Farming and Homesteading Heritage Poultry

[chickengeorgeto]

The Amish/Mennonite raise CX type meat birds. I'm not understanding.

I understand clearly. Amish/Mennonite farmers do not rear poultry as a back yard hobby but as a way to make a profit on both their labor and capital. The Amish/Mennonite community raise chickens so that they can feed and clothe their children, as well as make the payments, and pay the taxes on their farms . Just because the Amish and Mennonites appear to you and me like they are stuck in the 19th Century doesn't mean that an Amish or Mennonite farmer turns his nose up at scientific advancements in agriculture, especially if these advancements improves their bottom line, they can't afford to farm just to make a political statement and when that comes up short fall back on the trust fund that their parents left them.

If the Amish or Mennonites plant heirloom seeds it is because they get good results from these varieties, if that wasn't so they would quickly convert to either Hybrid or GMO seeds. Their refusal to plow with a mule not withstanding.

 

[lcahill]

It's been a couple of days since I flooded this thread with questions, but I have more.

I really appreciated all the explanations and suggestions. One thing I am curious about is do you all let your breeder birds run with the flock? For instance, lets say I only want to get hatching eggs for a month, could I allow the birds to be together for 11 months out of the year (with egg collection only for eating) and then separate for breeding purposes? Or are the breeder birds always separated from the rest?

Im also trying to decide between 8 breeds for my next flock. With the time and effort needed for breeding, I will limit that to one specific breed, possibly two.

Black Jersey Giant
Light Brahma
Orpington
Non-Industrial Leghorns
Dorking
Ancona
Australorp
Non-Industrial RIR

I will have the space needed, actually plenty of space. Any suggestions from the experienced breeders on a specific breed with respects to central Missouri heat and winters. I'm really looking for dual purpose but considering I have a "thing" for the Leghorns I threw them on the list as well.

 

[capayvalleychick]

One thing I am curious about is do you all let your breeder birds run with the flock? For instance, lets say I only want to get hatching eggs for a month, could I allow the birds to be together for 11 months out of the year (with egg collection only for eating) and then separate for breeding purposes? Or are the breeder birds always separated from the rest?...Any suggestions from the experienced breeders on a specific breed with respects to central Missouri heat and winters.

I let all my hens range together when not needed for breeding. I rotate the males out one at a time. I separate them a month before breeding.

My SG Dorkings do very well in the high heat, low humidity summers here.

 

[Extra Java]

NICE! You said 'hen' so I am assuming 1+ years old at harvest???

Yes, she was 1 year.

 

[Extra Java]

Karen,

How long do you soak your oats for? I got some of those from TSC and had very poor results. Tried soaking anywhere from overnight up to 48 hours and still only had maybe 10% of the oats actually sprout. I had much better results sprouting some stuff that was meant for human consumption - but I can't afford to buy that stuff for as many chickens as we have now on a routine basis. Had tried getting some other stuff from the feedstore but I guess it had been treated because it wouldn't sprout at all. Was hoping that the forage oats from TSC would do the trick but now....am wondering if I got a bad bag or didn't soak long enough. Or maybe it's just my Murphy's Law curse coming out.

I soak my oats overnight then rinse and drain throughout the day. They begin to sprout in 24 hours. The key is rinsing and using fresh grain. I mix grains as well, barley, oats, wheat, triticale, kamut, sunflower seeds and millet. Some grains sprout sooner than others. I get animal grade organic oats with hulls still intact. Perhaps this is different from what you are using?

 

[bnjrob]

I soak my oats overnight then rinse and drain throughout the day. They begin to sprout in 24 hours. The key is rinsing and using fresh grain. I mix grains as well, barley, oats, wheat, triticale, kamut, sunflower seeds and millet. Some grains sprout sooner than others. I get animal grade organic oats with hulls still intact. Perhaps this is different from what you are using?

