BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[LindaB220]

I came home from the grocery over 2 hours ago, with 6 pounds of strawberries (really good sale!), the 25-lb bag of sugar (a good sale), and two dozen more half-pint jelly jars (a dollar off each dozen).  The kids knew what I would be doing this afternoon, and they thought it sounded cool.  One mentioned with great respect his great-grandmother, who is now 100, who lived through the Depression and "had so many skills!"  I joked I am not quite that old, although many of the things I do are.

I have no doubt they have noticed I don't buy eggs or bread, but will clear the shelf when bread flour goes on sale.  Oh, then there are my crocheted cotton bags I always use.  Having chickens is a further extension ... including slaughtering my own.

I gave my youngest DD 36 yo a Christmas basket with yeast bread flour, silicone mat and a pan. She finally got around to attempting it and SO and son killed it in about six hours. Her first. This is after they came in from making their very first snowman. Ha. We haven't had 5" in 15 yrs. Joyful day for them.

 

[RedRidge]

RedRidge
Could you expound a bit more on what Maremma and BSF represent?

Italian maremma are lgds. We have five and couldn't run this place without them, they are awesome with both sheep and poultry.
BSF is black soldier fly larvae. We set bait buckets out each spring and harvest the eggs. The starter eggs each spring go into our bin. When crawl of begins, a percentage of the daily crawl off gets frozen for feeding the coming winter. BSF are extremely high in not only protein but calcium, so we don't feed them to chicks, only those already laying. We feed them by weight (yes I can tell you how many larvae are in a lb), so that the winter ration is nutritionally balanced. I'm anal about keeping my rations balanced for the seasons.

 

[Tammylr]

Thank you for responding.  They are very good dogs.

My lab is good with the big chickens but chicks still look like snacks. My Bassett hound however is the worst chicken dog ever! He can't stand it! He just has to sniff and chase the chickens. Same with the cat, he just has to chase the cat!

 

[DesertChic]

I have a 1 HP grinder. It handles most chicken & turkey bones, but takes some backing up on the heavier bones. I can't get the turkey keel bones through. Mine isn't hard to clean, or at least I don't think so. If I had the money, I'd get a 1 3/4 HP grinder. Then maybe I wouldn't need all the backing up and might not have to do so much cutting up. If I really had the money, I'd look for something that could take a whole bird. It's a lovely dream!

All this talk about meat grinders is feeding into my power tool obsession. I think I now know what I want for my birthday. Now...to break the news to my husband.

 

[gevshiba]

All this talk about meat grinders is feeding into my power tool obsession. I think I now know what I want for my birthday. Now...to break the news to my husband.

Should be an easy sell. Does he hunt? Or, if you buy meat, you can buy in bulk and grind your own burger. It saves money.

 

[DesertChic]

Should be an easy sell. Does he hunt? Or, if you buy meat, you can buy in bulk and grind your own burger. It saves money.

No...no hunting (yet), though we do own a lot of guns, and he does keep me well supplied with power tools for all my carpentry work. He also bought me a small meat grinder that goes on my mixer, but I'll definitely need something more industrial to grind up bones. I'm a very lucky woman. He's a very supportive husband.

 

[Gramma Chick]

. I tried feeding the chickens I have when they were growing 40% solids condensed whey that I also get free high in protein also, mixed with their grower pellet feed, but they didn't seem to care much for it, so I stopped that.

if you mix it with bread cubes ...they should ...I treat my chickens with bread & add stuff good for them ..
Like Raw veges this time of year ...Moistened with yougurt or Milk ...whey is similar

 

[hellbender]

hellbender, Got any links for process to crossbreed 2 different breeds? Rooster to hen and then what?I need a proven recipe.

My family worked for years, crossing Australorps over NN/Turkens. It was always A. over NN. That's the way my parents and grand parents did it and when we took over the place, we did it the same. This produced a very large hardy bird that laid very well and would do so right through the winter months. We never used the A X NN cross that were feather neckned in the breeding program but did use them in egg production and we never used the F-1 NN cockerels in the breeding program either but the F-1 NN hens were used and covered with pure Australorp cocks.

Nothing scientific about it...it is just the way we did it.

Since our thrust has changed from egg production to meat, we've begun to cross Buckeye cocks over NN hens. The first of the progeny arrived not long ago by way of a precocious Buckeye pullet who hatched 6 of 8 Buck. over NN eggs. These are planned for meat production and they look and feel to have the makings of a large framed yet heavy bird and of course the jury is still out on these.

Sorry, this is not very scientific...just following 'family tradition' but so far it shows glimmers of hope.

I'm sure others can speak to this with far more scientific terms and perhaps crush, in theory, what seems to be working for us...

Good luck with what ever you might be getting into.

 

[holm25]

Does anyone cross with Welsummers roos to get there DP birds and if you do would you recommend using them to cover Black Australorps, Brahma, Barred Rock or NH

 

[Our Roost]

hellbender, thanks, sorta. After you mate rooster A to Hen B do you have to mate any of the chicks back to A or B to complete the process of the offspring repeating?