BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[hellbender]

Can't remeber who had the speck. Sussex. On this thread. But I'm curious as to how they turned out in regards to production. Egg quality, color and lay ability.

I'm getting ready to order replacement pullets and wanted something different to go along with my commercial layers. But want something that will produce a lot of eggs

Might have been Sharon, in PA.

 

[bramblefir]

I only have a couple of Speckled Sussex, but thought I'd chime in with. They started laying just before 20 weeks (even beat the RC Leghorns!) and I would say they're typically in the 4-5 per week range. The egg size is similar to all of my other layers (except the Hamburgs). They lay a darker brown than everyone besides the Welsummer.

Welsummer, Speckled Sussex, Barred Rock, and Leghorn eggs:


Mine are also very curious, always first out of the run, and rather friendly for how little handling they get. It's not uncommon to see my 5 year old carrying them around, whereas all the other birds run from her as fast as they can.

 

[hellbender]

A while back, I mentioned on another thread that I allowed a 7 month Buckeye pullet set on a clutch of eggs (The eggs were Buckeye-over NN). She hatched six of them and my daughter took them into the new hatch house to care for them.

I honestly never dreamed she would stay with the set, even though I only allowed her to set because she was driving me nuts, trying to break the set. We plan to try to use brooders when we can but only in good weather. WE will not be hatching anywhere near the number of birds that we are accustomed to so we're hoping to have enough broody hens to do the job for us.

The chicks are very nice, big and heavily boned. They did not come without a very serious............appetite!!!

 

[Kev]

A while back, I mentioned on another thread that I allowed a 7 month Buckeye pullet set on a clutch of eggs (The eggs were Buckeye-over NN). She hatched six of them and my daughter took them into the new hatch house to care for them.

I honestly never dreamed she would stay with the set, even though I only allowed her to set because she was driving me nuts, trying to break the set. We plan to try to use brooders when we can but only in good weather. WE will not be hatching anywhere near the number of birds that we are accustomed to so we're hoping to have enough broody hens to do the job for us.

The chicks are very nice, big and heavily boned. They did not come without a very serious............appetite!!!

Haha they better grow out with tons of meat then! Would love to see pics of them someday. Buckeyes are walnut combed, right..?

 

[Arielle]

Quote: I have learned that often birds can have look alikes; and as I want to hatch 3 groups of buckeyes at the same time but from different pens, seems like the wisest thing is to mark the chicks AT HATCH. But to track them over time a quick look via a leg band would be helpful; if I hatch several times from one pen, would like to be able clearly ID by age as well.

In the past I have had great luck using co-flex at hatch. Wrap a THIN strip loosely around the leg several times, and pinch the extra. THis tighens the co-flex a bit so it cant fall off. HOnestly it is impossible to wrap anything but loosely if you are doing it one handed. lol It stretches and lasts for months.

So can you cut webs at a day old?

My original buckeye chicks were notched and shipped the day they hatched.

Quote: Wow, I'm surprised the wing band numbers are small. THat is disappointing. Zip ties are easy. THough I prefer them for adult birds.

Quote: Umm, lol, the chickens are right there at the butcher table stealing the blood. Though preferably cooked blood would be my recommendation. I suspect that there is the potential for passing some infections via fresh blood.

My chickens are usually underfoot when I'm butchering, waiting for goodies to drop like a pack of dogs. Typically I collect everything in one big muck tub and then dump it on the compost pile where the flock then goes through it. There's rarely anything but feathers and bones left by the time they're done with it. Birds or livestock that have died or needed to be culled (and aren't okay for eating) are buried deep in the compost where they won't be disturbed by the flock or other scavengers.

If you wanted to cook the blood you can, but chickens will happily consume it raw. If I were to bother with cooking it I would probably do something along the lines of black pudding, maybe with eggshells and chopped offal too: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Black-Pudding-51145600

Yup, like a pack of dogs!!! lol

Quote: I have a plastic canvas cut to fit my LG and held with tiny zip ties. THe chicks are fence jumpers so I place extras cooling racks. THe chicks stay put and the metal wont melt if it touches the heating element.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: Used chicken feet in a stew recipe yesterday that originally used hogs feet. Didn't have the latter, so tossed in chicken feet instead to thicken the base. Very strange to look at chicken feet. Covered with liquid, covered the pot and put it in the oven. Later pulled out the feet, let cool then pulled apart for cat to eat. Cat passed!! lol So I tried one.

