BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[Turk Raphael]

If you have a goal age to put into the freezer, would that weight at that age be the most helpful?? Just because a bird fills out heavier than another at a later date, how is that helpful?

I noticed my boys start running the girls-- I would think they should be culled by then or put into bachleor pens out of sight of the girls, to finish the selection as breeder stock.

I haven't figured out how to free range girls and boys separately. WOnder how YHF does it??

Ask. They might be happy to tell you since it doesn't smack of a trade secret.

 

[seventreesfarm]

Personally I like to put colored leg bands on the birds well before it's time to choose who stays and who goes. That way I can watch them as they grow and note the ones that grow faster/slower, who starts laying first, who starts crowing first, who is a jackass and will be eaten, who is more dominant/subordinate. When you're running birds that all look the same, one of them can catch your eye for something good or bad, but they get back into the group and you can't tell one from the other unless they have something to ID them.

I like to separate by gender as soon as I can tell who is who and housing is ready for them. So far separating them by at least 2 months old is working better for us. Get them separated well before anybody gets an idea that there is such a thing as the opposite sex. It also has helped being able to put in two different age groups together easier because none of the males were anywhere near maturity yet and they were all still young and scared to be thrown out into the pen so I didn't have to build a creep feeder for the younger ones.

I band mine at hatch, usually in color groups by hen, then as they get older, when I size up leg bands, I start keeping an eye on them. By the third or fourth band change, I can tell who is going to auction right away, so they don't get a roo band. Once the keepers are a few months old they get an extra band so I can tell them apart from their siblings. Kinda of a pain to keep rebanding, but a good way to really evaluate them each time. I take notes and sometimes take pictures.
I get zip ties from ebay, 10 diff colors, 100 each color, for about $25. The small ones work great for hatchlings.

 

[southernmomma]

If you have a goal age to put into the freezer, would that weight at that age be the most helpful?? Just because a bird fills out heavier than another at a later date, how is that helpful?

I noticed my boys start running the girls-- I would think they should be culled by then or put into bachleor pens out of sight of the girls, to finish the selection as breeder stock.

I haven't figured out how to free range girls and boys separately. WOnder how YHF does it??

I don't think it's helpful at all, not if you want to eat them. I realize there are different strategies for different reasons but I imagine a slaughter weight in decent time rules out using the late bloomer as breeding stock.

Wouldn't alternating days be the simplest solution? Or clipping some wings and using different fields?

M

 

[southernmomma]

I never considered it before but I could unload (sell) many dozens of free range eggs at work. Still in the planning stage...planning to look into breeds and how to get it through a 'family squabble Discussion' without bloodshed.

As a matter of fact, my partner has hundreds of potential customers at work.

Tell me about it, lol....my son badly wants a 'big black chicken' which I thought to solve with a couple of Australrop hens but then my husband, muttered something about blue eggs....blue eggs!!
I just threw up my hands

M

 

[Arielle]

George-- that is an interesting list. Mr RHodes ( buckeyes) also has campines; DOn Shrider also has brown leghorns. LE FLeche, good one.

I bet there are others worth considering. . . . perhaps the more we can talk about the rarer breeds, the more i nterest would be created. For a noob an easier bird might be the best start-- BUT what is an easyy bird.? I found for being "flighty" I rather liked my SSH-- he just evaded capture and avoided attention. NOt necessarily a bad thing. Made for a great watch dog!! LOl

 

[gjensen]

So I decided not the start a 'breeding for beginners' thread. This thread and the comments on it are exactly what I'm looking to breed for.

My New Hampshire chicks are doing very well. They are already starting to jump out of the little kiddie pool that we were keeping them in. So today we moved them to my normal brooding box in the garage. They don't seem to need a heat lamp but I have it on if they need it. They have plenty of room to avoid it if desired.

Considering I want to be selecting birds from this group for breeding, what should I be doing for the first 2-3 months? I don't have any parent ID, so I wasn't going to ID any birds until I select which birds will be my breeding stock. I've read that I should be weighing birds at 8 weeks. Anything else? When should I separate male and female?

There is no reason to ID this group.

Personally, I would not worry about weighing this group @ 8wks. Wait until 12wks.

Separate the males and females when you can positively ID them. They will both grow out better like that.

Is this the first generation cross?

 

[chickadoodles]

As long as you stay away from the cocks. I've heard that they are mean and really not much meat.

My easter egger cock was very gentle we could hand feed him treats. He raised several groups of chicks for us because none of our hens would so he took them under his wing and protected them.

 

[bmvf]

I was reading the breeding section of "Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens" and read the part where birds that grow too quickly in reference to the SOP should be culled. If I remember the reason was potential health problems. I was curious if others do the same. Is it more for SOP breeders and not dual purpose breeders?

In reference to the idea of buying zip ties on Ebay; if you have 10 different colors do you double up colors if you have 11+ birds in a hatch? Maybe have a red on the right leg of one chick and a red on the left of another chick? It's a good idea because I have a bunch of very small colored zip ties!

 

[Arielle]

GOod roosters are underrated.

I have two roosters that grew up with the 3 remaining hens, yet the girls go cruising for food and the 2 boys" stay at home"-- I can only think thier behavior is influenced by the Sr cock that would kick their butts if they entered onto his turf-- of course the Sr cock welcomes ALL the girls. Unfortunately he can not be everywhere at once and his girls do get picked off now and then. Not sure of a solution . . . . .

 

[bmvf]

There is no reason to ID this group.

Personally, I would not worry about weighing this group @ 8wks. Wait until 12wks.

Separate the males and females when you can positively ID them. They will both grow out better like that.

Is this the first generation cross?

I'm not sure, I'm not even sure when they hatched because they seem to be able to do things in the first week that other birds can't do till 2 or 3 weeks. I'm working on getting some info.