Future plans for 2025! Breeding for large meaties, barring, lacing and EE

[DemeterAD9]

Checked the bantam broody eggs, we have 2 pips and some internal pips as well! I hope she is a good mom as I plan on letting her do it on her own.

Some of the purchased chicks.
GLW

BBS laced Wyandotte

Created cream legbar

Diamond duchess, growing a crest

Barred rock

And the bantam who looks like a little cockerel

 

[DemeterAD9]

One chick hatched under the bantam EE, a SLW egg and looks like the baby is black with a touch of white on the neck. A least 2 more pips, one being a bantam egg. Hopefully there will be a nest full of chicks in the morning. I’m going to guess the bantam chicks will also be all black, as will the 2 BJG eggs. I think there is a light brahma egg under her too, guessing it will be blue or white. We’ll see!

 

[DemeterAD9]

5 chicks and 2 more pips. So far 2 bantam, 1 BJG, 1 SLW, and 1 light brahma have hatched. The dark OE egg is the only one not showing progress.

Also heard the first crow from the meatie pen. It was the little fella on the right.

 

[DemeterAD9]

Been hanging out with the birds to monitor the broody. She acts like she wants to leave the nest box with the 7 chicks that hatched. The OE egg was internally pipped so I created an air hole and planned to give it a few hours but mom really isn’t sitting anymore so the egg was not quite as warm as it should be, baby had gone silent as well so I started chipping away. Once the chick was peeping again and nearly halfway free I put it back with her but she was not too keen on sitting tight anymore and the other chicks were pecking at it. So I let the little one pop out of the shell the rest of the way and popped it in the bator to dry off. I’ll put it back with mom tonight and hope it isn’t too weak.

Seeing as the majority of the OE hen’s eggs either don’t make it to pip or need help, she may not be a good breeder. I’ve got 2 more of her eggs under the legbar X so we’ll see. At least the two older chicks of hers are doing well and are likely to be keepers based on their patterned feathers.

Updated photo of the blue copper maran roo and his healed up comb. Still handsome but he sure looks odd!

Been reading up on creating a good dual purpose flock as well. Really starting to think on which hens should go and which can stay. Some things I’ve read is to keep birds with broad, flat back. Also weigh all the chicks at about 15 weeks and cull the lowest 50% plus cull any pullets who don’t lay by 24ish weeks. I’ll be keeping that in mind while selecting from the group. Right now I’m thinking the bresse hen, one light brahma and the two BJG hens can go. I want to make as much room as I can for the chicks I’m raising now. With the new chicks I am up to 73 birds, plus another 8 eggs (2 each, legbar X, OE, grey OE, white EE) under the legbar X. After those hatch I’m done with raising chicks for the year!

I’m planning to butcher a few Cornish X tomorrow, if not next weekend. Two cockerels will be set aside to grow until I think they aren’t doing great anymore then I’ll process them to be use for a bit dinner. Debating on if it would be worth finishing them like they do bresse, with milk and grains. We’ll see how motivated I am.

Today’s weights of a handful of the ones that sort of cooperated
-6lbs 14oz
-6lbs 6oz
-7lbs 2oz
-7lbs 12os
-7lbs 1oz
-6lbs 10oz

One was apparently at least 9lbs with the bucket as the scale errored out. That one had a band so I can keep it a while longer.

 

[DemeterAD9]

Today I butchered 7 of the Cornish cross (all cockerels) who would have been 8 weeks old on Monday. I had to stop feeling anything for them while doing the deed. The poor stupid things walked right to me out of the pen and over to were the broom was waiting, thinking I had food for them. Wish there was a heritage breed as chill as these guys were. I did not get live weights from them, mostly because they were not very cooperative and with my little kitchen scales it is quite awkward with such big birds.The heaviest was 8lbs 2oz plucked and gutted but neck still attached and wet from being in the ice bath. Lightest was 6lbs 13oz. Average was about 7lbs 2oz. 4 were frozen whole and the other 3 were parted out. I made stock and soup with the necks, wing tips, and carcasses. It did not take long at all for the meat to fall of the bone and the carcass to fall apart. I may have used too much water but overall the meat and broth was rather bland IMO. I think I much prefer the heritage types but I'll know more once I cook up a whole bird.

I did a few different killing methods, chopping the head off was on par with the broom stick method. I did not care for bleeding them out as it wasn’t as fast a death which I find important. Most the birds I simply did the broom stick method, hung them by their feet and cut the head off to bleed them. My dad made a make shift kill cone which was a bit too small but usable. I found out the hard way why kill cones are a good idea, 2 of the birds I broke the necks of flapped so hard against the shed door I had them hanging from that they broke a wing at the elbow joint. I tried putting them in the cone after breaking their necks but they were flapping too much so it didn't work that great. I may very well put them in the cone alive then cut their heads off next time.

All carcasses were in good shape except one, this bird was a bit off lately so I’m not surprised. Its skin wasn’t as tight to the body as the others and the meat looked more pale. He was wheezy and not as active as the others so I think it was a good thing to go ahead and process them. Most had some amount of fluid around the heart which was interesting. Scalding water was either too hot or just right seeing as some didn’t have the yellow peel off while others did (as shown in the photo). I left one pullet and one cockerel to live another week or two depending on how they are doing. I would have taken more photos but I didn't want my family to think I was psycho.

