Farming and Homesteading Heritage Poultry

[Arielle]

@Arielle - I too have been dissapointed with the meat qualities of the supposedly dual purpose breeds from the hatcheries. I will not order from them again. I am going to try standard bred birds and see if that makes a difference, but at the same time I know that this could be a long process and I am not interested in trying out a large number of different breeds just to find the right one. It's a lot like boats, each one does something a little different. I am going to raise meat hybrids next year, probably the freedom ranger which is healthier and more adapted to pasture than the Cornish Cross. If for no other reason, because I have never done it.

In terms of forage, I plant cover crops and provide compost piles for my flock. I try to provide as diverse an environment as possible, keeping in mind that most of thier protien requirements still have to come from the feed. I think you might like Harvey Ussery, Small Scale Poultry Flock. Also, his web site The Modern Homestead. He emphasizes natural feeds, however you have create them yourself, such as vermicomposting, raising grubs etc.

THis is definitely the direction I am heading. THis year has been a bit of an experiment on so many levels.

As for the birds-- which are meat birds is very line specific I have been reading on here a while to know, I think, who has some good meat birds. Definitely it took some effort on the part of the breeder to gt them up to snuff. A friend is sending me a marans rooster from her line that has been selected for meat qualitites. I'm curious how he will compare to mythin chested boys.

I see a lot of grass hoppers and crickets back in the overgrown garden area, andthe younger birds free range thru there. Everything close to the house is picked clean. I think I need to move the flocks to distant pens. Rotational grazing is a good plan to manage interanl parasites . . . .just not at that pont of moving pens-- can't really with this hilly rock strewn terrain.

 

[dutchbunny83]

Hi everyone!

I've been looking for some new threads since I pretty much spend all my time on one.
I got two heritage turkeys today from a fellow BYC'er-- a Bourbon tom & a royal palm hen.
I was thinking about getting some blue slate in the spring and possibly breeding them.

I do have some broad breasted whites that are about 8 weeks old. I had gotten them because I was told turkeys were very loud so I was afraid the turn over time for the heritage would be too long and they'd be too loud for my neighbors. So far, they really aren't that loud (knock on wood!) so from here on out I will be sticking with heritage.

I have heritage breed chickens for my pets and egg layers.
We do have some Freedom Rangers right now too. This is my first time doing them. I didn't want the cornish cross freakish birds, but wanted something shorter than a heritage, so I thought the FRs would be a good compromise. I couldn't go with a dual purpose for meat because I would have to cull the roosters for crowing before they were really a good enough size to eat.

Anyway, hi!

 

[Yellow House Farm]

The difficulty with working with standard-bred poultry is that some lines have been, some lines have not been selected for breed appropriate production for/in a while. The trick is getting one breed and sticking with it, realizing that you're going to be the person investing in your line. It might take you five years, but that's cool. If you don't have the patience or don't actually want to do it, that's cool, too, but it's not a reflection on standard-bred fowl.

The life of standard-bred fowl has always been in the hands of their breeders. Some are willing to invest the time, some not.

There is a great tendency against some to way over-think things, and further, to draw conclusions way too early. At the end of the day, barring specific traits for hardiness, primarily combs, any breed that was develop for the purpose desired will do. Then, procure the best stock in that breed possible. Then, begin breeding the one breed in a disciplined chicken-focused manner.

By chicken-focused, I mean, focus on the birds, focus on the SOP. Harvey Ussery's stuff is great, but he's not chicken-focused. He doesn't have a good chicken in his entire book, which leads me to believe he doesn't breed good chickens, and if he does, he made a good secret about it. He does seem to be a good forage grower, that, once grown, he then happens to feed to a bunch of hatchery higgledy-piggledy. That's cool, but it's only marginally what this thread is about.

Pick a breed--one breed--Sussex, Dorkings, Leghorns, Anconas, Faverolles, RIR, Minorcas, NH, Rocks, Wyandottes, what have you, and then actually start taking the time for working with them, breeding them, selecting them. If you want to raise freedom rangers, Cornish x, or what have you, cool, but that's not what this thread is about. This thread is about focusing on the standard-bred (aka heritage) breeds.

All breeds depend upon the current generation. When we choose Cornish x, black broilers, freedom rangers, etc... we let others focus on the chickens while we focus on other things. When we pick one breed and move forward with that breed, and tailor our production to that breed, and learn the genetics around that breed, and build systems that support and promote that breed, we work towards "Farming and Homesteading with Heritage Poultry."

Life is full of crossroads.

 

[saladin]

YHF wrote:
By chicken-focused, I mean, focus on the birds, focus on the SOP. Harvey Ussery's stuff is great, but he's not chicken-focused. He doesn't have a good chicken in his entire book, which leads me to believe he doesn't breed good chickens, and if he does, he made a good secret about it. He does seem to be a good forage grower, that, once grown, he then happens to feed to a bunch of hatchery higgledy-piggledy. That's cool, but it's only marginally what this thread is about.


That is the most accurate statement you could give these folks J.

You folks need to pay attention to what J. is saying here.

