BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[Fire Ant Farm]

I am SOOOOO behind!!! I did a read back (though it was hard - this thread is so dense with such good info, it goes slow and I'll need to go back and re-read some).

But before that, an update for me (some of this also posted on NN thread - apologies for repetition, my NN bruthas and sisters):

I just culled nine 17-week old cockerels today - 4 copper maran, 2 cream legbar, 2 olive egger, and 1 German New Hampshire with a bit of a cross beak. SO MANY FEATHERS!!!!!! I SOOOOOO was wishing they were NNs...

I have a lot in the mix in my yard currently. I have been very pleased with the German New Hampshires I got from Eight Acres (I kept three cockerels that I will let grow out further to evaluate, and I have three pullets). I think in the end, despite any other interesting "ideas", my primary project goal will be a cross of the GNH with Naked Necks - the GMHs handle heat just fine, but, interestingly, weight charts show that the NNs have grown faster (and also - easier processing). For consistency, I think I will cross Tank (black tailed red) with the GNH pullets, and I'll cross the GNH cockerel with my buff NNs - working toward a line. I will keep pure GNHs as well, so I'll be able to mix in/line breed as desired. I think that will be the "serious" project and line I will work on - the rest will be diddling...

So: Tank crossed with the GNH pullets (pullet photo here is of Maude at 16 weeks - sorry, doesn't show her body well, she's on my knee)




And Mr. Black or Mr. Grey (original names, huh? it's their leg bands) with Sweetie, Puppy, and Buffy. (Pullet photo is of Puppy)





I had not intended to keep any Marans boys, but there is a Splash Copper boy who has such impressive weight and growth that I've decided to keep him. Not sure what I'll do with him yet. his name is Chunky Monkey (photo doesn't do him justice - good weight and good body):


Meanwhile, Tank is with the hatchery Speckled Sussex girls currently - they are a happy family. I had decided not to breed them, but the SS girls, though not huge, have had a kind of unexpectedly impressive body type and breasts when handled (you GOTTA handle those birds to see what under those feathers!!!!!!). So I may actually give it a shot and see what I get. The nice thing is that Tank is NN, so all his babies will be Nn.



It's been 98-100F every day for ages now (I've lost track, but a month or two), which is typical here (or even a bit mild for us). Humidity comes and goes, not super low, but fortunately not usually super high. I have misters set up for each paddock that I run when it's over 95F. It has made a huge difference in the birds' comfort. I have ice in the freezer, but will only use it on mornings when I have to be at work all day and forecast is 105-ish (hasn't happened yet).

And just for fun - the lavender ameraucana cockerel I decided to keep (Goodwin) as a blue egg gene donor and flock rooster for the motley egg laying coop girls, has a new name. He now only answers to "General Robert E. Lee".

I'll get weights tomorrow, and then I'll post the graphs. It's been interesting to follow...

- Ant Farm

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Shucks! I lost my quotes from my read back!!!! And too tired to remember anything.

- Ant Farm

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

Totally agree. I've probably learned more info from Backyard Chickens that all the books I've read combined. I only subscribed to two threads, this one and my state thread, but there's like tons of great info from people with a lot more experience than me. It's a great benefit.

There's no poultry club near me, so this is one of my poultry clubs!

 

[Mini Meat]

I have a question about processing chickens with a 2 yr old about.
I'm thinking at that age she doesn't really need to see the dying but should be okay for the rest of it.

I'm thinking that we could keep her away while the birds are killed then let her help with the plucking and observe the rest.
I don't want to hide the process from her but don't want to traumatize her either. Part of me thinks the younger she is exposed the easier it will be for her.

Would love to hear others experiences with kids and processing.

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

OK, weights. The GNHs' weight seems to have flattened out this week - it was a tough week with heat and the group of boys had started fighting (I really should have culled last week, but I couldn't). I also think they may be molting... Getting to handle them every week is the added data that can't be graphed. Nice blocky well proportioned bodies on GNHs, though GNH Mr. Blue has less breast/more keel than I'd like. Solid body on Chunky Monkey (different body type, more leg/thigh). General Lee (on here as Goodwin) is scrawny by comparison, but he's an Ameraucana, so... (I really just weigh him for comparison and to make sure he doesn't dip).

As before, upper light grey is the three largest hatchery Naked Necks for reference, Snape being top dog, so to speak.




- Ant Farm

 

[Kusanar]

Finished our "Clear The Shelter" adoption event. I know these are not chickens, but we adopted out 29 Shelter Dogs and 26 Cats. 
I am so proud of all the folks that helped us place our pets in homes. 55 adoptions in 6 hours. Our girls where smoking the paperwork!e e

Congrats!

