BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[CanadianBuckeye]

I have a question I almost cringe to ask, but it is production related....When you cull birds at a young age, including chicks up to maybe 12 weeks, what do you do with the carcasses? The birds are so small and have so little meat...processing must be a nightmare...so what do you do with them?

Easy! I've thought of this for when I have this issue- dry pluck, gut as best I can, doesn't have to be pretty- then into the meat grinder. Dog food.

 

[hellbender]

I have a question I almost cringe to ask, but it is production related....When you cull birds at a young age, including chicks up to maybe 12 weeks, what do you do with the carcasses? The birds are so small and have so little meat...processing must be a nightmare...so what do you do with them?

I toss 'em in the walk-in and eventually feed them back through the 'system'. I have a headache so may be someone else will explain what that means.

 

[bnjrob]

I have a question I almost cringe to ask, but it is production related....When you cull birds at a young age, including chicks up to maybe 12 weeks, what do you do with the carcasses? The birds are so small and have so little meat...processing must be a nightmare...so what do you do with them?

Cut off what I can and grind up, roast everything and make broth/stock.

 

[stryker]

I have a question I almost cringe to ask, but it is production related....When you cull birds at a young age, including chicks up to maybe 12 weeks, what do you do with the carcasses? The birds are so small and have so little meat...processing must be a nightmare...so what do you do with them?

Last time I cut them up after skinning them. Talking about easy skinning. Cut the ribs out and then put them in a crockpot. I fit about 9 of them in mine last time. Reminds me of pulled pork without the pork when done. I had 18 roosters that I culled last year. I thought they were pullets.

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

I have a headache so may be someone else will explain what that means.

headaches are horrid, :-( I'm fortunate in that I almost never get them- but when I do if I drink lots of water they go away. Any chance you are dehydrated?

 

[AnthNDacula]

Does anybody have a favorite incubator? I don't want to jump into an $800 machine, but I want something dependable that holds a stable temperature. All the reviews I've read about Hovabators and similar, styrofoam models seem to work great for some people and fluctuate wildly for others. I'd like to buy something under $130 and preferably a lot under that. Ideas?

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

I have a breeding question. I've been able to find some "production" Buckeye crosses, which are a cross of a good laying Buckeye strain (line?) with production bred Rhode Island Reds.
Let's say in theory, that these hybrids turn out to be exceptional layers and I want to bring that egg laying ability into my flock of purebred Buckeyes which are poor layers.
Let's also say in theory, I end up with a hybrid hen that has out produced the rest, and she's the one I'm most interested in. She will of course have a heterozygous pea/single comb. I will have a number of her "brothers" to choose from as well. These "brothers" will have genes from a better laying strain of Buckeyes than mine.
Could I "concentrate" the egg laying ability of the hybrid?
Would there be any advantage to crossing her with a brother and then select the best-laying -most- Buckeye-looking F2 hen, to cross into my purebred flock? That would take an extra year, would it be worthwhile doing that?
Or would it be best to just take the best hybrid layer and cross directly with a Buckeye rooster and select afterwards?

The goals would be two fold, one to get the better egg laying ability, and to remove the single comb from the next generations, and hopefully end up with Buckeyes that look like Buckeyes.
How should I proceed?

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

Does anybody have a favorite incubator? I don't want to jump into an $800 machine, but I want something dependable that holds a stable temperature. All the reviews I've read about Hovabators and similar, styrofoam models seem to work great for some people and fluctuate wildly for others. I'd like to buy something under $130 and preferably a lot under that. Ideas?

Check out Incubator Warehouse, you could probably build your own better and cheaper. Just a warning though the incukit DC will only power a very small well insulated incubator.
http://incubatorwarehouse.com/

 

[hellbender]

I have a breeding question. I've been able to find some "production" Buckeye crosses, which are a cross of a good laying Buckeye strain (line?) with production bred Rhode Island Reds.
Let's say in theory, that these hybrids turn out to be exceptional layers and I want to bring that egg laying ability into my flock of purebred Buckeyes which are poor layers.
Let's also say in theory, I end up with a hybrid hen that has out produced the rest, and she's the one I'm most interested in. She will of course have a heterozygous pea/single comb. I will have a number of her "brothers" to choose from as well. These "brothers" will have genes from a better laying strain of Buckeyes than mine.
Could I "concentrate" the egg laying ability of the hybrid?
Would there be any advantage to crossing her with a brother and then select the best-laying -most- Buckeye-looking F2 hen, to cross into my purebred flock? That would take an extra year, would it be worthwhile doing that?
Or would it be best to just take the best hybrid layer and cross directly with a Buckeye rooster and select afterwards?

The goals would be two fold, one to get the better egg laying ability, and to remove the single comb from the next generations, and hopefully end up with Buckeyes that look like Buckeyes.
How should I proceed?

Would that be cheating??

 

[ronott1]

Does anybody have a favorite incubator? I don't want to jump into an $800 machine, but I want something dependable that holds a stable temperature. All the reviews I've read about Hovabators and similar, styrofoam models seem to work great for some people and fluctuate wildly for others. I'd like to buy something under $130 and preferably a lot under that. Ideas?

The Genesis 1588 kit is a good choice.

It is a bit more than 130 but not that much more for what you get.