I do wonder if I should have cut the skin before boiling . . .?? Lots of gel on the inside. Will take some getting used to.

Have I posted this before? He is a UKC CH. and ARBA World Ch.

hmmmm

American Rabbit Breeders Association????

I can appreciate a well build dog--but I dont recognize the breed.

This will be my first year hatching off my birds so I have the parents with either a yellow or red zip tie on their ankle the chicks will be marked with a red or yellow and a blue zip tie to tell me what their parents are and what generation they are. I have a notebook with colored binder separates so that I can keep notes according to their color and breed.

I am hoping this will work.

I have two pair of Buckeye in separate pens one yellow and one red
I have a trio of Chantecler

Then I am doing the same with my turkey's.

Many of my birds have lost their zip ties, so I often put on a right and a left zip tie.

What a great thread. This is the sort of thing I enjoy reading yet it's so hard to find information of this caliber on this site.

Truthfully i have no desire to recreate the wheel. I Feel that wheel has had its day and we have progressed beyond its time. But I enjoy learning anything about fowl. and have learned quite a bit.

My experience with breeding has all been mainly with gamefowl. Which I haven't had now for quite awhile. But a lot can be learned from the old time gamefowl enthusiast. After all they are pretty much the only ones that have continued lines of fowl for centuries. Their methods are pretty simple. Line breeding, in breeding, withe the occasional infusion of outside blood. Blood that isn't of that exact line but of said strain. Then cross breeding for battle fowl. At times the crossing isn't even necessary.

Their methods of breeding are scoffed at by some. (Remeber our conversations at homestead site mr Jensen) but time and quality of ancient /modern day fowl speak for themselves.

When I have a moment I'll look up an article that will explain their method of breeding

and welcome to the thread.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: My inspector needs to take lessons from you. I cant tell you how many metal bands come off.

Quote: lol, I haven't purchased ring bands yet because I did wonder if real heritage birds were bigger than the stated breeds. You proved me right!

 

[Arielle]

Can't remeber who had the speck. Sussex. On this thread. But I'm curious as to how they turned out in regards to production. Egg quality, color and lay ability.

I'm getting ready to order replacement pullets and wanted something different to go along with my commercial layers. But want something that will produce a lot of eggs

SS are not supposed to be super layers. Mine lay about daily though-- moer than the breed is supposed to. . Egg color is a very pale tan. I rather like the birds themselves.

Generally the SS I bought from Meyers are better layers than they are supposed to be, which doesn't surprise me when egg laying is top priority at the commercial chick producing facilities.

Look to rhode Island reds as great layers; or dels, or . . . . who has that chart???? WHere is Ron Ottman???? I know he has it.

 

[hellbender]

Haha they better grow out with tons of meat then! Would love to see pics of them someday. Buckeyes are walnut combed, right..?

No Kev, Buckeyes have pea combs. EDIT...but I like walnut, rose and other combs.

My daughter Ariel is the 'mommy' and I'm sure she is far more likely to take pics than I or either of my sons. I'll ask her to take a few since she spends hours with them. These chicks and the new Florida W. bunnies keep her smiling and considering her condition when she got here, it makes me smile too!!! lolol

I have just a bit of fear (apprehension) that these could turn into pigs, like the CornishX but then I just think for a second and realize it a whole different ball game. But, these almost have to be large birds and large appetites shouldn't be a surprise...lol


And ...EDIT to Arielle: American Rare breed Dog Assn.

http://www.arba.org/#curtain3

 

[Arielle]

I only have a couple of Speckled Sussex, but thought I'd chime in with. They started laying just before 20 weeks (even beat the RC Leghorns!) and I would say they're typically in the 4-5 per week range. The egg size is similar to all of my other layers (except the Hamburgs). They lay a darker brown than everyone besides the Welsummer.

Welsummer, Speckled Sussex, Barred Rock, and Leghorn eggs:


Mine are also very curious, always first out of the run, and rather friendly for how little handling they get. It's not uncommon to see my 5 year old carrying them around, whereas all the other birds run from her as fast as they can.

The egg next to the white egg is the color of my SS. My girls are not friendly, nor stand off ish, when NOT played with as chicks. Those that we played with as chicks liked to help out in the garden while we weeded grabbing the worms and the bugs. Difficult to get the weeding done. lol I'm still working on improving the SS that I have . . and still looking for better . . .