- Apr 2, 2014
- 5
- 0
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I hope I'm not being overzealous in my first post!
I've been researching for a few months and I've raised white rocks in the past. I have a 100 square foot coop, 1/2 acre fenced in and another 6 acres of field. I live in central NY.
My overall plan:
Keep a self-sustaining flock using heritage breed birds to develop a heritage and sex-linked flock. I like the thought of being able to know on day one whether I have cockerals or pullets. I have no plans to breed the sex-link offspring. I plan to utilize BO roos over barred rock, black australorp, cuckoo maran, and BO hens. I'm planning on 5 of each for now, including the roos (total of 25). The top 2 roosters would get to stick around, the other 3 would go to the freezer. I'll buy them from Murray McMurrays. I used them in the past with great success. Although, I do like the better prices from Cackles. Opinions??
I know that nowadays all these birds are really geared more for egg production, but I plan to keep close track of the growth of these birds so that I can keep the traits I want to, and weed out the others. The meatiness and quick growing genes can't be hidden that deep...I hope. If I stick with it, I should have BO roos and hens in a few generations that grow a little faster and bigger than what i started with. I also know that the cheapest way to raise meat birds is to buy x rocks. We do plan to buy a few x rock each year to supplement our needs, but I don't like the thought of being totally reliant on buying meat birds year after year. I have a limitless number of people at work wanting to buy brown eggs. When we had rocks in the past I could not make enough eggs with 25 hens to keep everyone at work happy. Even though we are using heritage breeds for a dual purpose flock, selling eggs at work will pay for all the food. We got $3.00/dozen in the past without anyone thinking twice.
My main question is regarding my selection of birds, mainly the roos. I like that BO's can be used for black or red sex-links. From what I've read, they are one of the best eaters of the heavy dual purpose birds. Of course, I know that's like saying Fords are the best trucks!! My other thought was to also use New Hampshires. However, I thought having roos of two breeds could get confusing as far as tracking my genetic success.
I have my pen pretty secure from predators (hawks, coyotes, fox, dogs, etc), but I do worry that the BO roos are not manly enough to defend the flock. There are several spruce trees in the pen though, so I may be overstating my concern.
I'm open to your constructive criticism, 2 cents, etc. I want to start off right...again. Regards --- Matt
I've been researching for a few months and I've raised white rocks in the past. I have a 100 square foot coop, 1/2 acre fenced in and another 6 acres of field. I live in central NY.
My overall plan:
Keep a self-sustaining flock using heritage breed birds to develop a heritage and sex-linked flock. I like the thought of being able to know on day one whether I have cockerals or pullets. I have no plans to breed the sex-link offspring. I plan to utilize BO roos over barred rock, black australorp, cuckoo maran, and BO hens. I'm planning on 5 of each for now, including the roos (total of 25). The top 2 roosters would get to stick around, the other 3 would go to the freezer. I'll buy them from Murray McMurrays. I used them in the past with great success. Although, I do like the better prices from Cackles. Opinions??
I know that nowadays all these birds are really geared more for egg production, but I plan to keep close track of the growth of these birds so that I can keep the traits I want to, and weed out the others. The meatiness and quick growing genes can't be hidden that deep...I hope. If I stick with it, I should have BO roos and hens in a few generations that grow a little faster and bigger than what i started with. I also know that the cheapest way to raise meat birds is to buy x rocks. We do plan to buy a few x rock each year to supplement our needs, but I don't like the thought of being totally reliant on buying meat birds year after year. I have a limitless number of people at work wanting to buy brown eggs. When we had rocks in the past I could not make enough eggs with 25 hens to keep everyone at work happy. Even though we are using heritage breeds for a dual purpose flock, selling eggs at work will pay for all the food. We got $3.00/dozen in the past without anyone thinking twice.
My main question is regarding my selection of birds, mainly the roos. I like that BO's can be used for black or red sex-links. From what I've read, they are one of the best eaters of the heavy dual purpose birds. Of course, I know that's like saying Fords are the best trucks!! My other thought was to also use New Hampshires. However, I thought having roos of two breeds could get confusing as far as tracking my genetic success.
I have my pen pretty secure from predators (hawks, coyotes, fox, dogs, etc), but I do worry that the BO roos are not manly enough to defend the flock. There are several spruce trees in the pen though, so I may be overstating my concern.
I'm open to your constructive criticism, 2 cents, etc. I want to start off right...again. Regards --- Matt
