Heritage Meat Birds

[Kabootar]

Interesting on your feed ingredients. Several people have been looking for a formula for homemade feed.
I looked into buying ingredients and it cost more here than buying premade.
I buy a mash from a local farmer. I ferment it overnight so the fines stick to the bigger pieces.

We are subsistence farmers. We grow most of what we intend to consume. We grow rice, wheat, corn, sorghum, millets, pulses, sugarcane, fruits, vegetables, some spices like coriander, turmeric etc and green fodder for buffaloes. So you see we are trying our best that we don't have to buy bread from the market, under these circumstances it will be outlandish to think that we will buy food for our chickens.

We sell excess in the local market and buy essentials. I hope you understand that farming has never been a profitable endeavour, anywhere in the world. Even huge farms in US run on government subsidies. Here almost all farmers send away their working age sons to big cities so they can earn and send some money back so the family can live a decent life and we are no exception.

 

[Ridgerunner]

We also love broody hens. We find it difficult to discourage our hens from going broody. What are your best broody hens?

Kind of hard to answer that. It's not so much what are my best broody hens but how did I make them.

When I started my flock I got several different hatchery breeds. The only ones that went broody were some Black Australorp although other breeds were supposed to be more broody. I worked on other traits first but a few generations later I made it a priority to hatch eggs laid by a broody hen (I have an incubator) and kept replacements from them.

I hit the jackpot when I saved a rooster that hatched from a broody hen's egg. Roosters contribute just as much to the genetics as a hen, but a rooster doesn't go broody so you can't tell by looking. I was lucky that the specific rooster had and passed down broody tendencies to his daughters.

But be careful what you ask for. I wound up with a flock where all the hens went broody too much. Too many were spending time in my broody buster instead of laying eggs.

I was raised on a subsistence farm in Appalachia so I understand your situation. Sometimes the best export from certain areas are hard working people. I assure you we never bought food for our chickens either.

 

[Molpet]

I hope you understand that farming has never been a profitable endeavour, anywhere in the world. Even huge farms in US run on government subsidies. Here almost all farmers send away their working age sons to big cities so they can earn and send some money back so the family can live a decent life and we are n

Very true
My family used to subsistence farm. Great grandparents also raised draft horses and made wooden wagon wheels. Next generation Grandfather also worked at a steel mill and lost some land he was buying during the great depression. Later grandmother had to work also. My parents didn't try to farm, but every generation the land was divided amongst the children, so not enough anyway.
I try to raise as much as I can , one summer I did raise enough in the garden for me and some for the poultry for half the year.... but I don't come close to being self sufficient.
I have the luxury of stores and retirement that I can afford to buy what I need.
I don't know how people manage without resources and I respect your struggles... I probably would starve to death.

 

[Kabootar]

Very true
My family used to subsistence farm. Great grandparents also raised draft horses and made wooden wagon wheels. Next generation Grandfather also worked at a steel mill and lost some land he was buying during the great depression. Later grandmother had to work also. My parents didn't try to farm, but every generation the land was divided amongst the children, so not enough anyway.
I try to raise as much as I can , one summer I did raise enough in the garden for me and some for the poultry for half the year.... but I don't come close to being self sufficient.
I have the luxury of stores and retirement that I can afford to buy what I need.
I don't know how people manage without resources and I respect your struggles... I probably would starve to death.

It's not like things are not available in India. Most of things that you want you can get with enough money, but the problem is that in India there are more people who want to sell and less who want to buy. That's why you see things are so cheap here. You see people here, specially outside the big cities are frugal.

During the British rule economic situation was tough, people didn't have much money. After independence India became a Socialist country, there were Five Year Plans, for some products there were quotas. If one wished to open a grocery store, you had to get a permit. It is called 'The Licence-Permit Raj'. There was a limit how much money you can take if you are visiting another country. Banks, railways etc were nationalised, value of Indian Rupee was artificially controlled which made almost worthless in the foreign markets. India was forced to open her economy after the fall of the Soviet Union who was her main trading partner. Perhaps the history contributed to the thrifty nature of our people. Who knows.

