BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[Shellz]

Here are 3 birds for you that I have chosen to observe and cross. The bielefelder. the blue orpington, and the belgium malines. The english crele orpington might give you some more thought about color as well. Each of these meet your egg and meat specifics. Forget getting hens to weigh 8-10 pounds! Raise turkeys instead. You surely can get some roosters to meet that weight, but most likely, not the hens.

There are mini turkey breeds too, but I have no experience with them. As per 8-10 lbs per rooster...not sure how tender it would be at that point. Still, if you don't mind slow cooking or canning the meat, those are good options for roosters. I had a couple of Malines cockerels that were 7 lbs dressed at 19 weeks of age. Can't complain! I agree with Our Roost...hens not likely to get that big in breeds he listed.

 

[Shellz]

The WRs will lay through the winter and BAs will lay through the winter.  They won't have their normal rate of lay but they still seem to crank out an egg or three a week, especially the BAs. 

For sure I don't mind the natural slow down of laying in winter. Going on strike is not an option! Good layers they are, but don't these birds lay beige eggs? I would keep 2-3 hens but egg color must be different enough, so that I don't hatch their eggs with my Malines.

 

[Beekissed]

The BAs have a darker brown, shiny egg but the WRs can range from dark beige to light, so yep...they've got beige.

 

[ronott1]

For sure I don't mind the natural slow down of laying in winter. Going on strike is not an option!

Good layers they are, but don't these birds lay beige eggs? I would keep 2-3 hens but egg color must be different enough, so that I don't hatch their eggs with my Malines.

If you are going to be a serious breeder, you will need to have multiple pens for each breed. If you do not, then eventually you will have genetic faults in the breed from too much inbreeding.

In other words, you need to run two or more flocks of each breed and then out cross to the other flock to keep from causing birth defects.

 

[neopolitancrazy]

... It appears you may gather it but when it gets right down to it, you know more about your birds and breeds than the data shows?...

That's one way of looking at it. Another way is that some information is more objective and easier to quantify. Other information is subjective or rather intuitive. Plus, different people are better at different styles of decision-making, and different people have different secondary goals aside from pure production. The commercial chicken farmers have excelled at producing large volumes of large eggs, or cheap, fast chicken meat, with less than excellent quality of life for the animals, for the environment or for the farmers. I think those of us on this thread are trying to get meat and eggs out of our chickens and enjoy the actual process, too.
Best wishes,
Angela

 

[neopolitancrazy]

edited

 

[neopolitancrazy]

...
Multicolored (something like an Icelandic)
Meat build (8-10lbs)
200-250 eggs per year

....

The Blue Laced Red Wyandottes I now have fit those criteria, but the guy who developed this line into something show-worthy (oversized with beautiful lacing and coloring) recommends waiting a year and a half for them to reach full maturity. As much as I love chicken and dumplings and coq au vin I don't want to keep all the chicks that long, so will focus on quicker maturing, standard-sized, (but still beautiful!) birds for my flock.

 

[Shellz]

If you are going to be a serious breeder, you will need to have multiple pens for each breed. If you do not, then eventually you will have genetic faults in the breed from too much inbreeding.

In other words, you need to run two or more flocks of each breed and then out cross to the other flock to keep from causing birth defects.

Good point. Rare breeds are a challenge. We raise only for our own needs here, so I just want to maintain a healthy & consistent flock. With a small flock though, would it not be feasible to just hatch eggs you know, came from the best of both bloodlines of hens? I know I have more challenges ahead. I can't breed brother to sister in future, so I'm hoping that I can grow out an old line/new line cross cockerel this spring, to cover the oldest hens next year. I'm trying to get distance between generations & using the new bloodline to get some much needed vigor back in my flock. I can only hatch out 25-30 chicks a season. Yeah, a pretty tall order! Hard to get much improvement at that rate, but I know it's a long term commitment. I'm still waffling on whether I should hatch chicks from father over daughters. Maybe I should just hatch chicks from my only rooster over the 2 new line hens I have now? :/ I could hatch every week if necessary to get the numbers I need.

 

[Beer can]

Jersey Giant hens will reach 10lbs, and lay decent and in winter.
My Easter Eggers have been laying all winter, with no added light, and lay green and dark olive eggs. They all are different colors, reach a good meaty size. The roosters are pretty unique looking birds.
I'm getting into raising white jersey giants and langshans but if I was to give advice as to some of the best dual purpose I'd say rhode island red, new hampshire, delaware.
My EEgrs sure have impressed me this winter though. The welsummer quit and so did the brownleghorns. I have a gl polish that started laying a few weeks ago in subzero temps, she's laying five a week and are supposed to be non productive not hardy breed ??

 

[ronott1]

Good point. Rare breeds are a challenge. We raise only for our own needs here, so I just want to maintain a healthy & consistent flock. With a small flock though, would it not be feasible to just hatch eggs you know, came from the best of both bloodlines of hens? I know I have more challenges ahead. I can't breed brother to sister in future, so I'm hoping that I can grow out an old line/new line cross cockerel this spring, to cover the oldest hens next year. I'm trying to get distance between generations & using the new bloodline to get some much needed vigor back in my flock. I can only hatch out 25-30 chicks a season. Yeah, a pretty tall order! Hard to get much improvement at that rate, but I know it's a long term commitment. I'm still waffling on whether I should hatch chicks from father over daughters. Maybe I should just hatch chicks from my only rooster over the 2 new line hens I have now?

I could hatch every week if necessary to get the numbers I need.

This is the stuff I have on it.

Let me know if the word doc is too hard to open. I will make it a pdf if so.