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

[Bossroo]

Quote:
Not necessarily. While they are definitely meaty, the fact that they do not usually brood their own young knocks them out of the sustainability category. Rouens are supposed to be broody ducks and they are plenty meaty. They do take a while to grow out though.

Does this count for sustainability ? One year, I kept 1 Pekin drake and 4 Pekin hens out of a dozen ducklings that I baught from the feed store. All 4 whent broody and hatched their own eggs. After hatch, I would take the ducklings and put them in a brooder, soon all 4 hens layed and hatched another round, then round 3 whith 2 doing round 4. At the end of the year, I sent 97 ducklings to freezer camp at 7-8 weeks of age. The next year, I got 103 ducklings. Etc. I sold half and we ate a duck per week .

 

[sekinkead]

I have an email out to Sandspoultry and I emailed rarebreedeggs4u here on BYC about Bourbon Red turkey eggs. I have an incubator and that seems to be cheaper than ordering the poults. I have read on the turkey threads that poults don't seem to ship well, I don't have any first hand experience, but I thought I would try some eggs and see what happens. I will only winter a trio to save on space so all the extra's will be going to freezer camp. I think I am going to order a dozen Bourbon Red eggs and a dozen Midget White eggs.

 

[Wifezilla]

Wow BossRoo!

That's a lot of broodies! And heck yeah that counts!

 

[CARS]

Quote:
Let us know what you find out with the eggs.

In past years, I have ordered BBB white poults with great success through the mail. But other than sitting at the post office, the trip from IA to MN shouldn't have been too tough on them.

Your winter plan sounds like what I was envisioning. I only have so much electricity in the barn (without upgrading my service = $$$$) to run all the heated bases for the water founts.

 

[Buster52]

Quote:
Not necessarily. While they are definitely meaty, the fact that they do not usually brood their own young knocks them out of the sustainability category. Rouens are supposed to be broody ducks and they are plenty meaty. They do take a while to grow out though.

Does this count for sustainability ? One year, I kept 1 Pekin drake and 4 Pekin hens out of a dozen ducklings that I baught from the feed store. All 4 whent broody and hatched their own eggs. After hatch, I would take the ducklings and put them in a brooder, soon all 4 hens layed and hatched another round, then round 3 whith 2 doing round 4. At the end of the year, I sent 97 ducklings to freezer camp at 7-8 weeks of age. The next year, I got 103 ducklings. Etc. I sold half and we ate a duck per week .

What??!! An actual productive post from Bossroo on sustainability that isn't a criticism??

[Just teasing, Bossman. I actually enjoy your posts, even when I disagree... which is most of the time.

]

 

[Bossroo]

Quote:
Does this count for sustainability ? One year, I kept 1 Pekin drake and 4 Pekin hens out of a dozen ducklings that I baught from the feed store. All 4 whent broody and hatched their own eggs. After hatch, I would take the ducklings and put them in a brooder, soon all 4 hens layed and hatched another round, then round 3 whith 2 doing round 4. At the end of the year, I sent 97 ducklings to freezer camp at 7-8 weeks of age. The next year, I got 103 ducklings. Etc. I sold half and we ate a duck per week .

What??!! An actual productive post from Bossroo on sustainability that isn't a criticism??

[Just teasing, Bossman. I actually enjoy your posts, even when I disagree... which is most of the time.

]

Yea ! Buster, you are one stubborn son of a gun. If anyone posts something that doesn't meet with your own narrow ideas and opinions, then they are wrong. I have been raising most classes of poultry for over 6 decades so I have mostly been there, done that and am open the new ideas and CAN change when needed for better results. That includes more meat for less labor and less use of all resourses to put more dollars in my pocket, enjoy a very flavorful chicken dinner and more time to enjoy my family and friends. Here is a fine example regarding my wife's cousin.. His family farmed 1,000 acres in Minn. They raised corn and hogs. After he came home from college , he suggested to his father several ideas that he learned at school. Stubborn, he ignored them. Then one day his dad whent out and fenced off 1/2 the hog operation as well as the tillable crop lands and the cousin ended the year 20% more profitable with the new management ideas than his dad. The next year , the cousin baught select boars of a different breed to breed the his half of the farm's sows. The following year the cousin again increased his profits another 15 %. Seeing the results his father handed him the keys to the farm and told him that he just baught the farm. His father and mother then moved into town and retired.

 

[Buster52]

Quote:
No comment.

 

[CTChickenMom]

Quote:
Jeff, what's the secret of folding these legs neatly like that? Both roosters we processed had their legs streched straight like a board. Could not bend them as much as we tried...

You have to let them age.... by the third day they are really loose. You notice it more on the DP breeds because their legs are so big!

Would the breeds themselves make a difference? Longer legs making it harder to keep contained and shorter legs looking nice and big because they're shorter? Does that make sense?

 

[Brunty_Farms]

As far as looks go, yes it definitely makes a difference. Which is why the cornish x's have such compact bodies... they look appealing. If the average person seen the photo of the buckeyes I posted they would be like " what the heck is that " They look weird if your not used to it.

But as far as the rigor mortis goes... breed doesn't have much to do with it. When they meat hasn't been aged those legs stick straight out.... even the cornish x's will do that.

 

[Teach97]

the roo I found will be a brown leghorn bantam...

I realize I should probably cross the other way but i don't wanna!