Freedom Ranger Vs. Heritage Breeds

[Lauravonsmurf]

Just so you know ZachyWacky my great grandparents bought batches of Leghorns and used them as dual purpose birds, they would replace the rooster they kept as necessary and keep a few pullets to replace the laying hens they culled... and the rest were raised for meat. The leghorns tasted yummy to me anyway, still better than what my parents would get at stores. So the idea of cross breeding Leghorns with Cornish Rocks I think might be a good idea...

 

[ZachyWachy]

Thank you! I hope to do it myself one day.

 

[Omega Blue Farms]

I started breeding my ameraucana line in 2002 and my primary focus has been dual purpose production with half an eye on the SOP. Lucky they don't have weigh scales in the showroom, I often show birds that are over DQ weight for the breed. I've used the Label Rouge program and genetics as inspiration for how to raise my birds and what to select for.

I get a carcass similar to the Sasso carcass but it takes twice as long. 12 weeks for the Sasso and 24-25 weeks for the heritage. I am personally fine with the extra time and personally prefer eating the heritage because it has far better flavour and gives the sense that it is more nutritious. However, when it comes to marketing chicken meat, the Sasso wins hands down. It is far easier for my customers to cook. A 12 week bird is still young enough to cook like a conventional chicken, but if you try conventional cooking on a heritage chicken, you get a real tough and chewy dinner. My ameraucanas require slow moist cooking methods.

One of my motives for getting the Kosher Kings is to cross them into my Ameraucanas and then select back to the Ameraucana standard while retaining the faster growth rate. The Kosher Kings are now 6 weeks and I'm starting to rethink the project, the Kosher Kings are looking more round and have the awkward unbalanced look of a conventional meat bird. The Sasso's on the other hand have a longer body type and have better balance. Despite the colour issues, I may be better off using the Sasso with the Ameraucanas. I have some ameraucana/sasso crosses growing right now, it will be interesting to see how they develope.

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

Please post pictures so we can see how the cross develops. When I am in a position to breed I plan to fiddle with my EEs and I very much want to improve meat production, size and such.

 

[Dave C]

I have found my Sasso x Marans very good healthy, meaty birds

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

The Sasso x Maran I think you posted a picture of on another thread looked nice.

 

[GreatBreeder]

Just so you know ZachyWacky my great grandparents bought batches of Leghorns and used them as dual purpose birds, they would replace the rooster they kept as necessary and keep a few pullets to replace the laying hens they culled... and the rest were raised for meat. The leghorns tasted yummy to me anyway, still better than what my parents would get at stores. So the idea of cross breeding Leghorns with Cornish Rocks I think might be a good idea...

I was about to say that! Leghorns make pretty good fryers with their frame, I thought crossing them with White Plymouth Rocks and Delawares could put some more meat on/speed up the growth.

I started breeding my ameraucana line in 2002 and my primary focus has been dual purpose production with half an eye on the SOP. Lucky they don't have weigh scales in the showroom, I often show birds that are over DQ weight for the breed. I've used the Label Rouge program and genetics as inspiration for how to raise my birds and what to select for.

I get a carcass similar to the Sasso carcass but it takes twice as long. 12 weeks for the Sasso and 24-25 weeks for the heritage. I am personally fine with the extra time and personally prefer eating the heritage because it has far better flavour and gives the sense that it is more nutritious. However, when it comes to marketing chicken meat, the Sasso wins hands down. It is far easier for my customers to cook. A 12 week bird is still young enough to cook like a conventional chicken, but if you try conventional cooking on a heritage chicken, you get a real tough and chewy dinner. My ameraucanas require slow moist cooking methods.

One of my motives for getting the Kosher Kings is to cross them into my Ameraucanas and then select back to the Ameraucana standard while retaining the faster growth rate. The Kosher Kings are now 6 weeks and I'm starting to rethink the project, the Kosher Kings are looking more round and have the awkward unbalanced look of a conventional meat bird. The Sasso's on the other hand have a longer body type and have better balance. Despite the colour issues, I may be better off using the Sasso with the Ameraucanas. I have some ameraucana/sasso crosses growing right now, it will be interesting to see how they develope.

You could try Delaware over Ameracauna x Sasso, Jersey Giants work well too.

I have found my Sasso x Marans very good healthy, meaty birds

Those Sasso x Marans did look great!

 

[ZachyWachy]

My leghorn x black australorp cross is growing quite quickly, he is in the 2 to 2 1/2 month stage; he is finishing up with the main feather growth stage. And he isn't small, he is nearly the size of my hand! Which is about ten inches from thunb tip to pinky tip.

Strange thing, we have a 2 day-old chick that is different. Is mainly white, but with some black on the lower back and(now here is the weird part) with long strands of red fuzz sticking up. The fuzz is mainly on the neck and shoulders and thins out as it goes down the body. I am thinking that this one is a RIR x black australorp; and hoping a hen!

 

[Omega Blue Farms]

I haven't seen a Jersey Giant around here worth spending feed on, far too slow growing and far too thin in body type. The show quality Australorpes would be a far better choice in these parts, they are almost as large as the Giants, grow much faster, and have a respectable amount of meat on them. I've never seen a quality Delaware, although I have read about a quality line in the US. Don't let the name fool you, my ameraucanas are nothing like any ameraucanas you have seen. I didn't build them from any existing lines, I felt the existing lines were built wrong, and therefore built from scratch using a hatchery ameraucana hen, a couple select araucanas, and some Rapanui stock. The bird to the left that I'm holding spent much of his life between 8 and 9 pounds and won his fair share of AOSB championships.

The Sassos were sold by the hatchery as x431b. Seems to be the preferred cross found in North America. Locally, they were imported to be grown in wharehouses, harvested skinny, and sold to the ethnic community as Thai chicken.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1325531387534071

Not sure if I linked to the video properly, but the birds are the offspring of the x431b Sassos. Legally speaking, they are not Sasso anymore so I simply market them as French Meatbirds. If the link doesn't work, just go to my facebook page, I've got a few photos on it. https://www.facebook.com/OmegaBlueFarms/

 

[GreatBreeder]

Thanks for the advice.But,
This only started last year, I have been keeping fish 9 years, same tank, same way.

I haven't seen a Jersey Giant around here worth spending feed on, far too slow growing and far too thin in body type. The show quality Australorpes would be a far better choice in these parts, they are almost as large as the Giants, grow much faster, and have a respectable amount of meat on them. I've never seen a quality Delaware, although I have read about a quality line in the US. Don't let the name fool you, my ameraucanas are nothing like any ameraucanas you have seen. I didn't build them from any existing lines, I felt the existing lines were built wrong, and therefore built from scratch using a hatchery ameraucana hen, a couple select araucanas, and some Rapanui stock. The bird to the left that I'm holding spent much of his life between 8 and 9 pounds and won his fair share of AOSB championships.

The Sassos were sold by the hatchery as x431b. Seems to be the preferred cross found in North America. Locally, they were imported to be grown in wharehouses, harvested skinny, and sold to the ethnic community as Thai chicken.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1325531387534071

Not sure if I linked to the video properly, but the birds are the offspring of the x431b Sassos. Legally speaking, they are not Sasso anymore so I simply market them as French Meatbirds. If the link doesn't work, just go to my facebook page, I've got a few photos on it. https://www.facebook.com/OmegaBlueFarms/

I definetily trust you one that about the Ameracaunas, a little before you came, I was thinking about Ameracauna meat.