BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[hellbender]

Now, I have a question for those who breed for meat...How do you develop your strains?

As those who read I am wanting to develop a black line of meat birds, ATM I got swedish hens and silkies but will be looking at over the next few years a few cemani (once they get a lil cheaper) and some NN (possible) what do you guys recommend to possible breed in for good feed to meat ratio and over all hardiness and size?

I'm using White Chanteclers, NNs and Dark Cornish.

 

[Beer can]

Now, I have a question for those who breed for meat...How do you develop your strains?

As those who read I am wanting to develop a black line of meat birds, ATM I got swedish hens and silkies but will be looking at over the next few years a few cemani (once they get a lil cheaper) and some NN (possible) what do you guys recommend to possible breed in for good feed to meat ratio and over all hardiness and size?

The problem with them IMHO, is their size. All of them are rather small. And cemani's don't lay good at all, not sure how bad the svart hona's are, silkies are supposed to not be very good either. The silkies I have are my best layers ever and lay nice medium brown eggs, proof is in my refrigerator, at the moment I do not have any brown egg layers, just white and green/olive, the brown far surpasses all other colors for months now. They are probably already crossed with something at some point in time from the hatchery, my guess, leghorns, even they would increase size. You can't hatch many if your waiting for eggs, and from the cemani breeders I've read on, they are usually patiently waiting for them to lay, and do not get many, I think cemanis are all hype. If you already have svarts, I'd stick with them for a cross. You live in a warm climate, I don't. The Naked Necks I've heard they are very hardy to cold, hard to believe but they say they are. I'd scrap the silkie svart cross and go with a svart naked neck cross IF I was in your position, just my opinion. I'm not too informed on FM genetics, the whole fm 2 x y x whatever just goes over my head, I'll fly by trial and error. But I hear you have a better chance for fibro, black meat with svarts or cemani because they have two genes for it, silkies only one, I could be wrong, just what I've heard.

 

[miss heny]

Ah alright. I was going to use silkies because...well already got a pair being feed thieves haha.I will look in NN honestly, I am planning on using my cull Swedish for the meat project so they won't be just sold off... Heh sorry I am the funny breeder that wanna try to sell quality

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Ah alright. I was going to use silkies because...well already got a pair being feed thieves haha.I will look in NN honestly, I am planning on using my cull Swedish for the meat project so they won't be just sold off... Heh sorry I am the funny breeder that wanna try to sell quality

I wish you were closer, I would take some of those Svart hona off your hands... To cross with my NNs...

If you've already got them on hand, and you're patient and focused, you could cross them with Naked Necks as a side project and see how it goes. Over time you may be able to select for both fm and naked neck-ed offspring that are larger. That's what I'd do - introduce the fm gene into NNs. In Mississippi, the added advantage would be that Naked Necks do so well in heat.

- Ant Farm

 

[Beer can]

Ah alright. I was going to use silkies because...well already got a pair being feed thieves haha.I will look in NN honestly, I am planning on using my cull Swedish for the meat project so they won't be just sold off... Heh sorry I am the funny breeder that wanna try to sell quality

Do NOT I repeat DO not go on a cemani or svart thread and say what you want to do, they will skewer you Lol! Do not call them cemani or svart crosses, you can not!!! They do not want the 'name' disrespected.....Lol, you have to call them something else other than what they are???? Lol!

 

[dfr1973]

Now, I have a question for those who breed for meat...How do you develop your strains?

As those who read I am wanting to develop a black line of meat birds, ATM I got swedish hens and silkies but will be looking at over the next few years a few cemani (once they get a lil cheaper) and some NN (possible) what do you guys recommend to possible breed in for good feed to meat ratio and over all hardiness and size?

Ah alright. I was going to use silkies because...well already got a pair being feed thieves haha.I will look in NN honestly, I am planning on using my cull Swedish for the meat project so they won't be just sold off... Heh sorry I am the funny breeder that wanna try to sell quality

OK, here's hoping I've had enough coffee to be coherent ...

