Foraging And Feed Effeciency Comparing Breeds

[maranfarmer563]

I have 2 rir pullets I am keeping with them. Am going to cross and keep the pullets. Trying to darken the birds ,and the hybrids may be heavier .

 

[RedRidge]

 

 

Last spring I hatched out some Rhode bars a auto sexing breed. I ended up with 5 hens and 3 roosters. They are great foragers. Now I have to see how they lay through our cold Pennsylvania winter. Going to be 7 on Tuesday night.

Rhodebars are a auto sexing breed that breeds true right? Not a one time thing? Boy their roos are amazingly beautiful!

Correct me if I'm wrong on this to, other sexlink hybrids like red sexlink do not breed true so are considered a dead end bird? Now I understand they might not be sexlinkable, but shouldn't they still be good egglayers? They still have the genetics, and we are not talking about tomato hybrids, or CornishX.

Yes Rhodebars are true autosexed birds created from Brussbars and standard bred RIR... they are not a hybrid and have all the genes necessary (or should any way, many do not) to produce 100% autosexable chicks which should simply be an autosexed, properly barred version of the standard bred RIR.

They forage beautifully and efficiently. Most I've seen are tremendously lacking in type, consequently have no breasts. When butchered compared to standard bred stock their dress weight was only 1/2- 2/3 what the standard bred Reds were. [COLOR=FF0000]In the first generation F1s their dressed weights improved dramatically.[/COLOR]

Sher, would you expand on this . . . do you mean to cross the rhodebar back to parent stock???

Several of us are working on a Rhodebar genetic project over on the Rhodebar Thread. The Rhodebars in general are in dire need of improvement in the US and since Brussbars are no longer available, using the best standard bred Reds is the best option. We are 3 generations into the project and just now have the first purebred Rhodebars on the ground. They are awesome. I suspect the next generation will really be great and then breeding pens from pure to pure will begin next May or so.

 

[RedRidge]

As an aside, 2 of my standard bred rir go broody regularly and each has raised chicks. One is rose comb and one is single comb. More frequently in this line the SC tend to go broody. They lay well and begin to lay at 26 weeks.

 

[maranfarmer563]

I like to hatch my laying hens in February so they are laying by fall.

 

[RedRidge]

Yes we usually hatch in Jan and Feb only. But with the genetic project we hatch as soon as the pullet eggs were fertile in sept to save an entire year. So what we hatched last Feb started laying in Aug and their chicks we
just hatched in Oct will be laying in May and we'll do a late hatch and will have hatched an extra generation in the same year.
The genetic project is an exception. The RIR will be put in breeding pens as soon as the National poultry show is over in Dec and we'll hatch those chicks in Jan and Feb like usual.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: Yes Rhodebars are true autosexed birds created from Brussbars and standard bred RIR... they are not a hybrid and have all the genes necessary (or should any way, many do not) to produce 100% autosexable chicks which should simply be an autosexed, properly barred version of the standard bred RIR.

They forage beautifully and efficiently. Most I've seen are tremendously lacking in type, consequently have no breasts. When butchered compared to standard bred stock their dress weight was only 1/2- 2/3 what the standard bred Reds were. [COLOR=FF0000]In the first generation F1s their dressed weights improved dramatically.[/COLOR]
Sher, would you expand on this . . . do you mean to cross the rhodebar back to parent stock??? Several of us are working on a Rhodebar genetic project over on the Rhodebar Thread. The Rhodebars in general are in dire need of improvement in the US and since Brussbars are no longer available, using the best standard bred Reds is the best option. We are 3 generations into the project and just now have the first purebred Rhodebars on the ground. They are awesome. I suspect the next generation will really be great and then breeding pens from pure to pure will begin next May or so.
Oh, I understand now.

 

[Arielle]

On another note-- I was rereading the first few pages and a point worth noting is the importance of the quality of vegetation and natural insects that the birds have to forage. As I watch the lawn in the back yard get reduced to an inch high as if the sheep had over grazed it, I am reminded that the birds do enjoy snacking on fine grasses. ( though not as much as in summer because the yolks are not a rich orange right now like in summer. )

I've been looking over the catalogs www.rareseeds.com and Sand hills to create a plan for next season. Pushing closed canopy woods to grasslands will be a big challenge.

FIgure the land needs to be a mix of many different vegetations, and that will bring the insects.

What does everyone have for foraging, if you do that is.

 

[RedRidge]

On another note-- I was rereading the first few pages and a point worth noting is the importance of the quality of vegetation and natural insects that the birds have to forage.  As I watch the lawn in the back yard get reduced to an inch high as if the sheep had over grazed it, I am reminded that the birds do enjoy snacking on fine grasses.  ( though not as much as in summer because the yolks are not a rich orange right now like in summer. ) 

I've been looking over the catalogs www.rareseeds.com and Sand hills to create a plan for next season. Pushing  closed canopy woods to grasslands will be a big challenge. 

FIgure the land needs to be a mix of many different vegetations, and that will bring the insects. 

What does everyone have for foraging, if you do that is. 

The key to purpetuating high quality forage is to never graze let than 4". That's one of the reasons )parasite reduction is another) for moving off of a forage area "before" it ever gets grazed less than 4". Grazing less than4" makes parasite consumption much easier and has a negative impact on the root system of the forages.

 

[maranfarmer563]

I have lots of land for free range. Mowed grass,woods,soybean fields,swamp. The guineas go with the chickens to the woods,and spend hours

 

[islandgirl82]

We have been fermenting our own ground and mixed grains for over a year now. Quite pleased with the results. But more importantly it's the BSF. Because we rotationally graze our poultry all summer we do not feed the BSF we raise all summer, we freeze them and then feed them over the winter so the poultry had quality animal protein year round. Free and easy at the same time. ;-)

Having that protein boost is great and it never really occurred to me to raise my own worms/larvae until I saw talk of it on here. My flock doesn't get meat scraps - we don't eat a whole lot of meat to begin with and when we do, the scraps go to our dog. They've always done just fine without it and are very healthy but I love the idea of being able to offer them that protein that they can't get during the winter months. I like your raising and freezing method too.