Crossing my Red Ranger Hens.

[BlueBaby]

That Naked Neck mix looks great!

You have some good meat hen's? I'll give you a Naked Neck cockerel or 2 to grow out to see what one you want to use to breed your hen's with. Your not all that far from me.

 

[Parront]

You have some good meat hen's? I'll give you a Naked Neck cockerel or 2 to grow out to see what one you want to use to breed your hen's with. Your not all that far from me.

You messaged me, I have some chicks on the way.

 

[BlueBaby]

@Parront I also have one that is ready to go. He's already interested in the ladies.

 

[Molpet]

Another Death in the meat bird tinkering family, My one last remaining Slow White broiler has passed away, she was about 5 months old and had not started laying yet which is awfully late for a broiler. They are supposed to mature quickly. While she was (at one time) larger than other birds her age she had lost a lot of weight recently and suddenly. She stopped Roosting 2 nights ago and died last night. I was not happy with Slow White broiler, I had 4 of them and 3 died shortly out of the brooder because they were bottom of the pecking order and all the older but smaller birds isolated them in a corner during a flood when they were all trapped in the coop and I believe kept them away from water. They just didn't want to fight to live. Other birds their age which were smaller were able to fight for a drink of water. Never getting Slow white broilers again or I am not getting them from Tractor Supply and where ever they get them from. If I go with something similar I will go with Moyers Robust white.
My last hatch I had 5 Dark Cornish eggs but only one hatched, One died mid pip, just as it started to zipper its way out. One started oozing yellow nasty from its pores during lockdown. Oh well I got one and can cross it with Red Rangers and Naked Necks and Dorking's etc will be worthwhile.

Random Pictures I selected because people like pictures... that way I am not just giving a boring update and rambling on about boring stuff..
View attachment 1897174
A Splash Jersey Giant. Not my favorite for a meat bird, in fact its my least favorite due to extremely slow growth. Still the smallest bird from its brooder as other breeds are filling out. Although its starting to become the tallest from that crowd. I just feel it may be decent for crossing and its offspring will likely be blue so I can sell the culls as a novelty.
View attachment 1897175
The nice Naked Neck that was spared the trip to camp freezer, He has the Recessive white trait which should come in handy, and he is half Red Ranger so he is plenty meaty.

View attachment 1897176
Half Dorking and Half Red Ranger, a yellow columbian according to the Chicken Pattern Calculator. He grew the largest the fastest. Although his final size was not as big as I expected but who cares? Meat birds need to grow fast not super large well beyond processing age. Right now he is in with a Skimpy Delaware and a Light Brahma. Soon i will be hatching eggs from these crossings just to see how they turn out.

View attachment 1897177
3/4 Dorking in a brooder... Gotta test these guys for the 4 toe recessive trait... that's going to be a pain the behind but I will be giving away free chicks from this because as soon as they hatch I will know if the parents being tested have the 4 toe recessive trait (culls) or two 5 toe traits (keepers). Probably going to cross the with the best laying 4 toes hens and my Production Red Rooster (to make sex links)

By me TSC uses Hoover, which has a slow broiler

 

[Morrigan]

Another Death in the meat bird tinkering family, My one last remaining Slow White broiler has passed away, she was about 5 months old and had not started laying yet which is awfully late for a broiler. They are supposed to mature quickly. While she was (at one time) larger than other birds her age she had lost a lot of weight recently and suddenly. She stopped Roosting 2 nights ago and died last night. I was not happy with Slow White broiler, I had 4 of them and 3 died shortly out of the brooder because they were bottom of the pecking order and all the older but smaller birds isolated them in a corner during a flood when they were all trapped in the coop and I believe kept them away from water. They just didn't want to fight to live. Other birds their age which were smaller were able to fight for a drink of water. Never getting Slow white broilers again or I am not getting them from Tractor Supply and where ever they get them from. If I go with something similar I will go with Moyers Robust white.
My last hatch I had 5 Dark Cornish eggs but only one hatched, One died mid pip, just as it started to zipper its way out. One started oozing yellow nasty from its pores during lockdown. Oh well I got one and can cross it with Red Rangers and Naked Necks and Dorking's etc will be worthwhile.

