Heritage Large Fowl - Phase II

[thedragonlady]

I'm deciding to scrap my pair of buff Brahmas and get a breed designed for meat production. The main traits I'd like to see are 1)lots of meat 2)harvestable by six months old 3) cold hardy 4) good feed conversion ratio. Some other things I would like to see but aren't necessary are broodiness, them to be a solid colored variety, and the cocks to be between 7-10 lbs. at maturity. You guys can add any breeds to my list if you'd like as long as it fits the bill.
1) Chantecler
2) Plymouth rock
3) Faverolle
4) Java
5) Sussex
6) Rhode Island
7) Dorking

These are all ones that seem at first glance nice to me I don't know how well they fit. Which are the top three I should be looking into getting?

Buff Orps from UK x US crosses. You get eggs, and lots of MEAT at 6 months old.

 

[brahmabreeder]

Well lets deep dive your options/desires.
You want a solid color. Is white a consideration? You seem to be aiming toward a good meat bird. So white would be a great option if you, or those eating your birds, find pin feathers unsightly. If you don't care about pin feathers in the skin, pretty much everything is going to come in a (mostly) solid color. Is there a reason you wish for solid color? White is a consideration. My preference would be black or buff though. Solid color would be nice just since that's one less thing to have to worry about when deciding who is SQ/BQ and who is a cull. I already have my light Brahmas and need to hatch more of them in order to get a bird with good type AND color. Solid colored breeds really only need to worry about type so less chicks need to be hatched to get a quality bird.

Have you considered slaughtering before 6 months? Birds can be pretty tough by 4 months of age. Birds can also be, depending on your roasting pan, too big at 7+lbs. The sooner the better is how I'm looking at it. I just want them to put meat on instead of just a big meatless frame.

How cold does it get during a typical Winter? Generally Summer time is when casualty and stress occur, not Winter. Is your Summer time harsh? What sort of humidity do you see on a typical day in each season? Winter is usually never in the negatives. I would say teens and the twenties is the most common. Summer rarely goes in the 90's. Not sure about humidity.

Are these birds being kept in confinement or ranged? This might have a great deal of impact on feed conversion and weight gain. Well the breeder birds will mainly be confined but will get time out in the run. All of the birds I'm raising up will get to free range.


And as for the New year 50+ Buckeyes and 8 La Flèche to bring in the New Year. ABA Leg Bands on the way. Ready to start culling the three week olds(ITS NEVER TOO EARLY).

 

[catdaddyfro]

Buff Orps from UK x US crosses. You get eggs, and lots of MEAT at 6 months old.

LOL You got that plugged in there LOL and I agree too you have proven this too me, anyhow LOL

and if I had just one more nook or cranny here I'd be a callin' for sure LOL

Jeff

 

[thedragonlady]

LOL You got that plugged in there LOL and I agree too you have proven this too me, anyhow LOL

and if I had just one more nook or cranny here I'd be a callin' for sure LOL

Jeff

Thanks Jeff. I keep harking back to the Brit horse term..."Suitability for use intended".

Right now I have a hen with an injured foot, The mother of 2 champions. She's ready to party this New Years Eve !


A good one to all !

 

[call ducks]

I'm deciding to scrap my pair of buff Brahmas and get a breed designed for meat production. The main traits I'd like to see are 1)lots of meat 2)harvestable by six months old 3) cold hardy 4) good feed conversion ratio. Some other things I would like to see but aren't necessary are broodiness, them to be a solid colored variety, and the cocks to be between 7-10 lbs. at maturity. You guys can add any breeds to my list if you'd like as long as it fits the bill.
1) Chantecler
2) Plymouth rock
3) Faverolle
4) Java
5) Sussex
6) Rhode Island
7) Dorking

These are all ones that seem at first glance nice to me I don't know how well they fit. Which are the top three I should be looking into getting?

Here is my thinking --

None of these breed will have a good FCR. The typical FCR of a heritage breed is 6-10. Even with my production line of light Sussex (that is bred solely for production) only reach 5.5 pounds at 16 weeks but they don't have a lot of meat on them. More than 99% of other heritage breeds at the same age though.

The White Chantecler was developed more as an egg layer the partridge more of a meat bird.
Plymouth rocks - You might be able to find a decent production strain. I know of a fine production strain of barred rocks in BC - they make lovely birds and grow faster than most do to the breeding program.
My experience with Faverolles was dismal - Faverolles that are in NA seem highly inbred and as such are not as productive as they should be
Javas - Never raised those no comments
Sussex - See if you can locate a strain of True North Hatchery's light Sussex - they may be the most productive Light Sussex in North America
Rhode Island Reds - I would be careful never had much luck with RIR in living up to why they became so popular
Dorkings - There is a breeder that has some good white Dorkings on here (Yellow House farm IMSM)


Your best bet maybe to take the fore-mentioned white dorkings and cross them another really productive breed - this will really increase your level of heteros and give you some really nice growing offspring - after all this what farmers did for hundreds of years (except there were no breeds so chickens were just chickens)

 

[maryhysong]

Thanks Jeff. I keep harking back to the Brit horse term..."Suitability for use intended".

Right now I have a hen with an injured foot, The mother of 2 champions. She's ready to party this New Years Eve !


A good one to all !

Happy New Year! She does look like she's ready to go dancing with those snazzy new shoes on!

 

[brahmabreeder]

Buff Orps from UK x US crosses. You get eggs, and lots of MEAT at 6 months old.

Only thing I have to ask is do they get mean? The one breeder I've talked to has them and said some of his get pretty nasty towards him whenever he goes in their pen.

Well I never thought I'd say this but I may be leaning towards getting Naked Necks.

 

[catdaddyfro]

Only thing I have to ask is do they get mean? The one breeder I've talked to has them and said some of his get pretty nasty towards him whenever he goes in their pen.

Well I never thought I'd say this but I may be leaning towards getting Naked Necks.

he needs to swap for a different strain sounds to me like.

Naked necks would do you good but once again only if you get good ones there too

Jeff

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Here's a question...nobody has broached the subject as od yet but it was common practice back in the day to caponize the extra cockerels so that they would focus on size and weight gain.

Of meat is a foremost consideration, why not simply caponize and focus those culls for meat production?

Random thought at 2am.

 

[thedragonlady]

Only thing I have to ask is do they get mean? The one breeder I've talked to has them and said some of his get pretty nasty towards him whenever he goes in their pen.

Well I never thought I'd say this but I may be leaning towards getting Naked Necks.

My cock birds are big, silly push overs.I would not tolerate a mean one.Life is too short for having to put up with something that bites the hand that feeds it.