BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[DesertChic]

What do you use to keep track and make graphs like that?

What do you use for weighing the birds?


Up until last fall, weight was not really an interest of mine.. if size was part of selection, it was done by eyeballing/handling same age birds. Pretty rough and nothing close to some of you have been doing!

I use a digital scale (kitchen style) - when they get past a certain size and/or it's hard to get them to stand still, I put a bucket on the scale, tare the scale, and then place the bird in the bucket (it's not a deep one). I just use Excel to track and make charts...

- Ant Farm

Yep! Same here! Except I've never used the bucket on the scale. I just calm them down until they're willing to stand there for me.

 

[bnjrob]

Yep! Same here! Except I've never used the bucket on the scale. I just calm them down until they're willing to stand there for me.

I've got way too many birds to wait for them to cooperate. I've got a hanging fish scale and a cage they get put into. Otherwise, we go for the weigh the human with and without the bird then subtract method.

 

[DesertChic]

Yes, with unknown/unfamiliars- in this case, this breed being new to you.. best to simply note it and wait until it matures. It may correspond to something- wrong color or specific trait of some sort, maybe not.

@DesertChic did that one look like he may have been single barred? Bb instead of BB to use the Nn vs NN analogy.

Single barred(Bb) roosters are darker overall than double barreds(BB). One common trait of Bb roosters is the tail being mostly solid/even colored instead of showing obvious barring over the whole tail feathers. It's far from universal though, as barring is influenced by various genes.

Sorry...I forgot to respond to your inquiry yesterday. I honestly can't say for certain since I'm still not very strong in the poultry color genetics department, and I culled him around 18 weeks without taking many photos of him so I only have my recall to rely on...and that's not necessarily reliable anymore. I only have photos of him up through 3 weeks of age:


His white tips were a lot more prominent than on the other boys, and his chest was silver grey instead of brown.

Here's a comparison shot from my keeper, Bosch:

 

[DesertChic]

I've got way too many birds to wait for them to cooperate. I've got a hanging fish scale and a cage they get put into. Otherwise, we go for the weigh the human with and without the bird then subtract method.

It usually only takes me a couple minutes to calm them down, but I get what you're saying. Busy days don't allow for "pampering".

When my birds get bigger and I suddenly decide I want to know how much they way I use the human + bird on the scale technique too...and swear the birds to secrecy regarding how much I weigh.

 

[GabrielBane]

Gotta be grateful for working at a feed store and having ready access to things, had to go pick up some pick-no-more (which from what I read is mostly dyes and tree tea oil) for my second silver wheaten pullet, it seems she's really getting hammered in the brooder. I may separate her with the smaller Spitzhauben and see how she bounces back. She was one of my hopeful breeder's so I pray she's not affected in the long run.


Here's some photos of the damage, I applied some more pick-no-more after the photos ;

 

[Beer can]

I put the rambunctious one's to weigh in a paper bag. As soon as the bag is closed they still.

 

[DesertChic]

Gotta be grateful for working at a feed store and having ready access to things, had to go pick up some pick-no-more (which from what I read is mostly dyes and tree tea oil) for my second silver wheaten pullet, it seems she's really getting hammered in the brooder. I may separate her with the smaller Spitzhauben and see how she bounces back. She was one of my hopeful breeder's so I pray she's not affected in the long run.


Here's some photos of the damage, I applied some more pick-no-more after the photos ;

Oh, wow! They really have it in for her! Poor thing! I would definitely separate her from the others for a while.

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

Gotta be grateful for working at a feed store and having ready access to things, had to go pick up some pick-no-more (which from what I read is mostly dyes and tree tea oil) for my second silver wheaten pullet, it seems she's really getting hammered in the brooder. I may separate her with the smaller Spitzhauben and see how she bounces back. She was one of my hopeful breeder's so I pray she's not affected in the long run.


Here's some photos of the damage, I applied some more pick-no-more after the photos ;

I didn't think much of this until I realized........ hey this isn't a naked neck! Ouch. I found that without meat protein and a high enough protein level in the feed, I had feather picking problems in my flock. The ones that did not stop picking after they got meat protein and a higher protein feed, got culled. Apparently it's a heritable trait.

 

[FaerieChicken]

Weighing weekly (esp. as you get started), and plotting that growth, is really helpful for breeding for meat, because one of the things you want is a certain amount of weight/growth (which you'll decide on for yourself) by a certain young age. It is helpful in making the "cuts" for culling, and if one (or all) start falling off, you may want to see if something is going wrong. I found that it was helpful to use as a routine with the chicks, and I was sure I got a look at each one each week. It also helped when I compared to another breed I was growing out. And depending on the breed, you can even get an early hint at gender for some. Here's an example of my chart up to 12 weeks old from some NNs from Ideal that I got. You can see the split between males and females (of course, it was obvious by looking at them at that point). The quick growing light blue line at the top is Snape, my chosen main flock leader and breeder (though if he comes at me again, he may not stay that way):



- Ant Farm

Yep, as others here have already stated, the accumulation of regular data such as weights and rate of growth is extremely helpful in determining which birds are keepers and which should be culled. I weigh my birds weekly up to about 10 weeks, and then start tapering off to every 2 weeks up until roughly 18-24 weeks of age. Not only do I see which birds are growing most quickly, but tracking their gains also helps me determine at what point I can cut back on the amount of protein in their feed, and thereby save myself some money. Going through the process of weighing on a regular basis also makes the birds more comfortable with being handled. And like @Fire Ant Farm , I also graph the results for a visual aid.

Thank you, I printed out both insights! I will definitely be keeping a record of the upcoming hatch! 8 eggs are of my meat project, so those will be a most definite weekly weigh in, the other 11 are just the others in the flock that I have open pastured (Breeders are temporarily penned for insurance), gosh I hope I can catch the 8 and band them before the others end up hatching~

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

Here are some photos of my Buckeye crosses. They are around 29 weeks old.
Buckeye/Cornish cross- won't have to worry about freezing wattles and combs with this hen.




Buckeye/Cornish cross cockerels- legs could be a bit better yellow, not as good as straight Buckeye.

Buckeye/Cornish Crosses are nice and broad in the back. Leg length was variable, from quite long to quite short.


A Buckeye/Cornish cross hen. Exactly what I was hoping for.


My #1 choice of the Buckeye/cornish cockerels.


This is Lucky, the Buckeye/Red sex link cockerel. He was not supposed to be part of the breeding program but he's such a nice fellow, I like his conformation and he's good with the hens so.........