I want a good meat bird that can reproduce and forage...

[SteveH]

I agree with Jeff , if the average person wants to breed their own , crossing any two meat bird breeds will nearly always produce a pretty good meat bird , and the Cornish X's size , carcass qualities , feed conversion abilities , and rapid growth make them a good choice to throw in the mix . When I was a kid , the better strains of dual purpose chickens fed out in 16 weeks on considerably lower [ which translates to cheaper ] protein mixes than used for today's meat breeds . New Hampshire Reds and Plymouth Rocks were among the best for rapid growing meaties , and many farms used Rhode Island Reds as layers that produced big roos that fed out just a little slower than the New Hampshire [ which was basicly a RIR chosen for quicker growth ] . I posted a link to the first government sponsored contest to develope a better meat bird for the American consumer . The winner was a cross of Cornish X NHR and I believe runner up was a pure Barred Plymouth Rock . Cornish crosses took off , followed by Cornish hybrids , and the purebred dual purpose chickens began to loose popularity . Part of the decline of these better dual purpose breeds was due to technology coupled with farms growin to huge proportions and you no longer had millions of 160 acre farms with the owners living largely self-sufficient lives . Closest thing in appearance you will find to the old DPs are exhibition strains , usually bred for beauty , not productivity . Jeff B is fortunate to own some Buckeyes bred to recapture the traits as well as the look of that breed .

 

[chickboss]

Where do you find good DPs then? Are there still any good strains of the NH or PR?

 

[Buster52]

Quote:
All I know is what JM Hatchery forwarded to me. I'm pretty sure they don't use specific recognized breeds, though.

ETA
Looked up synthetic in its relation to breeding and found the following. It is about plants, but it pretty much uses a description that fits the FR...

"Synthetic cultivars have generally come to represent a
specific type of synthetic that is intended for commercial
(on-farm) use.[3] As such, the parents of synthetic cultivars
are also preserved for future synthesis of the cultivar and
may be inbred or sibbed lines, clones, F1 hybrids, or
populations..."

http://ag.arizona.edu/research/azalfalf/pdf_pubs/breeding_synthetic_cultiv.pdf

 

[dancingbear]

Quote:
Yes, IMO, you did get lucky! I tried hatchery stock for years, before I found out they aren't as pure-bred as they should be. Then I knew why my Orps and other breeds never got as big as the ones at the fair, even the ones that stayed around for years. No matter what I fed them. I got my Brahmas from a show breeder, and likewise my Buckeyes, and I'm not sure the person I got my Delaware from shows her birds, but they aren't from hatchery lines. The vigor of those Dellies was astonishing.

But since you did get some nice ones from a hatchery, which hatchery was it? Maybe I'll give them a try sometime. I'd like a few NHR's, maybe even some Rocks.

 

[mike67909]

Quote:
Yes, IMO, you did get lucky! I tried hatchery stock for years, before I found out they aren't as pure-bred as they should be. Then I knew why my Orps and other breeds never got as big as the ones at the fair, even the ones that stayed around for years. No matter what I fed them. I got my Brahmas from a show breeder, and likewise my Buckeyes, and I'm not sure the person I got my Delaware from shows her birds, but they aren't from hatchery lines. The vigor of those Dellies was astonishing.

But since you did get some nice ones from a hatchery, which hatchery was it? Maybe I'll give them a try sometime. I'd like a few NHR's, maybe even some Rocks.

We got our white rocks and a couple NHR's from murray mcmurray hatchery, they are about 5 weeks old I am going to harvest a couple around 16 weeks and save some for breeding using the best ones as breeding stock. We also got a few NHR's from mypetchicken.com which is where big red is from, I am planning on breeding her also.

 

[dancingbear]

Quote:
....since you did get some nice ones from a hatchery, which hatchery was it? Maybe I'll give them a try sometime. I'd like a few NHR's, maybe even some Rocks.

We got our white rocks and a couple NHR's from murray mcmurray hatchery, they are about 5 weeks old I am going to harvest a couple around 16 weeks and save some for breeding using the best ones as breeding stock. We also got a few NHR's from mypetchicken.com which is where big red is from, I am planning on breeding her also.

NHR's from mypetchicken? Hmmm...well, I might try them at some point.

I've had white rocks from McMurray, and they were disappointing, very slow growing, and never did get very big, even at 20 weeks. My tiny little undersized supposedly pure-bred dark Cornish hen is from them, too. I had 4, they were all very small. I also ordered Americaunas from them, but what they sent are clearly EE's, (mutts) not Americaunas. So I'm not impressed with MMH. The birds are healthy, but they are not anywhere near true to type, they have obviously been crossed with production layers at some point.

Thanks for the info, though, I might see what others say about mypetchicken. Though most people who order from them I wouldn't expect to be looking for much beyond healthy, pretty birds, ("pet quality") I wouldn't expect that they'd be especially pure lines. But I could be wrong about that.

 

[mike67909]

Quote:
We got our white rocks and a couple NHR's from murray mcmurray hatchery, they are about 5 weeks old I am going to harvest a couple around 16 weeks and save some for breeding using the best ones as breeding stock. We also got a few NHR's from mypetchicken.com which is where big red is from, I am planning on breeding her also.

NHR's from mypetchicken? Hmmm...well, I might try them at some point.

I've had white rocks from McMurray, and they were disappointing, very slow growing, and never did get very big, even at 20 weeks. My tiny little undersized supposedly pure-bred dark Cornish hen is from them, too. I had 4, they were all very small. I also ordered Americaunas from them, but what they sent are clearly EE's, (mutts) not Americaunas. So I'm not impressed with MMH. The birds are healthy, but they are not anywhere near true to type, they have obviously been crossed with production layers at some point.

Thanks for the info, though, I might see what others say about mypetchicken. Though most people who order from them I wouldn't expect to be looking for much beyond healthy, pretty birds, ("pet quality") I wouldn't expect that they'd be especially pure lines. But I could be wrong about that.

Yeah i don't know much about them or MM. We got them last year for some more layers but only wanted a few. They ship as little as 3 chicks so thats why we got them there. But I have been happy with the ones from MM so far.

 

[Afrank]

Is there anyplace to buy hatching eggs of the Hubbard birds here in tbe states?