BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[Mini Meat]

I agree! I'm trying to develop that kind of flock also, along with being naturally healthy, great layers and natural mothering traits. The power goes out here for no reason at all most of the time, but more often during storms and can stay out for over 2 wks. Where does that leave a person right when spring storms and high winds hit in March? That leaves someone who better have an alternative to incubators...that would be me. No matter how limiting broody hen hatches are as to size of hatch, they still have a better hatch rate than I could ever achieve, the chicks are healthier and more vigorous and develop immunities naturally and I never have to worry about keeping them warm enough with the power being an iffy thing.

For me, the true meaning of a heritage breed is one that is more like a land race breed....very self sustaining, needing only minimal managing of natural rhythms of production and of health. That's my goal. Great laying is a breeding goal also, but not like most people count production....I'd like hens that lay exceptionally well when they are not brooding a family once a year.

Most people wouldn't consider that exceptional laying production, but I feel differently....producing and rearing healthy chicks IS production, but an even more important type than yearly egg counts being elevated....such hens are producing meat and replacement hens for a season, then returning to exceptional lay right afterwards. That, to me, is the height of being an exceptional layer...she's one that can reproduce her own kind, rear it to independence, and then return to the business of laying. A typical "great" layer ideal is a chicken that never stops laying to perform those functions, which leaves her pretty much an end product unless someone uses an incubator to reproduce her and then does the job of a mother in a brooder. I don't consider that sustainable, thus rendering her less than ideal as a "great" layer.

Developing my own land race is exactly what I am trying to do with my new project.

The traits I looked for in selecting my pure breeds to cross are, in order:
1) Broodiness (hatching and brooding is messy work for us humans)
2) Foraging skill (I do feed, but not In feeders every thing is scattered about for them to hunt up)
3) Predator avoidance (I lost 3 of 80 juvenile birds ( no adults in the flock) 1 to a hawk and 2 to a dog. That is all it took for them to learn and now they hide at any sign of trouble)
4) Docility

Size only factored in slightly since I want them for making rich broth more than meat.

The breeds I selected are... Dark Cornish and Cubalaya.
I hope to produce an active flock with all the qualities above, smaller than most would like but suitable for my goals.

From the crosses I will select for their ability to thrive and produce under my program.

In my mind, chickens can produce more than meat and eggs, they can produce work. Mine are currently tasked with incorporating our daily production of horse manure into a huge pile of wood chips that I had delivered. They are doing a fine job of it too.

 

[Beekissed]

Quote:
I agree! Most folks don't utilize them to their full potential. No food goes to waste here, but is recycled back into eggs and meat....garden and canning waste, kitchen scraps, etc. They also do HUGE pest control here that forms the bulk of their diet for most of the year, all the while saving me money and keeping their own health secure. There are so many dividends to a free range flock on a piece of land that it just makes sense to range them.

 

[Beer can]

@Fire Ant Farm I plan on keeping my broody, and I have four silkies that I'm sure will set, I have to pick them out of the nest boxes a couple times a day, leghorns get grumpy when they can't lay in the boxes cause they won't get out. But I do still plan on using a incubator, I plan on hatching fifty at a time.
Even though the silkies keep trying to set I'm still getting eggs from them everyday, small ones but they make great pickled eggs.

 

[Beer can]

Earth in the nest boxes, hmm, like just dirt or sod?
Might be a good idea, mine for some reason always work a bare spot in the middle of their boxes with hay or sawdust, cracked eggs sometimes. I fix it every day. Maybe they wouldn't with dirt.

 

[Beer can]

My biggest white giant pullet right now has no tail, she looks rumpless. Anyone ever see this?
I guess I should check and see if she has a tail bone, I don't want to breed her if there is something genetically wrong. I know I did rip the feathers out of one as a chick that had pasty butt, got impatient washing it off. Still it shouldn't have affected the adult feathers could it???
I don't know if it is the same one.

 

[Beekissed]

My biggest white giant pullet right now has no tail, she looks rumpless. Anyone ever see this?
I guess I should check and see if she has a tail bone, I don't want to breed her if there is something genetically wrong. I know I did rip the feathers out of one as a chick that had pasty butt, got impatient washing it off. Still it shouldn't have affected the adult feathers could it???
I don't know if it is the same one.

I've had a few birds that molt that way and because the rest of their bodies are not molting at the same rate, their tail looks like it just doesn't exist. The most recent bird I've had that molted in that way was a Delaware, and the other Del I had molted in a similar pattern, so not sure if that is a breed trait for a molting pattern or not.

Here's a pic when she was just starting to grow back her tail feathers, but before this she looked like her butt had been cut clean off, from the side view.

 

[bramblefir]

Not a chicken, but I had to share the new skunk-stomper on the farm.




She was born today, in the 45 or so minutes when we weren't looking, of course. We're very pleased and are considering ourselves quite lucky that our first cria for the year is both female and a rose grey.

 

[ronott1]

Not a chicken, but I had to share the new skunk-stomper on the farm.




She was born today, in the 45 or so minutes when we weren't looking, of course. We're very pleased and are considering ourselves quite lucky that our first cria for the year is both female and a rose grey.

Nice looking--whatever it is.

Google does not show skunk stomper as an animal....

 

[bramblefir]

Nice looking--whatever it is.

Google does not show skunk stomper as an animal....

Haha! It's an alpaca. Ours are quite fond of harassing skunks, deer, and dogs that make the mistake of coming into their pastures.

 

[hellbender]

@ronott1 I haven't forgotten the pics of Dark Cornish. Life, time and circumstances have prevented me from getting them taken. Mostly the time and circumstances of those able to take reasonably good photos of chickens. They will be posted before I go on a long vacation and that will be fairly soon. I'm quite proud of these birds. While certainly not conformation quality, they are not awful, like so many I've seen from some hatcheries. They're a bit longer in leg than show birds but their overall conformation suits me.