German New Hampshire

[Glory Bee]

They are easy to come by. Easy to manage. Nice birds to own. I have hatched a lot of them.

gjensen and others, do these birds work well as dual purpose? At what age would one need to process roosters before they become too aggressive with one another?4 months?I believe I read in an earlier portion of this thread that the birds devote protein to feather development first and wonder if this significantly effects the usability of the bird of eating purposes.
I believe somewhere I read these birds are thrifty eaters and can forage well.

Thank you.

 

[Daloorashens]

Roosters in general really don't fight too much when they have been raised together... There are many breeders who flock breed and have more than rooster with many hens, and though the roos may bicker at times, they don't fight to kill each other... they respect whatever pecking order has been established. so you would be able to choose when to butcher based on the size you want them to be when you process them.

I am new to GNH also, but I really am loving the birds that I do have and trying to figure out a way to have another pen for them, they are beautiful, calm birds, the cockerel is still scared of me at almost 5 months old and has not crowed yet.

 

[har]

I have a question for someone who knows more about breeding then I do. I have had GNH for sometime now and really have enjoyed them. In March of this year I got some NH chicks. These chicks came from Jeremy and are a cross between the Reese NH line and the GNH line. These chicks have been pictured on here before. I got the Reese line thinking I maybe could get a few more eggs out of them. The question is where do I go from here? With what chickens I have I could go back with a GNH or a ReeseNH.
Thank you in advance
Scott

 

[catdaddyfro]

I have a question for someone who knows more about breeding then I do. I have had GNH for sometime now and really have enjoyed them. In March of this year I got some NH chicks. These chicks came from Jeremy and are a cross between the Reese NH line and the GNH line. These chicks have been pictured on here before. I got the Reese line thinking I maybe could get a few more eggs out of them. The question is where do I go from here? With what chickens I have I could go back with a GNH or a ReeseNH.
Thank you in advance
Scott

Hey Scott I too have some of those half and halfs from Jeremy which have turned out pretty nice so far esp. the pullets they have a very even shade of med. chestnut overall and they have a little more substance to them (body) which is what I was going for by the way, not so much for egg laying improvement(I don't expect the GS strain to help too much on this as they are geared more towards meat production types) as I find the GNH do lay pretty well for a dual purpose type but to me the GNH pullets were a little on the small side of the scale. The one thing I see the GS strain did carry through with is tighter/pinched tails though and I think one would be better off crossing the half/half pullets back to a nicely shaped/good opened tailed German male this should help in improving this problem area(I'm hoping cause that's what I'm going to try anyhow) LOL

BTW the cockerels from this cross surely are looking "scrumpdeliumptous" at this juncture and I will be finding out about next weekend as they are going on a clean out diet this weekend for processing and freezer camp the next.

Jeff

 

[NotAFarm]

BTW the cockerels from this cross surely are looking "scrumpdeliumptous" at this juncture and I will be finding out about next weekend as they are going on a clean out diet this weekend for processing and freezer camp the next.

Jeff

Jeff, Would you be so kind as to post a picture of a carcass after your processing next week? You said it was a GSNH x GNH, so it is not exactly what I have, but, I did not have any extra GNH males to process last year and would like to see what one look like finished. Thanks. Mary

 

[Kdt1961]

Good posts!! I will be picking up my first GL NH chicks in a few weeks. I've had production reds in the past and am looking forward to getting "the real deal."

 

[har]

Thanks Jeff for replying. I can see what you are going to try and do with the tails and size of the pullets. It always depends on what one gets but if it works well then you would breed the next generation to each other and not to a Germain. This way they will not go back to having to much Germain line in them. Jeff I know what I am trying to say but am not sure it is making since.

 

[cbnovick]

Hey Scott I too have some of those half and halfs from Jeremy which have turned out pretty nice so far esp. the pullets they have a very even shade of med. chestnut overall and they have a little more substance to them (body) which is what I was going for by the way, not so much for egg laying improvement(I don't expect the GS strain to help too much on this as they are geared more towards meat production types) as I find the GNH do lay pretty well for a dual purpose type but to me the GNH pullets were a little on the small side of the scale. The one thing I see the GS strain did carry through with is tighter/pinched tails though and I think one would be better off crossing the half/half pullets back to a nicely shaped/good opened tailed German male this should help in improving this problem area(I'm hoping cause that's what I'm going to try anyhow) LOL

BTW the cockerels from this cross surely are looking "scrumpdeliumptous" at this juncture and I will be finding out about next weekend as they are going on a clean out diet this weekend for processing and freezer camp the next.

Jeff

TOTALLY agree!! I recently emailed Jeremy stating he is lucky since he can take his half and half females back to his awesome GNH male...LOVE the "scrumpdeliumptous" description of the cockerals...
FRYERS if I've ever seen 'em!!!

Perhaps even the late Colonel Sanders would be excited to taste test a batch.

Are you going to confine them and offer them quality broiler/finisher feed for the next few weeks?

Cindy

 

[cbnovick]

Thanks Jeff for replying. I can see what you are going to try and do with the tails and size of the pullets. It always depends on what one gets but if it works well then you would breed the next generation to each other and not to a Germain. This way they will not go back to having to much Germain line in them. Jeff I know what I am trying to say but am not sure it is making since.

Scott---
it does make sense especially if you use the best of what you hatched...i did get some females with decent tails...finishing juvie molt now but looks like a 'go' on some...it seems there's a few males that look more meat strain and a few that perhaps favor more of the sire GNH...the F2 generation should prove even better...it would be awesome to get some hatching eggs from Jeremy if he takes his female picks back to the GNH male he has. I do not have experience with teh pure GNH's but am versed on the SOP for NH's...bottom line IMHO, and I know it's early on to say but there seems to be some improvement with at least the females with this cross.

Cindy

 

[catdaddyfro]

Thanks Jeff for replying. I can see what you are going to try and do with the tails and size of the pullets. It always depends on what one gets but if it works well then you would breed the next generation to each other and not to a Germain. This way they will not go back to having to much Germain line in them. Jeff I know what I am trying to say but am not sure it is making since.

Yes that's the plan Scott maybe, we'll see how it turns out, its an experiment. I do a lot of those LOL Hey, at least you can always eat the mess-up/mistakes not too many other experiments have that option.

Cindy I plan on feeding a mostly grain ration this week actually just get them off the grower ration for a spell before butchering, they are still in the grow out pen and its getting too little. Hey you may check with desertmarcy in Tuscon as she may have an extra German male with a good open tail for you to cross your girls onto. Her stock is from matt1616 (also from Akers too) so you'd still have the same familial group to work with, so to say. Just thought that may help you out a bit, this way you could use your good typey girls instead going thru another generation to get to the next step.

Jeff
good day all