BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[DesertChic]

DesertChic, consider this. Currently I have been prompted to monitor and graph weights of my meat birds for utility and breeding purposes. This is a weight gain chart to monitor each birds individual progress. I'm not tracking eggs here and it is strictly for growth and weight. Applying a numbered leg band to each bird lets you record each birds individual assets on a weekly basis. Lets say you want to cull your birds at a dressed table weight of 5 lbs. This is the weight you are happy with and not the mature weight your bird will actually grow to. Why wait until the bird is 8lbs. at 20 plus weeks old if you are happy eating it at 5 lbs? You use less feed and enjoy the benefits sooner. When you chart like this, you can select the best productive growers and weight gainers and choose those birds for breeding. I believe this is why my mentors are pushing me to do this. It makes sense if you can find the time to follow it. Breeding for production, eggs and or meat is much different than breeding for show purposes.
I wish there was more talk on selecting roosters as I feel there is something truly important we can learn. They play a major role in more ways than not! You may have many roosters with one claiming to be the boss but he may not be the best fit for utility breeding and or the goals you are trying to achieve!

Actually, this outstanding advice very similar to what I'm already doing. I was always compulsive about recording their weights weekly to every two weeks as well as taking regular photos of the birds, but @gjensen also suggested that I graph their weights and that advice has proven enormously helpful. The only areas I'm still struggling with are 1) determining at what weight I'm content to cull my non-breeders, and 2) and most importantly, having enough free time to cull more than one bird at a time. I can chop and dice veggies and fruits like a Ninja, but I'm still pretty darn slow at processing those birds and my back usually demands a break after I've processed only one of them. Plus I promised my husband I would only butcher the birds when he's here at home, which is only on the weekends. (He's convinced that some big, bad, panicked cockerel will get the better of me and peck my eyes out or something if he's not here to "protect" me.

)

 

[DesertChic]

Ok, I finally, sorta'........figured out this ****** new cam. There are 38 birds in this grow-out coop.... somewhere, that are just at 7 week of age.These are all 'hatchery stock' but for our purposes...they are fine. Few if any of these will be caponized but will be judiciously Xed and the hybrid offspring will be caponized and poulardized.

So let the 'blood letting' begin!!!







That's it for now...perhaps forever!!!!!!!!!!!!!

@Kev ...we appear to have 2 SOLID BLACK Dark Cornish Cockerels. Is that likely or are they liable to color-up with time? Thanks...........Oh...the ones showing here are not the black ones. I'll have to corner them and get good shots.

What the heck...one more Chantecler, diddlin'

around the small orchard.

Those birds are beautiful...and look at all that green! I sometimes forget how lush the rest of the country can become during spring and summer.

I love the contrast of the dark and white birds next to each other.

 

[Our Roost]

DesertChic, the culling selection of non breeders should get easier once you have selected which birds you do want to use from your chart results. The second generation should show birds that grow more along the same growth rates. At least in theory, this is how it should work? Time will tell.

 

[hellbender]

Those birds are beautiful...and look at all that green! I sometimes forget how lush the rest of the country can become during spring and summer.

I love the contrast of the dark and white birds next to each other.

Thank you ...it's a pretty good cam but I have no skills and less patience with trying to get a miserable chicken to 'pose'. They is what they is but I will say, they look better in person. There are three breeds here...The obvious Chanteclers, the also obvious Dark Cornish and 4 Buckeyes.

I said these birds would not be caponized but that's not exactly true. We will watch for the ones we want as brood stock and the others will become capons or chicken salad.

 

[JRNash]

I think the white Chanteclers are the prettiest chickens I've seen. If I hadn't allready committed to the project I'm doing now Id have a pen full of them

 

[Beer can]

@Our Roost That's some good advise, I never thought of that. I was going to wait until my sussex reached full potential before selecting my breeders. Should be able to know the keepers long before they reach full weight. With the amount of birds I have now between them and the j giants and silkie meat project, plus our current layers I'm going to phase out as soon as the sussex and giants come into lay, feed is getting pretty expensive.
I will be culling my wellsumer rooster and two non laying hens to save on feed right now. Don't see any sense in keeping them when I no longer plan on breeding them. I'm just going to keep the EE and leghorns so I don't have to buy eggs in the store.
Actually now that I'm thinking about it, I only see one silkie cockerel and two pullets worth keeping, might as well make soup out of the other three. They look meaty enough to me, why am I wasting $ on feeding them?
It might have been posted before but thanks for posting that, you just saved me some $$.

 

[Our Roost]

Still looking for better defined opinions, but thanks emensly for taking the time to go through all those

postings on thread!

 

[dfr1973]

Still looking for better defined opinions

Specify - what traits are you hoping for the rooster to contribute?

 

[Our Roost]

That is truly the question! I am breeding utility meat birds. I suppose I could judge them by weight growth as to gains weight the fastest in the shortest period of time. Not looking for looks or appearance here, but productivity. On the other hand, using pure breeds complicates things if you alter their appearance over time. I have to question S.O.P. as to what the gains and losses are

.

 

[DesertChic]

That is truly the question! I am breeding utility meat birds. I suppose I could judge them by weight growth as to gains weight the fastest in the shortest period of time. Not looking for looks or appearance here, but productivity. On the other hand, using pure breeds complicates things if you alter their appearance over time. I have to question S.O.P. as to what the gains and losses are

.

Yep....there's the rub. I've spent so many nights during my down time thumbing through the SOP and thinking, "Just how far off the mark am I going to wind up IF..." Then I review some of my old literature on poultry husbandry to remind myself that for years people have questioned the tendency of SOP to favor "pretty" birds over the most productive ones. I think all of this has increased my struggles to formulate "my plan" with my birds. Only recently have I finally been reaching the mindset of, "They're just chickens, so stop stressing out over this".

My layer flock is comprised primarily of mutts, and they consistently give me very pretty, colorful eggs that are large to jumbo in size. Eleven birds are currently supplying me with 9-12 eggs per day, many of which I'm now selling to devoted customers to help offset the cost of feed.

My meat flock is where the experimentation will come into play. As I butcher and consume more birds I'm starting to get a better grasp on what I'm really looking for in my meat birds. I've only butchered a grand total of five birds since starting this new "hobby" last November, and before each cull I make a list of what I expect to find once the feathers are gone so I can test and refine my ability to see with my hands as well as my eyes. All of my researching and documenting has helped me tremendously, but the hands-on experience has been priceless. I'm just now starting to really define in my head what it is I'm looking for, and what I plan to work towards. And now the fun really beings.