Meat Bird Project - Delaware, White Rock, Dark Cornish

[KoopOnTruckin]

Looking excellent, those figures are actually great, amazing the difference some had, though I can see why you are only bothering with a few of them now than too many! A lot of work catching them, mine are still ballistic and scatter at any movement, their nature I suppose but definitely my biggest turn off from the La Bresse breed, I guess useful for foraging but not when confined.

Just out of interest this is what "broilers" look like here, picture taken from an ad in my country. Definitely see the cornish in their feet and head, though look very like your WR which I believe are parent stock of some sort here, once y friends work gets them in I will ask what they are. The birds in the photo are 7 weeks supposedly.

Your DC definitely looks the more fuller in the breast and has the width. When I can I must get a photo of my breeding birds to let you see them

They really are looking good, they make me happy to be doing this project. They're eating a ton right now, going through 50 lbs of 24% protein feed every week or more - I stopped keeping track but my wife is on another spreadsheet, so I'll still have the numbers as I need them.

I decided to keep 2 of the roos of each breed for now, going to use them to fertilize a few sets of new generations before I dispatch of the extra roo. I'm also keeping an extra WR pullet, at this point it's as much for more eggs as it is for another breeder. (My wife has a wait list of about a week at this point - she's a natural salesperson!) My wife is also the designated chick catcher, they are so much better for her than they are for me. Great to have her as a partner finally in this project!

I'm pretty excited to see how the crosses grow. I know they are a mix of Dark Cornish instead of the traditional White, but aside from coloring, I think they will look much like those broilers you've got there.

 

[KoopOnTruckin]

Weighing them tomorrow morning. Here are some new photos from today:




My biggest DC, he's likely about 3.5 lbs this week, we'll see tomorrow.



Here's a Del Pullet.



Del cockerel getting some water. I'm going to raise up that bucket about 6 inches or so.


WR cockerel, he is on track to be the largest, he's one of the younger ones.


WR pullet.


WR pullet in the rear, Del pullet up front.


These will be some of the first to join us at the dinner table.

 

[tmarsh83]

Weighing them tomorrow morning. Here are some new photos from today: My biggest DC, he's likely about 3.5 lbs this week, we'll see tomorrow. Here's a Del Pullet. Del cockerel getting some water. I'm going to raise up that bucket about 6 inches or so. WR cockerel, he is on track to be the largest, he's one of the younger ones. WR pullet. WR pullet in the rear, Del pullet up front. These will be some of the first to join us at the dinner table.

What week are they?

 

[KoopOnTruckin]

What week are they?

9 weeks for the young'ens, and 10 weeks for the older group.

 

[tmarsh83]

Really enjoying following this.

 

[KoopOnTruckin]

Sorry for the delay, had a busy weekend... WEEK 10 (and some 9)

I weighed all of the future breeders as I'm trying not to spend too much time out there worrying about birds I'm only going to eat. Here's what I found out:

Dark Cornish cockerels (2):
-Still maintaining a 15-17% growth rate
-Just over 3 lbs. 2 oz
-Compact design, they look like little eagles, feel solid

White Rock cockerels (2):
-The older one is just over 3.75 lbs, growth rate this past week of 8%
-The younger one is just over 3.5 lbs, growth rate of 18% - he will likely be the biggest
-The growth rate of 18% for the younger is compared to last weeks growth rate for the older of 13%
-They feel heavy, pretty solid. The cockerels are as big as my 1.5 year old White Leghorn

Delaware cockerels (2):
-150g difference between the bigger and smaller of the 2
-Growth rate is still pretty high, 11%-16%
-The bigger is the same weight as the bigger DC
-Not much to speak about weight-wise, but little scrappers

White Rock pullets (4):
-The oldest is in the bottom half as far as weight, but she's got a good personality
-The youngers are all maintaining a solid 12-13% growth rate, the oldest this week only 9%. May be an indication that they will all slow down soon
-Pretty docile when picking them up, but not much weight there

Delaware pullets (3):
-The biggest is only slightly bigger (7g) than the smallest WR pullet.
-The smallest is 200g smaller than the smallest WR pullet.
-Solid growth rates of 11%-14%.
-When picking them up, they have a weight to them, but they still feel quite scrawny


I will weigh all of them again next week, mainly to make sure I'm not passing on a potential superstar. The smallest ones just flat out aren't even worth paying attention to.

 

[lcertuche]

Thanks for sharing. I've been keeping and eye on this thread. I hope to start my own experiment next spring.

 

[KoopOnTruckin]

The new numbers are in YELLOW, needed due the Great White Rock Debacle of July:

 

[Maeschak]

The new numbers are in YELLOW, needed due the Great White Rock Debacle of July:

Just want to pop in here and thank you for posting all of this.

 

[KoopOnTruckin]

Thanks for sharing. I've been keeping and eye on this thread. I hope to start my own experiment next spring.

Just want to pop in here and thank you for posting all of this.

Thank you both, it means a lot to know there are people out there actually paying attention. I'm doing all of this because I couldn't find anything really like it out there. Found some with great info, but the follow-through was lacking. I'm not doing a good as I'd hoped, but I'm definitely learning a lot in what data is important and what won't matter a year from now when I go back and look at it.

I also would love to see more people posting cross-links to your own experiments so it drives more traffic back and forth. My hope is that next time someone searches to see if they are on par, there will be enough data out there to show that. Maybe even one set of compiled data from everyone linking back to this page, we could combine the data for each breed to show some significant information! (It's a huge project, but would be very worth it...)