My Next Great Experiment

[kizanne]

Processed a Dark Cornish with bent toes today. It was a male and dressed out at 3.4 pounds. I think he was around 21 weeks old.

I have one that I kept who is 4.8 pounds but I don't know if that is good. I want a breeder to be 8-10 pounds but they grow slow so is 4.8 pounds good at this point? also very excited to see I still have a Dark Cornish girl in there. She had gotten lost in the mix and didn't realize I had her.

Processed another black broiler dressed out at 4.2 pounds same 21 weeks old, I think. Also not near as much fat on this one as some of the previous black broilers.

Processed an australorp at 16 weeks, roo. weigh a mealsy 2 pounds dressed.

Threw 2 red broiler pullets over in the layer section. My black broiler immediately bred them. can't wait til they start laying. My black broiler is 7.4 pounds at about 21 weeks and they are 6.2 pounds at 21 weeks. Hopefully they'll make some nice babies. But I am sure that two hybrids will give me very mixed results.

I'm collecting eggs to set soon. The Orphington in the pen is dominate and 9.6 pounds. But my black broiler is also in there and 7.4 pounds but 3 months or so younger. Wish I had my desired girls big enough to be laying eggs but not yet......

 

[kizanne]

EGG-citing development. I am getting ready to set eggs and my red broilers who is covered by my black broiler roo perhaps the black orphington but they shy away from him, started laying.

I'm hoping to get 6-12 of those to try and hatch out. I have two of them and I know at least one is laying but maybe both. I believe I have gotten 2 eggs in 2 days. One was almost normal size one was a pullet egg.

I'll do a staggered set. I've collected from my layers and some are going in Friday night/Sat. I'll add how many ever broiler eggs I get.

Next week I'll set again.

 

[kizanne]

Ok so today we did in another 4 from my pens for that. I decided to process the dark cornish roo. He was small for a cornish his age. There are much larger roos over in the red laced cornish project thread. I want a big boy breeder. He dressed out around 4 pounds. My scale is a little wonky so...

Also did in two small Australorp roos and a small black broiler. This broiler had some fat but not alot. One of the australorps had fat.

I used two of the dead birds to practice caponizing before I processed. The second was much better than the first. I think I can find the correct place to cut now. My first one I didn't cut in the right place and mangled the liver some. I don't have my retractors yet so hopefully it will be better when I get that.

I have set 23 eggs that will be scheduled for meat birds with a few sparse girls being kept.
The girls have been in the pen with my English Black Orphington at 10 pounds and a large black broiler at 8 pounds.
I am pretty sure the only one mating the girls is the Orphington.
Set
4 barred rock eggs
4 black marans
3 production reds
1 barnyard mix
2 lavender americaunas these if girls will be kept
3 other really blue americaunas these if girls will be kept
2 green easter eggers. She is a really consistent layer and nice olive egg.
4 what I think are red broiler eggs. These are the only girls I've seen the Black broiler mating.

I have also ordered some quality Black copper Marans Eggs and Barnvelder eggs but hopefully the batch I just set will hatch before I need to set these.

I have ordered a set of retractors as I will also be making capons of some of the above boys.

I'll be collecting broiler eggs if I can tell them from the others for this week and setting them next weekend. The reds started laying before the blacks and the hens are over 6 pounds. The roo is close to or over 8 pounds. Hoping mixing these two boilers red and black will give a nice result. In the meantime working toward a getting a large quick growing delaware girl or two, a somewhat quiet black marans roo, and hoping this batch of barnvelders yields a really nice size roo. I had a really nice size one I killed off before I knew I wanted one. Well he's the tasty guy who made me realize I want one. He was very skittish though. Going to clean out some of the girls that aren't in my breeding plan and move some over to my layer pen.

Working towards a 4 FBCM hens with a roo, 3 Barnvelder Hens with a roo, a few americaunas for my egg customers. 2 delaware hens, 2 Australorp hens and a nice dark cornish roo.

With this mix I can sell eating eggs, hatching eggs, raise my own broilers (hopefully). I'm currently paying for my layers feed by selling eggs making our eggs free. I'll never achieve that with the broilers and there is too much work to sell them but maybe the hatching eggs could help with that.

Let the games begin.

 

[kizanne]

Multiple notes. One the Marans I hatched out on June 23 seems to be a Marans x EE and seems to be a girl so really hoping for that a nice olive egger there.


I am now pretty sure that the red broiler is laying 4-5 eggs a week because they aren't laying in a box and each chicken lays in her own spot. I have 3 laying. A dominique that lays a pinkish egg. A broiler that lays in the back corner a tan egg. A third layer who is still mystery and her eggs just look like she didn't know when they were coming laying all about.

Well tomorrow night is supposed to be hatch time. These made it to the hatcher

Remember they are all hybrids with my Orp or Broiler roo.

4 Marans
7 EE
3 barred rocks
2 Reds
3 broiler pen pullet eggs so we'll see

We have processed a bunch of roos in the last few weeks. They were 17 and 18 weeks old the delawares were disappointing. I mean small like 1.5 pounds processed but were eggs from a local guy who I'm sure had hatchery stock. I did save out the biggest girl. They might have gotten bigger with more time but not worth it as they started boy behavior so for the girls they are gone. Also did in some more broilers and the last dark cornish. The broilers were fine the taste is more bland but regular carcasses of 3-4 pounds same with the cornish.

