BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[Arielle]

Not many people seem to have the NN, but those that do have said they are good meat birds. The cold weather here is tough on anything with a single comb. I would need to knit a chicken sized scarf for every one. lol

 

[hellbender]

Not many people seem to have the NN, but those that do have said they are good meat birds. The cold weather here is tough on anything with a single comb. I would need to knit a chicken sized scarf for every one. lol

That's another misconception. It gets extremely cold here...as a matter of fact, Elkins (about 13 miles from my farm) is often the coldest place in the nation. Transylvania and North-Western Germany are not known as places where people frequently die of heat stroke...lolol

http://www.city-data.com/forum/west-virginia/534814-jeff-foxworthy-west-virginia.html

 

[Arielle]

Quote: lol--

Would be nice to see this breed become more popular. Finding a real meat bird is a challenge. After handling my buckeyes, which are always heavier than I anticipate, nothing else I have even comes close.

Did you happen to ask the hatcher where they sourced their stock from???

 

[ocap]

I want to apologize.

Last year I was critical of some on BYC for
1. not wanting their hens to go broody
2. preferring Standard over hatchery

I had seven hens go broody last spring and summer and those birds took out 75% of my production.
I had to see for myself, so..... I ordered brahma and australorp from both hatchery and recognized breeders who strive for maintaining true dual purpose chickens, the difference is visible to me... a beginner.

I also now understand why so many tried to talk me into only one breed. I just spent another $1,000 on pens.

 

[hellbender]

lol--

Would be nice to see this breed become more popular. Finding a real meat bird is a challenge. After handling my buckeyes, which are always heavier than I anticipate, nothing else I have even comes close.

Did you happen to ask the hatcher where they sourced their stock from???

I didn't bother to ask because they can't be expected to tell the truth. I've seen where some have asked and their answer was, 'I just don't remember'. No matter...they are extremely nice birds, very heavy breasted and supported by hefty legs/thighs under extremely wide and flat backs. Show quality?...maybe could win at a large County Fair but otherwise, I doubt they would do all that much in a sanctioned show.

I'm making the Buckeye over Turken cross to increase the speed of growth just a bit...but nothing like the C-X crosses, and I mean NOTHING!. The hybrid should be a bird with all the attributes of both breeds and actually be better and bigger than either in the F-1 generation.

Also, I plan to have all but our 'show' NNs to be pea combed...I've come to really appreciate the look of it.

EDIT: I got the Buckeyes from cackle Hatchery. They hatch and ship all their chicks from their own facility...no drop shipments.

 

[gjensen]

I want to apologize.

Last year I was critical of some on BYC for
1. not wanting their hens to go broody
2. preferring Standard over hatchery

I had seven hens go broody last spring and summer and those birds took out 75% of my production.
I had to see for myself, so..... I ordered brahma and australorp from both hatchery and recognized breeders who strive for maintaining true dual purpose chickens, the difference is visible to me... a beginner.

I also now understand why so many tried to talk me into only one breed. I just spent another $1,000 on pens.

We have all resisted something, or the truth, because we want it to be some other way. Many always will, depending on emotion or fanciful ideas instead of experience and logic. They will continue to not like what is said (or wrote). It would be interesting if we could all look back at what we write in these posts five years from now.
What you are doing is learning and evolving. Something that we all do, and will continue to. There are many fanciful myths running about on the net, but those that stick with this on any serious level will come to a more sober place.

It is interesting to get the impression that you are serious about trying to do something. That is refreshing. Many just like the idea of it, and that is ok.

You can still devote yourself to one breed. Particularly if you want to include breeding for utility. The number one reason that we do not have quality standard bred lines of productive birds, is the qty that we raise. It requires numbers to prove pullets, and cockerels. Any intelligent effort requires proof. Then to remain faithful to the breed, we have to stay faithful to it's type. Variety matters, and utility lines should probably be simple color varieties. The more points of selection, the more time it takes to make progress.
If you have the space to breed two, what could you do with one? I am not saying to do this. You mentioned it, so I am saying that you still can.

