BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[dan26552]

I got weights on the ducklings today, they turned six weeks yesterday.

There are two Swedish X Pekin drakes and one Swedish X Pekin duck. The drakes weigh 3.13 and 3.14 lbs. The duck weighs 3.6lbs. The three Swedish weigh about pound less.

 

[lcertuche]

Nice!

 

[dan26552]

They gained nearly two pounds in ten days.

 

[DesertChic]

I'm kinda bummed out tonight. It looks like I'm going to have to cull my big boy, Monty.



He's a beautiful boy, not at all people aggressive, and carries a lot of traits I favor (except he's not a NN), but he absolutely won't stop fighting all of my other other roosters and cockerels with the apparent intent of actually killing them. So far my beloved Bosch (Bielefelder rooster) is the ONLY one to win a fight and Monty's respect, but last night I went out to discover that he'd relentlessly attacked my sweet EE rooster, Chewey, and this morning he was relentless against my meatie, Tubbs. I bred him liberally this past month and most of my incubator is filled with eggs he fertilized, so I won't be losing him entirely....but I'm really going to miss this guy. Why can't these boys just get along? (That was rhetorical.)

 

[Gorman Farm]

I'm kinda bummed out tonight. It looks like I'm going to have to cull my big boy, Monty.



He's a beautiful boy, not at all people aggressive, and carries a lot of traits I favor (except he's not a NN), but he absolutely won't stop fighting all of my other other roosters and cockerels with the apparent intent of actually killing them. So far my beloved Bosch (Bielefelder rooster) is the ONLY one to win a fight and Monty's respect, but last night I went out to discover that he'd relentlessly attacked my sweet EE rooster, Chewey, and this morning he was relentless against my meatie, Tubbs. I bred him liberally this past month and most of my incubator is filled with eggs he fertilized, so I won't be losing him entirely....but I'm really going to miss this guy. Why can't these boys just get along? (That was rhetorical.)

OMG he is beautiful...I understand though you cannot have that going on.
So you all keep the roosters together typically?
We are actually getting another coop next week a smaller one I can use to raise the young birds and then later so I can keep more than one adult roo but have them separate. No time for my other half to build this one he is working crazy hours so just picking up a pre fab at TSC.
Currently we just have a fairly large chicken coop, a large turkey coop, and a brooder area. Lord I am becoming the obsessed bird lady.
Did I mention I have a parrot too..I already asked to have an outdoor aviary for him and possibly a new parrot friend....heaven help me.

 

[BlueBaby]

I'm kinda bummed out tonight. It looks like I'm going to have to cull my big boy, Monty.



He's a beautiful boy, not at all people aggressive, and carries a lot of traits I favor (except he's not a NN), but he absolutely won't stop fighting all of my other other roosters and cockerels with the apparent intent of actually killing them. So far my beloved Bosch (Bielefelder rooster) is the ONLY one to win a fight and Monty's respect, but last night I went out to discover that he'd relentlessly attacked my sweet EE rooster, Chewey, and this morning he was relentless against my meatie, Tubbs. I bred him liberally this past month and most of my incubator is filled with eggs he fertilized, so I won't be losing him entirely....but I'm really going to miss this guy. Why can't these boys just get along? (That was rhetorical.)

I guess that in the rooster world it's survival of the fittest, and the winner gets the whole harem.

 

[Turk Raphael]

I'm kinda bummed out tonight. It looks like I'm going to have to cull my big boy, Monty.



He's a beautiful boy, not at all people aggressive, and carries a lot of traits I favor (except he's not a NN), but he absolutely won't stop fighting all of my other other roosters and cockerels with the apparent intent of actually killing them. So far my beloved Bosch (Bielefelder rooster) is the ONLY one to win a fight and Monty's respect, but last night I went out to discover that he'd relentlessly attacked my sweet EE rooster, Chewey, and this morning he was relentless against my meatie, Tubbs. I bred him liberally this past month and most of my incubator is filled with eggs he fertilized, so I won't be losing him entirely....but I'm really going to miss this guy. Why can't these boys just get along? (That was rhetorical.)

If you really like him, keep him. Cock birds aren't supposed to be housed together. There are exceptions but the rule is that it is a dangerous practice, especially with birds that are used to cover hens in confinement.

I'd make room, even smallish individual quarters for the cocks I like best and eat the rest.

 

[JanetMarie]

I have a rooster that will not tolerate other roosters with him, and he has always been very personable since a chick, and once put alone with a group of hens has been very good. Even the older hens like him. I had to keep him separate last year for a while, and glad I have him.

 

[DesertChic]

If you really like him, keep him. Cock birds aren't supposed to be housed together. There are exceptions but the rule is that it is a dangerous practice, especially with birds that are used to cover hens in confinement.

I'd make room, even smallish individual quarters for the cocks I like best and eat the rest.

Yeah, I'm really struggling with this one. He's given me some amazing offspring and I like his son, Andres, even more than him...and he is VERY good with the girls. I rearranged some birds this morning and put him back in the isolation pen with a broody hen I'm trying to break (he's very patient with her) and another hen I'm monitoring because I think she's stopped laying completely. He's content to tend to them, but still tries to fight other roosters even through the hardware cloth. I'll probably have to make modifications to the pen so he can't really see them. Meanwhile, I'm giving serious thought to just want I want for future breeding projects. My biggest problem is that I have so many really wonderful cockerels and roosters to work with...and limited space and budget for housing them all.

 

[DesertChic]

Here's one of the reasons I'm seriously considering culling Monty - This is Andres, Monty's son, and he's even better than his daddy in form and disposition:







He and his three brothers (18 weeks old) are now in their own bachelor pad so the girls from their flock can continue to mature to POL without harassment from the boys. Andres has a nice wide back, even more breast meat that his father (already), and still holds the record for growth rate among all of my own birds that I've bred, hatched and raised.