Crossbreeding dual purpose breeds for sustainable flock

[MysteryChicken]

Well getting some pigs this year is also in the works so that should keep me from ever being over run.. Haha! I try to round things up or down in a "costs up, profit down" kind of way. Feed use, round up.. Cost, round up.. Product, round down.. Male:female ratio, whatever you want, there will be more of the other one.. Ha!

I had a basic understanding that waiting for the egg laying to work out the kinks was best. And about older hens better hatching etc. But yeah, with the freedom ranger hens it's an unknown so far if I'll be working to keep them from being too fat or fast growing like the Cx. Also because I haven't raised them before. People tryin to cross the Cx is a race to egg laying and then hatch everything because the Cx could kick the bucket at any time. Which is why I'm not going that route. But keeping that in mind.
18wks would put them beginning of August starting laying. 20wks would be mid August. So hatching starting in September would be a month later or about two weeks later. Ideally if the FR hens are good and healthy then I could put off starting to hatch from them til later.

Hmm, I missed that. I was kind of just assuming some would stop and some would lay at a lower rate. Good to know!

Thanks! I try to always be open minded and ready to adjust if things aren't working out. Just today I had a reminder of that with my sheep.


Oh cool! Was that older birds or like 16/20wks?

With the mixed ones I got I'm really interested to see what I end up getting. Without having any to evaluate yet I'm kind of thinking the FR cross I hatch will turn out to be used most for my project. But I'll definitely want a couple to hatch out regular layer mixes.

6-7 months old.

What's an FR?

I have pictures of my Giant cockerel, & his sister. I still have his sister, which I'm gonna use for more meat birds this year. This time crossing Brahma/Easter Egger to a Marans/Gamefowl cross rooster.

 

[HomesteadNowhere]

6-7 months old.

What's an FR?

I have pictures of my Giant cockerel, & his sister. I still have his sister, which I'm gonna use for more meat birds this year. This time crossing Brahma/Easter Egger to a Marans/Gamefowl cross rooster.

Sorry, FR is what I've shortened for Freedom Rangers. I got straight run, I'm going to keep as many healthy hens from them as I can.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Sorry, FR is what I've shortened for Freedom Rangers. I got straight run, I'm going to keep as many healthy hens from them as I can.

Oh, okay. I just haven't seem them initialized yet, that's what confused me.

Sounds good.

 

[HomesteadNowhere]

There is currently 302 pages in the meat birds etc section and I'm up to date. Not that I read every thread, lol, but I did open every thread that looked at all interesting or informative. I think I got alot of interesting ideas and perspectives of things other people have done before.

I found some feeding guides and I'm going to use that as a starting point in feeding the chicks. Then I'll hopefully be tracking how much they actually are eating over time. Tentatively I'm thinking to feed the FR the same as what the mixed chicks are eating, maybe a little more. Then as they feather out, it seems roos usually feather first, I can start moving the roos to another brooder with more feed. That way whatever ends up the keeper FR hens won't have been overfed and should be as optimally healthy as I can manage them.

In non-chicken things, my plans for the sheep building might be changing. Which changes the possible winter digs of the chickens. So I'm working on that. I don't want to be going into winter and not really knowing where to put them when it snows. I think the chickshaw is great but when we get snow, we get plenty. So netting will be grounded out and not keeping out predators. So winter keeping is going to be a must with the amount of coons and all we have.
The sheep shed (current wintering) is the most solid building that could be the easiest to predator proof for the chickens. I'm leaning toward that but throwing around ideas in case it doesn't work out.

I'm also trying to reign in the wild spectrum of breeding ideas until the chicks are here and I can start evaluating them. From reading it seems like turkens are a likely candidate. But I may not get any in my mix order. And even then, based on breeds the ones I get from hatchery may not match other's experience with them. So I'm trying to tamp it down for a bit.

Going grocery shopping today and will be picking up starter feed and what should be the last few things I need for brooders. Then I should be ready for chicks. Two week countdown.

