feed to meat conversion rate to you? If you buy most or all of what they eat it could be very important. If they forage for most of their food it may be less important.

Is your preference for light meat or dark? Different breeds have different conformations.
Your goals and how you manage, feed, and cook them is an individual thing. We are all different. That's why I think it is a good idea to try a few different things and see which you personally prefer when they are raised in your conditions.

I don't know if anyone else remembers this. A few years back someone butchered Brahmas or a Brahma mix along with some other dual purpose or dual purpose mix cockerels and deboned them. I can't remember age or details. They said they got practically the same weight of meat from those skinny all-bone late maturing Brahma or Brahma mixes as the others. They did get a lot more bone. You can't always go by assumptions, it can make a big difference if you try it yourself.

 

[Smileybans]

I don’t know anything about genetics, so I could be wrong here, but isn’t the Sagitta the same thing? It’s a cross between a RIR and a Cornish cross… is that different? I really don’t know.

 

[baillywagner87]

I've never crossed a Broiler to another breed. I only do Heritage, or Heritage type chickens, & make crosses from them for meat.

Thank you! Is there a particular breed in your opinion that would be an ideal cross with our RIR roo for a heritage meat cross?

 

[MysteryChicken]

Thank you! Is there a particular breed in your opinion that would be an ideal cross with our RIR roo for a heritage meat cross?

If you have a Brahma, it would be a good experiment.