 

[DesertChic]

I'll be making my first attempt at breeding for egg laying qualities this coming fall with Barred Rocks. I've been reading a lot about the subject and one of the things I know you have to be religious about is record keeping. That sounds easy enough and is when it comes to the father, but what the heck do you do when it comes to identifying the mother since it seems logical/more efficient to put a cock in with a couple of hens rather than breeding one hen at a time? I'm thinking I could list the possible mothers when breeding future cock offspring back to the mother but this wouldn't be exactly accurate. What do most breeders do? Breed one hen at a time maybe? Any info would be appreciated.

@bnjrob already gave you outstanding advice, but I will also add my two cents here since I've basically dividing my breeding program into two primary lines, one for meat birds and one for egg birds. My setup allowed me to keep smaller individual flocks of laying birds, which also allowed me to become familiar not only with frequency of laying, but egg size, color, shape, etc. I'm one of those nerdy people who actually tracks egg laying on a spreadsheet, and it's proven exceptionally helpful to me when deciding which birds I want to breed for egg laying tendency. For example, my BR named Luna is an outstanding layer of jumbo-sized eggs. She was the first bird to start laying at 18 weeks to the day, and even during the harshest molt never dropped below four eggs per week. Her sister BR named Sky proved far more sporadic in her laying, averaging 4 large eggs per week and dropping to only 1 per week during molt. It was a no-brainer as to which one I would breed, and all of Luna's offspring have been fantastic layers that start early and lay jumbo-sized eggs.

I've also found it helpful to mix hens that lay different colored eggs in the same nesting area. I won't use trap nesting because of the heat out here, but once they're all laying in the same boxes it's really easy to discern one bird's eggs from the others based on color alone.

 

[DesertChic]

I have a question about processing chickens with a 2 yr old about.
I'm thinking at that age she doesn't really need to see the dying but should be okay for the rest of it.

I'm thinking that we could keep her away while the birds are killed then let her help with the plucking and observe the rest.
I don't want to hide the process from her but don't want to traumatize her either. Part of me thinks the younger she is exposed the easier it will be for her.

Would love to hear others experiences with kids and processing.

Wow, that really is a tough one. How much does a 2-year old really understand about death? When my son was about that age he got his first lesson while playing with a large grasshopper. After handling it gleefully, the bug spit on him and made him mad, so he stepped on it, killing it. Then he decided he wanted to play with it some more but it was dead. That's when he learned that "dead is dead" and there's no going back. He cried for over an hour and since then hasn't wanted to kill anything. Seriously...the kid is 17 years old now and refused to even flush a dying goldfish with tumors growing off of it as long as it's still alive. (Spiders, mosquitoes, and flies are the exceptions. He kills them with great enthusiasm.) When I process the chickens he stays in the house until the bird is dead. He'll heat the water for scalding, will watch sometimes while I'm carving up the carcass, and helps abundantly with the cleanup since the sight of blood doesn't faze him, but he HATES the actual killing and refuses to take part in it.

So....I guess my position is, it depends upon your kid's own personality traits. My son was always very sensitive and sympathetic of others, and that's not conducive to butchering livestock of any sort. I know of other kids who are relatively unaffected by it all from very young ages onward. Use your best judgement. Nobody knows your kid like you do.

 

[DesertChic]

Okay, it's not chicken, but we have been breeding them for production...my first Tilapia harvest from my aquaponics setup!





The larger was measured 14-15 inches long and the smaller was 12-13 inches long. The fillets were about 3/4 of an inch thick at their thickest point. These guys had about 7 months to grow to this size. It's been a long time since either my husband or I had filleted a fish, but we didn't do too badly and I know we'll only get better at it from here.

 

[DesertChic]

OK, weights. The GNHs' weight seems to have flattened out this week - it was a tough week with heat and the group of boys had started fighting (I really should have culled last week, but I couldn't). I also think they may be molting... Getting to handle them every week is the added data that can't be graphed. Nice blocky well proportioned bodies on GNHs, though GNH Mr. Blue has less breast/more keel than I'd like. Solid body on Chunky Monkey (different body type, more leg/thigh). General Lee (on here as Goodwin) is scrawny by comparison, but he's an Ameraucana, so... (I really just weigh him for comparison and to make sure he doesn't dip).

As before, upper light grey is the three largest hatchery Naked Necks for reference, Snape being top dog, so to speak.



- Ant Farm

My birds have been molting HORRIBLY! Seriously, half of my hens look like they've been beaten daily with a broom. Even my roosters look tattered.