i've got a kinda stupid question

[suzeqf]

If this doesn't belong here please tell me

I've googled this and can't find a real answer how do the large hatcheries produce so many chicks. I know that the hen and roo have to do their thing and that's good for a small scale but how does it work on a large scale, I know that larger scale pig farmers AI a lot of their sows but how does it work with chickens

 

[StormyMoon]

Its easy roosters are just really horny creatures

They are very active that way. My roo thats all he ever thinks of is breeding and eating breeding and eating. Even when he is eating he calls the girls over like he has something really good just so he can mate them. He will mate as many hens as he can see I have seen him even try to dance for the younger roos then realize oh your a dude never mind. lol

 

[Buff Hooligans]

I believe hatcheries get their eggs from many different sources. They hatch out eggs, they don't necessarily produce the eggs themselves. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[StormyMoon]

Quote:
Your right I heard that too that they get them from different places and breeders.

I was more referring to how so many are produced roosters are just breeding happy creatures

 

[MMPoultryFarms]

Actually some hatcherys contract eggs but the big time hatcherys like tysons who does not sell to the public use battery cages and AI Artificial Insemination that way they can assure 100% fertillity alot of the hatcherys who sell eggs do the same.

 

[Ridgerunner]

This video might help you. It is about producing the parents of the broiler chicks, but it shows a great example of what is called pen breeding.

This is a response from Teri at Ideal Poultry about how they do it. This is only one hatchery and I'm sure other hatcheries have different business models, so I am not going to say this is how they all do it. I though this was quite informative.


Hello all, This is Teri from Ideal. It was said earlier that we were not commenting for 'obvious' reasons. That is not the case. We do come on the board about once a week and see what is going on. We do not have an employee that constantly 'monitors' the board.

The video was of the hatchery operation itself because that is what Purina wanted for their television show. We have not done anything on location at the farm but will look into it. Back when I was in school at A&M, I did some very unprofessional videos of the farm and most people found it really boring.

I am going to try my best to address the topics brought up in this thread. If I miss something, you are welcome to send a follow up message. I will subscribe to this topic so I will see your responses and be able to reply to them.

Ideal Poultry has a very large breeding farm about 8 miles out of Cameron in Pettibone, TX. We have approximately 60,000 chickens, bantams, ducks, geese and guineas on the farm. There is a picture of the farm shown briefly in the video, as well as a photo of the farm in the about us section on our website .

We have our own breeders for all of the poultry we sell other than the following: all turkeys, french guineas, chukar and pheasant.

We have not purchased breeders from an outside source since 1999. 1999 is when we ventured into the 'rare' side of the poultry business. Since that time, each summer we start a new breeding flock by selecting our breeders based on the Standard of Perfection. In the late 90's when we were building our rare flock, Mr. Fuchs did go all over the country to try to buy the best of the best. He ordered breeding stock that was 'show quality, high dollar' stock. Even by purchasing the offspring of show champion poultry, many chicks we received were what you all would call, hatchery quality. It takes a lot of culling once the birds mature to even get close to the Standard. All three Mr. Fuchs' that are involved in the selection process hold a Poultry Science degree from Texas A & M, with the elder Mr. Fuchs holding a Master degree in genetics.

There are times when we are sold out of a breed, that we might have an order drop shipped from another hatchery. However, it is a hatchery that has quality poultry and in most cases it is a hatchery that we sold breeding stock to.

Our breeding stock is mated on an average of one male per ten hens.

We do not claim to have nor advertise to have 'show quality' poultry. In fact we very clearly state otherwise in our literature.

Anyone that is involved in showing poultry would know that our prices are not indicative of show quality poultry.

The purpose hatcheries serve is to provide good quality poultry at a reasonable price, to the average farmer that wants to enjoy the beauty of the poultry or have farm fresh eggs. We do our best to provide quality poultry to all of our customers as well as provide excellent customer service. It would not be in our best interest to do otherwise. We have been in business since 1937 and will celebrate our 75th anniversary next year. We have not survived this long by providing an inferior product.

Like another post said it's about knowing what you want for both the buyer and seller. Our primary customer is the backyard farmer. That is who our product is priced for and marketed for.

Please respond with any other questions you might have and I will do my best to answer them.

Teri Fuchs Adcox
V-P Ideal Poultry

 

[suzeqf]

roo's are a guys aren't they and no matter the species they are all the same but do commerical hatcheries let mother nature do it's thing or do they help it along somehow

 

[suzeqf]

answered a lot, i was pretty sure that commerical chicken producers did all of the above and our company used to service a chicken plant's units and where i live there are prob 10-20 chicken houses within a 5 mile radius and to get that many you need to help mother nature and when everyone got out of tobacco they went to chickens i just wasn't sure how hatcheries that sell to the public got all their chicks

Thanks everyone

 

[StormyMoon]

Quote:
Some of them are sold out until June, and even some breeds are sold out till 2012.

I am assuming IDeal poultry has allowed mother nature to take place or they would never be sold out.

There will be some set backs when you do that but if you want quality you don't always get quantity.