Meat Bird Project - Delaware, White Rock, Dark Cornish

[lcertuche]

We really do appreciate someone like you who can crunch the numbers. Statistics are just not my talent, lol. God bless you and have a great day.

 

[KoopOnTruckin]

Weighed all of the chicks and found some interesting things. First off (BIG NEWS), several of the White Rock cockerels are over 4 lbs - one of them weighs in at 4.5 lbs at 10 weeks old!!! That's huge (IMO) - also important to note is that he is from the younger group, and was not one of the largest 2 from the last full weigh in 2 weeks ago. But at 4.5 lbs, I won't question it - if he keeps on that growth rate, I may not even need to go with DC X's, I could breed him with the WR pullet who is now 3.25 lbs and they could make a good breeding pair.

My biggest Dark Cornish and Delaware cockerels are now 3.6 lbs, which is also very respectable. I'm happy to see them gaining so quickly. The DC coloring is BEAUTIFUL, there's one with some green and blue to the feathers, and another with gorgeous brown and gold mixed in. Definitely great looking birds, looking forward to seeing them full grown. The Dels are getting a bit nicer to look at as well, but still third on my list overall.

I wasn't able to get all of their weights, it started raining on us toward the end. Not the end of the world, the 2 that are missing were at the lower end of the spectrum anyway. I'll hopefully get them next week. Also, keep in mind that the growth rates will be off this and last week, since I got lazy and only weighed what I thought were the biggest ones.

So here you go, week 11 (and 10 for some of the WRs):

 

[KoopOnTruckin]

 

[lcertuche]

Koop thanks for the input. I definitely want to try and get a little White Rock blood in my flock after seeing your stats.

 

[KoopOnTruckin]

Koop thanks for the input. I definitely want to try and get a little White Rock blood in my flock after seeing your stats.

Yes, from what I can tell they are a very fast growing bird with a great temperament. I've already started to hear the cockerels crowing at 11-12 weeks. The biggest ones are as big as my full grown laying hens. I'm actually considering getting rid of most of my laying hybrids and only keeping the WRs and DCs.

 

[KoopOnTruckin]

Also, due to the hurricane that came through my neck of the woods this past weekend, I'm not going to provide any weights for this past week. This may mean that I'll only be doing weights every other week going forward. It will be more accurate with the growth rates, and will keep my wife and I a bit more sane (catching chickens and keeping them confined long enough to get an accurate measurement is a LOT of work - times 32...).

I'll also try to get some other measurements this weekend, including height and length of some of the bigger ones. Maybe leg length and head width as well. I don't know, may just get crazy and take some better photos of them. Who knows, anything can happen.

 

[KoopOnTruckin]

Currently getting some opinions on my DCs, I don't believe all 5 of them are cockerels. There's one with beautiful brown threaded throughout, I'm hoping it's a pullet so I can keep her for a bit and try her out with some of my mad science. So far the consensus is that one is likely the only pullet, and she was still the second smallest of the group. So that means the smallest is a runt of a cockerel, he will become part of the Thanksgiving feast, even if he only stuffs a much larger bird!

Here are some pics of the cockerels:




This one was the smallest, VERY small....

And some of the brown pullet (maybe?):

 

[KoopOnTruckin]

Looks like the small brown one is the only pullet, it's the only one without a red face and comb. That means the smallest is a serious runt of a cockerel, so I'm not even going to continue weighing him.

But good news is I have a DC pullet, so the future experimentation can double!

 

[KoopOnTruckin]

Here is week 13, and week 12 for some of the White Rocks:



The BLUES are males (2 WR and 1 DC) and the PINKS are females (1 Surprise DC, 3 WRs, and 1 Delaware).
I also took the averages to make up the numbers from last week. I know, it's a bit of cheating, I'm not proud of it. However, I couldn't get anything, and want the numbers to still be there for purposes of the growth rates.

Interesting notes:
-WR cockerels are just around 4 to 5.5 lbs. The largest is one of the older ones, still not on par to be as big as the 2 younger ones that I'm keeping. They're not the easiest to handle, so now that I have the 2 that I'm going to raise to full size, I can start to hold them a lot more than we have, which is a fair amount of time due to the weighing and checking on the mobile coop.

-The DC cockerels are pretty big as well, still feel like little compact bowling balls, and are getting to the size of a regulation ball as well. They are pretty warm, and are missing some feathers on their chest, but I guess that's normal for the breed. There's also a tiny one, that if taken out, their numbers would be much higher, like half a pound.

-Found a female among the DC cockerels, so I'll just see how she grows up. She's not very big at all, but I hear they continue growing until like 25 weeks so I have fairly high hopes. She is very good looking though, nice brown coloring in the feathers. (That's the DC GREEN under the DC Cockerels section.)

-Not planning to keep any of the Delaware cockerels - though they do have a good temperament, they're just not growing as fast as I'd like.

-The WR pullets are fairly skiddish, but they're easy to handle once they're caught. Gotta handle them a lot more as well to get them used to us. Pretty decent size, and they're getting the meaty breasts as well.

-Del pullets are the easiest to handle, but also hard to catch sometimes. Only keeping one of them, mainly just for experimentation purposes.

I'm not keeping as many as I once thought, but that's a good thing. I've figured out what I want to do going forward, and that is just WRs and DCs. I'm going to pick up another batch of them from a different hatchery next year, likely in the Spring. That way I can add new blood to the line, which will hopefully make for much larger birds down the line.

 

[Ulladh]

You've got the feeding regime well noted now and a base mark for getting a new batch in the spring, even for when breeding and hatching yourself

Unfortunately I've had to move house wit work and now living in the city, so had to get rid of the whole lot. No issue though as had people drive for a couple hours and another from the other end of the island!

Will still be following!