Breeding for meat qualities in a sustainable dual purpose breed

[saladin]

Good luck. saladin

 

[TimG]

Saladin, I have a copy of your message before it went through the (significant!) edit and thought I'd respond to a couple of things.

I have thought for a while that hybrid vigor would better be described as the opposite of what is lost through inbred lines. If you take two diverse lines and combine them you will not experience as much hybrid vigor as you would if you combine two highly inbred lines; I think your doubts concerning the benefits of crossing two lines are valid. On the flip side, I don't think there is a whole lot of diversity in the lines of Delawares out there and suspect the same is even more true of "old-timey" New Hampshires (if I ever find any), so I expect there would be some real benefit from infusing these lines with new blood.

My preference would be to work towards my goals through selective breeding of a single breed. Some of the Rangers I had last summer were colored very much like a New Hampshire, so I did not think it would be a huge project to mix New Hampshires and Rangers to produce something that was breeding rather true. I could well be under-estimating the time and effort required -- not that I have any firm estimates in mind -- this is something of a see-what-happens undertaking.

Thanks for your comments, they are appreciated.

 

[paduanchook]

I hatched some cuckoo marans eggs and discovered the brahma roo got in there. I have been impressed with this cross. Although they look like cuckoo marans with feathered feet, they have seriously out grown my wyandottes. They are two months younger but are already bigger than them, I wanna see where this goes, I may breed this cross to each other and see what happens

 

[Davaroo]

From what I can ascertain there has never been a great emphasis on gargantuan, dual purpose birds. The average weights today are not much different than what they were a hundred years ago.

 

[TimG]

Quote:
That may well be true, but the standards (APA) list weights that are quite a bit bigger than average, so I think there has always been at least a few breeders who have paid attention to size.

 

[saladin]

Quote:
It was quite an edit wasn't it!

Letting me give you some insight from breeding Asil. This year I combined some Hyderabads with my Spangled Asil. The Hyderabads I have are very highly inbred (possibly for 75 years: 35 years for sure). The Spangles are not as inbred. Anyway, the cross is within the same breed: Asil; so, it is not technically an outcross.

The cock I used is around 5 1/2 lbs. while the hen was about 3 lbs. The resulting chicks are HUGE. At 6 months of age the stags are already 6 lbs. and much taller than the original cock or hen. Usually Asil continue to grow for nearly 2 years. It will be interesting to see the mature weights. However, what was achieved was a significant weight in 6 months compared to 2 years: all the result of heterosis.

Think Hybrid Corn!!!!

I surely hope this information helps you. saladin

 

[Badrock2]

Quote:

You did NOT break the rules!

Someone else did.

Great thread! I am finding your findings very interesting.

I am also interesed in creating a beautiful mutt of a dual purpopse bird.

Keep it up.

I am following this as I have the same desire for a cross. I have Barred rock and Delawares and wondering where to start. What breed to introduce to what I have. Anything you find out I would love to hear from you