HERE is where we are going to talk about a sustainable meat bird flock

[CARS]

Quote:
Jeff, thanks for the marketing info but please, let's not get into this. We all know where it is going to lead us. Let's stick to the birds/herds, not so much the personal reasons unless it REALLY pertains to breed. Like a city flock owner had different needs than a rural owner. Like a flock of quail instead of turkeys due to space constants.

 

[Brunty_Farms]

Man you are the official thread moderator....

Sure thing...

 

[CARS]

Quote:
Just trying to keep us focused. Not trying to be a jerk

 

[Brunty_Farms]

I know....

 

[pringle]

Forgot add,with my quail project im goiing to be crossing some ducks,muscovies with my pekins.I hope to get a duck that is good at foraging,can grow pretty decently but still have the good lean meat of the scovy.

 

[Teach97]

in response to my bantam stuff...mainly...I don't know yet! I am just getting started and have not found all the components...the hens aren't even laying yet. The rooster is yet to be found. The little cornishes make a nice rotisseri (you spin it while it cooks!) Oe would feed my family a meal now...I need to eat less and my boys aren't real big...couple years i am sure my boys will be able to eat a side a beef at a seeting!

however...on my current bantams I just boil the meat off the bone and use it in stuff

I have no issue with getting feathers off...I skin everything. i don't like the skin I don't care how much flavor it has or stops stuf from getting dry during cooking. i don't like it and i am the biggest at the house and do the processing so I skin everything!

I used to work in one of those super big pig facilities...I had 50,000 hogs on feed I was in-charge of...the genetics are great but very propritary...wish i could get some cuz they will out produce anything. The key was specific crosses...the terminal line was just that and bred for that. My experience with berkshires is that they are prone to freaking as are landraces. I like durocs and hamps from handling standpoints but think the white breeds win out as female lines. I think for a small scale swine idea...I would concentrate on ease of handling...I believe if a person should look at a poland china / chester type for a sow with a hamp type cross boar that would be good. i would free range them except bring them into a farrowing house. You get such better control in that situation and get more piglets alive to weaning vs other means.

I still have like half of one of those freak turkeys from last year that a guy gave me to get rid of his others because he made a miscalculation...thought if you raised it people will buy it

Anyways...we don't eat enough turkey to justify trying that

 

[Buster52]

Quote:
From Nature's Harmony Farm's blog...

"...if we were serious about being local and about rebuilding local food communities, we had to develop our own breeds. So we have, and in 2010, only poultry hatched on Nature's Harmony Farm will be sold by Nature's Harmony Farm."

http://www.naturesharmonyfarm.com/g...ming-models-polyface-and-natures-harmony.html

Let's drop it at least for this thread, Jeff. There will be plenty of others for you to tout the virtues of the Cornish Cross. This one is for birds that can be reproduced in the back yard or on the farm.

Let's agree to respect the OP's wishes.

 

[CARS]

Quote:
You guys are going to make me cry

Thank you!


Back on topic. Who has raise The Jumbo/Giant Bobwhite quails before??? Were you able to keep a flock going without getting stock from outside your operation??

I notice alot of the people in the quail section really enjoy incubating... because quail aren't broody. But do the Bobs give enough eggs to keep your flock big enough to eat a bunch of them???

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

*gently dips toe into thread*

We currently raise ducks, geese and chickens. The birds roam 11 high desert acres, there is no grass per say, we do have some green weeds, some bugs, and plenty of Sage brush.

Our ducks have been breeding for a few years (my oldest turns 10 this year - Henry, she started the flock and she is the only “large” duck in the mix). My flock drake – Dough – is a 7 year old pq call and his lifetime mate is Aflack 6 years old (½ call and ½ large). We eat most all males produced and some of the hens. They are small but enough for a meal for us two. Eventually I want to add a Muscovy pair or trio.

Chickens we run a Splash Orpington (non-hatchery) roo over some hatchery hens right now – the girls are EEs, Delawares, Cochins, and Buff Orpington. Currently have just hatched chicks up thru 5 months from this group – have not yet eaten any of the cross roos. I have yet to weigh anyone, but have noticed that the OrpxOrp roo (splashxbuff) is heavier/denser than the OrpxDel – but the OrpxDel has a larger boney carcass – both these roos are the same age and I pick them up every day. The OrpxDel pullets are boney slow growers and maybe ½ the weight of their brothers – all 3 months old.

The two OrpxCochin cockerels are also very slow growing, large boney carcass – 4 months.

We also have 2 OrpxEE pullets who are nearing POL.

We have butchered a Barred Rock x EE cross last month. At 5 months, butchered he weighed 4.12 pounds. We cooked him on the BBQ Feb. 20th – low and slow – delish. We also eat extra bantam roos – we like to do two for dinner and flavor them differently. I was raised on “home-raised, mutt chicken” and it is what I prefer to eat.

We have White Chinese geese – had four, then last year the girls went broody and hatched out another 4. At least two of those are ganders, who are table bound.

I do not really have a plan to build a better chicken or new type (at least with these), and I am not looking to make a living but if they help pay for themselves – great! I do sell eggs – goose, duck and chicken for hatching or eating. I have also started selling chicks this year – mixed for now (I offer to take cockerels back and refund money or replace with a pullet if I have it – cockerels go into quarantine until butcher). I enjoy the babies and love the eggs and meat – so for me they are a “sustainable meat flock”.

 

[fancbrd4me02]

Quote:
I'll adress the turkey issue. Turkeys are seasonal layers but in that season they can lay a lot of eggs resulting in more turkeys than needed for just the family freezer. I have had a pair raise 3 sets of 20 poults from March thru October. Thats 60 birds that I didn't have to incubate, pay to keep warm with a heat lamp or purchase from a hatchery. Free range heritage breed turkeys like the Burbon red are great foragers and can grow very well with grazing supplemented with some feed. I have found them to eat relatively little compared to thier body size. It does take some time for them to grow, but when they are ready, store in your freezer. Here are some ideas for how to prepare and freeze turkeys from my brother who was a butcher for a while: Sausage (My bro suggests you make different kinds: maple, sage, italian,apple, pear, chorizo) ground, meatballs, stir fry strips, you can roast the bones/carcass, make stock & freeze into ice cube trays, turn out stock cubes into freezer bags, turkey broth for gravy, soup or whatever. Turkey jerky. You don't have to freeze and cook turkeys whole. You can seperate drumsticks and roast them in a smoker.