BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[lpatelski]

DOH 4/28/16 - picture journal 5/6/16 for #115
3/4 Dark Cornish (Bob-50%DC/50%WCR & Marion-DC)
day 8

 

[Mini Meat]

Despite the rather cold, wet spring we have had, we have had 3 hens come out of the wood with chicks so far.

The first was a Cubalaya hen w/ 8 chicks my neighbor caught them and was interested in keeping them. I am not going forward with the Cubs so I said

!
The second was my daughters Tiny Serema/Bantam EE cross w/8 chicks sired by her RIR rooster. The chicks are so big (relatively speaking) they must have burst from their eggs.

And just today My favorite DC hen came out with 8

We have them all in dog crates since it is raining today.

Edit to add pic

 

[lpatelski]

DOH 4/28/16 - picture journal 5/7/16 for #115
3/4 Dark Cornish (Bob-50%DC/50%WCR & Marion-DC)
day 9

day 9 day 5




day 9 day 5



day 9 day5




comparison day 9 to day 5

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

DOH 4/28/16 - picture journal 5/7/16 for #115
3/4 Dark Cornish (Bob-50%DC/50%WCR & Marion-DC)
day 9

Delurking to say I enjoy your updates - keep them coming!

- Ant Farm

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

Delurking to say I enjoy your updates - keep them coming!

- Ant Farm

What Fire Ant Farm said!
Where's everyone else's projects? I'm going to take some chick photos this weekend and post.

 

[DesertChic]

What Fire Ant Farm said!
Where's everyone else's projects? I'm going to take some chick photos this weekend and post.

LOL, I've got so many chicks in this last hatch that I'm down to weighing and photographing every 2 weeks instead of weekly. For the sake of my sanity it was necessary.

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

LOL, I've got so many chicks in this last hatch that I'm down to weighing and photographing every 2 weeks instead of weekly. For the sake of my sanity it was necessary.

Is it possible to identify obvious winners/losers early on? That is one of my goals, to learn how to spot as many of the most promising chicks as quickly as possible. That way one could focus on the few exceptional individuals, and save time!
One thing I do know, although the egg size correlates to chick size at hatch, it does not correlate to ultimate size later on. It would be nice to know for example, that at 4 weeks if a chick has not reached a certain weight for its sex, it never will be a breeding bird choice (That's just an example, I have no idea). That would be for meaties- for egg layers I don't think there are any short cuts.

 

[lpatelski]

All are 3/4 Dark Cornish
From left to right (Right leg Pink band) chick #96 DOH 4/16/16 BamBam/Lavenia 20 days old, Middle (Left leg yellow band) chick #106 DOH 4/22/16 Bob/Marion 14 days, On the Right (left leg yellow band) chick # 104 DOH 4/22/16 BamBam/Tootsie 14 days.






5 ounces chick # 104 DOH 4/22/16 BamBam/Tootsie 14 days




9.5 ounces chick #106 DOH 4/22/16 Bob/Marion 14 days

14 ounces chick #96 DOH 4/16/16 BamBam/Lavenia 20 days old

 

[bluejean55girl]

Is it possible to identify obvious winners/losers early on? That is one of my goals, to learn how to spot as many of the most promising chicks as quickly as possible. That way one could focus on the few exceptional individuals, and save time!
One thing I do know, although the egg size correlates to  chick size at hatch, it does not correlate to ultimate size later on. It would be nice to know for example, that at 4 weeks if a chick has not reached a certain weight for its sex, it never will be a breeding bird choice (That's just an example, I have no idea). That would be for meaties- for egg layers I don't think there are any short cuts.

x2

 

[lpatelski]

Is it possible to identify obvious winners/losers early on? That is one of my goals, to learn how to spot as many of the most promising chicks as quickly as possible. That way one could focus on the few exceptional individuals, and save time!
One thing I do know, although the egg size correlates to chick size at hatch, it does not correlate to ultimate size later on. It would be nice to know for example, that at 4 weeks if a chick has not reached a certain weight for its sex, it never will be a breeding bird choice (That's just an example, I have no idea). That would be for meaties- for egg layers I don't think there are any short cuts.

Cobb has benchmark weight charts.

This one is for The Cobb700 strain.

http://www.cobb-vantress.com/docs/d...---english(grams)3B488DD1135E605D9633D7A1.pdf


According to the chart below, my chick (if it's a pullet) is off by 1.5g - I believe it's a cockerel, so it's off by 61.5g.


On the other hand...BigBird's weight at 40 days was 1496.9g(3 lbs 4.8oz) 500g over their 1000g benchmark weight.