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Collected 42 eggs tonight, and my niece said she got 6 this morning. I think some might have been from yesterday, since I found 3 eggs in the CCL pen with only 2 hens. One was a turkey egg too. The ones laying the most are the mixed breeds and the Barred Hollands (from eggs from msladyhawke).
 
Kinmera said:
fisherlady said:
Finding good quality breeding stock of white Cornish is rough. I did find a farm in New England with them but I was given these WR eggs to hatch so didn't have room for more breeds yet.
Cornish are difficult to breed well because of their body shape, so would definitely be a project to get the numbers high enough for retail purposes, though I would do it for my personal use in a minute if I had the space.
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This is why I took the offer for freedom Rangers. I figure by crossing them with both the orpingtons and the rocks, I will get a good decent bird for growth.
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My best freedom ranger cross came from Delaware/freedom ranger. Grew quickly, developed nice, only problem I had was keeping them alive long enough for another generation...they would either develop leg problems or I would just find them dead, never knew why.. they were heavy birds that seemed to topple over easily
 
wingstone said:
My best freedom ranger cross came from Delaware/freedom ranger. Grew quickly, developed nice, only problem I had was keeping them alive long enough for another generation...they would either develop leg problems or I would just find them dead, never knew why.. they were heavy birds that seemed to topple over easily
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That's why I'm trying the oops and wrs. Their legs are super strong already
 
Avlana said:
Would anyone be interested in a small flock of hen and pullets? I have 3 chocolate bantam wyandotte females. One of the hens is my avatar. The Wyandotte bantams lay lots of eggs and big for their size. They're also fantastic mothers. I also have a blue wheaten ameraucana pullet and a blue wheaten ameraucana cockerel, they're about 3 months old. I'm moving unexpectedly and need to find them a good home, protected from predators. I'm located need Harrisburg and York. I'm really sad to see them go :(
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I wish I lived closer than a 4 hour drive.... I'd love to take them.
 
wingstone or kinmera.... (or anyone else with meaty bird experience)....

Have either of you used Light Sussex in your meat crosses? I have a bunch that I hatched out this year and they have developed into really nice birds. They are friendly (a couple of the hens are super friendly) and tend to be very laid back when you are working around them.... and boy have they gotten some really nice body shape to them. A couple of extra roosters which we butchered at about 17 weeks dressed out to around 4 lbs, which I was happy with considering they had mostly free ranged, our Silver Pencil Roosters were about half a pound less, but still beautiful carcasses when dressed out. We currently have 2 crosses which are just young yet (10 weeks and 4 weeks) but they are showing the same tendencies. When I do set up some breeding pens I am planning to put at least one LS hen and one SPR hen in with each of the White Rock roosters and then set those eggs with the broodies to see how the chicks turn out. Since we are aiming to keep ourselves in meat and eggs for personal use I am hoping that mixing the genetics will give us decent layers with good freezer camp roosters.

Only problem is that most of the roosters have been really nice birds... it is always harder to butcher the nice ones.. it still gets done, but just not as easy as taking care of the problem roosters.
 
fisherlady said:
wingstone or kinmera.... (or anyone else with meaty bird experience)....

Have either of you used Light Sussex in your meat crosses?  I have a bunch that I hatched out this year and they have developed into really nice birds.  They are friendly (a couple of the hens are super friendly) and tend to be very laid back when you are working around them.... and boy have they gotten some really nice body shape to them.  A couple of extra roosters which we butchered at about 17 weeks dressed out to around 4 lbs, which I was happy with considering they had mostly free ranged, our Silver Pencil Roosters were about half a pound less, but still beautiful carcasses when dressed out.  We currently have 2 crosses which are just young yet (10 weeks and 4 weeks) but they are showing the same tendencies.  When I do set up some breeding pens I am planning to put at least one LS hen and one SPR hen in with each of the White Rock roosters and then set those eggs with the broodies to see how the chicks turn out.  Since we are aiming to keep ourselves in meat and eggs for personal use I am hoping that mixing the genetics will give us decent layers with good freezer camp roosters. 

Only problem is that most of the roosters have been really nice birds... it is always harder to butcher the nice ones.. it still gets done, but just not as easy as taking care of the problem roosters.
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I am not familiar with the Sussex breed but 4lb at 17 weeks is really good for persona use, old enough to develop flavor but not to old that makes it not worthwhile.

My problem with breeding projects is that I never write anything down, I say I will remember and then forget an hour later... hey, it used to work for me year's ago.

Just remember, as kin mera pointed out, pay attention to the leg size, it won't do any good to finally get the weight gains you are looking for if the legs won't support it.unfortunately I spent a year on a project without thinking of that( and I must admit, I just like the look of a Delaware, just not the temperament of them)
 
wingstone said:
I am not familiar with the Sussex breed but 4lb at 17 weeks is really good for persona use, old enough to develop flavor but not to old that makes it not worthwhile.

My problem with breeding projects is that I never write anything down, I say I will remember and then forget an hour later... hey, it used to work for me year's ago.

Just remember, as kin mera pointed out, pay attention to the leg size, it won't do any good to finally get the weight gains you are looking for if the legs won't support it.unfortunately I spent a year on a project without thinking of that( and I must admit, I just like the look of a Delaware, just not the temperament of them)
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I know the LS don't have quite the legs that the WRs do.... but they are still pretty good bone and since they are rather slow developing I had no problem with bad attitudes really at butcher time... but the LS we have kept to an older age are just nice, friendly birds who are very broad and the hens have good bone on them also. Thankfully the hens who are now 8 or 10 months now haven't gone broody (yet) so hopefully they won't be quite as prone to the broody flu as my SPRs have been. I would love to let the SPRs do the broody thing and mix the WR, LS and Barred Rocks around to be the breeders and egg suppliers for the broodies. With that process we should never be without a supply of eggs and young hens to keep us in eggs even in winter.
 
fisherlady said:
wingstone or kinmera.... (or anyone else with meaty bird experience)....

Have either of you used Light Sussex in your meat crosses? I have a bunch that I hatched out this year and they have developed into really nice birds. They are friendly (a couple of the hens are super friendly) and tend to be very laid back when you are working around them.... and boy have they gotten some really nice body shape to them. A couple of extra roosters which we butchered at about 17 weeks dressed out to around 4 lbs, which I was happy with considering they had mostly free ranged, our Silver Pencil Roosters were about half a pound less, but still beautiful carcasses when dressed out. We currently have 2 crosses which are just young yet (10 weeks and 4 weeks) but they are showing the same tendencies. When I do set up some breeding pens I am planning to put at least one LS hen and one SPR hen in with each of the White Rock roosters and then set those eggs with the broodies to see how the chicks turn out. Since we are aiming to keep ourselves in meat and eggs for personal use I am hoping that mixing the genetics will give us decent layers with good freezer camp roosters.

Only problem is that most of the roosters have been really nice birds... it is always harder to butcher the nice ones.. it still gets done, but just not as easy as taking care of the problem roosters.
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I would prefer something a little closer to 6 lbs dressed out at 17 weeks. I will definitely keep the LS in mind though. I figure this is a long term project and may require multiple breeds to hit the 'sweetspot' of a totally self sustaining meat flock. If I can develop the bird --- I've already got a waiting list of buyers.
 

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