BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[DesertChic]

Roasted up one of the slips tonight. It took four hours for the stuffed bird to be done in the oven, so guesstimating his weight at approximately eight pounds, and he was just shy of 11 months. VERY tasty, with stuffing made of pork breakfast sausage, a sliced apple, and the heels from the most recent loaf of homemade bread, lightly seasoned with a bit of parsley and dried oregano. Now hubby and I are both stuffed.

Sounds yummy!

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

So this is day two of my trying to shovel, wash and relocate 1 1/2 tons of lava rock into my aquaponics setup...all by myself. I'm somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 way there. I should've bought stock in the makers of ibuprofen before taking on this project.

I noticed that about half of my flock has taken to roosting on the retaining wall so they can watch me labor away. I swear they're mocking me.

That sounds like my chickens...

Think of them as cats with feathers ... and yes, they are.

This is SOOOOOOO true!!!!!

- Ant Farm

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

When researching breeding for egg production there seems to be a lot of emphases on using pullets in the breeding pens. I’m going out on a limb here. But using chickens of that immature age could work against breeding quality birds. They haven't had the time to show their metal. As you pointed out gjensen that two weeks out of a 52 week cycle isn't enough time to evaluate a quality egg layer. Wouldn't this same idea apply to breeder selection?

Sorry, I forget that everyone doesn't know all the names of all my chickens, my goals, etc., etc. (Esp. new folks).

While I find the breeding for egg production interesting, I'm not doing that - I'm breeding my Naked Necks for meat (it's the "AND OR MEAT" part of the thread title

). That's why I've been keeping the weights per week so obsessively, to track not only size but growth rate and ability to attain a given size over a given time. I will be using size and meaty/blocky body type as important selection criteria for my breeders.

You are correct - I have no information about egg production and won't for some time. If I was breeding for egg production, I'd still be looking at body conformation (depth/wide hips for laying capacity, as I understand it), but would indeed be waiting a lot longer to make any decisions, would be using either trap nesting or Bee's method to try to keep track of who's laying, and would pay a lot of attention to consistency, when they moulted and for how long, and how that affected their production. Going broody as a selection criteria for or against depends on your goals, of course....

- Ant Farm

 

[hellbender]

Cool idea! I will have to give it a try!

Welcome to our thread! And

 

[dfr1973]

While I find the breeding for egg production interesting, I'm not doing that - I'm breeding my Naked Necks for meat (it's the "AND OR MEAT" part of the thread title

). That's why I've been keeping the weights per week so obsessively, to track not only size but growth rate and ability to attain a given size over a given time. I will be using size and meaty/blocky body type as important selection criteria for my breeders.

I had a thought this week while slaughtering: select for wide, FLAT backs. Not only for a frame to put all that meaty flesh, but they'll stay put while plucking, eviscerating, and of course cooking. Hubby thought I was joking at first when I mentioned breeding for flat(ter) backs in future generations, then when he realized I am serious, commented that he would have never thought of that one. I guess I can't gripe too loudly, as the cockerel in question was one of the freebies I seem to magically receive.

ETA: Along with another welcome, I should state I am going for dual purpose, while still looking pretty. I do enjoy watching my yard ornaments as they grow.

 

[hellbender]

I had a thought this week while slaughtering: select for wide, FLAT backs. Not only for a frame to put all that meaty flesh, but they'll stay put while plucking, eviscerating, and of course cooking. Hubby thought I was joking at first when I mentioned breeding for flat(ter) backs in future generations, then when he realized I am serious, commented that he would have never thought of that one. I guess I can't gripe too loudly, as the cockerel in question was one of the freebies I seem to magically receive.

The back width/length is just one of the factors that attracted me to the White Chantecler.

 

[AnthNDacula]

I had a thought this week while slaughtering: select for wide, FLAT backs. Not only for a frame to put all that meaty flesh, but they'll stay put while plucking, eviscerating, and of course cooking. Hubby thought I was joking at first when I mentioned breeding for flat(ter) backs in future generations, then when he realized I am serious, commented that he would have never thought of that one. I guess I can't gripe too loudly, as the cockerel in question was one of the freebies I seem to magically receive.

ETA: Along with another welcome, I should state I am going for dual purpose, while still looking pretty. I do enjoy watching my yard ornaments as they grow.

You probably already know about this, but I'm posting a link to the Livestock Conservancy's page where anyone can find links to videos teaching how to selectct breeders for either egg production or meat production. The Conservancy recommends applying both techniques to dual purpose breeds. http://albc-usa.etapwss.com/index.php/heritage/internal/chicken-manual These were eye opening videos for me, and I think I'll be watching them many more times to try and learn the procedures for examining the chickens. I was particularly interested in the idea about the head width corresponding to the meat producing capacity of the individual bird. Who'd a thunk!

 

[dfr1973]

You probably already know about this, but I'm posting a link to the Livestock Conservancy's page where anyone can find links to videos teaching how to selectct breeders for either egg production or meat production. The Conservancy recommends applying both techniques to dual purpose breeds. http://albc-usa.etapwss.com/index.php/heritage/internal/chicken-manual These were eye opening videos for me, and I think I'll be watching them many more times to try and learn the procedures for examining the chickens. I was particularly interested in the idea about the head width corresponding to the meat producing capacity of the individual bird. Who'd a thunk!

Yes, I have printed the meat assessment pdf out, even. It was just really obvious as I was trying to gut one of the free cockerels just how much easier that will make things. I already knew I wanted nice wide egg-bearing hips for the hens (and therefor, the male side needed it as well).

 

[bnjrob]

I had a thought this week while slaughtering: select for wide, FLAT backs. Not only for a frame to put all that meaty flesh, but they'll stay put while plucking, eviscerating, and of course cooking. Hubby thought I was joking at first when I mentioned breeding for flat(ter) backs in future generations, then when he realized I am serious, commented that he would have never thought of that one. I guess I can't gripe too loudly, as the cockerel in question was one of the freebies I seem to magically receive.

ETA: Along with another welcome, I should state I am going for dual purpose, while still looking pretty. I do enjoy watching my yard ornaments as they grow.

That's another *form meets function* issue that you can find in some breed's SOP. The chickens we raise are supposed to have long, wide, flat backs as part of their breed *type*, and they were highly prized as table fowl before commercialization of poultry swept the country.

If a person were to want to breed for a wide, flat back and were having difficulties obtaining it, then they might want to look at getting different stock from someone who breeds their birds for both SOP and utility purposes. Of course this doesn't work for modern meat-mutt chickens, but for folks raising older breeds of chickens, it would be an option to get them to have that trait if they weren't making progress selecting for it in their current breeding stock.

 

[bnjrob]

Yes, I have printed the meat assessment pdf out, even. It was just really obvious as I was trying to gut one of the free cockerels just how much easier that will make things. I already knew I wanted nice wide egg-bearing hips for the hens (and therefor, the male side needed it as well).

LOL - I can always tell when one of the cockerels we butcher is either a runt or pinched in the tail, because my husband is usually grumbling as he tries to get his hand in there when it's too tight a space. He has started asking me what my plans are with certain birds, and if I'm not planning on keeping them to roast whole, he has started using the shears to cut them open and make it easier to clean them out.