I still think it's not sustainable to wait that long, I believe the best rout to take is to feed restrict a few males, they mature fast and should be mounting the hens about 5 month old, cross them to dual purpose breed hens that start laying around 18-22 weeks of age, the cross is terminal, that is what "Premium" Labels are doing now.
Thanks for sharing this with us Compost King, would you say that using CornishX males over DP Hens would be more efficient? Or is your experience of DP Males over CornishX females cross is better? I've had a few Red Sex linked hens that were heavy set and were exceptional egg layers(not efficient as their skinny Leghorn counterpart but as good of a layer) about 280-300 eggs per year expected on a backyard setting per hen.
Yes, I do agree that is more cost effective to have the male CX over the normal sized females because then you only have one large CX to keep alive. CX do cost more to keep alive even with rationing feed because they need more nutrition to keep their larger organs functioning. 1 CX male can make multiple eggs fertile a day as 1 CX Female can only lay one egg a day (if that). To counter that it's more work with more problems to keep a male CX as a breeder due to the males not being very good at breeding with the large breasts. I choose to breed the Female CX because its easier. I saved 3 CX from my last batch of Meat Birds and one turned out to be a male whose comb came in a week later than all the other males. So I am going to attempt for the first time to make a male CX into a breeder. There is always Artificial Insemenation which is easier than it sounds. If I am successful at keeping him alive and breeding I may even breed CX to CX just to see the results.
Seems like it would be way easier to use dual purpose roosters on CX hens. I've accomplished that but still never with a CX rooster. The CX roosters are so big and awkward. Yes starving might help roosters mount but why hassle with that when it's so much easier to use a dual purpose rooster on a CX hen? I also think that if one was to use a good dual purpose rooster on a CX hen, then consecutively back cross each generation to CX hens 2, maybe 3 times you will get a bird that looks more like a CX than you ever will by settling with a single cross (F1). Not really a true F1 since the CX is a poly hybrid but it's the easiest way to explain. Simple one generation crosses are only a start in my opinion. Breeding takes elbow grease. Also this project is about creating a sustainable meat variety. If you have to use a real CX bird in the final breeding process you have totally defeated the purpose. If you want to do that just buy some Ross 500s instead of CX and breed Freedom Ranger type birds. Once again we are trying to create a sustainable meat breed. So... after back crossing two, 3 or 4 generations you would begin to inbreed the progeny to create a true breeding meat bird. This bird could be used to make meaty F1 crosses or part of a poly hybrid project also. Im not super interested in keeping 4 main varieties and 2 hybrid varieties for an attempt to accomplish what the meat bird industry is currently doing.
It pretty much comes down to battle between maximum efficiency vs easier to do. I choose easier to do but if someone wanted to make a business out of it with narrow profit margins I can see going that extra mile to breed with a male CX. Some people have a knack for dealing with adversity or heavy challenges, others (like me) prefer the easiest route to success. Some people take bigger risks (like risk of failure) for bigger rewards.
No, its just cheaper to keep 1 CX rooster alive who can fertilize eggs in multiple hens than it is to keep multiple female CX alive being fertilized by one rooster. It takes more feed just to sustain the life of a CX than it does to sustain the life of what ever breed you are crossing it with. Even with rationing feed you need to feed the CX more. Thats why its just cheaper to order CX from he pros than it is to make them yourself. I just want to have the resources to create my own meat birds so I am less dependent on a potentially volatile system since everything is eroding fast right now.
I'm surprised they didn't kick his big butt, they look like they are thinking about it, at least the hensHere is the picture with the Seramas
