Rare chicken breeds desired for their meat qualities?

[mymilliefleur]

And to think that I started this thread! Nearing spring now that February is on the books. Tons of variations of birds and rare ones being used for meat purposes. Betting most or all are pretty tasty!
Is or does anyone have any project birds planned for making their own utility meat bird? I am doing a few crosses in hopes of strengthening and combining traits and genes from one breed to another. Sometimes your best breed stock can give you great progeny.

I'm not working on any particular projects, but I have several crosses I'm experimenting with right now.

 

[Our Roost]

Oh no! A naked bielefelder? What in the world are you thinking will happen. Its gonna look like a turkey burger on a bun. Ha Ha! I am laughing with you and not at you mostly. I just ordered bielefelders and maybe a few english crele orpingtons if they are available. I currently have some beautiful blue orpingtons and belgium malines. So I'm in limbo until spring of 2016 to breed the bielies with the blue orps. And that result I will cross with the malines. Oui, I hope I live long enough! Iam going to hatch out more malines and orps this year. Maybe a cross with golden cuckoo marans and malines.I dont know how thats gonna work because the malines roosters are like giant turkeys and the marans are so small. Trying to get a little gold color in the malines.

 

[Our Roost]

mymilliefleur
Just great, another comedian! What are the crosses you are experimenting with? Care to share?

 

[DesertChic]

Oh no! A naked bielefelder? What in the world are you thinking will happen. Its gonna look like a turkey burger on a bun. Ha Ha! I am laughing with you and not at you mostly. I just ordered bielefelders and maybe a few english crele orpingtons if they are available. I currently have some beautiful blue orpingtons and belgium malines. So I'm in limbo until spring of 2016 to breed the bielies with the blue orps. And that result I will cross with the malines. Oui, I hope I live long enough! Iam going to hatch out more malines and orps this year. Maybe a cross with golden cuckoo marans and malines.I dont know how thats gonna work because the malines roosters are like giant turkeys and the marans are so small. Trying to get a little gold color in the malines.

LOL! When I first saw NNs I thought they were ugly little vultures, but now that I own a small flock of them I truly love them and see their beauty. Given their growth rate so far, I suspect I'll have plenty of meat from them and their progeny. Adding the Biel blood is just for curiosity.

 

[gjensen]

Thanks for the info! I actually bought NN eggs from two separate breeders and discovered after hatching that the birds provided from one of those breeders are most certainly not homozygous Na Na as one of the chicks has a feathered neck and *gasp* three of them have feathered shanks. All three are lovely little birds and the fully feathered one is a family favorite because of her amazing little personality, but I will definitely NOT be including them in my breeding programs for the very reasons listed above. The cockerels will be butchered and the pullets will be retained only as egg layers provided they're good layers.

Luckily the hatchlings from the second breeder do appear to be pure NN and most have little or no bow tie (so far...they're only 3 weeks old) and no feathered shanks. I'm working with my son's biology teacher who wants to use my chicks as part of his high school classes' genetics experiments using gel electrophoresis to analyze various alleles. If we can convince the school to permit the project, he's going to help me confirm or negate the homozygous dominant in my breeder flock.

Probably the biggest advantage of the "naked neck gene", is the overall lack of feather. Picture a big fluffy English Orpington,or Cochin. They are decent sized birds (not as big as they look), but imagine how much protein and energy is devoted to the development of all of that feather. You would have to have handled one to really get it. Then imagine what the NN would devote to the development of their feather. The difference is devoted to flesh and frame in the NN. A lot of waste goes into excessively feathered birds.

 

[mymilliefleur]

mymilliefleur
Just great, another comedian! What are the crosses you are experimenting with? Care to share?

I raise Easter Eggers, and (since they are a slower growing breed) I'm experimenting with several crosses to try to improve their growth rate. I did an EE X BLRW cross last year and got a very nice looking cockerel, he grow out very fast, but unfortunately a fox picked him for dinner before I got to see how he turned out. I have one hen that is 1/2 Australorp, 1/4 Penedesenca, 1/4 polish, and she grew out to a nice large size in a short period of time. I like to experiment with different crosses to see how they grow out and at what rate.

