One item I see pop up often in discussions about our beloved Buckeyes is hearth girth.
Some who are new to poultry might be trying to figure out what this is exactly.
The word girth is defined as follows:
girth |gərθ|
noun
1 the measurement around the middle of something, esp. a person's waist.
• a person's middle or stomach, esp. when large.
2 a band attached to a saddle, used to secure it on a horse by being fastened around its belly.
verb [ trans. ] archaic
surround; encircle : the four seas that girth Britain.
In the book Chicken Encyclopedia by Gail Demerow, pg 175 (viewable online) shows a diagram of a Cornish type bird with the marking across the breast that shows where one would follow across and around to feel or measure heart girth.
Why is this important? Girth in any livestock is important because it is directly responsible for capacity internally, which in turn will allow or disallow an animal to have an adequate intake of food. Food consumption along with its ability to process it determines how the animal converts the food to either meat, milk, eggs, etc..
The deeper heart girth, then translates to more capacity internally, which then gives the bird more foraging/food capacity, which in turn equals the ability to produce food (meat or eggs).
In the case of the Buckeye, we want them to have the ability to do both, so that heart girth is very important.
Heart girth should not be confused with the width between the legs, which is a measure far below the heart girth. That is not to say that the width between the legs is not important, a bird's leg placement should be such that is is able to adequately support the weight and provide balance. This should be neither grossly narrow or exaggeratedly wide.
I have recently seen some videos that are marketed as educational on this topic which clearly the presenter did not do their homework. I cannot stress enough to people new to poultry, regardless of the breed, to research multiple sources to find the answers or information you need to select and breed the best birds you can. This in not limited to the SOP, and there are thousands of resources available online, many of them FREE, that will give you the answers you need to be a good breeder and competitive show breeder if you so choose.
I should make mention that there are birds out there, such as the Cornish Rock Crosses and Broadbreasted varieties of turkeys that this whole concept is thrown off somewhat due to the breeding that goes into them that makes them somewhat freakish in how they consume and process food into the mass that they do.
Some who are new to poultry might be trying to figure out what this is exactly.
The word girth is defined as follows:
girth |gərθ|
noun
1 the measurement around the middle of something, esp. a person's waist.
• a person's middle or stomach, esp. when large.
2 a band attached to a saddle, used to secure it on a horse by being fastened around its belly.
verb [ trans. ] archaic
surround; encircle : the four seas that girth Britain.
In the book Chicken Encyclopedia by Gail Demerow, pg 175 (viewable online) shows a diagram of a Cornish type bird with the marking across the breast that shows where one would follow across and around to feel or measure heart girth.
Why is this important? Girth in any livestock is important because it is directly responsible for capacity internally, which in turn will allow or disallow an animal to have an adequate intake of food. Food consumption along with its ability to process it determines how the animal converts the food to either meat, milk, eggs, etc..
The deeper heart girth, then translates to more capacity internally, which then gives the bird more foraging/food capacity, which in turn equals the ability to produce food (meat or eggs).
In the case of the Buckeye, we want them to have the ability to do both, so that heart girth is very important.
Heart girth should not be confused with the width between the legs, which is a measure far below the heart girth. That is not to say that the width between the legs is not important, a bird's leg placement should be such that is is able to adequately support the weight and provide balance. This should be neither grossly narrow or exaggeratedly wide.
I have recently seen some videos that are marketed as educational on this topic which clearly the presenter did not do their homework. I cannot stress enough to people new to poultry, regardless of the breed, to research multiple sources to find the answers or information you need to select and breed the best birds you can. This in not limited to the SOP, and there are thousands of resources available online, many of them FREE, that will give you the answers you need to be a good breeder and competitive show breeder if you so choose.
I should make mention that there are birds out there, such as the Cornish Rock Crosses and Broadbreasted varieties of turkeys that this whole concept is thrown off somewhat due to the breeding that goes into them that makes them somewhat freakish in how they consume and process food into the mass that they do.