Random Pictures I selected because people like pictures... that way I am not just giving a boring update and rambling on about boring stuff..
View attachment 1897174
A Splash Jersey Giant. Not my favorite for a meat bird, in fact its my least favorite due to extremely slow growth. Still the smallest bird from its brooder as other breeds are filling out. Although its starting to become the tallest from that crowd. I just feel it may be decent for crossing and its offspring will likely be blue so I can sell the culls as a novelty.
View attachment 1897175
The nice Naked Neck that was spared the trip to camp freezer, He has the Recessive white trait which should come in handy, and he is half Red Ranger so he is plenty meaty.

View attachment 1897176
Half Dorking and Half Red Ranger, a yellow columbian according to the Chicken Pattern Calculator. He grew the largest the fastest. Although his final size was not as big as I expected but who cares? Meat birds need to grow fast not super large well beyond processing age. Right now he is in with a Skimpy Delaware and a Light Brahma. Soon i will be hatching eggs from these crossings just to see how they turn out.

View attachment 1897177
3/4 Dorking in a brooder... Gotta test these guys for the 4 toe recessive trait... that's going to be a pain the behind but I will be giving away free chicks from this because as soon as they hatch I will know if the parents being tested have the 4 toe recessive trait (culls) or two 5 toe traits (keepers). Probably going to cross the with the best laying 4 toes hens and my Production Red Rooster (to make sex links)

Both the NN/RR and Dorking/RR mixed roosters look like excellent meat bird breeding stock. It's good to know that whatever they are crossing to make a RR still imparts some good size and hardiness to their offspring.

Too bad about the slow white broiler. My 6 SWB chicks are about 4 weeks old now and still under the watchful eyes and wings of one my broody Moms. They are looking fairly chunky, but not crazy big like a true CX. I think I have 2 males and 3 females. I hope mine prove hardier then the ones you got, as I would like to try a NN/SWB cross.

 

[Compost King]

Both the NN/RR and Dorking/RR mixed roosters look like excellent meat bird breeding stock. It's good to know that whatever they are crossing to make a RR still imparts some good size and hardiness to their offspring.

Too bad about the slow white broiler. My 6 SWB chicks are about 4 weeks old now and still under the watchful eyes and wings of one my broody Moms. They are looking fairly chunky, but not crazy big like a true CX. I think I have 2 males and 3 females. I hope mine prove hardier then the ones you got, as I would like to try a NN/SWB cross.

A Broody mom should help if yours are anything like mine, the first 3 to die very young were basically bullied to death and kept in a corner during a flood when Juvenile chickens were stuck in a coop most of the day. Funny how they dehydrated in a flood when chickens will drink the nastiest water but they were trapped in a corner. I was busy during this flood with so many other issues that I couldn't tend to chicken squabbles. By the time I noticed 2 were dead and 1 was weak and never recovered. The one survivor died last night. Not sure why she got sick and died though. I didn't like how slow she developed so chances are she just wasn't that good. Or was I just spoiled with Red Rangers and Slow White Broilers just won't compare? Who knows?

 

[Morrigan]

Here is a picture of my 6 slow broilers with their super-protective, excellent mother. She looks a little taken aback in this picture ("how did they get so big this fast?"). I think you are right about them doing better with a broody showing them the ropes. Time will tell.

This guy is in the running to be a potential breeding partner. I've got to get out there and weight him!

 

[Compost King]

You SLB's are much heavier than mine were at that age. Maybe I should try Slow White broilers from a different source before I knock them.

 

[Morrigan]

They are from Privett Hatchery in New Mexico, which was simply the luck of the draw for me, as that is one of the hatcheries my feed store uses to order from.

 

[Compost King]

http://www.privetthatchery.com/home/product.aspx?Session=7e495ddab2b4411ba1d46d45cb269de3&id=SC Privett has something called Slow Cornish, Its a White Cornish that grows slower and smaller than CX. I want to try these.