Chicken Breed Focus - Maline

[Shellz]

The Malines seem to have a better following in Canada. More attainable here & better pricing. I've been raising them for just over 2 years now. They're an excellent meat bird, but I'm not continuing with this breed after this fall. I've found that with a rare breed, more bloodlines are needed to keep their vigor up. I acquired a second bloodline, but I am unable to breed these birds in numbers that would help improve them. I currently have a 2 year old rooster who probably weighs over 12 lbs. Can't say for sure, as I haven't weighed him since he was a cockerel. Lovely, large & docile fowl. Very meaty & tender if you don't mind waiting 16 weeks to 6 months to grow out. Can be free ranged right up to harvest time with no sacrifice in tenderness. No special diet needed...15% grower ration is all that's needed to put the meat on these birds. Higher protein feeds won't help them. We like roasts, so one cockerel will feed the 3 of us for 2 days, plus makes great soup stock. They are the best foragers, so free range is best or a predator-safe, large yard will do. I truly hope there are others willing to work with this breed & have the resources to do so. Best meat bird going!

The last chicks I'll be raising.

Some hens.

My breeding rooster with 2 hens.

Unfortunately, my breeding rooster lost half his comb to frostbite during a particularly frigid winter in 2013/14.

Something else of note...the hens don't make for good broodies. Please use an incubator or other broody breed to hatch Malines chicks.

 

[Shellz]

So how do you tell exactly the difference between BR and this breed? Some say the color of the legs but I have 2 BR's and they dont have yellow legs they have gray legs.

Feathered shanks & feet on Malines.

 

[Denwendairy]

Shellz, I would love to buy some hatching eggs from you before you stop completely! Any chance of that? I am in Alberta so would need you to ship...I would love to keep your work going.

The Malines seem to have a better following in Canada. More attainable here & better pricing. I've been raising them for just over 2 years now. They're an excellent meat bird, but I'm not continuing with this breed after this fall. I've found that with a rare breed, more bloodlines are needed to keep their vigor up. I acquired a second bloodline, but I am unable to breed these birds in numbers that would help improve them. I currently have a 2 year old rooster who probably weighs over 12 lbs. Can't say for sure, as I haven't weighed him since he was a cockerel. Lovely, large & docile fowl. Very meaty & tender if you don't mind waiting 16 weeks to 6 months to grow out. Can be free ranged right up to harvest time with no sacrifice in tenderness. No special diet needed...15% grower ration is all that's needed to put the meat on these birds. Higher protein feeds won't help them. We like roasts, so one cockerel will feed the 3 of us for 2 days, plus makes great soup stock. They are the best foragers, so free range is best or a predator-safe, large yard will do. I truly hope there are others willing to work with this breed & have the resources to do so. Best meat bird going!

The last chicks I'll be raising.

Some hens.

My breeding rooster with 2 hens.

Unfortunately, my breeding rooster lost half his comb to frostbite during a particularly frigid winter in 2013/14.

Something else of note...the hens don't make for good broodies. Please use an incubator or other broody breed to hatch Malines chicks.

 

[Our Roost]

Hello from the U.S.A. My name is jack and I hail from Michigan. I currently own and raise the Cucou De Malines. AKA several known names Such as Mechels and many more based on region. Our homestead is called Jalocha hen farms and "no" we do not currently have a web site. I waited near 3 years to acquire hatching eggs from a Canadian breeder and am mostly thankful. The hatch result was terrible and I worked with minimal numbers to breed with this spring. In fact, I ended up with 3 hens and 1 rooster.This year I hatched out 15 birds and all are healthy. This breed has less than a handful of owners in the U.S. Very, very difficult to have any success with these birds without future bloodlines. The rarity of this breed is such that more than just numbers is needed. Fortunately I have 2 bloodlines of old line and newer line stock. The process to prevent inbreeding issues is of major concern. Future stock would have to come from Belgium. Currently, All owners including Canadian based stock are from the same source including GFF and myself. What I am saying is the process to rescue this breed is a slow process but gaining momentum with some help from friends abroad! You cant just order more birds to replace your old ones or the ones you have eaten! This breed is a delectable table breed worth saving. It needs interested and dedicated owners that are willing to put forth the effort of taking the proper breeding care to keep it in existence and no others! This isn't your typical heritage breed, its on the critical to non existing list in the U.S.A. I am working on preserving what have and also creating a utility breed using the malines as the workhorse to create it.
If you have interest in chatting, send me a private PM. or post on this web page.

 

[bigshawn]

What is the normal processing time for Malines.

