BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[sharkman]

What ever happened to Rons video? did it get posted in different thread or to YouTube ? If so please put a link!
Rob

 

[LindaB220]

What ever happened to Rons video? did it get posted in different thread or to YouTube ? If so please put a link!
Rob

We haven't heard back from Jason yet. He was trying to get a message to Ron to find out some info I think? But no it's not posted.

 

[jrjunior]

im new to the site and not much with the computer and know a lot less bout chicken but very much into learning and also fresh home grown eggs, im from middle ga. where the temperature average bout low around 20 in the winter and bout 98 to 105 in the summer, i would like some input on all around best laying chickens that would be good as far as fairly easy to take care of ? keeping in mind that im a beginner and want good farm fresh eggs, i will probaby be starting with 8 or 10 hens and no rooster, coop size is 10'x12 and the run about 100 sguare feet with about an 8 foot fence, i gave u all this information not knowing if it would make any difference in the choices you guys (hopefully and thankfully) might give me.

 

[Turk Raphael]

im new to the site and not much with the computer and know a lot less bout chicken but very much into learning and also fresh home grown eggs, im from middle ga. where the temperature average bout low around 20 in the winter and bout 98 to 105 in the summer, i would like some input on all around best laying chickens that would be good as far as fairly easy to take care of ? keeping in mind that im a beginner and want good farm fresh eggs, i will probaby be starting with 8 or 10 hens and no rooster, coop size is 10'x12 and the run about 100 sguare feet with about an 8 foot fence, i gave u all this information not knowing if it would make any difference in the choices you guys (hopefully and thankfully) might give me.

I hope you get all the help you need from the great folks on this thread!

Turk

 

[gjensen]

I don't know if this has been put out there yet but:

http://hcfarm.com/A History Worth Repeating.htm

Everybody has a starting point. I have Basque eggs coming in this week along with Coronation Sussex. Both are good sized birds. The sussex has gotten a bad rap lately because the specled versions from the hatcheries are so small. I want something that can produce excellent taste and this may be my ticket.

I read that a few years back, and it resonated with me then. That probably illustrates my interest and position as well any. I am most interested in seeing these breeds put back to work.

I question how practical the notion really is, but I would like to see an alternative to the status quo.

Call it nostalgia, or whatever, but I am most interested in using Standardized pure breeds. I am interested in non standard breed as well, but I do tend to think we should take care of what we have.
I will use the Minorca for example. I do not think there is any good old time Rose Combed White Minorca out there. They were common at one time. It would be nice to see a good looking flock on quality pasture doing what they were bred to do. No, they aren't as efficient as the Leghorns, but they were famous for their extra large eggs.

The article mentioned the oldest breeds, and how they were replaced by our more modern Standard breeds. They did get replaced by more productive breeds, that were developed in a time when we had a surplus of grain.
The oldest breeds might be less productive, but they could be potentially be more productive under a more rugged setting. Many of the oldest breeds were better suited for a low input management style. How we kept poultry changed with the times also. Are they genetically capable of such now? That would be debatable because we have not kept them like for a long time.

One thing I have wondered about is with all of the interest in being more sustainable or preparing for harder times (prepping), all of the interest is in the highest input breeds. I have wondered about this. The most "sustainable" breeds, are the ones no one is interested in.

 

[Arielle]

im new to the site and not much with the computer and know a lot less bout chicken but very much into learning and also fresh home grown eggs, im from middle ga. where the temperature average bout low around 20 in the winter and bout 98 to 105 in the summer, i would like some input on all around best laying chickens that would be good as far as fairly easy to take care of ? keeping in mind that im a beginner and want good farm fresh eggs, i will probaby be starting with 8 or 10 hens and no rooster, coop size is 10'x12 and the run about 100 sguare feet with about an 8 foot fence, i gave u all this information not knowing if it would make any difference in the choices you guys (hopefully and thankfully) might give me.

On MyPet CHIcken, com is a handly little calculator that helps you find your mosst suitable chicken. THe link is on the home page in the lower left corner. I found this a good helper tool, though not perfect, it was pretty good.

THe best allround layers accrding to Fred's Hnes is the ISA Brown. IT is a commercial breed and not likely to be listed on the above mentioned calcualtor. I can't speek to the temeprament of the bird but perhaps some one else can.

OVerall the hatchery birds are bred a layers, not as meat birds, and do not live up to their dual purpose billing. I have a handful and enjoy them as my first jump into chickens.

Some breeds laybetter than others, the most reliable ones I could find by breed were: rhode Island Reds, Black or red sexlinks, black astralorps, and silver laced wyandottes.

Understand that every bird reflects the line they have been bred from. Meaning, you need to ask about the laying qualities of the birds you want to purchase.

To buy a commercial brown egg layer now, I would go with the ISA Brown. Unless I could get BA from ROn who is permanently AWOL.

THis is my opinions and hopefully others will contribute their ideas.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: YOu have hit on a track that greatly interests me--

With the buckeye I am concerned that the chicks need 27% or more protein for the first 8 weeks. I am concerned that this is a high input that cannot be sustained on a sustainable farming style. To reach that level of protein the birds need a high level of insects I would think, and not a high density of birds.

SOmeone once suggested games to me . . . I declined at the time, but never forgot that advice.

 

[Arielle]

THe article / link posted by LInds on the history-----

I find it hard to imagine that people brought chickens to the new workd for sport-- when every nook and cranny on the boat neeeded to be provisions for survival . . . . .I can only imagine perhaps documents reflect a man's view ( no offense) in a time when woman were held back from reading and wreiting and viewed as in consequential on so many levels, that I would love to hear a womans view of the chicken from a historical perspective. Maybe the men did keep the males for sporting but I best the women, or some women that tended the stock, valued the eggs and perhaps a meal.

THe historical re- enactments of James town etc., show the men as building stockades in record time and then later that settlement disappeared and the location lost to the tides. Took years of modern searching to find the site. SO I do wonder how much the birds were for sport rather than food. Or Maybe that was one more reason why the early settlements failed, or nearly failed.

 

[LindaB220]

On MyPet CHIcken, com is a handly little calculator that helps you find your mosst suitable chicken. THe link is on the home page in the lower left corner. I found this a good helper tool, though not perfect, it was pretty good.

THe best allround layers accrding to Fred's Hnes is the ISA Brown. IT is a commercial breed and not likely to be listed on the above mentioned calcualtor. I can't speek to the temeprament of the bird but perhaps some one else can.

OVerall the hatchery birds are bred a layers, not as meat birds, and do not live up to their dual purpose billing. I have a handful and enjoy them as my first jump into chickens.

Some breeds laybetter than others, the most reliable ones I could find by breed were: rhode Island Reds, Black or red sexlinks, black astralorps, and silver laced wyandottes.

Understand that every bird reflects the line they have been bred from. Meaning, you need to ask about the laying qualities of the birds you want to purchase.

To buy a commercial brown egg layer now, I would go with the ISA Brown. Unless I could get BA from ROn who is permanently AWOL.

THis is my opinions and hopefully others will contribute their ideas.

ISA Browns are really good from what I've been reading about. And if you breed them back to each other after a couple of generations, they are all white. Think of big birds that give you 250+ eggs a yr.

 

[southernmomma]

Not speaking from experience but I think Easter Eggers sound like an easy breed to purchase and keep; the eggs are fun and the hens are pretty and all a little different. Might be a fun way to start.

Welcome

,
M