Yes, it is different. Karen has had good luck with this particular brand but I haven't. What I got from the feed store didn't work either - apparently it must have been treated NOT to sprout because no amount of soaking could get it to sprout. Yet the expensive stuff from the health food store....sprouted no problem after just soaking overnight. Just don't have a lot of grain options around here and was hoping I could get these forage oats from Tractor Supply to work for me. But can't figure out if I go a bad bag of them or what since so few sprouted despite the various time frames I used for soaking them.

 

[BGMatt]

It's been a couple of days since I flooded this thread with questions, but I have more.

I really appreciated all the explanations and suggestions. One thing I am curious about is do you all let your breeder birds run with the flock? For instance, lets say I only want to get hatching eggs for a month, could I allow the birds to be together for 11 months out of the year (with egg collection only for eating) and then separate for breeding purposes? Or are the breeder birds always separated from the rest?

Im also trying to decide between 8 breeds for my next flock. With the time and effort needed for breeding, I will limit that to one specific breed, possibly two.

Black Jersey Giant
Light Brahma
Orpington
Non-Industrial Leghorns
Dorking
Ancona
Australorp
Non-Industrial RIR

I will have the space needed, actually plenty of space. Any suggestions from the experienced breeders on a specific breed with respects to central Missouri heat and winters. I'm really looking for dual purpose but considering I have a "thing" for the Leghorns I threw them on the list as well.

I'll just comment on the ones of these I have bred.

Jersey Giant - Very slow to fill out, so unimpressed with them as a meat fowl. Adequate layers but won't set the world on fire,. considering their size. The particular strain I had was very aggressive with each other, most strains may not be but there are some out there that are.

Light Brahma - Another slow to fill out breed, but I found the meat to be better quality than the Jersey Giant and more of it with less bone. Adequate layers. Very gentle docile personalities as with most Asiatics.

Orpington - I've tried these twice in two varieties, I found both to fill out very well in a surprising amount of time. Adequate layers. My biggest complaint about them was getting good fertility without plucking around vents was a near impossibility.

Leghorns - Leghorns are awesome birds. Fantastic layers, great active foragers on the range with good survival instincts, very economical food wise. True leghorns have decent amounts of meat surprisingly enough and are quick to mature. They are more active and wary then a lot of breeds.

Dorking - I'm cheating here because I've only had them this year and haven't been through a breeding season with them yet. The line I have (Urch) was very quick to mature. And the pullets are proving to be very reliable layers.

 

[Extra Java]

Yes, it is different. Karen has had good luck with this particular brand but I haven't. What I got from the feed store didn't work either - apparently it must have been treated NOT to sprout because no amount of soaking could get it to sprout. Yet the expensive stuff from the health food store....sprouted no problem after just soaking overnight. Just don't have a lot of grain options around here and was hoping I could get these forage oats from Tractor Supply to work for me. But can't figure out if I go a bad bag of them or what since so few sprouted despite the various time frames I used for soaking them.

Azure Standard delivers to Texas but I'm not sure if it would be close to your location. You would have to call.
http://www.azurestandard.com/shop/product/842//

You sign up and order online then a truck delivers to a drop point near you for pick up.

I get all my organic grains here. No problems sprouting any of them.

 

[galanie]

<Sigh> My understanding is that it requires 4 heritage line breeds to produce... I'm trying to find out more. It's not that the MG *is* heritage in the SOP sense, obviously not. But, if it requires good maintenance of 4 breeds, that piques me. Isn't that justification for increases in chicken math? Anyway, am following a couple of leads offline ('cause the technology thing). Bunny trail ends for now...

Do you know, the CX requires 4 lines to hatch as well. It's a closely kept secret what breeds are for real in there but all 4 of those lines are not standard bred, they are bred in order to supply the lines needed for the end result, the CX.

So that means this new bird is really similar in many ways to CX. They just don't grow as fast.

 

[Extra Java]

Cornish Cross Disaster...
http://www.sustainablepoultrynetwork.com/the-cornish-cross-disaster/