Sustainable Meat / Standard Bred Dual Purpose Bird Thread.

[ducks4you]

I will be watching this thread. After years of keeping birds in a horse stall in the winter, and using a makeshift coop (built on a pallet), I finally bought a nice, prefab coop last Fall, supposed to be for 15 birds, which really means 12 adult chickens, which is what I now have. Bad year for hatching in 2015, but I kept 5/25 Dark Cornish that I had bought for butchering last Fall. I have 7 layers, 5 EE's and 2 Silver Laced Wyandottes (they were a gift.)
I have kept RIR's and I have been butchering for 5 years now. There are many things written about these breeds, including something about Dark Cornish that have to be artificially inseminated, but I don't know if the roosters have any trouble. Here is a shot of most of my flock, just so that you can see them.

(I apologize if you cannot see the picture. I have tried all 4 Photobucket links and none are working right now.)

I have incubated and kept up to 60 birds at at time, culled by butchering and sold 15 EE pullets just about to lay, at auction, so I'm used to keeping many birds.


My run is 12' x 30'. The "Pallet House Coop" is inside a 12' x 12' run. I need to line it with chicken wire because I want to move chicks from the brooder to this enclosure.
I can get back to raising up next year's layers and butchering my old flock this Fall. I can buy birds piecemeal at my local Rural King, and order what I want from them, and the #'s because they sell chicks from February to November, so I can buy unrelated roosters this fall.
The Dark Cornish meat is extraordinary.
I think that this mix should be interesting, although I didn't really plan it well. HowEVER, I'm not against creating my own breed, for my own purposes.
Five 2 1/2 yo EE hens
Two 9mo Silver Laced Wyandottes hens
Five 6mo Dark Cornish Roosters

 

[DesertChic]

I will be watching this thread. After years of keeping birds in a horse stall in the winter, and using a makeshift coop (built on a pallet), I finally bought a nice, prefab coop last Fall, supposed to be for 15 birds, which really means 12 adult chickens, which is what I now have. Bad year for hatching in 2015, but I kept 5/25 Dark Cornish that I had bought for butchering last Fall. I have 7 layers, 5 EE's and 2 Silver Laced Wyandottes (they were a gift.)
I have kept RR's and I have been butching for 5 years now. There are many things written about these breeds, including something about Dark Cornish that have to be artificially inseminated, but I don't know if the roosters have any trouble. Here is a shot of most of my flock, just so that you can see them.

(I apologize if you cannot see the picture. I have tried all 4 Photobucket links and none are working right now.)

I have incubated and kept up to 60 birds at at time, culled by butchering and sold 15 EE pullets just about to lay, at auction, so I'm used to keeping many birds.


My run is 12' x 30'. The "Pallet House Coop" is inside a 12' x 12' run. I need to line it with chicken wire because I want to move chicks from the brooder to this enclosure.
I can get back to raising up next year's layers and butchering my old flock this Fall. I can buy birds piecemeal at my local Rural King, and order what I want from them, and the #'s because they sell chicks from February to November, so I can buy unrelated roosters this fall.
The Dark Cornish meat is extraordinary.
I think that this mix should be interesting, although I didn't really plan it well. HowEVER, I'm not against creating my own breed, for my own purposes.
Five 2 1/2 yo EE hens
Two 9mo Silver Laced Wyandottes hens
Five 6mo Dark Cornish Roosters

Thank you for the info on the Dark Cornish. I'd really like to cross this breed with my Naked Necks to increase breast meat.

 

[CatalanState]

My goal is for improved Black Penedesenca, about 6,5-7 lb in 14 weeks for the males, the hens are good layers (180-200 eggs/year) and are very hardy

My breding stock



My favourite rooster, about 9,5 lb at 10 months

 

[Our Roost]

I am to assume these are 2 different roosters? Both very beautiful.

 

[CatalanState]

Yes, the rooster of the first pic is different

 

[Egghead_Jr]

@CatalanState Wow! That is one impressive Penedesenca. I knew they were the largest Mediterranean but even so he's a monster compared to standard. He's about 1.5-2 lbs over standard isn't he?

