BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[holm25]

Do birds with thick legs make better broilers or are thick legs just a good thing to have??

 

[hellbender]

Do birds with thick legs make better broilers or are thick legs just a good thing to have??

Thick legs are certainly great to have in almost any maturing stage of growth but especially if they come with a thick and broad breast!!!

 

[holm25]

The roo I am using a Welsummer. What do you think of his legs and breast??

 

[hellbender]

The roo I am using a Welsummer. What do you think of his legs and breast??

I would like to see one like him denuded. It's really difficult to judge the bird from this angle but from what I've read, they are reasonably meaty birds!!

 

[dfr1973]

The roo I am using a Welsummer. What do you think of his legs and breast??

To my eye, he looks a bit flat-breasted. Keep in mind I have been studying Wyandotte pics and illustrations, along with having a few here. It's hard to tell about his legs - if you can get a better pic of him out in the light it would help. I do understand chickens will never strike the right pose when you have the camera ready! As Ron points out, the real test is what is under the feathers, so unless you plan to slaughter him, you'll have to rely on how meaty he feels. None of us can tell that part, so the big thing is: Do you feel he is a good rooster? Ultimately, these will be YOUR chickens.

 

[Beer can]

Welsummers were originally bred from RIR and cochins, barnvelders, partridge leghorns,and wyandottes in the early 1900s and added to the British standard in 1930. I imagine they would work ok with a cross, that's what your plan was right? I have them but picked them more to have something different and for their dark brown spotted eggs. I was going to go with Marans, but I heard Welsummers lay more frequently.

 

[gjensen]

My fathers RIR rooster when I was a kid was a man killer, but he was good with the hens and the chicks. He was one of those roosters that helped to raise chicks. I personally will never have one, I'm not going tomake my kids deal with it. Even if it wasn't genetic I'm sure it could be
learned behavior, the chicks see how dad acts....

It is certainly genetic. Highly heritable. It is not learned behavior.

 

[gjensen]

Like pitbulls with feathers - the same traits and the same misconceptions.
A fighting dog who wouldn't let a handler, even a stranger, tend its wounds was a dead dog. They were meant to be naturally submissive to people. Unfortunately that very valuable trait has been lost by careless breeding.

That is right. Now we have thugs breeding the dogs that have no business breeding themselves. They have ruined the breed.

 

[gjensen]

Do birds with thick legs make better broilers or are thick legs just a good thing to have??

Look at thick shanks, and well spaced legs as a good foundation.

 

[gjensen]

The roo I am using a Welsummer. What do you think of his legs and breast??

The roo I am using a Welsummer. What do you think of his legs and breast??

Double post.