BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[MBK Farm]

Since the thread has broached the Maran breed, here's a quick video that deserves a place in this thread by Maran chicken club, BUT has a pointer for any breed on body width at chick age.

Also, the Livestock Conservancy; "Selecting for Meat Qualities and Rate of Growth" deserves a read by most interested here on how to "generally" improve their birds. Easy, actionable material for those interested.

http://albc-usa.etapwss.com/images/uploads/docs/ALBCchicken_assessment-1.pdf


Lastly, a solid little video about what to look for and how to look for it when assessing your birds.

Some great discussions on this thread thus far, but I'd like to see/read more about individual breeding programs specifics. What are you actually tracking and DOING and at which age. Overarching, philosophical, and theoretical discussion is nice, but "rubber meets road" red meat would be great and would be greatly appreciated. Personally, I'm just starting out here with poultry on my farm, but animal husbandry and breeding better animals is nothing new to me and is certainly not rocket science by any stretch. The key is usually the specifics details to what track from the start. Thanks for any input.

 

[Beer can]

I've seen Welsummers that lay just as dark of an egg as Marans also when bred for it. They have a better lay rate than Marans. I believe the breeder said she noticed a reduction in the rate of lay with the darker eggs.

 

[bnjrob]

I've seen Welsummers that lay just as dark of an egg as Marans also when bred for it. They have a better lay rate than Marans. I believe the breeder said she noticed a reduction in the rate of lay with the darker eggs.

A few of our Black Javas laid pretty dark brown eggs but they laid just about every day without fail - better than our lighter colored egg layers. Have to wonder if there is something with individual birds and not just all breed specific when it comes to dark egg color. Unfortunately my darkest egg layers became coyote brunch.

 

[bnjrob]

@bnjrob You summed it up nicely. I do have the room for it. And since I don't have any other hobbies to speak of...

LOL - you do realize you are setting yourself up for continuous building projects for more pens as you go along? At least you have the room!

 

[Beekissed]

Quote:

I don't know about most folks on here but as for me, this is not a business. I don't keep ledgers, keep track of weights and finished carcass weights, I do keep egg count any given year and I do KNOW what is produced~because we eat it and so we notice when we have shelves full of meat or baskets full of eggs for consumption and when we do not have that amount on any given year, though I don't write it down for posterity. For me this is just food production with some intentional breeding in the middle of it. Discussion, no matter what kind, allows one to bounce ideas off one another and is valuable even when not dealing in specific units of measurement.

I love it when people get on these threads and demand that people produce their records for their perusal so they can somehow match that up with some worth in their minds, as if folks just farming and raising chickens isn't enough, they have to PROVE they are farming and raising chickens to some stranger on the internet or it's just a figment of our imagination otherwise. No rubber and no road, apparently, if you don't keep a ledger of activities going on in the coop.

Yes, it is entirely possible to know if one is making improvements in production, in the flock and even in the breed just by LOOKING at what you've done each year as you go along. It doesn't have to be written down chapter and verse before it's real. Maybe for you that is so, but for folks who actually enjoy food production at their own place, adding all that extra work into just takes the enjoyment right out of it....unless, of course, you enjoy that sort of thing, which I don't.

And, yet...the rubber is still meeting the road here as I feed my family and extended family on the food produced here and see the flock improving in those efforts each year.

 

[collie1470]

I learned in the Navy, if it's not in writing, it never happened XD (just foolin, of course)

 

[Beekissed]

I learned in the Navy, if it's not in writing, it never happened XD (just foolin, of course)

Yeah...learned that in nursing too, but I'm not likely to wind up in court over not recording finished weights on my chickens.

 

[Beer can]

Yeah...learned that in nursing too, but I'm not likely to wind up in court over not recording finished weights on my chickens.    

I write the weight down on the vacuum seal bag before they get put into it.

 

[collie1470]

I think it depends on the end goal, too. If you're looking to breed top quality, then records are extremely important to compare each generation, and each bird. If you eventually want to go for making a new breed, then keeping records is also important, to eventually get them true to type (though that's a HUGE goal, but obviously a doable one, as it's been done so many times before). If you want to find the best hybrid for your purpose, I think record keeping is important as well, to compare the crosses.

If you just want to enjoy crossing chickens for your family, then enjoy away . Or if you are going for a certain taste, there's no quantifying that, it's just up to you. Going for egg colors (like the people breeding their own Olive Eggers), go for it.

Record keeping has its place, of course, but it isn't always needed. Just depends on the person and the end goal

 

[collie1470]

Yeah...learned that in nursing too, but I'm not likely to wind up in court over not recording finished weights on my chickens.    

True facts, right there. At least I hope not haha.