Crossing my Red Ranger Hens.

[Compost King]

I said the inside of the thigh had those black muscles and I was wrong, its the inner Drum Stick.

 

[Parront]

I said the inside of the thigh had those black muscles and I was wrong, its the inner Drum Stick.
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That is interesting, some normal thigh meat, looks pink in the photo, and black meat drumstick? A true cross-breed!

 

[Compost King]

If I took a picture of the CX thighs with them maybe that would have been smarter, you can see a huge color difference, The ones in that last photos I posted are more grey than they are pink. I should have thought about that before I gave them away about an hour and a half ago. maybe I do have a picture of it though I edit my pictures and possibly I have them off to the side in an unedited picture. If I do I will post it next. .....(nope, did not capture them in any picture)

 

[BlueBaby]

I said the inside of the thigh had those black muscles and I was wrong, its the inner Drum Stick.
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So, now we know what the meat will look like in the first crossing of the AC/NN mix.

 

[PJM66]

Read the whole thing, it was great! Thank you!

 

[BlueBaby]

Read the whole thing, it was great! Thank you!

Are you working on meat bird's too?

 

[Compost King]

Read the whole thing, it was great! Thank you!

So glad you read it. I am finding that for people who only have access to Hatchery quality chickens that breeding the Free Ranging type meat birds with heritage rooster (or possible vice versa) is a better alternative than trying to turn Hatchery stock into a dual purpose chicken. Although maybe just breeding the Free Ranging meat birds with each other might be even better. Another great thread for information like this https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...modern-broilers-heritage-and-hybrids.1295366/

 

[PJM66]

I have no birds right now-building coop and prepping for spring.

When I was a kid I helped my grandmother with hers and friends growing up had chickens as well...been a long time. I have a 14 yr old, he’s getting interested in gardening and hunting/raising his own protein so we’re building a coop that will ultimately serve about 8-10 birds.

Grandmother had Buff Orpingtons so I’ll get 2-3 of them and fill in with a couple more breeds...couple Barred Rocks for sure cuz she had some of them too and loved crossing them with the biggest Buff Orp rooster she could get her hands on. I’ll round it out with SL Wyandotte because they are pretty and traditional and maybe 1 or 2 that lay funky eggs. All hens, no roosters where I live.

Game plan is buy pullets or young hens in early March, give them 6 weeks to sort things out amongst themselves and hope something goes broody...incubate if I have to. I’ve got a buddy that raises Buckeyes, Australorps, NH Reds and some other stuff I can get fertilized eggs from if/when something goes broody. I can order eggs too but would rather not. With his roosters over Barred Rocks or SL Wyandotte I’ve got some decent crosses I can do mid-late July in round 2 that will be sex links, I think. Process the cockerels or trade them back to him, and by the time the hens moult I’m hoping I’ll have pullets that will be about to lay..then figure out who to make a stew hen and who to feed through the winter. Rinse and repeat in year 2 with an eye towards faster growing heritage birds that will give me decent sized cockerels at 18-20 weeks to process.

At least that’s the plan...we’ll see. I’m not sure that you really call what I have in mind a meatbird project, they prob won’t grow big enough fast enough for that but I think we’ll get a decent number of eggs, the feedbills won’t break us, we’ll have a lot of fun and end up with some tasty cockerels in the freezer and some cool looking hens in the run.

 

[Compost King]

I wish my parents encouraged me to raise chickens when I was 14. I actually asked to have a cow around that age and they said no, and it wasn't a Cow is a bad idea no, it was a no animals type of no. We did have an outdoor cat but I can't eat those lol.

 

[Morrigan]

12 fertile colored broiler eggs arrived from Moyer's in today's mail. They have them packaged very securely so all arrived intact. I've got the incubator fired up and will putting the eggs in a few hours after they have had a chance to settle a bit.