LoL sorry for rambling.

 

[NxthiTsab]

Always use large hens for breeding, hens contribute more to the size of the chicks. Set only the larger eggs, minimum 65 grams. Bigger hens produce larger eggs and larger eggs produce chunky chicks. When selecting chicks, select the wide chunky ones, not the long legged ones. Hens also contribute more in the comb department, choose hens with neat combs.

Roosters mostly contribute in the color department, but also in the type that is to say the shape of the body. You have room to compromise on the size of a rooster, but never on the color and type. Similarly you should never compromise on the size and comb of a hen.

Good information. Will come in handy. I’m trying to breed my own meet birds and wasn’t quite sure how to start. I’ve been mixing a shamo hen with one of my rooster I hatched in October. I’m uncertain of the rooster breed but he appears to be a bit taller than the hen. Anywho, the eggs are very large and hatched out some large chicks when compared to a different hen with much smaller eggs.

 

[centrarchid]

We sell excess in the local market and buy essentials. I hope you understand that farming has never been a profitable endeavour, anywhere in the world. Even huge farms in US run on government subsidies. Here almost all farmers send away their working age sons to big cities so they can earn and send some money back so the family can live a decent life and we are no exception.

Some farming in the US is profitable most years, without subsidies of any sort and despite the regulations.

 

[Kabootar]

Some farming in the US is profitable most years, without subsidies of any sort and despite the regulations.

Farming sometimes is profitable here too, but it depends on many factors. If you live near a canal it is much easier. If you live in a crime and corruption free area then there is a sense of security. We had to suffer from cattle raiding until much recently. I lost an expensive buffalo just five years ago. We also suffered from left-wing insurgencies and right wing counter insurgencies. There were 91 major and minor massacres in Bihar between 1976–2001. Earning too much was problematic, because kidnapping was like an industry. We had to tread very carefully so we don't earn animosity from any faction or group. As Christians we didn't have a dog in the fight, we are a micro minority in Bihar, but sometimes we were still targeted, because at this point why not.

Apart from the human factor, there is also are environmental factors, in a good monsoon year there is a good harvest. Deficit monsoon means you have to rely on private borewells for water, if you don't live near a canal. For us deficit monsoon is good as it means no flood. 7 out of past ten monsoons were deficit, so for us it was good, for others not so much.Current monsoon is the first excess monsoon in last 25 years. Bihar has received 70% more rain than average, flood situation is very dire.

However in the upside, the labour is very cheap. Machines are cheap, we always sell our product at a profit. Our Fragrant Rice, mangoes and litchi are in high demand and the produces are auctioned right away from the farm. We don't have to pay rent, our house or land is not mortgaged, we can graze our animals on government land.

Still the best the farming has to offer is not much. Even in the best year, you don't have much of a saving, because we don't have thousands of acres.

 

[Mistizoom]

My husband and I processed two Buff Orpington cockerels (15.5 weeks old) on Sunday and had fried chicken tonight! The birds dressed out to just over 3 lbs. each. We have 2-3 more that we will wait a few weeks to dispatch to let them get a bit bigger.

 

[Chickenheadmate]

My husband and I processed two Buff Orpington cockerels (15.5 weeks old) on Sunday and had fried chicken tonight! The birds dressed out to just over 3 lbs. each. We have 2-3 more that we will wait a few weeks to dispatch to let them get a bit bigger.
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[Kabootar]

My husband and I processed two Buff Orpington cockerels (15.5 weeks old) on Sunday and had fried chicken tonight! The birds dressed out to just over 3 lbs. each. We have 2-3 more that we will wait a few weeks to dispatch to let them get a bit bigger.
View attachment 2256252

I will take it anyday over those Cornish cross mutts. Even Barnyard mutts have a superior flavour.