Chickens for 10-20 years or more? Pull up a rockin' chair and lay some wisdom on us!

[Beekissed]

Quote: The slow growth didn't bother me at all...I actually plan and design my meaty project for as slow a growth as possible. The longer I can keep a meaty, the better tasting it will be. It was the size and shape of the bird that I didn't like at all. They were too short, too narrow and too shallow...didn't look a bit like my first batch. Their breast meat was half the length, thighs half the width...this all has to do with genetic size of the carcass or bone structures and muscle length and not so much to do with the nutrition. I have no problem getting meat or weight onto a bird but, genetically, they will only get as big as they can get without it then just being all fat gain and not meat.

Here's a pic of my first batch from TSC at 8 wks. This one is standing next to my full grown PR rooster and he's a fair sized guy.




Now this spring's meaties at 7 wks...same feeds, free ranged, etc. Shorter body length, shorter leg length...just smaller birds altogether.

 

[al6517]

Quote:


So all you really care about is getting as many eggs as possible regardless............................. right ???

 

[stonykill]

So all you really care about is getting as many eggs as possible regardless............................. right ???

not at all what I just said. Not even close.

A few of you harassed me endlessly for breeding my best hatchery stock. Yet the hens lay well, they are smart enough to free range without getting killed, they forage well, the roosters taste fantastic and feed 3 of us well each, they are healthy happy chickens bred from hens who still lay well at 6, and from their healthy offspring. They are mutts. I'm not a chicken snob. I don't care if they are from "so and so's birds". Means nothing to me. Having chickens that for the most part feed themselves, breed for themselves ( I select the eggs they ultimately sit on unless that hen is one I want to breed) , hatch and care for their young, and sure, lay enough eggs to pay the feed bill. If that is sub par, darn! I LOVE sub par chickens.

So where above did I say I only cared about massive amounts of eggs? Seems I repeated a lot.....

 

[delisha]

 

[Fred's Hens]

Stony is happy, happy, happy. That's all that counts.

 

[Beekissed]

I feel you on that Stony. I'm betting though we'd be real surprised how well the original breed does compared the copies. The origins of some of these breeds were sooooooo much more hardy, broody, athletic and productive than what you and I have been dealing with all these years. I just felt like those birds were out of my income range....I'm never going to pay $300 for one bird. I won't even pay that for a dog, sheep or calf. My first car didn't even cost that much and I used it for years and sold the engine for more than I bought the car.

I'm pretty low budget....but when Fred says you can get good chicks for $5, I could kick myself for not exploring this years ago. The past 7 years I could have been raising what I was looking for instead of what I hardly ever got. I had a handful of what I consider good birds from all that picking and sorting.

 

[stonykill]

same here

. Call my birds sub par because they aren't SOP from some famous breeder. I know they are better at being chickens than most peoples chickens. So I'll

while my birds and I get attacked. Means nothing

 

[stonykill]

I feel you on that Stony. I'm betting though we'd be real surprised how well the original breed does compared the copies. The origins of some of these breeds were sooooooo much more hardy, broody, athletic and productive than what you and I have been dealing with all these years. I just felt like those birds were out of my income range....I'm never going to pay $300 for one bird. I won't even pay that for a dog, sheep or calf. My first car didn't even cost that much and I used it for years and sold the engine for more than I bought the car.

I'm pretty low budget....but when Fred says you can get good chicks for $5, I could kick myself for not exploring this years ago. The past 7 years I could have been raising what I was looking for instead of what I hardly ever got. I had a handful of what I consider good birds from all that picking and sorting.

and while that all may be true, you I believe have followed a similar course as me with poultry breeding. We know one does not need perfect sop birds to have really great self sustaining flocks. And the truly sub par birds go bye bye. We don't breed them. But I know..they aren't from "so and so the famous breeder" so they are sub par. I really tip my hat to those who want to perfect one or two breeds. I really do. Doesn't mean everyone elses birds are sub par

 

[NikkiMiChickie]

Wow Bee, HUGE difference! I can see what you mean now - you like to grow them slow regardless, but the genetics of the stock itself determines how much meat you get in the end. Thanks for the photo examples

 

[Beekissed]

No...I agree on that point. I'd put some of my old BAs and my WRs up against any SOP, egg for egg, for their lifetime and I think I could be proud of her performance, as well as her mothering skills on brood. That they have survived on free range is also important to me, as well as with not having to have meds to stay alive and thriving. I'm not ashamed of my flocks...never have been. They are what they are and they have been good to me.

If I had to trade one of my WRs for an SOP gal right now, I wouldn't. Even if she never laid another egg, she has earned the right to live and die right where she started. I have a deep respect for a few of my hatchery gals. Had two of my oldest and most cherished BAs ripped up by a couple of young pups I adopted and it about broke my heart. I took out the gun and shot them the next day....the dogs, not the birds. I killed them also but held them while they died. It was a real shame...in their 6th year and still outlaying the youngsters.