 

[DesertChic]

Probably the biggest advantage of the "naked neck gene", is the overall lack of feather. Picture a big fluffy English Orpington,or Cochin. They are decent sized birds (not as big as they look), but imagine how much protein and energy is devoted to the development of all of that feather. You would have to have handled one to really get it. Then imagine what the NN would devote to the development of their feather. The difference is devoted to flesh and frame in the NN. A lot of waste goes into excessively feathered birds.

And this is exactly what I've seen so far with my NNs. I weigh all of my birds weekly and have been able to compare this flock to my first flock containing Australorps and Barred Rocks (hatchery quality for both). The amount of weight gained by the NNs by comparison is beyond impressive, and my cockerels are HUGE already. When I handle them I can feel their meaty thighs and breasts. And luckily the NNs are so docile and friendly that they've no problem with allowing me to handle them and examine their overall structure as they mature. Obtaining this breed was one of the best things I've done to expand my knowledge of poultry....even if it did cost me an earring. (One of my NN pullets snatched a pearl earring right out of my ear and ate it.)

 

[gjensen]

And this is exactly what I've seen so far with my NNs. I weigh all of my birds weekly and have been able to compare this flock to my first flock containing Australorps and Barred Rocks (hatchery quality for both). The amount of weight gained by the NNs by comparison is beyond impressive, and my cockerels are HUGE already. When I handle them I can feel their meaty thighs and breasts. And luckily the NNs are so docile and friendly that they've no problem with allowing me to handle them and examine their overall structure as they mature. Obtaining this breed was one of the best things I've done to expand my knowledge of poultry....even if it did cost me an earring. (One of my NN pullets snatched a pearl earring right out of my ear and ate it.)

Just be careful about unequal comparisons. As you know, it is never as simple as it seams. What we observe is usually a variety of factors. It would be difficult to evaluate a comparison of strains that are precisely the same, less the single characteristic. Hatchery Rocks, and Australorps are usually undersized birds with little flesh.

It is still true that the trait is a functional advantage concerning where a percentage of protein and energy is devoted. It could be a disadvantage during cold weather without controlled conditions. Not in their survivability, but where the energy is devoted while growing.

I might be wrong but it seams to be a trait similar to what is found in some Oriental game breeds from a tropical climate.

 

[frenchblackcopper]

Since this thread is titled "Rare Chicken Breeds" It is very apparent to me after searching the internet and making tons of phone calls,the true Large Fowl White Cornish should be on the almost extinct list. I've located and spoken to just about everyone that is listed on the internet as well as other leads given to me on the phone. Three of these breeders,one in Va,one in Kansas and the other in Cali all have birds from the same breeder lines going back to 80 yeears ago. There is little,if any genetic diversity within this one color or cornish.

Which brings up another point. If companies like Tyson,who supposedly bought out the breeding rights of the now famed cornish x-bred, Large Fowl white cornsih WAS used in that geetic package. Perdue is another marketer of cornish cross broilers. But wouldn't these companies have white cornish birds still pure to use in getting their cornish x-breds? I just put in a call to the head feed nutritionalist of Hubbard Feeds to see if he knows. I'm next going to place a call the Nutrena's feed guru. Somewhere,someone has got to be sitting on this color and breed.

 

[DesertChic]

Just be careful about unequal comparisons. As you know, it is never as simple as it seams. What we observe is usually a variety of factors. It would be difficult to evaluate a comparison of strains that are precisely the same, less the single characteristic. Hatchery Rocks, and Australorps are usually undersized birds with little flesh.

It is still true that the trait is a functional advantage concerning where a percentage of protein and energy is devoted. It could be a disadvantage during cold weather without controlled conditions. Not in their survivability, but where the energy is devoted while growing.

I might be wrong but it seams to be a trait similar to what is found in some Oriental game breeds from a tropical climate.

Luckily I don't have to worry too much about cold weather here in the desert SW. We've had a few chilly days, but none that have been really, really cold. I noticed they seem to eat more on those days but otherwise don't seem to have a problem with the temperature swings, which typically vary by roughly 30-40 degrees in a day between earliest morning and late afternoon. And I'm really hoping that with less feathering they'll fair well in our summer heat. I'll still be providing lots of shade, cold fresh water, and possible even misters.