BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[holm25]

My chicks are growing to be sixty! I really like these two. I kicked these guy out to a cage in the coop with no heat once they turned 4 weeks old. Luckily Minnesota has been warm lately!

ETA the Black and Red one is really meaty already!

 

[3riverschick]

I don't listen to articles... I know what works for me and the things they say will kill birds haven't killed mine yet. If I have a question I have BYC friends who I'll send a PM too.

My bad, the question about the email was directed to Turk, sorry.
Best,
Karen

 

[3riverschick]

Oh this is interesting. I have heard so many opinions on the subject.
This is Judge William White Broomhead from page 72 of his 1939 book,
"Poultry For the Many" . Judge Broomhead was a Judge for the Sussex Club
and later went on to edit at least one edition of the British Poultry
Club Standards. He also became President of the British Poultry Club.

"The Fertilisation of Eggs.—There occurs the question of col-
lecting the eggs. How soon after the male has been introduced will
the eggs be fertile? If the hens are in lay the eggs can be relied
on about a week after mating, although if the birds are on the
point of laying, the first egg will probably be fertilised.
Another problem difficult to solve by novices is whether eggs
are fertilised day by day, or at one time. This question arises
if the male in the breeding pen fails in his duties and another has
to be substituted—how long will it be ere the second male leaves
his impressions?
Some authorities state that eggs are fertilised day by day, and
that those laid directly after the introduction of the second male
will contain his germs. Others, however, affirm that more often
than not the majority of the ova attached to the ovary at the time
of the coitus are fertilised—which, however, is impossible.
The question is one that requires a wealth of detail to be
answered, hence it cannot be dealt with in this book. These facts
may be stated: The length of the oviduct in an adult fowl seldom
accommodates more than six eggs at one time.
The oviduct is disconnected with the ovary except during
ovulation; hence the male elements must of necessity fertilise the
female contribution or ovum in the oviduct and not in the ovary.
Therefore, since the oviduct can accommodate six eggs, and of the
six one might be equipped with a shell, we are bound to arrive at
the conclusion that five eggs are likely to be fertilised at once.
If, however, a fully shelled egg is occupying the cloacal pouch
of the oviduct when copulation takes place, the spermatozoa usually
fails to gain access to the oviduct, and thus might be wasted.
When changing the male, therefore, let at least a week elapse ere
keeping eggs as from the second mating."

 

[FaerieChicken]

I have to ask as I just skinned my first birds yesterday as opposed to plucking... how did you get the skin off the wings??? I only did 3 but I could not figure out how to get the skin off the wings. I ended up having to just cut the wings off between the shoulder and elbow joint.

By the way, good looking birds!

Thank you for the compliment. Trust me the first guy wasn't all that smooth, but the next guy was way easier. I just learned you can pretty much just pull the skin off, don't even need the skinning knife until you get to the keel/breast bone to cut the connective tissue! The wings aren't like easy per say, but just time patience and diligence.... Most importantly, confidence

 

[FaerieChicken]

I suppose it depends on their feed? I finish my roosters so they have lots of fat. I put them on a calf finisher for finishing steers for slaughter. It consists of mainly corn with oats and molasses. As I am sure you know that puts alot of nice fat on them!

What would the purpose of all that fat though? I end up just cleaning the fat out with store bought birds, is there a purpose other than for flavor? I prefer to put more meat on dem bones

 

[holm25]

What would the purpose of all that fat though? I end up just cleaning the fat out with store bought birds, is there a purpose other than for flavor?  I prefer to put more meat on dem bones

Fat adds flavor. You can have lots of meat and fat. We trim fat off store bought birds cuz it's nasty but on our homegrown birds we try to leave as much as possible.

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

Personally, when I do it, I pull the skin down the wings as far as I can, and cut the joint at the elbow.

I like the wings too- last thing I want to do is cut the tip off, so I do a combination of dry plucking and skinning. I pull the wing feathers first, right away- starting at the tip- when the wings are still warm. Pliers help. If the wings cool off it's very tricky to pull the feathers, but if they are the first feathers you remove it's not too difficult and you can leave the skin on the wings after dry plucking them. Same thing with the legs, it's best to remove those tiny feathers around the hock joint before the bird cools off. I can remove the rest of the skin, feathers and all elsewhere, quite easily, and just cut around those areas (Basically feet and wings) where the skin doesn't come off.

 

[Maeschak]

Thank you for the compliment. Trust me the first guy wasn't all that smooth, but the next guy was way easier. I just learned you can pretty much just pull the skin off, don't even need the skinning knife until you get to the keel/breast bone to cut the connective tissue! The wings aren't like easy per say, but just time patience and diligence.... Most importantly, confidence

Yeah, I think 'patience' is where I lost the battle on the wings! The first one took me about 2 hours to kill, skin, gut, and part out. The second took about 1.5 hours and the third took about an hour... I'm thinking that I am just not using the right method. I'm using the sort of 'take off the coat' method where I open the skin from neck down to tip of keel and pulling off the skin like I was taking a baby out of a snow suit or onesie.

I'll see if I can find a YouTube or something for a different method as I losing the wings just hurts!

 

[dan26552]

My biggest almost two week old ducklings weigh a whopping 12 and 11 oz, one was 12 the other three were 11 oz. Those are the Pekin X Swedish crosses, the pure Swedes are smaller. It'll be interesting to see how they compare to pure Pekins.

 

[DesertChic]

What would the purpose of all that fat though? I end up just cleaning the fat out with store bought birds, is there a purpose other than for flavor? I prefer to put more meat on dem bones

Fat = flavor and succulence. When my birds have a lot of fat I cut chunks of it off and store it for rendering so I can cook other things with it later. It imparts a wonderful flavor to other foods.