BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[neopolitancrazy]

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? 

When small, they are easily cooked like quail or Cornish game hens. A little bigger, say 12 weeks size, they can be spatchcocked and baked or barbecued. This season, I am going to take a stab at canning their itty bitty breasts/thighs/legs, as we are fond of a quick chicken salad.
Angela

 

[neopolitancrazy]

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?

I can't justify a cabinet incubator for this hobby, and have been extremely pleased with my GQF tabletop styrofoam incubator. It is ~$150 new from Amazon, and literally all I have to do is plug it in and add a little water weekly to keep the humidity up. It has a large viewing window on top with an electronic display for set temp, actual temp and humidity inside the incubator. I just bought a second to use as a hatcher/backup incubator. I have a cheaper styrofoam incubator with 2 smaller viewing window, and a wafer thermostat, that is not nearly as reliable at holding a steady temp. I have noticeably better hatches from the GQF, this will be the third hatching season I have used it.

Angela

 

[neopolitancrazy]

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?

I read the answer to this question on one of the old threads on this forum, one that has gone inactive. I believe the advice was to breed your outside hen to your most promising cock bird and grow out their offspring for evaluation. You then breed the best pullets from that mating back to their sire, then breed the 2nd (or 3rd) generation to your original strain, providing none of the earlier crosses manifested any horrid traits you want to keep out of your flock. The general idea was to take it slow, and keep the "new blood" separate from your established strain until you could tell whether the cross would actually help your birds.

Best wishes,
Angela

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

Would that be cheating??

Maybe! LOL

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

I read the answer to this question on one of the old threads on this forum, one that has gone inactive. I believe the advice was to breed your outside hen to your most promising cock bird and grow out their offspring for evaluation. You then breed the best pullets from that mating back to their sire, then breed the 2nd (or 3rd) generation to your original strain, providing none of the earlier crosses manifested any horrid traits you want to keep out of your flock. The general idea was to take it slow, and keep the "new blood" separate from your established strain until you could tell whether the cross would actually help your birds.

Best wishes,
Angela

So, In that case, there would be no need to keep any cockerels of the Buckeye/production RIR's then, right?

 

[neopolitancrazy]

So, In that case, there would be no need to keep any cockerels of the Buckeye/production RIR's then, right?

That is my understanding, yes. Since sex would not affect the comb and egg production cannot be judged in cockerels, (and those are the only 2 traits you expect to deal with,) growing cockerels out would waste your money.

In reality, I have seen so many surprises in this new, unstable strain I am working with that it might be wise to grow out a small fraction of your cross cockerels to see if there is some cockerel-specific-horror that manifests.

Angela

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

That is my understanding, yes; since sex would not affect the comb and egg production cannot be judged in cockerels, growing them out would waste your money.

Angela

Yay!!!

That makes my life easier! More room for other, more special roosters. Thanks.

 

[jbkirk]

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 Little Giants have problems in my experience,
I would recommend a forced air GQF 1602N here.

 

[bnjrob]

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?

I was not impressed with the Hovabator Genesis pretty much from day one, it was my second incubator. After only a couple of years of use, it crapped out. And I don't hatch hundreds of eggs a year either. It fluctuated temps quite a bit when it was new and it just kept getting worse.

You really get what you pay for though. My favorite is Brinsea. I only have the little one because it is so pricey but unless the egg isn't fertile, the hatches have been good in it. I got it with the automatic humidity pump system and it is basically set it and forget it till you need to shut the turner off. Last year I bought an Incuview with the aerosol humidity pump kit. It did well, has more ability to tweak the settings and held better temperature than the Hovabator.

I don't like cabinet incubators because of the potential to lose a lot of eggs if something goes wrong.

 

[DesertChic]

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?

I really like my Rcom. I bought it because it appeared to be dummy-proof, and so far it hasn't let me down.