Is the Catalonia succession a reality or like the expression "Vermont out!" fun talk?

Side note, my freeloaders are showing signs that I may yet hatch this spring. Have finally gotten 2 eggs in as many days from 10 month old flock. It's going to be a while before I post anything as to weights let alone hatch birds. Kicking myself for not putting lights in the coop this winter.

 

[millbrookfarm]

I will be following this thread as well learning what I should do before starting my project which I haven't yet decided on, but I found this book looking for trap nest plans. I think it would help someone in selecting for egg production which would be an important part of a dual purpose bird.

https://books.google.com/books?id=G...result&ct=result#v=onepage&q=trap nest&f=true

 

[RockNSuccess]

Churchill 9 months

Thatcher 6 months


This is a fascinating thread. I recently purchased a breeding pair of LF White Cornish that I want to use to start a meat bird that has more of the body type of the commercial Cornish X, but that isn't a mutant Frankenchicken, and which lays well. I have 4 Dk Cornish hens already that I plan to breed to the WC roo in order to expand the genetics in that flock, but also to bring the size of the WC down a bit. It seems the LF WC have rather become like the Quarter Horses bred to be halter horses (overly muscled with teacup hooves; IMHO). When a bird becomes too large to breed naturally, I see that as a problem. In any case, I intend to try crossing to several different heritage breeds to see what works best.

My genetics education is limited to the bio and anatomy/physiology classes I took in college. In order to improve my understanding, I am currently reading Genetics of the Fowl by F.B. Hutt. I have to say it is a very interesting and informative book. It is much more interesting than I thought it would be. Hopefully it will be useful as I begin my foray into breeding.

It goes without saying that everything I have said here is my opinion only. I am not a professional chicken breeder (or horse breeder). I know there are MANY more people out there with a much higher intellect than mine and with much more experience. I am a non-confrontational, live and let live person. Golden Rule, make love, not war, yada, yada, yada. I promise never to say anything snarky. I hope I can post to this thread with the same respect.

Thanks!

 

[RockNSuccess]

Would anyone be willing to share how they band their birds for identification? Because I am new to this, I have never banded my birds. Now that I am beginning to breed, I know it is important to keep track of parents and offspring. Any advice from someone who has been doing this for awhile? Please and thank you!

 

[RockNSuccess]

I love the idea of this thread. My project is to produce White Dorking capons which is a slightly different focus, but I believe it would benefit from the same level of critique and goal setting. Just to clarify... the goal of 4 lbs at 12 weeks is carcass weight and not live weight. Correct?

I'm waiting on an order of White Dorking chicks from a top breeder to begin my project to produce Christmas Capons. These will form the basis of my breeder flock and only severely defective birds will be culled or caponized in the first year.

I'll also be growing out a test group of Silver Grey Dorking cockerels from Murray McMurray as a study group and to have capons ready to butcher for the 2016 holiday season. I don't expect these birds to come anywhere near the level of the White Dorkings but will allow me the chance to learn the technique of caponizing and growth patterns for the breed before I tackle more valuable birds.

My goals for this project are:
1) PRIMARY GOAL: to produce a superior tasting, finely textured, well proportioned, marketable capon valuing at $60 to $80 at Christmas
2) to develop hens that consistently go broody but can be broken up by frequent egg gathering
3) to produce high quality stewing hens at 2 or 3 years
4) to produce a well shaped carcass at some point between 6 and 14 weeks. Weight is not the concern here but rather a shapely carcass of marketable quality. This is rumored to have been the case in the 19th Century, so I hope the genetics are still there to bring it back.

This is potentially a valuable thread for people attempting to achieve specific production goals with their birds. I would like to see a short and concise list of specific mini goals for easy reference. I hope it goes well.

Anthony

If you ever want any pointers on caponizing, let me know. I taught myself using videos and internet research. I would be more than happy to share what I have learned (i.e. all of my mistakes).