BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[DesertChic]

I told my husband last night that I'm going to be leaning out my flocks. I've decided to nix my Dorking ambitions. The cockerels I have right now will all be caponized...something he's very excited to watch me do.

The females are so flighty and hard to work with....only one of them is truly sweet and approachable at least half the time with the others panicking if a fly farts too loudly. I'm planning to let them grow a little larger and will probably just cull them all when they get to a decent eating weight. If they mellow out at all along the way I may integrate them with my egg laying flock, but I'm just not happy with this group of birds and it's way too hard to find breeders I can get quality birds from to work with.

So, my meat project will focus on my NN Turkens. My egg laying flock will be an amalgamation of sweet tempered good producers laying a variety of colored eggs. My extra money group will be my Frizzled Easter Eggers, which a lot of people around here seem to want chicks from. And my "this is my family's favorite breed" project will be my Bielefelders. Still a lot more breeds than I'd originally planned on, but at least they're all fun and easy to work with.

 

[gjensen]

Both actually, why colored and why females? It would seem like egg production would be a constant drain on the hens resources.I have to admit to being totally clueless here.

The females from broiler strains are more reliable when trying to raise them to sexual maturity. On the other hand, they are terrible layers, so it is not especially practical to raise chicks from them. There is a strength and a weakness (among others).

The males are less reliable, but when you are successful, it is easy to artificially inseminate a qty. of misc. hens that lay better, and as a result, are more practical to hatch from.

The colored broiler strains do not average the same total weights (sizes), and do not grow out as fast. They are easier to successfully breed from.

 

[JRNash]

Ok. I was just looking to get a mix of the genetic strain if you will.

 

[dfr1973]

The females from broiler strains are more reliable when trying to raise them to sexual maturity. On the other hand, they are terrible layers, so it is not especially practical to raise chicks from them. There is a strength and a weakness (among others).

The males are less reliable, but when you are successful, it is easy to artificially inseminate a qty. of misc. hens that lay better, and as a result, are more practical to hatch from.

The colored broiler strains do not average the same total weights (sizes), and do not grow out as fast. They are easier to successfully breed from.

Hmm, someone forgot to inform my five red broiler pullets from Ideal that they are supposed to be terrible layers. Out of five pullets, I have been getting 3 or 4 eggs per day from that group ... one day I even got five eggs, but I suspect one is laying either thin-shelled or no-shelled eggs more often than not. It is probably a matter of "it depends" on which colored broiler you get (Rangers, Pioneers, rainbows, or just color broilers) and where/which hatchery you get them from. There was a lot of variation in the batch of 25 I got, so they aren't a F1 cross breed, and there were a couple real runts in that group, but I kept the biggest five pullets and will be crossing them with Spikey, the single comb Wyandotte who is half or full brother to my two breeder cockerels.

On the Ideal vs Cackle thing, I have birds from both out in my yard. The GLWs from Cackle are very vigorous and also half the batch is much better than the GLWs from Ideal, but I also lost five of fifteen Silkies from Cackle, while the chicks from Ideal have only had a couple of each batch die (or escape, in the red broiler group) so it's a toss-up. It could very well be a matter of suitability to specific environment. Ideal is in central Texas, so their lines are more or less adapted to hot and humid deep South conditions, where Cackle is in Missouri which gets hot and humid summers but cold winters as well. Soil types are also different. ... Or, I could just be unintentionally blowing smoke up your fourth point of contact here ... Just my speculation based on very small sample sizes from each. My guinea keets are from ideal, and all 25 are bouncing and zipping around the brooder tub.

 

[draye]

Now maybe I can get back to production. Got my predator problem taken care of.

Lost two hens to him this week. He is now permantly relocated. Ha ha.

The hens seem to be back to laying again.

 

[hellbender]

Now maybe I can get back to production. Got my predator problem taken care of.

Lost two hens to him this week. He is now permantly relocated. Ha ha.

The hens seem to be back to lauk g again.

 

[hellbender]

I posted this on another thread but decided to move it over here.




I don't know about snakes being territorial or not, except for where they happen to find themselves at any given moment but I do know that WV DNR has moved thousands of them (timber rattlers) over the last 15 years, making room for the un-godly corridor H project, linking the central part of the state to the filth and masses of Baltimore and DC.

EDIT: Ok, I'll add this. That project and other circumstances has helped propel our push to extreme self sufficiency, and to maintain a serious kennel full of savage dogs of potent size and fearlessness. Other considerations have been made that I'll not elaborate on...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_48

 

[JRNash]

Kill them all and let God sort them out.

 

[Our Roost]

Snakes and chickens are not a good mix for the most part but on the other hand they can be good to control rodents and such. Currently we have a blue racer that is holing up somewhere in the vacinity. We have had a few around the barns and pole barns but never yet became a problem with the livestock or chickens. They can be egg suckers and have dined on some of our duck eggs in the past but never lost a chicken to a snake as yet.
We have a few timber rattlers but haven't come across any as yet. Havent come across any copperheads yet either thankfully!

 

[JRNash]

Poison rats. Shovel the snakes