multi strain meat bird breeding mix

[eatwhatyougrow]

We line breed our birds similar to the chart above. We breed them in the spring and grow them out for 6 months or more culling as we go until we get the birds we want to keep. Breeding them once a year we modify the chart as by the 4th year a lot of hens don't lay very much and go broody so fast so we add the new line in sooner than the 5th year. The hardest part is keeping track of all the birds, we use colored zip ties for each year then multiple ties for each line that we have going. For example last year was orange, line A was single orange, B two orange, C three and so on, each year is a different color and then we use clear zip ties on the other leg to identify yearly breeding. If we anything ever happens to our breeding notebook we are doomed. We tried using wing bands before but it's even more time consuming as you have to catch each bird one by one and separate them into cages so you can get the breeding groups you want. With the zip ties you can just look at them and catch the ones you want for breeding. We don't have enough pens to keep them all separated year round so we have to catch them and put them into breeding pens. Our peafowl we use wing bands as there is only about 15 of them and we only breed them for us every three years so it's not that much of a pain. The Muscovies, pheasants and quail we just pen breed them and bring in new blood every so often to keep them going.

this is very similar to what i do as well. i use a modified rolling or clan mating pared with the line breeding. ( it only gets more complex the longer i go, and i totally agree about the breeding book. i have multiple copies and keep one stored off site just in case

) I agree about the wing bands but i still use them on the birds so i can identify individuals and i also use the colored zip ties, makes it way easier to tell families apart and the zip ties come in bags of 50-100 for like 1.50$

 

[Arielle]

I have used zip ties, and often find them on the ground

--I suspect that some brands are better than others.

 

[trsturself]

learning a lot from this thread. Glad I found it. We won't be starting our project for a couple years now and I'm glad I'm learning all this and making a plan now.

 

[eatwhatyougrow]

the sooner you start the better, even if that is growing out the birds that you intend to use in your crossings, it can take time to build a project. of course if you do it right, have indoor facilitates or are not in a colder region you can get two an f2 in one year. so there are things you can do to speed up the program, of course there is something to letting abrid grow out and see how it looks at 8 months, i mean part of my project is getting a good sized bird that i can harvest at almost any time and not have to keep them in the freezer..

 

[trsturself]

the sooner you start the better, even if that is growing out the birds that you intend to use in your crossings, it can take time to build a project. of course if you do it right, have indoor facilitates or are not in a colder region you can get two an f2 in one year. so there are things you can do to speed up the program, of course there is something to letting abrid grow out and see how it looks at 8 months, i mean part of my project is getting a good sized bird that i can harvest at almost any time and not have to keep them in the freezer..

I wish I could start now. Unfortunately we live in suburbia that only allows 8 hens. We are already over that limit (but 4 of those are bantams so I count that as 2.

). We will have to wait until we get some land in a year or two. I'm leaning toward a DC or rock crossed with a turken. We'll see though. I've got a lot of time to change my mind. lol

 

[eatwhatyougrow]

Well in that case i understand. Well i hope you get your land i am looking to up grade this year. Would like 80-100 acres but will settle for 30 we'll see though i have some things that are must haves on the land i buy.

 

[Arielle]

Well in that case i understand. Well i hope you get your land i am looking to up grade this year. Would like 80-100 acres but will settle for 30 we'll see though i have some things that are must haves on the land i buy.

You are right, quantity of land is not as important as quality. We looked for about a year, and the sales brokers were completely stupid about land sales ( think well dressed woman in hose and heels)

. Fortunately DH can read trees and even in the winter a red maple tells him swamp land. A lot of junk land was shown to us. A lot, in hopes we were stupid enough to buy the mosquito ridden wet land.

Buyer beware . . .right?

 

[trsturself]

You are right, quantity of land is not as important as quality. We looked for about a year, and the sales brokers were completely stupid about land sales ( think well dressed woman in hose and heels)

. Fortunately DH can read trees and even in the winter a red maple tells him swamp land. A lot of junk land was shown to us. A lot, in hopes we were stupid enough to buy the mosquito ridden wet land.

Buyer beware . . .right?

Wow. I'm afraid of that happening to us. I've got books on what plants to look for but around here there's really only 3 types of land; Pine, arid prairie, or the middle land as I call it. We're hoping to find a nice piece of middle land. The biggest thing here is water. Water rights are a BIG deal. We're hoping to find just 5-10 acres!

 

[Arielle]

You might be able to find ag extension is helpful. THe land here is much different than were you are looking,but perhaps having water is very important. We drilled for a well before the closing-- at our cost of course but we felt it was cheap insurance.Water is everything.

We looked when the trees were bare and we could see the terain better. WE have trekked many woods and have the realator be WRONG. I remember telling DH the parcel seemed to big and I couldnt match it to the maps. We went back the next day to figure out the discrepancy: She had shown us 2 parcels.

How do you feel about having or not having mineral rights?? And how does it impact what you want to do with the land?? WE knew we wanted to have farm animals, so how the land was used prior was important--

Do you have a forest service?

 

[trsturself]

You might be able to find ag extension is helpful. THe land here is much different than were you are looking,but perhaps having water is very important. We drilled for a well before the closing-- at our cost of course but we felt it was cheap insurance.Water is everything.

We looked when the trees were bare and we could see the terain better. WE have trekked many woods and have the realator be WRONG. I remember telling DH the parcel seemed to big and I couldnt match it to the maps. We went back the next day to figure out the discrepancy: She had shown us 2 parcels.

How do you feel about having or not having mineral rights?? And how does it impact what you want to do with the land?? WE knew we wanted to have farm animals, so how the land was used prior was important--

Do you have a forest service?

We want farm animals too so what the land was used for previously is important to us too. We are looking at land that has a house on it already in addition to just land. The ones with houses I'm pretty sure haven't been used for anything else in most of the areas we're looking. When we get a little closer to buying I'll definitely contact our local Ag dept. Thanks!