 

[Denwendairy]

They grow slower than hatchery broilers but also grow larger. We just processed a few that were about 16 weeks that dressed out at about 6.5-7 pounds. We had them on a combination of grower ration and free access to green grass. We didn't see any of the skeletal or metabolic issues that can be seen with the commercial stock.

 

[bigshawn]

Thank you

 

[JRNash]

Hello from the U.S.A. My name is jack and I hail from Michigan. I currently own and raise the Cucou De Malines. AKA several known names Such as Mechels and many more based on region. Our homestead is called Jalocha hen farms and "no" we do not currently have a web site. I waited near 3 years to acquire hatching eggs from a Canadian breeder and am mostly thankful. The hatch result was terrible and I worked with minimal numbers to breed with this spring. In fact, I ended up with 3 hens and 1 rooster.This year I hatched out 15 birds and all are healthy. This breed has less than a handful of owners in the U.S. Very, very difficult to have any success with these birds without future bloodlines. The rarity of this breed is such that more than just numbers is needed. Fortunately I have 2 bloodlines of old line and newer line stock. The process to prevent inbreeding issues is of major concern. Future stock would have to come from Belgium. Currently, All owners including Canadian based stock are from the same source including GFF and myself. What I am saying is the process to rescue this breed is a slow process but gaining momentum with some help from friends abroad! You cant just order more birds to replace your old ones or the ones you have eaten! This breed is a delectable table breed worth saving. It needs interested and dedicated owners that are willing to put forth the effort of taking the proper breeding care to keep it in existence and no others! This isn't your typical heritage breed, its on the critical to non existing list in the U.S.A. I am working on preserving what  have and also creating a utility breed using the malines as the workhorse to create it.
  If you have interest in chatting, send me a private PM. or post on this web page.

I may look into purchasing some of these at a later date. It would save alot of time once the numbers are stabilized in getting a large dual purpose breed

 

[Bean789]

Hello from the U.S.A. My name is jack and I hail from Michigan. I currently own and raise the Cucou De Malines. AKA several known names Such as Mechels and many more based on region. Our homestead is called Jalocha hen farms and "no" we do not currently have a web site. I waited near 3 years to acquire hatching eggs from a Canadian breeder and am mostly thankful. The hatch result was terrible and I worked with minimal numbers to breed with this spring. In fact, I ended up with 3 hens and 1 rooster.This year I hatched out 15 birds and all are healthy. This breed has less than a handful of owners in the U.S. Very, very difficult to have any success with these birds without future bloodlines. The rarity of this breed is such that more than just numbers is needed. Fortunately I have 2 bloodlines of old line and newer line stock. The process to prevent inbreeding issues is of major concern. Future stock would have to come from Belgium. Currently, All owners including Canadian based stock are from the same source including GFF and myself. What I am saying is the process to rescue this breed is a slow process but gaining momentum with some help from friends abroad! You cant just order more birds to replace your old ones or the ones you have eaten! This breed is a delectable table breed worth saving. It needs interested and dedicated owners that are willing to put forth the effort of taking the proper breeding care to keep it in existence and no others! This isn't your typical heritage breed, its on the critical to non existing list in the U.S.A. I am working on preserving what have and also creating a utility breed using the malines as the workhorse to create it.
If you have interest in chatting, send me a private PM. or post on this web page.

I think what gets me about these rare breeds is that it takes a lot of time, $$, patience to grow them out and work with them. Then you eat them.

I understand the food chain, people raise chickens for food and if the Zombie Apocalypse occurred tomorrow, I am sure I could harvest one of my flock for food.

GFF at least has words to the effect of trying to preserve this breed while at the same time bringing them to the US so that we can join in that campaign and enjoy these beaties. I don't think you will see this breed on a hatchery listing any time soon.

Perhaps GFF and others who are importing the hatching eggs from Belgium, will be able to share/exchange/introduce new blood lines. I guess the problem would be mostly that every few years is not quick enough for this to happen.

 

[Shellz]

Some breeders in Canada already have 2 bloodlines going. I believe the Malines are here to stay in Canada & are winning the favor of more breeders & small homesteaders/farms alike with each year. Projects with standard Cornish (not broiler chickens), Chantecler and other large fowl are already under way. Most folks I've heard about who raise heritage meat birds, feed a high protein ration, which is more expensive. The Malines grows best on less expensive 15% protein grower ration & free range. They are excellent foragers & eat less feed during warmer months. One can achieve dressed weights of 5 lbs at 16 weeks. All plump & tender meat in all the right places. This is a gourmet bird & an easy keeper. It's no surprise they can be found from coast to coast in Canada now. Nova Scotia acquired its first Malines just this year.