The broilers were easier to take care of the cleaner then the CX but the meat is still mild compared to some of the other breeds. I have several girls who are on the eventual freezer camp, 5 broilers and 2 dominiques. I'm letting them lay right now as I have chicken aging in the fridge now. I have a RIR boy that is also out there. I have some red laced wyandottes as I figure out who the boys are and which colorations will be best to keep there are some of them that will go. I have several of my layers from last year on the list to go to make room for the new but they will be the hardest as they were our first and are the friendliest because we treat trained them.

I have a few more eggs in the bator with different dates for hatching but just a few mostly from the broiler pen. I am still saving and occasionally throwing in an egg from that pen but Sunday will be the last egg cause I've read you can mix up to 3 weeks apart but not more. I don't need two sets of chicks to take care of. But in a few weeks when I hatch out the marans and the barnvelders i might throw a few more in.

I also am going to need to do some kind of construction as I took up my tractor with silkies. No not for meat.

 

[kizanne]

Well this update is fast upon the last I guess. One of my planned meaties hatched already. He's a day early so hopefully he'll grow fast too. One of the EE's is out too. This particular egg I believe is from my Red broiler but could be a Barred rock.

 

[kizanne]

Hatched.

3 Marans
5 Easter Eggers
3 Broilers
1 red
2 barred rocks

It looks like I have 1 boy and 2 girls from the sex link chicks. I sold all the EE's for $25 that will pay for some feed. Got some more eggs set.

All those who hatched seem to be healthy and looking good.

 

[kizanne]

Hatchedd 5 more chicks

2 marans x Orph
3 either barred rock or broiler the shell broke in a way I couldn't read it.

Have some more eggs set but most are barred rock / production reds x Orph. My broilers, delawares and I think now Australorps are all beginning to lay and that father should be a black broiler so I'm tempted to set another batch so I can really get a good comparison of which one is growing faster and tasting better. Pretty sure the marans cross will taste better but wondering about speed and weight too. The broilers taste better than CX but still mild so they are ok but looking for a nice mid point and hoping the marans x Orp will do it.

On the up side the red broiler seems to be laying fairly well. I think 4-5 eggs a week. My Orphington rooster is now pushing the limit on crowing so we'll see if he makes it through the 18 week trial for babies. Gonna try to do some sound proofing today for the neighbors.

 

[kizanne]

So the first hatchees are now 2 weeks old. I weighed them the end of week 1 and the end of week 2. The average weight at 2 weeks is 4.5 ounces. I only weighed one on hatch day and he was 1.3 ounces.

So far the boy barred rock x Orp is the biggest at almost 6 ounces. The broiler x broilers are gaining the fastest and one is 5.11 ounces.

Compared to my previous CX trial run with weights these guys are approximately growing at 1/2 the speed of the CX. I would be thrilled if this keeps up cause they would finish in 12-18 weeks my desired time frame. I am looking for a min. 5 pound chicken at a maximum of 18 weeks, hoping to do better but those are my desired parameters.

The marans are all around 4.2 at the end of 2 weeks.

I have 2 more marans and 3 meat mixes (did get marked if they were barred rocks or broiler hens) at one week. The average weight is 2.45 ounces.

I only have one chick who seems smaller. She slipped her band and has some brownish in her feathers but I'm pretty sure she has production red in her.

I have 8 more in the hatcher now that should hatch tonight/tomorrow. marans, some doms, barred rock, meatie pen. I have more in the incubator so I hope to be able to collect enough data that I can get more of and average. Also the CX's I am comparing to were all boys and this batch won't be so I expect their average to be dragged down by the girls.

Moving these out of the house and into the outside brooder today.

Edited to add: No health issues all hatched chicks still alive and very mobile.

 

[kizanne]

The Barred rock x Orph is still ahead he is now 8.2 ounces.

The broilers X are 6.8 ounces

The marans X Orph are around 5.2

 

[kizanne]

The Barred rock x Orph is still ahead he is now 8.2 ounces.

The broilers X are 6.8 ounces

The marans X Orph are around 5.2

The Barred rock x Orph has lost the lead, he is now 12.5 ounces.

The broilers X are about 12 ounces but the largest was 13.2 ounces

The marans X Orph are around 7.5 ounces

I have have a few more meaties, marans and barred rocks following these guys in age. It looks like the red broiler x black broiler is the fastest growing. I don't have enough of anything to give a large sample and there are lots of crosses out there. I have some that have slipped their bands. The dom x broiler doesn't seem to be doing great. The australorpe have started laying but I can't tell her egg from the broiler for sure.

It looks like based on rate of gain that next weekend will be capon time so I'll probably lose some of my fastest growers unless I decide to wait til the next batch gets big enough so I can see these grow unadulterated.

My broiler roo is the nicest, well behaved, well like by the ladies roo we have had so far. He is also relatively quiet. I might just ax my Orphington roo and keep him to go with my layer pen.

My two delaware hens don't seem to be growing very fast so that might be a bust too.
The wyandotte are small so don't think I'll bother crossing them with the broiler. They need their own breeder pen.