Delawares from kathyinmo

[newmanmichael]

The buying group where I sell eggs did pre-sale of Heritage Breed Turkeys for Thanksgiving this year. Many of those birds weighed in at around 6 lbs processed when they were delivered. I think people were expecting about double that, so there was some grumbling.

Maybe a 4-5 lb heritage breed chicken isn't so bad?

I think my one batch of Cornish Crosses weighed between 5 & 8 lbs processed (at 7 weeks). Of course the Cornish X have huge breasts, which looks a little different than Tom's photos.

We actually order from a local hatchery some birds that they call a "plymouth rock" line. They pretty much look like cornish x to me but they do take 10 weeks to grow out, are much more active than the cornish rock x we've had in the past. The cuckoo marans I processed was 5.24lbs. Based on that I'd rather raise marans for meat than Delawares at this point. We shall see.

 

[finnfur]

We actually order from a local hatchery some birds that they call a "plymouth rock" line. They pretty much look like cornish x to me but they do take 10 weeks to grow out, are much more active than the cornish rock x we've had in the past. The cuckoo marans I processed was 5.24lbs. Based on that I'd rather raise marans for meat than Delawares at this point. We shall see.

Marans are a larger breed- adult cock will avg 8 to 8.8 pounds
What did the dressed bird look like plus two or three weeks can make a big difference if thats the growth stage
based on my experience I believe the Del cockerels are ready earlier than my last cull of 27 weeks-
My goal is to get it to six months or shorter.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

My cockerels look like teenagers at 21 weeks, but they have really bulked up (and gotten up to the standard cockerel weight) by 31 weeks. Of course that's with all their feathers. I would also guess that somewhere in there would be a good time to send them to freezer camp.

 

[newmanmichael]

Marans are a larger breed- adult cock will avg 8 to 8.8 pounds
What did the dressed bird look like plus two or three weeks can make a big difference if thats the growth stage
based on my experience I believe the Del cockerels are ready earlier than my last cull of 27 weeks-
My goal is to get it to six months or shorter.

From what I've read of the Marans standard they are supposed to be 7lb cockerels and 8lb cocks, which is 1/2lb lighter than Delawares. The standard doesn't give any time frames for growth for either breed but I would think the Delawares should be ready to process in around 20-24 weeks. That's just my opinion. I have a cockerel I need to weigh from my other line to see his weight. I think he's around 6 months now.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

I think getting the birds to mature in a "reasonable" amount of time will be part of the process. I'd love to see eggs and meat by 6 months ... got a ways to go to get to that.

We had the two pullet eggs for breakfast this morning. They didn't look fertile. Not a total surprise as there are like 30 females in with the cock right now. Color of white and yolk was good, so that means decent vitamin & mineral content.

 

[newmanmichael]

Just to give some contrast to my post the other day about weights. This is NOT one of Kathy's line of birds, but from my own line. There are lots of things wrong with him but he weighs 8.75lbs and is about 6 months old. He is a meaty boy. As far as type, he is off... he is too long, his back is too flat and he's not very deep. His legs are good but his comb is a mess. Based on what finfurr said I think he'd weigh about 6 to 6.5lbs after processing.

 

[finnfur]

Just to give some contrast to my post the other day about weights. This is NOT one of Kathy's line of birds, but from my own line. There are lots of things wrong with him but he weighs 8.75lbs and is about 6 months old. He is a meaty boy. As far as type, he is off... he is too long, his back is too flat and he's not very deep. His legs are good but his comb is a mess. Based on what finfurr said I think he'd weigh about 6 to 6.5lbs after processing.

I don't think you can use the same ratio on all birds- Because the finished product is what makes a difference - the production reds I had would not come close to that ratio-I had another line also and they weighted as much as these but the processed bird was no comparison- keep in mind also you have been selective breeding your line for a while - this line was a new start and you didn't get chicks from a selective breeding because I only had five hens to chose from - as we progress we have more to select from- my processed weights increased from F4 to F5 but the quality of the finished product did not get better .
Please post some pics of your Del line and Marans processed when you get a chance.

Edit to add ; And I agree I think we can get process time under 24 weeks

 

[finnfur]

I think getting the birds to mature in a "reasonable" amount of time will be part of the process. I'd love to see eggs and meat by 6 months ... got a ways to go to get to that.

I think your right on process time at 6 months or maybe less- from what I seen 6 may be a stretch for eggs but maybe 7- Its hard to select breed for eggs unless you trap nest.
I do have one F4 hen that laid almost all the way thru molt which is good then lost all feathers in week

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

One of my ideas for this batch of chicks was to breed the first to reach POL. But my hatch dates were so spread out that's just dumb. Also ... too many brown feathers on the F5 pullets, and I really should be selecting against that this generation.

 

[newmanmichael]

I don't think you can use the same ratio on all birds- Because the finished product is what makes a difference - the production reds I had would not come close to that ratio-I had another line also and they weighted as much as these but the processed bird was no comparison- keep in mind also you have been selective breeding your line for a while - this line was a new start and you didn't get chicks from a selective breeding because I only had five hens to chose from - as we progress we have more to select from- my processed weights increased from F4 to F5 but the quality of the finished product did not get better .
Please post some pics of your Del line and Marans processed when you get a chance.

Edit to add ; And I agree I think we can get process time under 24 weeks

That's a good point, it's not comparing apples to apples. I need to get live weights on my cockerels I got from you and see where they are.