 

[NatJ]

There is currently 302 pages in the meat birds etc section and I'm up to date. Not that I read every thread, lol, but I did open every thread that looked at all interesting or informative. I think I got alot of interesting ideas and perspectives of things other people have done before.

That's a lot of reading, but it is a good way to learn

 

[HomesteadNowhere]

Yes it's quite a bit of reading. I've always been a big reader and right now I'm rationing myself with a book! Lol! So it helped break up the book. I haven't gotten any more in the series so the more I ration myself, the less time waiting to buy the next books! Hahahaha at least that's the idea...

Anyhow, lol... I did get two bags of starter. I have a bin with tight lid I can keep it inside, and it held two bags of rabbit pellets so it should fit fine. Then I decided to get a bag of wood pellets and a bag of shavings. I used to get corn cob crumbles that worked really nice but they were out. This should get me started at least. I got three feeders in red, purple, and green to help me keep track of the chicks feed usage. I have a kitchen scale so I'll just have it setup with a notebook to keep track. Then I already had bought the waterers and have jars for those.

I found a pack of zip ties that had little bitty ones. Black and offwhite. So I'm thinking who to band with what. There is 150 each. Right now I'm thinking black for roos, white for hens. Then the FR will get both.... And now I find online I can buy colored zip ties by the 100 and pick the colors! Argh! ...I might trade these with dad... Having a color would be better...

 

[Ridgerunner]

Right now I'm thinking black for roos, white for hens. Then the FR will get both.... And now I find online I can buy colored zip ties by the 100 and pick the colors! Argh! ...I might trade these with dad... Having a color would be better...

I use the colored zip ties. As with any leg band you need to regularly check to make sure they are still loose, you do not want them to get tight and cut the foot off.

You need to decide what information is important to you and work out your marking system. I use the left leg to tell me which year they were hatched. The right leg helps me identify individuals. I only use them on the ones I decide to keep, which isn't many. A blue on the left leg might mean they hatched in 2019, an orange in 2020. One chicken from either year might have an orange on the right, another a blue on the right, and a third may have both orange and blue. You may want to mark totally different information.

Don't use clear zip ties, they don't show up. If the birds have yellow legs, don't use yellow. Black is not good on black legs. I sometimes think if it is possible to make a mistake I've made it. But then something happens to prove I haven't made them all yet.

 

[HomesteadNowhere]

I got shipping notifications from both hatcheries now. I figured out how to arrange the cage and trough brooders in a way that's as least in my way as possible. Hopefully it works out ok. We're having a cold spell but it looks like this should be about the last of that for the year. Days are getting warmer and the nights getting less cold. I hope it won't be too long before the chicks are able to move outside. The race will be on to build the chickshaw and broiler pen!

 

[HomesteadNowhere]

FR came in this morning. Got them settled in the trough brooder. 26 arrived all good.

I'm watching the tracking of the others. Checked in MN and now in transit. Today was cold and we had snow and lots of wind. Cold but hopefully the last hurrah. So I'm just keeping my fingers crossed. With 50 they should have some body heat on their side. Nothing I can do until they are here.

 

[HomesteadNowhere]

The mixed batch came in. One side of the box had longer wing feathers and the other side shorter wing feathers. Based on other threads and pictures I'm assuming right now that the short wing feather ones are the pullets. I put black ties on their legs. 26 live and doing well.
The other side I'm assuming cockerals I did not put ties on the legs. There was 23 live and 4 dead on arrival.

No turkens. They are kind of ugly but they seem like they're nice growing so I was curious. I may ask around if I can get some hatching eggs locally.

I screenshotted the chick pics from the hatchery site for the breeds. Kind of seeing how many I can pin as being what breeds.
There are: brown chipmunk stripes,
white,
lighter buff,
darker buff,
maybe buff with vague chipmunk stripes,
black with white under-butt and under chin spot and grayish wings and white dot on top of the head,
black back that turns grey on the face and wings and white belly,...