BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[CanadianBuckeye]

Here's a few random chick pics from my breeding program. My chicks are six weeks old now. This is a Buckeye/Cornish cross. Buckeye for the basic "look" I'm after, plus pea comb, cold/heat hardiness, large eggs and temperament. I'm breeding for a dual purpose pea combed white eggshell- coloured layer. The breeds I'm using are Buckeye, Dark Cornish, Production Red hybrids and Barred Hollands.

Hatchery dark cornish. Peac combs, light coloured eggshells, good quality shells. Exactly what I was looking for. A little less meaty than an SOP bird. For foraging smarts (buckeyes are just too tame) and just a little more meatiness to balance the Barred Holland.



Barred Holland cockerel, six weeks. Nice long back. These were a very pleasant surprise. I had no idea what to expect, but I'm excited about their potential. This breed will add the white eggshell, plus temperament, plus early development and feathering. Also to breed out broodyness. Probably originally from Ideal.


This is a Buckeye x Production Red pullet chick. The production red is mostly RIR with a little New Hampshire and white RIR in the background breeding. The production reds lay very well, very large excellent quality eggs. But they have single combs which I want to breed out. This cross is to improve the egg laying number/size/quality of the eggs.


I hatched out this very strange looking chick, Buckeye x Dark Cornish. He looks like none of the others, colour or shape wise. Weird colour, green legs, very tall. He won't be part of my breeding program but it's fun to see what a cross will produce. Here he is in comparison to

the other Buckeye/Cornish cross chicks:

He's very leggy. It will be interesting to see how he turns out.

 

[Dave C]

Great project CB and nice birds

What's your long term goal, is it to keep your pure breeds and cross between them for an end result with hybrid vigor, or to create a new breed which will eventually breed true ?

 

[lpatelski]

He's already too big for the scale! I suppose he will be kept for breeding? I was wondering if you are selecting for barring, is there any advantage in being able to sex the day old chicks?

Yes I will be following Auggie's progress.He is going out to the chick pen today which will set him back a little, but he will be the biggest. There will be no competition there and he will quickly become the head honcho.
I am not specifically selecting for barring/sexlink, or color. Although it is fun to see all color combos. It would be nice to see if I could get another sexlink going. BamBam(Dark Cornish) and Betty(White Cornish Rock) had a sexlink - pullets had black splash, cockerels where white with red.

I am selecting, like the BeefMaster breeding program, the best of the best. You cannot eat color, I don't eat the comb but I select pea over straight when all things are equal, I choose for bone, and early muscling.

 

[DesertChic]

Hi folks! A quick update on our “San Francisco Super Breed“ project

Recap: We want to create a breed that is:
-super quiet (neighbors!),
-super friendly,
-good layers, laying often, all year round, and good sized eggs
-cold hardy (aka fog resistant)
-small-ish

Here's what we decided to go with in the end:
Faverolles (bantam)
Bielefelder (got a dozen directly from Greenfire, allocated one to this breeding program)
Swedish Flower Hens (got a dozen directly from Greenfire, allocated one to this breeding program)

We're hoping to cross these three breeds over several generations to benefit from hybrid vigor in addition to each breed's advantages.

First hatch due next week; we're really excited to see what comes out!!!

Very interesting project! I can't wait to see the photos of your birds as they progress. I can't speak to the Faverolles or the SFHs, but the Biels are definitely a quieter breed...not that the roosters don't crow. They definitely do, but most of my other breeds crow much more frequently. And they are most definitely friendly.

 

[DesertChic]

Here's a few random chick pics from my breeding program. My chicks are six weeks old now. This is a Buckeye/Cornish cross. Buckeye for the basic "look" I'm after, plus pea comb, cold/heat hardiness, large eggs and temperament. I'm breeding for a dual purpose pea combed white eggshell- coloured layer. The breeds I'm using are Buckeye, Dark Cornish, Production Red hybrids and Barred Hollands.

Hatchery dark cornish. Peac combs, light coloured eggshells, good quality shells. Exactly what I was looking for. A little less meaty than an SOP bird. For foraging smarts (buckeyes are just too tame) and just a little more meatiness to balance the Barred Holland.



Barred Holland cockerel, six weeks. Nice long back. These were a very pleasant surprise. I had no idea what to expect, but I'm excited about their potential. This breed will add the white eggshell, plus temperament, plus early development and feathering. Also to breed out broodyness. Probably originally from Ideal.


This is a Buckeye x Production Red pullet chick. The production red is mostly RIR with a little New Hampshire and white RIR in the background breeding. The production reds lay very well, very large excellent quality eggs. But they have single combs which I want to breed out. This cross is to improve the egg laying number/size/quality of the eggs.


I hatched out this very strange looking chick, Buckeye x Dark Cornish. He looks like none of the others, colour or shape wise. Weird colour, green legs, very tall. He won't be part of my breeding program but it's fun to see what a cross will produce. Here he is in comparison to

the other Buckeye/Cornish cross chicks:

He's very leggy. It will be interesting to see how he turns out.

It looks like your project is already coming along nicely! You've got some nice, sturdy looking birds.

I'm seriously considering adding some Dark Cornish to my NN meat bird program. I think it will go a long way towards improving breast meat development. I only worry about their heat tolerance. I worry about every bird's heat tolerance.

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

It looks like your project is already coming along nicely! You've got some nice, sturdy looking birds.

