So I have my first flock; 30 unsexed “special dual purpose” from Frey’s. They were 4 weeks old when I got them on Sept. 8. They doing fine and the males are ~1.3kg now (just started their 7th week.)
So far everything has been easy, but I have to make some decisions. One is when to cull the males for meat. I’m the analytical type, so knowing how much a bird grows per day can really help make the culling decision. At some point the conversion ratio will be against the birds. To this end I want to try and start collecting data. The next question was; “Ok, how do I ID each bird so I can keep track?”
Should I worry too much about the pursuit of the birds to weigh them? They definitely do not appreciate me trying to pick them up.
Can anyone point to any feed consumption vs growth data for this bird?
Anyone suggest a good reasonable live weight at 11 weeks?
Finally, right now the plan is to cull all of the males and let the layers carry on. I wouldn’t mind avoiding the cost of new chicks by keeping a rooster to fertilize eggs, but my hope is to eventually get into Marans rather than this “generic” breed. Should I just go on with my plan (to keep the layers until I get the Marans, and then cull the layers) or could I actually have both (Marans and Special Dual Purpose) in the same coop/run. The coop is 6’ x 8’ with 10 laying boxes, and the run is 8’ x 24’.
If it makes a difference, I don’t close the doors between the run and the coop at night, so they can sleep wherever they want. Could this help avoid issues between different breeds?





Cheers,
Russ
So far everything has been easy, but I have to make some decisions. One is when to cull the males for meat. I’m the analytical type, so knowing how much a bird grows per day can really help make the culling decision. At some point the conversion ratio will be against the birds. To this end I want to try and start collecting data. The next question was; “Ok, how do I ID each bird so I can keep track?”
Should I worry too much about the pursuit of the birds to weigh them? They definitely do not appreciate me trying to pick them up.
Can anyone point to any feed consumption vs growth data for this bird?
Anyone suggest a good reasonable live weight at 11 weeks?
Finally, right now the plan is to cull all of the males and let the layers carry on. I wouldn’t mind avoiding the cost of new chicks by keeping a rooster to fertilize eggs, but my hope is to eventually get into Marans rather than this “generic” breed. Should I just go on with my plan (to keep the layers until I get the Marans, and then cull the layers) or could I actually have both (Marans and Special Dual Purpose) in the same coop/run. The coop is 6’ x 8’ with 10 laying boxes, and the run is 8’ x 24’.
If it makes a difference, I don’t close the doors between the run and the coop at night, so they can sleep wherever they want. Could this help avoid issues between different breeds?
Cheers,
Russ