BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[Turk Raphael]

Quote:

Speaking of Dragonlady...She and dad were great friends, I think long before dad came to BYC. I haven't spoken to her since dad passed so I had better dig deep and phone or email her. She doesn't come to most of the threads anymore since she bought the new (old farm) house, got out of the city and got an LGD.

I will make a point to call her a little after sun-up. Get it over with early today.

 

[angry rooster]

So true.  I'm all about a thrifty bird.  There are birds that need improvement - like the ones we have.  But that is because the breed we have barely survived the 20th century.  And I don't think it was the production that was the problem so much as the *show* qualities - these suckers change a good bit as they age and I think it was the difficulty in getting them to conform to certain SOP appearance qualities that turned the fanciers off of the birds and caused their significant decline in numbers.    I don't know how much more we can improve them, but once we reach that goal, then we'll maintain them.  But even now, they work well in our farm environment for both meat and eggs.

 I think a lot of folks who are trying all these breed criss-crosses in the hopes of getting their ideal bird, still are maintaining a very modern, commercial poultry type mindset - one that is not sustainable for the long haul.  It often seems to be more about the power to create something new, than it is to be content with what is available while looking for areas to improve upon and doing so.

For me it isn't about the criss-cross birds and making something new but finding a bird that works for me be it pure or mutt and personally I have found more mutts that fit my liking than pure breeds for the simple fact that a good breeder is so hard to find

 

[lpatelski]

We'll be doing 25 birds at one time. Do you chill the meat for 48 hours before freezing? Is this "resting" the meat?

Do you have a auto-plucker or are you doing it by hand. Skinning?

I skin and pop the birds into gallon size bags with brine water for at least three days in the fridge. Then we smoke or freeze.

 

[Beer can]

Smoke...mmmm!
When I had a smoker set up for venison sausage, landjägers, trail bologna, summer sausage, venison hams and pastrami, cold smoker for hours, days for the ham and pastrami, and finished in the oven with a meat probe for the sausages... I smoked up the biggest store chicken I could find. Had everyone at work super mad at me when I brought leftover chicken to work and heated it up in the microwave. The break room reaked of bbq, all the way down the hallways, and I had none to share, Lol! :-D
I had to bring in some cheese and crackers and venison summer sausage and pastrami the next day to try to make up for it Lol :-D

 

[abbevilleoz]

Do you have a auto-plucker or are you doing it by hand. Skinning?

I skin and pop the birds into gallon size bags with brine water for at least three days in the fridge. Then we smoke or freeze.

We're renting a plucker, Featherman, from a local feed store. In November we'll have a family processing day, vacuum seal, chill and freeze. Smoking sounds wonderful!
BTW: My Post Office called this morning and I picked up 27 healthy little CX chicks from Cackle before 7:00am.

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

So true. I'm all about a thrifty bird. There are birds that need improvement - like the ones we have. But that is because the breed we have barely survived the 20th century. And I don't think it was the production that was the problem so much as the *show* qualities - these suckers change a good bit as they age and I think it was the difficulty in getting them to conform to certain SOP appearance qualities that turned the fanciers off of the birds and caused their significant decline in numbers. I don't know how much more we can improve them, but once we reach that goal, then we'll maintain them. But even now, they work well in our farm environment for both meat and eggs.

I think a lot of folks who are trying all these breed criss-crosses in the hopes of getting their ideal bird, still are maintaining a very modern, commercial poultry type mindset - one that is not sustainable for the long haul. It often seems to be more about the power to create something new, than it is to be content with what is available while looking for areas to improve upon and doing so.

Originally Posted by angry rooster


For me it isn't about the criss-cross birds and making something new but finding a bird that works for me be it pure or mutt and personally I have found more mutts that fit my liking than pure breeds for the simple fact that a good breeder is so hard to find

@bnjrob you make a very good point. We definitely need good breeders of purebred birds and it's unfortunate that so much genetic material has been lost in the past hundred years. It takes more commitment, time and money than many have though, and making crosses can be a much faster way to get what you're looking for. In my case, I got better production birds by crossing Cornish with Buckeye in one generation than I would have had breeding the purebreds ( I have) for years, if ever. I agree with @angry rooster - it's somewhat pointless (and expensive) trying to breed up inferior purebred stock for years when a mutt will do the trick. And it's true, it's great fun to see what the crosses will look like as they grow, a little more excitement than selecting the best comb out of 100 nearly identical birds. Just sayin'.
I'm very fortunate that we have a dedicated Buckeye breeder in Alberta who is improving the purebred Buckeye in Canada. I'll bet getting my stock from her in the future, and maintain my own purebred Buckeye flock then. In the meantime I'll try improving my own Buckeye stock but I have a long way to go production wise. I suppose that if she wasn't breeding them I would have focused my efforts more on the Buckeyes and less on making crosses- lots of breeders in the US, but a very rare breed this side of the border particularly in the East.

 

[Beer can]

@3riverschick I read through those threads mentioned some time ago. Was very interesting, was suprised to see Bob Blosl on here (now he's gone), I've read about his line and others before when I was looking at maybe getting some Dick Horstman rose comb RIRs for my father who had old farm rose comb RIRs for decades. Hasn't had any in 20yrs but looking to get chickens again seeing me and my brother with birds. Would like to suprise him someday with some real birds.
Looks like NYREDS pops in once in awhile, but hasn't posted since 2014. I pm'd him sometime back to see if he was in NY and if he sells, hasn't got back to me.
I've put it off this yr, maybe in the spring I'll hook up with someone with Bob's Mohawk line or maybe just get some hatching eggs from Horstman. Not looking for show birds for they will never be shown, just don't want junk.
I had a bunch of hatchery reds 13yrs ago now, while they laid more eggs than any chickens I've ever had the first yr and right through winter and through molt, they petered out after, and didn't make very good meat birds Much rather get him real reds like he had.

 

[ocap]

@3riverschick I read through those threads mentioned some time ago. Was very interesting, was suprised to see Bob Blosl on here (now he's gone), I've read about his line and others before when I was looking at maybe getting some Dick Horstman rose comb RIRs for my father who had old farm rose comb RIRs for decades. Hasn't had any in 20yrs but looking to get chickens again seeing me and my brother with birds. Would like to suprise him someday with some real birds.
Looks like NYREDS pops in once in awhile, but hasn't posted since 2014. I pm'd him sometime back to see if he was in NY and if he sells, hasn't got back to me.
I've put it off this yr, maybe in the spring I'll hook up with someone with Bob's Mohawk line or maybe just get some hatching eggs from Horstman. Not looking for show birds for they will never be shown, just don't want junk.
I had a bunch of hatchery reds 13yrs ago now, while they laid more eggs than any chickens I've ever had the first yr and right through winter and through molt, they petered out after, and didn't make very good meat birds Much rather get him real reds like he had.

i found a person with the Bob's line this week, I seem to remember that it was on "showbird", she was moving to extreme NE Ohio from PA

 

[Molpet]

they started a breeders directory if anyone is interested in listing

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1129376/byc-breeders-directory

 

[NanaKat]

a few fall hatches going now and 11 broody hens on eggs from selected test breedings.
The Turken pair is growing. Now almost a week old, the duck eggs that were supposed to be Pekin turned out to be something else....might be a Cayuga cross or Blue Swedish....time will tell.