I'm seriously considering adding some Dark Cornish to my NN meat bird program. I think it will go a long way towards improving breast meat development. I only worry about their heat tolerance. I worry about every bird's heat tolerance.

I don't know if this is in any way relevant, but my dark cornish never pant in the heat and seem to thrive on it (it's 30oC today, around 90F). But I'd think about white or white laced red rather than dark if I was looking for better heat tolerance.

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

Great project CB and nice birds

What's your long term goal, is it to keep your pure breeds and cross between them for an end result with hybrid vigor, or to create a new breed which will eventually breed true ?

Thanks Dave. I'm actually trying to develop more of a landrace- I'm not sure I know enough or have the resources to actually develop a pure breed. Although I'd prefer a chicken that's not dark in colour or pure white ( don't want dark pin feathers), the goal is some sort of nice tempered chicken that loks handsome, is pea combed and lays large white eggs. There are a few other things I'd like to have, like four toes, yellow skin, no leg feathering/head crests etc. or beards or muffs. I was inspired by the Buckeyes, Welsh Blacks and Ixworths for looks. Neither of those British breeds are available here(darn!) (at least that I could find) and as far as I know neither lay white eggs.
The white chantecler is almost what I'm after, but I don't want walnut combs (ugh) and although many lay a very pale egg, they aren't leghorn-white either. Chanteclers can be a bit spazzy too, and temperament is #1 on the list.

 

[cyborg]

Here's a few random chick pics from my breeding program. My chicks are six weeks old now. This is a Buckeye/Cornish cross. Buckeye for the basic "look" I'm after, plus pea comb, cold/heat hardiness, large eggs and temperament. I'm breeding for a dual purpose pea combed white eggshell- coloured layer. The breeds I'm using are Buckeye, Dark Cornish, Production Red hybrids and Barred Hollands. Hatchery dark cornish. Peac combs, light coloured eggshells, good quality shells. Exactly what I was looking for. A little less meaty than an SOP bird. For foraging smarts (buckeyes are just too tame) and just a little more meatiness to balance the Barred Holland. Barred Holland cockerel, six weeks. Nice long back. These were a very pleasant surprise. I had no idea what to expect, but I'm excited about their potential. This breed will add the white eggshell, plus temperament, plus early development and feathering. Also to breed out broodyness. Probably originally from Ideal. This is a Buckeye x Production Red pullet chick. The production red is mostly RIR with a little New Hampshire and white RIR in the background breeding. The production reds lay very well, very large excellent quality eggs. But they have single combs which I want to breed out. This cross is to improve the egg laying number/size/quality of the eggs. I hatched out this very strange looking chick, Buckeye x Dark Cornish. He looks like none of the others, colour or shape wise. Weird colour, green legs, very tall. He won't be part of my breeding program but it's fun to see what a cross will produce. Here he is in comparison to the other Buckeye/Cornish cross chicks: He's very leggy. It will be interesting to see how he turns out.

It looks like your project is already coming along nicely! You've got some nice, sturdy looking birds. I'm seriously considering adding some Dark Cornish to my NN meat bird program. I think it will go a long way towards improving breast meat development. I only worry about their heat tolerance. I worry about every bird's heat tolerance.

Anybody doing any work with light Brahmas?

 

[DesertChic]

Anybody doing any work with light Brahmas?

Not yet, though I'm leaning toward the Buff Brahmas rather than the Light.

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Howdy, all! I thought I'd report in on my German New Hampshires from Eight Acres. These birds are so nice - I love just looking at them and admiring their form. I only have three weeks worth of weights - when I get the fourth set tomorrow, I'll try to get charts up - but I can say that at 8 weeks, they were almost DOUBLE the weight of the hatchery NHs I had before (no surprise, that). Life has been hectic, and I have no weights on the girls - they look very nice as well, though they are rambunctious in that girl pen and hard to photo. Meanwhile, I wanted to share some pictures of the GNH boys in the Frat House paddock. Very nice solid body when picked up as well (I never totally trust all those feathers, gotta feel the bird). Handling the heat nicely. (In the background on one photo is a nice splash copper maran that I wish I had room to keep - he's biggest of the CM boys, and least bothered by the heat. Oh well, we can't have everything...).







For what it's worth, comparison-wise these are the significantly smaller hatchery NHs on cull day, at 14-15 weeks (vs. photos above which are at 11 to 11.5 wks):


Plan is to keep a quad of GNHs (I have three pullets and need to pick from four cockerels), and keep those going and also cross in with the Naked Necks. Of interest, yes, these boys are big, but they are still not matching the weights of my largest three NN boys at the same age (Tank, Snape, and Apoc). I wonder if/when they'll catch up.

I have pans of water in every paddock now (it's above 98F now most days) - they haven't walked in it yet, but they are using it as an additional waterer, and I've observed them drink more water this way, so that's good. I refill/refresh the waterers and pans each morning, and then drop ice chunks in the pans when I get home from work (by which time it's the hottest part of the day and all the water has heated up). Still trying to figure out the most efficient/least labor intensive way to manage these multiple coops - plan to get my numbers down, but not there yet.

I'm heading out in the heat to do chicken chores - I allowed myself the luxury of oversleeping, and then other things came up and so now I'm going to be paying the price for not doing chores in the coolest part of the day.

- Ant Farm