 

[cubalaya]

great post yellow and i like your signature. the older i get the more i see that it is impossible to breed and improve more than 1 or 2 breeds unless you have a lot of extra time on your hands. we no longer keep delawares or black australorps but are focused on the cubalayas. 'peace and goodness'

 

[Arielle]

My SS rooster was sold to me with the info that he could withstand the NE winters in a shelter-- yet he came to me with a comb that had been frost bitten already. My point is finding good stock is difficult and a newbie can be taken advantage of.I've made a lot of mistakes-- and I have accepted that they were all good lessons I will not forget. AN education is valuable.


have been growing out a pen of speckled sussex-- offspring from this one rooster. A tough breed by color. TOugher because they have been let go. I spend a few minutes -- like 10 -- looking over the 5 males. Amazing the variety among the combs-- one has a large floppy comb, the other 4 are noticably smaller. I look at the width over the shoulders and then at the hips. My next step is to pen them and run my hands over them.

I'm not sure how many to cull down to. THe original male attacks and I have only tolerated him because he is doing a job: dealing with free ranging in the woods with predators. I"m not sure his sons can take over as they live in a different section protected by fencing.

ANy one have thoughts onthis?

 

[galanie]

YHF wrote:
By chicken-focused, I mean, focus on the birds, focus on the SOP.  Harvey Ussery's stuff is great, but he's not chicken-focused.  He doesn't have a good chicken in his entire book, which leads me to believe he doesn't breed good chickens, and if he does, he made a good secret about it.  He does seem to be a good forage grower, that, once grown, he then happens to feed to a bunch of hatchery higgledy-piggledy.  That's cool, but it's only marginally what this thread is about.


That is the most accurate statement you could give these folks J.

You folks need to pay attention to what J. is saying here.

His name sticks in my mind because he's the one that was telling folks to let meat rot then have the chickens eat the "Free food" i.e. maggots. Then lost a lot of them to botulism. Seems to me it would have been better to feed them the meat before it rotted and be done with it.

 

[catdaddyfro]

His name sticks in my mind because he's the one that was telling folks to let meat rot then have the chickens eat the "Free food" i.e. maggots. Then lost a lot of them to botulism. Seems to me it would have been better to feed them the meat before it rotted and be done with it.

Do you free range? or know exactly ever living or dead thing that your birds/animals eat. Most have a system to overcome the things that would, say; "kill a human", its just not the same. These kinds of animals (carnivores and onivores) were put on the earth to be the custodians and population controllers way before we ever domesticated them and started them on mostly all veggie diet which is such a "worser" evil than them eating a few maggots or some dead lizard, snake..ect... they happen across.


Jeff

 

[galanie]

Do you free range? or know exactly ever living or dead thing that your birds/animals eat. Most have a system to overcome the things that would, say; "kill a human", its just not the same. These kinds of animals (carnivores and onivores) were put on the earth to be the custodians and population controllers way before we ever domesticated them and started them on mostly all veggie diet which is such a "worser" evil than them eating a few maggots or some dead lizard, snake..ect... they happen across.


Jeff

A "few" maggots, yeah. No problem. But this guy was advocating putting a huge hunk of already rotten meat out there as a breeding colony for a continuous supply of maggots. At some point, there's going to be just too much bad bacteria in there for the chicken's system to overcome if you do that.. which is what happened to Harvey's birds. I dont' freak about them eating whatever they find out there. I've seen them consume a bird half eaten by a cat and left to rot.. and some other pretty gross things. With no illness. But he was putting the meat up, say 10 lbs of it, in a mesh bag so they couldn't eat the meat itself, just the maggots and filth that fell off it. Imagine what a germ load that ended up being.

 

[catdaddyfro]

A "few" maggots, yeah. No problem. But this guy was advocating putting a huge hunk of already rotten meat out there as a breeding colony for a continuous supply of maggots. At some point, there's going to be just too much bad bacteria in there for the chicken's system to overcome if you do that.. which is what happened to Harvey's birds. I dont' freak about them eating whatever they find out there. I've seen them consume a bird half eaten by a cat and left to rot.. and some other pretty gross things. With no illness. But he was putting the meat up, say 10 lbs of it, in a mesh bag so they couldn't eat the meat itself, just the maggots and filth that fell off it. Imagine what a germ load that ended up being.

Glanie I remember that I don't think it was Joseph though are you sure, I'm sure he will confirm or deny it here soon) I'm thinking that was a kid/newbie out in the NWest area Idaho or Oregon I believe I don't think Joseph practices such. I might be wrong I can't call up his username right off but the one I remember was a couple of years back and he wasn't around too long he got heat over that method then.

anyway no biggie on my end I don't care as long as its not a bunch of moldy stuff then I know that is harmful to them for sure. My ones here recycle the cowpies and turn them into eggs and feathers here. I really don't care to view them doing such, but I'm not going to stop them either its repurposing at it best plus the feed that my cousin buys and wastes feeding it to the cows my chickens eat for free(free is always good, well most free stuff is) LOL

Jeff


PS for me here I wouldn't /couldn't practice such as the other critters beside flies and maggots it would bring/call in would me more of a detriment than good for me. I'd have to sit on guard to kill all the meat/carrion eaters out of it + then after they ate it all they'd for sure be going for my stock then. So I for sure don't see the practicality of this method too me, IMO and seriously J/S LOL