I think I created my own meat bird cross....

[doubleatraining]

While it has been an eventual goal of mine to have a self-sustaining flock it has been put on the back burner until I had more room. I have mostly been selling/trading hatching eggs from my pure pens.

I lucked out and got a great deal on a pair of Splash Orpingtons. Sadly the pullet died of SICDS(Sudden Inconceivable Chicken Death Syndrome) a few weeks after I got them but the rooster was/is thriving. He is large and while not English Orpington he is a sizable bird. The other hens in the pen are some Delaware hens that aren't nearly big enough for the breed but are dense and heavy enough. They lay daily and getting on the genetic calculator I found that my Splash rooster over the Dellie girls produces BLUE SEX LINKS. This has been a big hit and the fertility and hatch rate is fabulous.

So now you are wondering what the heck this has to do with meat birds....

I have 20 chicks in a brooder in my closet right now. A pair of 3 week old BSL, a few other oddball 3 week old LF birds and then the rest are 1 week old BSL.

Its hard to keep tract of all of them when they get running around but the SIZE and WEIGHT difference on these BSL is insane. They aren't as feathered but they are bigger, and more than 2 times HEAVIER. Go figure I find what seems to be a good meat bird and I'm hatching 90% hens. LMAO

I will keep updating with pictures but the next batch that I hatch I plan on separating the roosters and raising them like broilers.

The chick on the left is my BSL rooster chick that is 2.5 weeks old in this picture. The other chick on the right is a LF mixed chick that is the same age(hatched same day). The BSL is more than 2 times heavier.

 

[galanie]

Interesting. Keep us updated on their growth. I think it likely that the trick here is that your dellie hens are "dense and heavy enough" since it's mostly the hen that determines size and shape. But you might have stumbled on a good hybrid here!

 

[hydroswiftrob]

 

[doubleatraining]

Interesting. Keep us updated on their growth. I think it likely that the trick here is that your dellie hens are "dense and heavy enough" since it's mostly the hen that determines size and shape. But you might have stumbled on a good hybrid here!

I'll have to get some good pictures of the hens. They aren't very big at all. I would call them a medium sized chicken. The top of the line Dellies I have are much larger but don't seem to have the weight.

Here is the Splash Orp:


The Girls:




The rooster next to the dellie hen:

 

[galanie]

Being an Orp, your guy should be bigger and wider than your hens. Plus, the roo does have an effect on chick size, just not as much as the hen does. I still think it quite likely you've stumbled on a great combo here.

Edit: If these turn out great, just imagine what they'd be like bred with the bigger dellies!

 

[doubleatraining]

Galanie, the odd thing is the bigger dellies aren't nearly as....dense. They weigh the amount you would expect of a hen that size. The medium dellies that are pictured weigh a LOT more than you would expect of a hen that size. I'm not sure if I'm describing it correctly.

I plan on putting all the chicks in an outdoor brooder tomorrow and I'll snap some more pictures. I'm going to band the roosters and see how much they grow and how fast they get to processing size.

I HOPE I've stumbled across a really nice hybrid. I really want a self sustaining flock.I MIGHT end up breeding these big hens to this rooster since dellies are supposed to have such nice meat:

 

[shadowmane]

Do you think this would work with any kind of Orpington over a Deleware? I mean, I know you can get different colors, I'm talking about the possibility of a new meat bird hybrid.

 

[doubleatraining]

Do you think this would work with any kind of Orpington over a Deleware? I mean, I know you can get different colors, I'm talking about the possibility of a new meat bird hybrid.

I have no idea. My first batch isn't even old enough to see how the turn out. I'll be monitoring them closely. The best thing I can offer is for you to try it and see how it works for you.

 

[shadowmane]

I'd actually have to obtain the two breeds in order to do that. But I will keep tabs on this thread. I want to see how this turns out.

 

[galanie]

Might be interesting to weigh both types and compare the weights. Your "smaller" ones sure sound like the best meat bird moms to me. I know what you mean by dense. I have a dark cornish that looks half the size of my fluffy Orpingtons but is that bird ever heavy! I've not weighed her but I'm willing to bet she weighs just as much, if not more, than the "big" hens do.