photos of my meat chicken breeding

[greyfields]

Image intense:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=381977#p381977

 

[Settin'_Pretty]

With the freedom rangers, if you raise say 50 of them and keep some breeders back will they breed true, so I could hatch out some of my own for future meat needs?
Or would I just need to buy 50 every summer and fill the freezer all at one time?

I really like the look of the Goldens by the way, those are beautiful birds.
I've raised the cornish x's and had great success with them, but with all the freedom ranger talk here thought I might give them a try.

 

[greyfields]

FR's are hybrids, so they won't breed true. However, I'm dabbling in rebreeding them to a Cornish. All the strains of hen we get through online hatcheries have been 'improved' by outcrcossing for egg production. It's very difficult to find any strain of bird which is improved for meat (since the broiler industry keeps their formulas/parent lineage secret).

So I had previous bred and eaten Cornish x Sussex and Cornish x Barred Rock. They tasted good, but just didn't look 'right' for sale. So, I'm very curious how my pairing with the two hybrids (FR and BSL) will look. I know they'll taste great, but they can't look too different from Safeway chicken or people may not find them appealing to buy. Know your customer. :0

Honestly, with how good vacuum sealing technology and freezing is, doing 'crops' of 25 or 50 at a time then freezing is the optimum way of feeding your family. Some people say they want a flock around the barn and they'll just eat one as they need to. But, I don't find that notion to be easy management... since broilers will grow over-sized and have different nutrional requirements. How are you going to keep all the birds separate? I find doing 'crops' more effective.

 

[Settin'_Pretty]

I figured on doing a batch every year for the freezer and all but the survivalist in me wants to be able to have some on hand in case a period of time comes when electric and therefore the freezer is of no use to me.
I plan on Dominiques and Speckled Sussex as an overall breed to have, but their growth rate I think is a bit slow to really count on as just a meat bird, so what I wanted to do was have some breeders where I could hatch out a fast growing meat bird on an as needed basis, if you follow my line of thought here.

I thought about doing the cornish crosses with Sussex and rocks, but what would their growth rate be, would those even be worth the trouble.
I'm not interested in selling them, these would just be for the table.
Basically I just want a constant supply of eggs and meat for my homestead.

Also, since these aren't for sale or a "business" per say the feed to meat ratio isn't as important and they would be free ranging and fed a lot out of the garden as well.

I missed your part about them being separated.
I'll have different pasture areas for them and different "coops"

 

[greyfields]

Well in England where Smallholding is prevelant, many many people keep Indian Game cockrels (aka Dark Cornish in the US). They are the perfect terminal sire. So, if they ever needed some meat chickens in a pinch, all they would have to do is incbuate any egg from any hen and you have your backyard 'Cornish Cross'. It gets murky if you have multiple roosters (like I have 12 or 15, who knows, I don't count) then you have to carefully separate into breeding pens.

I went with the golden rangers, too, for the first week in April. I grew Grey Rangers last year with great success. They won't be offered again, though, until June.

 

[Settin'_Pretty]

Does doing the cross with the cornish speed the growing times though?
Did your Cornish/Sussex cross grow at a faster rate or just grow larger?

I'm in the process of selling my house in Idaho to move to Georgia, it's when I get there that I'll be getting set back up.
I'm in the planning stage right now.

 

[greyfields]

The Cornish provides the length and width to the breast, the dame provide the thickness. All F1 hybrids will be faster growing than either parent strain on their own. This should be true with a purebred x AB which is kinda a double cross. Sorta. But different.

 

[Settin'_Pretty]

Thanks for all the info greyfields, I still need to read up on all the F1 etc. breeding info.
I have info you posted earlier on that.