BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[Our Roost]

New incubator and new barn on the way! Yep, sounds like more chicks are on their way also! Ha ha.

 

[dfr1973]

Being this far south, I am just about done with spring planting. Next batch of chicks won't arrive until April 15th. I have the preliminary picks for keepers separated from the non-breeders in the January batch of chicks. Two late October pullets just started to lay - first pullet bullets this week.

 

[frw1985]

I also have BLR Wyandottes 30 in the incubator with 8 Bl/Blk/Splash Americana eggs,(Day 3) also have 22 Brassy Back OEG I just candles them only 3 out of 22 are good. I bought these eggs not to happy about them, but a chance you take when you have to have eggs shipped!. Any who have shipped eggs enough you know that this is always a chance you take. Hopefully these three will hatch.
Also placing an order for chicks - waiting on my 6 Red Stars to start laying anyday.
We are far enough South we have just about all of our Garden planted . Just lack a few Tomatoes and all of my Pepper plants to go into my raised beds,
Fun times!- won't be long it will be too hot to do anything down here!

 

[holm25]

Things have changed so no Beifelders for me. The water heater broke and its fix tha and have hot water or get chicks...

 

[DesertChic]

Things have changed so no Beifelders for me. The water heater broke and its fix tha and have hot water or get chicks...

Ouch! Bummer! Sorry to hear about that.

 

[dfr1973]

So caponizing has an even steeper learning curve than I thought. I still do not have a capon, but I do want to share a pic of one of the two CULL cockerels from the batch I bought from Luanne. He was just shy of 11 weeks old, and that is a gallon size storage baggie he's chilling in. Lovely looking carcass, especially considering he was the third largest out of the four rose comb cockerels. In about three generations, I should have some outstanding looking cockerel carcasses! Here is tomorrow's dinner:

Just think, Azar has a much meatier feeling breast than this. That's my keeper from this batch.

 

[bmvf]

Today I got a commercial style layer cage. I had a buddy that had a couple 10 foot sections laying in his barn for years. I figured I'd take one and use it to hold a rooster or a couple birds if needed. Then an idea popped into my head, instead of trap nesting, which I do not have time to regularly check, could I get valuable information if I had my layers in these cages for a week or so? Since they are not on grass or in a chicken tractor yet, would the move set them back and give me useless data?

What ways can I isolate a couple breeding hens from the other 'cull' hens that I need for egg production? I'm not keen on keeping hens in a small cage just like I'm not keen on keeping dairy cows tied in a stall. But if it works and gives me useful data....

 

[bmvf]

As I breed brothers and sisters to eat other, questions start to rise regarding proper breeding. I'm sure it has been covered here before, but could someone give a clear, concise outline of possible breeding directions using the same origin of genetics. My goals are much more production than looks so inbreeding becomes and issue more quickly.

 

[gjensen]

So caponizing has an even steeper learning curve than I thought. I still do not have a capon, but I do want to share a pic of one of the two CULL cockerels from the batch I bought from Luanne. He was just shy of 11 weeks old, and that is a gallon size storage baggie he's chilling in. Lovely looking carcass, especially considering he was the third largest out of the four rose comb cockerels. In about three generations, I should have some outstanding looking cockerel carcasses! Here is tomorrow's dinner:

Just think, Azar has a much meatier feeling breast than this. That's my keeper from this batch.

That is a decent 11 wk carcass. With good smart management, you could make good 12-14wk fryers and harvest them before they started to get tough. That us what we should be able to do. Instead we often consider it a badge of honor to harvest old birds.

Did you weigh them? Weight, feed, housing, management particulars are helpful at young ages.

It is good to see you culling and harvesting early. We should. However, that does mean we need to retain enough to make final selections. Keep that in mind. It can happen that for some reason or another that we do not end up with a cockerel that we want to use moving forward.

Looks good. Keep at it.

 

[gjensen]

Today I got a commercial style layer cage. I had a buddy that had a couple 10 foot sections laying in his barn for years. I figured I'd take one and use it to hold a rooster or a couple birds if needed. Then an idea popped into my head, instead of trap nesting, which I do not have time to regularly check, could I get valuable information if I had my layers in these cages for a week or so? Since they are not on grass or in a chicken tractor yet, would the move set them back and give me useless data?

What ways can I isolate a couple breeding hens from the other 'cull' hens that I need for egg production? I'm not keen on keeping hens in a small cage just like I'm not keen on keeping dairy cows tied in a stall. But if it works and gives me useful data....

What can you learn in a week or two?

The best selection method (there is always more than one) is the one that most directly relates to what you aim to improve. In the case of a layer, there is no better way than to count eggs over an entire year. For different reasons hens can cycle up and down across a year. You would not want to prejudice your thinking against a bird that is otherwise one of the better birds. Other considerations are tools and a means, but the end itself is the qty. of eggs laid at the end of the laying cycle. There is no better way.

Not to mention the adjustment period would likely put them out of lay for a time. Then they will be too big for those cages. The birds in those cages may have been no bigger than 4-4.5lbs (now they are 3.5lbs). Your will be in the 6-7lb range. Some birds will not adapt well to cages of the sort, and not reveal their potential.

Naturally, their are a number of characteristics associated with a productive and healthy layer. All of them should be considered over the course of the season, but none are as important as how may a pullet laid from POL to molt (end of lay). Snap shots in time can be misleading.