Meat Birds/ Broilers, etc question

[nao57]

So...have a quick question.

Are broilers basically mules?

I'd heard some people call one type of them 'Frankenburgs' because they are so screwed up to grow fast that they say they can't really live well from their alterations or whatever.

And when I heard that it made me wonder if they are mules? And if many of these meat broiler chick types that are sold are actually mules that were made by lab tampering?

I'm not going to get upset or cause trouble, but just wanted to know.

And any other thoughts?

 

[RoosterML]

Selective breeding and crosses created the current meat bird. Yes it converts feed into mass at a very fast rate. Not some mules you speak of.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Are broilers basically mules?

Good question. Not totally sure what you men by "mules". They are not a sterile cross between different species. They were developed from chickens and only chickens. There is no lab tampering, no GMO's or anything like that. They have been developed by selective breeding, the same process that has been used to develop every breed of chickens and grand champion show chickens. Selective breeding has also developed the commercial hybrid laying hens. Broilers are not fed growth hormones, that was outlawed in the US in 1959 for chickens. It's still legal to feed other animals growth hormones but not chickens.

The broilers have been developed to grow really fast and have a great feed to meat conversion rate. They are butchered young enough that you can fry or grill the meat without worrying about it becoming shoe leather, as it could with older birds. The better the feed to meat ratio the less it costs to feed them to butcher size. The younger you can butcher them the more flocks you can raise in a year. All important things when you are raising them to make a living.

The broilers grow so fast that their hearts or their skeletons can't keep up with that growth. The goal is to keep them alive until they reach butcher age but not any longer. They are unsuited to keep in our flocks, most of them eat themselves to death. To get them to live long enough to breed you have to severely restrict what they eat. There is a fine balance between keeping them from eating themselves to death while keeping them healthy enough to live and lay eggs.

Some of the research going on into them is on genetics, but not really that much. Most is concentrated on how to feed and manage them for optimum profit when raising them. Or on how to manage the parents of these birds so they stay alive and healthy enough to lay the eggs they hatch from.

They have four specific flocks, each one produces a specific grandparent or the broiler. The genetics of those four flocks are carefully controlled so the ultimate product, the broiler, has the genetics they want. So those parent flocks also contain the genetics for fast growth. They also have to be fed an d managed very carefully.