BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[Arielle]

Hi Fred

 

[MargaretYakoda]

Dad said he thinks he might have made a mistake by putting his political views on the bottom of his posts and I think he might be right. He and I share many views so I'm not sure if I would be any more welcome than he was by some people.

Well, I'm about as far off to the fringe in the other direction from what I imagine your dad's and your views are, and I didn't get my knickers in a twist over your dad's sig line. I figure we're here to talk about chickens. And as long as we're all grown up enough to discuss chickens without getting side tracked by individual personalities then it's all fine.

 

[hellbender]

Thanks for all the welcoming posts.

When I talked to dad, he was very unhappy. He did ok on the American Airlines flight from Miami to Manaus in spite of the very severe turbulence almost all the way but when he saw the TAM airliner that is taking him the rest of the way to Porto Alegre, he wished he had paid more money for a better flight.

He jokingly? said he would rather ride the rest of the way in the wheel well of the American Liner as to even board the TAM liner and swears he will come back first class. You have to know him to understand how funny this is.

Jason

 

[Arielle]

I'm chuckling-- why go coach when you can easily go first class. . . . I know he'll cope but it detracks( ar ar ar) from the thrill of traveling. His destination should make up for the travel arrangements though!

HOpe arrives safely.

 

[Arielle]

A basic stupid question . . . how early can you see the muscle development in a meaty type bird?? As in maximizing meat production? I happened to pick up a buckeye , the oldest at 3 months, and felt for thickness of muscling in the breast area. I was thrilled. Next to cornish and 1/2 cornish, this was the thickest musclig ever.

My confusion is due to past post talking about the age in which a particular line is filled out, as in ready for the freezer. I"m rather excited to see where this bird will be in 4 weeks and then in 4 more weeks. ( will be kept for breeding if he/she continues to grow well. as it is the only one from that breeder.) I'm expecting this bird to pack on the weight and fill out more-- or am I expecting too much??

 

[Arielle]

Jason-- I love your avatar!!! I love it!!! RIght i n line with my rotties!!!!

 

[knittychickadee]

A basic stupid question . . . how early can you see the muscle development in a meaty type bird?? As in maximizing meat production? I happened to pick up a buckeye , the oldest at 3 months, and felt for thickness of muscling in the breast area. I was thrilled. Next to cornish and 1/2 cornish, this was the thickest musclig ever.

My confusion is due to past post talking about the age in which a particular line is filled out, as in ready for the freezer. I"m rather excited to see where this bird will be in 4 weeks and then in 4 more weeks. ( will be kept for breeding if he/she continues to grow well. as it is the only one from that breeder.) I'm expecting this bird to pack on the weight and fill out more-- or am I expecting too much??

I like to see it early. Here is a comparison shot of 2 different lines of Buckeyes, exact same age. I wanted to compare a different lines rate of growth and egg laying ability against my own birds a couple years ago so I bought some hatching eggs from another breeder. I hatched them in the same incubator, same brooders and pastures together in a group to make sure there were no differing conditions.

 

[Turk Raphael]

I like to see it early. Here is a comparison shot of 2 different lines of Buckeyes, exact same age. I wanted to compare a different lines rate of growth and egg laying ability against my own birds a couple years ago so I bought some hatching eggs from another breeder. I hatched them in the same incubator, same brooders and pastures together in a group to make sure there were no differing conditions.

Clearly a major difference. The one pictured on the bottom looks like it would do better in a stock pot rather than a roasting pan. Thank you very much for that comparison...It's this sort of information that I am looking for.

Turk

 

[Arielle]

Quote: Rather different aren't they. What age didthey get processed? ANd did you hold on o any to continue the comparison into an older age?

 

[colburg]

Regarding the home-made whizbang plucker. We've process 75 birds over the last 4 days and we've finally got everything down to a T for our plucking process. I realize time and temp can be adjusted for anyone's process, but this works really really well for us.

Scalding Water temp 155F. Under 145F leaves waaaay too many pin feathers and dramatically increases butchering time. Very much over 155F starts to cook the skin and makes it tear too easily when plucking and butchering.

Scalding Time: Dunk and swish for 4 seconds, pull out 2 seconds. Repeat for a total of 5 dunks.

Drop 1 or 2 (no more) into plucker and run plucker while spraying with water until they appear to be plucked. Then go an extra 3-5 seconds for good measure and less hand plucking.

The last 2 days of processing have resulted in only a few pins remaining and the 8-10 tail feathers are still in each carcass, but easily removed.

colburg