BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[tony4850]

I have had hybrid brown egg layers for 40 years, starting with the " Harco" sex links. There is no doubt that , for instance the Golden Comets have a short life span. I don't mean a short productive life span. I mean a short life period. My hens are beginning their second year of production and I lose one every few weeks . But up to now they are very, very productive .

 

[LindaB220]

I have had hybrid brown egg layers for 40 years, starting with the " Harco" sex links. There is no doubt that , for instance the Golden Comets have a short life span. I don't mean a short productive life span. I mean a short life period. My hens are beginning their second year of production and I lose one every few weeks . But up to now they are very, very productive .

And that's exactly what I bought. Six of them. But I also have 3 Delaware and 5 White rocks. So I'm set for a laying flock for a while.
Tony,

 

[Arielle]

I have had hybrid brown egg layers for 40 years, starting with the " Harco" sex links. There is no doubt that , for instance the Golden Comets have a short life span. I don't mean a short productive life span. I mean a short life period. My hens are beginning their second year of production and I lose one every few weeks . But up to now they are very, very productive .

Welcome!

Are these GOlden comets from a specific hatchery/line? How do they compare with hybrids you raised earlier, like the Harco line?

 

[tony4850]

My preference is Mt. Healthy for hybrid brown egg layers. The Harco Sex Links were larger birds. They laid a little bit larger egg and of course the eggs are a darker shade of brown. They had a much longer life span and although production decreased after the second cycle they still had decent production.

 

[armorfirelady]

Hellbenders I have a mini iPad & love it. It's what I use to go online mostly. But when we are camping there is no internet so it's great for downloading free books on before we go. I then like to plop myself in a chair and read, read, read. It also takes great pictures. I took it on my cruise and it worked out great for reading.

Of course a kindle or other brand e-reader would work as well as long as it has wifi. I don't get to relax & read much and it's far easier to pack then a bunch of books.

Have a great time on your vacation !!!

 

[hellbender]

Hellbenders I have a mini iPad & love it. It's what I use to go online mostly. But when we are camping there is no internet so it's great for downloading free books on before we go. I then like to plop myself in a chair and read, read, read. It also takes great pictures. I took it on my cruise and it worked out great for reading.

Of course a kindle or other brand e-reader would work as well as long as it has wifi. I don't get to relax & read much and it's far easier to pack then a bunch of books.

Have a great time on your vacation !!!

Thanks for the information. Honestly...when I get to CR, I will have far too much business to take care of and when I manage to reach Porto Alegre, I won't be interested in reading, connecting to the net or even talking to my son...unless absolutely necessary.

I've been there twice before and quite honestly if circumstances ever dictated that I actually had to leave the USA on a permanent basis, This is very NEAR the place I will go to live. I wouldn't live in the city proper but there are surrounding areas that are very welcoming to expats.

Who knows, I might buy property there...for a vacation home!

Oh, thanks to all for the fond farewells but I won't be leaving for a few day yet! I'm sure not a bit too soon for many....

 

[Arielle]

My preference is Mt. Healthy for hybrid brown egg layers. The Harco Sex Links were larger birds. They laid a little bit larger egg and of course the eggs are a darker shade of brown. They had a much longer life span and although production decreased after the second cycle they still had decent production.

Are the Harco still availabe, or is the Mt HEalthy line just more economical??

 

[capayvalleychick]

'Cold Packing' chickens is not a bit hard. We do more freezing of the capons but we also have quite a bunch of older cockerels cold-packed (canned). It makes what would be a rather tough bird quite tender and so easy to work with.

What do you mean by "cold packing" ? I have a question about canning chicken.

Recently used a pressure canner for the first time. Canned year old roosters into chicken veg soup and others into broth. I didn't realize how much the contents in the jars cook while being canned. It took over a half hour to get the canner up to pressure, then 25-90 minutes under pressure. The meat in the soup disintegrated and the broth is dark orange.

I did see that the recipe directions called for using partially cooked chicken and now I see why.

It seems like it would be much more difficult to debone & cut up raw chicken than cooked. Especially older cock birds. I had trouble pulling out some of the feathers, like on the wings.

So, advice on how you all do it would be appreciated.

 

[chickadoodles]

Arielle how did you can your turkey last year? Would you share your method please? And if you have done chicken I would also like to know how you did that please.

 

[southernmomma]

Thanks for the information. Honestly...when I get to CR, I will have far too much business to take care of and when I manage to reach Porto Alegre, I won't be interested in reading, connecting to the net or even talking to my son...unless absolutely necessary.

I've been there twice before and quite honestly if circumstances ever dictated that I actually had to leave the USA on a permanent basis, This is very NEAR the place I will go to live. I wouldn't live in the city proper but there are surrounding areas that are very welcoming to expats.

Who knows, I might buy property there...for a vacation home!

Oh, thanks to all for the fond farewells but I won't be leaving for a few day yet! I'm sure not a bit too soon for many....

I think your plan to unplug sounds divine!!
Have you ever explored the expat community in Belize?

M