Bantam broody lost one chick last night, looks like it got away from her in the run and the others injured it. I think it was the EE chick too The other broody has 3 chicks hatched and a few more in progress. I’ve been letting the older chicks out for a couple hours in the evening, they have been good at finding their way back into the run when it gets dark. All in all, I've only lost 2 chicks this spring and everyone else seems to be doing well. The flock was/is going through a bit of a respiratory thing but it seems less apparent now and the one hen I was worried about is acting perfectly normal again though I don't think she's laying yet. I need to check under the coop again for stray eggs.

 

[DemeterAD9]

Bantam finally got all the chicks out together and they were having a dust bath.

Other broody has 7 hatched chicks, 4 of them which are sex linked (2 are hers) and I think they may all be female. I’ll know for sure when I get a good look at them. Last egg is of course from the OE, internally pipped so I made a safety hole.

Birds have been getting used to staying locked up most the day. Have to keep the garden safe! Oddly they seem to prefer staying in the new section most the time.

 

[DemeterAD9]

Legbar X broody lost a chick to the water trough. As always it happened to be one of the ones I really liked.

Butchered the 2 remaining Cornish cross yesterday as the weather is set to turn hot. 9 weeks old and the cockerel was 14lbs 2oz with his head cut off. Hen was 10lbs 2oz. After processing the cockerel is a tad over 11lbs and the pullet is 8lbs with necks removed. Saving the cockerel for one of the bigger holidays but the pullet will get cooked in a few days. She was developing the fatty deposits as pullets tend to do so I think she’ll taste quite nice. I did the usual broom stick method for both before putting them in the kill cone to cut off the head and bleed them. The pullet still managed to flap so hard the bone popped out of the wing despite not coming into contact with anything but the air as it flapped. The cockerel hardly fit inside the cone, it is truly monstrous and makes me wonder how big it would have gotten in another week or two.

Down to 70 chicken, only 40 to go. The young boys are starting to act like boys. I saw one tidbit and dance, 2 are crowing, one got a clump of feathers tore out by a BJG hen (they were free ranging together) and a couple are starting to retaliate when I push them back with my hand or foot. I’ve picked 4 to hold back but if none work out I’m sure there’s a couple more with the broody hens. The ones I was thinking could be cockerels among the pullets seem to still look like girls, just have some pink in their combs but they don’t seem to be growing at a cockerel’s rate. I need to get photos but I am lacking motivation and time. Maybe I’ll start a thread to get others’ opinions on gender.

 

[DemeterAD9]

Chicks are a bit over 10 weeks and growing so fast, the largest ones are the same size as my smallest hens. I picked out 4 boys I like based off comb size and/or general body shape. The biggest barred one is a jerk who already bites so he’s not staying for long. I’ve chosen one barred, one white from the bresse, the SLW’s son, and an EE from the brown EE hen. Currently really liking the barred and SLW cockerels. Any with bands are the chosen ones.

One EE pullet who insists on staying with the boys, I’ve moved her over twice but she keeps going back to the boy pen.

SLW son

This is the meanest one

Frizzle hen looks terrible, the maran roo has been singling her out which he never did until I got rid of the BJG. She’s learned to hide or stay by me for protection. Thinking of getting her a saddle. Over a year old and still not laying.

Legbar X broody with her kids, all 4 sex linked chicks are female and I think one will have a crest.

Cornish cross pullet, Chunky, still doing well and looking good. About the same size as the brahmas but not near as fluffy.

 

[DemeterAD9]

Boys are causing problems now at just 12 weeks old. I’ll be culling 2, maybe 3 either tomorrow or the next day. A white one is trying to grab the pullets when they are all out free ranging, poor Chunky has been targeted a couple times and I’m none too happy about that.
The crested cockerel and a white one with white legs are definitely going. Maybe the RIR too but he’s the smallest so I’d like to wait on him. Here is the main culprit, he also has attitude with me which I won’t stand for.

 

[DemeterAD9]

And now there is 68 birds. Got up early in hopes of grabbing them off the roost but I was a bit too late. Tricked them into going back in their pen (they get out often) and caught them that way. Feels wrong to kill such tiny birds but hopefully it solves the chasing drama, until the others act up anyways.

It was messier than it should have been. I placed the white one in a makeshift kill cone used for the Cornish cross then cut the head off. It ended up wiggling out and fell straight into the blood bucket after beheading. The crested one went via the broom stick, or so I thought. If flopped about with a dangling head and everything as per usual. Went inside and waited for the pot of water to get hot and when I returned the little bugger was looking at me. I quickly cut his head off too but felt awful for him. Live and learn I guess. Oddly enough that one didn’t get rigor mortis like the white one did.

White cockerel from the LF hen on the left, crested from the grey OE or the legbar X on the right. Both fathered by the blue copper maran. 2lbs 6oz and 2lbs 4oz respectively. While the white one was more fatty the crested had a more stout body shape and wider body cavity which made gutting easier.

If all goes well, I hope to narrow down my preferred cockerels to just 2 by 16 weeks old. Then there are at least 3 more from the bantam’s brood, 2 of which are the double banded BJG hen’s chicks fathered by the maran as well. Tiny things but one was trying to crow this morning at 5 weeks old. The bantam stopped brooding her chicks last week and went back to laying eggs. I think one of her own chicks will stay small so maybe I’ll get some more tiny eggs to make bite sized boiled ones.