I have been reading on the Fm gene that gives the Silkies their black skin, meat, and bones, and it can/will be diluted when crossed to a non-Fm breed, similar to the NN gene being diluted in Nn form. My customer tells me that when they find Silkies in the market, they are smaller than the ones he gets from me. I am supposing this is a function of age, as I wait until I am certain a bird is a cockerel before I sell to him, so they tend to be older and more flavorful (which he likes very much). That is why I am happy to find a somewhat local source for Swedish Blacks. The person posted a pic of both a Svart Hona and a Cemani (both cockerels) next to each other, and it was easy to see which had more body.

Go back a couple pages and look for the link to the ALBC's pdf on selecting for meat qualities, and that will help you choose breeding stock for more than just weight. Silkies/black Fm birds are used in soup in traditional Chinese medicine, so older birds are just as desirable as the young ones. Talk to your future customers, and you may find that they will not want diluted gene birds.

I got the Silkies because I want broodies - we have about a nine month storm season here where power can get knocked out, and we are the "end of the line" at the dead end of a dirt road. Cull Silkie hens will be put to work hatching eggs and brooding chicks. My customer not only will buy every cull cockerel from me, he says when I get really rolling on producing them, he'll happily promote them to others he knows who would want to buy.

 

[miss heny]

Do NOT I repeat DO not go on a cemani or svart thread and say what you want to do, they will skewer you Lol! Do not call them cemani or svart crosses, you can not!!! They do not want the 'name' disrespected.....Lol, you have to call them something else other than what they are???? Lol!

any Swedish that'll leave the farm with either be processed or breeder quality pair. I have no plans of crossing the good stock with the silkies, only cull which put them to use and help keep my freezer clear!

 

[miss heny]

I wish you were closer, I would take some of those Svart hona off your hands... To cross with my NNs...

If you've already got them on hand, and you're patient and focused, you could cross them with Naked Necks as a side project and see how it goes. Over time you may be able to select for both fm and naked neck-ed offspring that are larger. That's what I'd do - introduce the fm gene into NNs. In Mississippi, the added advantage would be that Naked Necks do so well in heat. 

- Ant Farm 

Haha ATM I am working of developing my Swedish flock, only got a pair working on getting another and then this fall if things goes right in the show ring there is a KY breeder with the silkie gene in her flock I plan on pestering

 

[miss heny]

OK, here's hoping I've had enough coffee to be coherent ... 
I have been reading on the Fm gene that gives the Silkies their black skin, meat, and bones, and it can/will be diluted when crossed to a non-Fm breed, similar to the NN gene being diluted in Nn form.  My customer tells me that when they find Silkies in the market, they are smaller than the ones he gets from me.  I am supposing this is a function of age, as I wait until I am certain a bird is a cockerel before I sell to him, so they tend to be older and more flavorful (which he likes very much).  That is why I am happy to find a somewhat local source for Swedish Blacks.  The person posted a pic of both a Svart Hona and a Cemani (both cockerels) next to each other, and it was easy to see which had more body.

Go back a couple pages and look for the link to the ALBC's pdf on selecting for meat qualities, and that will help you choose breeding stock for more than just weight.  Silkies/black Fm birds are used in soup in traditional Chinese medicine, so older birds are just as desirable as the young ones.  Talk to your future customers, and you may find that they will not want diluted gene birds.

I got the Silkies because I want broodies - we have about a nine month storm season here where power can get knocked out, and we are the "end of the line" at the dead end of a dirt road.  Cull Silkie hens will be put to work hatching eggs and brooding chicks.  My customer not only will buy every cull cockerel from me, he says when I get really rolling on producing them, he'll happily promote them to others he knows who would want to buy.

once I am on a computer will GLADLY do that. Dangit gong into the town with the Asian market today but they'll be close

 

[miss heny]

Alright

I found that link and i saved it. On on the egg laying on the black swedish...they lay up to 200 eggs a year so they will pay back their feed unlike Cemani, which was another reason why I picked them for this project. The silkies I was looking at was because they are cheaper to buy and get to cross over, and to keep the FM gene but I plan on tomorrow talking to the local market and see what their customer base would be looking for.

And now I wait for replies haha, sorry for the post bombs.