Broodiness is both useful, and an additional management challenge. It depends on who is raising them, how, and why. Broody hens dictate when, and where. They decide. We do not. That can be a problem. It might be advisable to preserve the trait in some lines, and discourage it in others.

Good luck with your efforts. I hope that you do well.

 

[hellbender]

Arielle: My Buckeye cockerels (I have only three) are just at 8.5 months old and average a bit more than 8 pounds. That's a nice sized bird.

The hybrid offspring should mature at 10 to 12 pounds, for cocks,...more when I caponize them.

 

[gjensen]

Arielle: My Buckeye cockerels (I have only three) are just at 8.5 months old and average a bit more than 8 pounds. That's a nice sized bird.

The hybrid offspring should mature at 10 to 12 pounds, for cocks,...more when I caponize them.

My NHs have been too large. If they had less feather, they would make excellent capons.

 

[DesertChic]

lol--

Would be nice to see this breed become more popular. Finding a real meat bird is a challenge. After handling my buckeyes, which are always heavier than I anticipate, nothing else I have even comes close.

Did you happen to ask the hatcher where they sourced their stock from???

I'm hoping to make the NN a bit more popular here in southern AZ. Based on everything I know of the bird, it just seems it would be perfectly adapted to this environment. I've already created a bit of buzz about them among my chicken-keeping neighbors, some of whom will be ready to acquire new flocks themselves right around the time my birds reach a year old and I've decided which to breed. There have been hints at buying chicks from me, especially after they visited my house and saw how I care for my birds. (Yes, they're totally spoiled.) I've promised to keep diligent records on rate of growth, weights at various ages, and egg laying numbers. (Looks like I'll be trap nesting.) My NN chicks are only days old and I'm already quite impressed with them. After just 24 hours these little guys were eating and drinking and make almost no fuss over being handled...even jumping into my hand to be lifted out so I can examine them. They're growing so fast, are wonderfully active, but are also so very calm when I handle them...nothing like the hatchery birds I started out with just a few months ago. I had to spend a lot of time handling them and making them "friendly", whereas these little hatchlings seem adoring and companionable right from the start. I can't wait to see how this breed develops! And I've become so enamored with them that my original plans to raise a few potential meat breeds simultaneously for comparison purposes has been moved to the back burner while I reconsider my breeding ambitions.

@ Hellbender - Three of my hatchlings have feathered shanks/feet and one has a fully feathered neck. I know the neck feathering means the bird is homozygous recessive, which means its siblings may or may be either homozygous dominant naked, or heterozygous naked dominant and interbreeding them (if possible) could weed out the homo from the hetero...but where on earth did the feathered shanks come from? Have you heard of this feature in this breed? The breeder insists they're "pure Naked Neck", but needless to say I've got some doubts since the genetics math suggests otherwise.

 

[LindaB220]

Quote:
Wow, you are my hero. I'd love to have the youth and stamina and drive to put in an orchard. and total set up. I'd do it in a heartbeat. But, you know, money does talk and mine is pretty silent right now. One thing at a time. I had to put off putting the hardware cloth on the 2nd coop for the ISA Brown's because I got a smart phone. (SIL was nice to order it for me and deduct it from my acct and THEN tell me). ha Now I have to pay for putting an outside electrical plug in the storeroom and get my crazy XXX$$* computer fixed correctly this time. That's Feb money so ISA Brown's and EE's will be ordered in March. I am getting some fabulous crested cream legbar eggs from Pam in S La this month. The best. So I'm happy. It's trucking along. My little four chicks are in the storeroom, doing nicely. Two Marraduna basque and two Lemon cuckoo Orpingtons. They've learned the horizontal nipple container so I'm happy. Don't care for the fermented feed. I may wait on that a while. They are healthy.