What breed should we get?

[Ridgerunner]

Thank you that really helps. What do you feed your meat birds? Keep them separate?

I have one flock, they all eat the same and are kept together. Others do it differently. I almost always have immature birds in the flock, to keep meat in my freezer and avoid buying another freezer I raise several different batches each year. Some I hatch in an incubator and brood them myself and some are raised by broody hens. Since I have immature birds I never feed Layer because the extra calcium in Layer can harm growing chicks. So I feed them all a high-protein Starter when I have baby chicks and switch to a Grower when they get a little older. I offer oyster shell on the side for the ones that need the extra calcium for egg shells. They tend to know which ones they are. Mine have forage available and they get kitchen scraps and excess or rejected stuff form my garden.

Mine are all raised with the flock. I butcher my cockerels between 16 and 23 weeks of age, that suit show I raise and cook them. Most years my cockerels stay with the flock until I butcher them but maybe once every three or four years they get so rambunctious during adolescence that I isolate them from the flock. I go by what I see and don't have any set rules I have to live by. They still eat whatever the rest are eating but no oyster shell.

I also eat my pullets. If you are hatching chickens to eat many will be girls. You will soon be overrun with girls if you don't do something. Some people sell the excess girls to help pay for feed. My personal preference is to eat them. There are only two of us and I can get two meals out of a small pullet. I Keep my own replacements, keeping a few every year and eat the older hens. By 8 month of age I've been able to evaluate each pullet for egg laying so I can decide which ones I want to keep.

I currently have 10 red sex links and I've got 10 columbian rock x coming later

There are two different kinds of sex links. One type are made from the commercial egg laying hybrids and are great at laying but not so good for meat, their bodies are pretty small. The other type are made by crossing two dual purpose birds and will be like dual purpose birds. I you can tell us what they were called and what hatchery they came from we may be able to tell you which you have. Those may be suitable as breeding stock for what you want.

Columbian Rocks are good dual purpose birds, they may suit you very well. You may get an accidental cockerel with them, that often happens. If you want to make sure of a cockerel for breeding and your facilities can handle the number you might call the hatchery and see if you can increase your order to add 5 to 10 cockerels. Since most people want girls they typically have a lot of cockerels left over. That way you can eat all but one and have several to choose from so you get the best to breed with.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

@Lil Bit North Farm if you glance at Henderson's (a chart I use myself with frequency), you won't see Red Sex Links there, they aren't a breed, but rather a Hybrid. Traditionally Rhode Island Red over White Leghorn, but truly any pairing with the right genetics will produce a hybrid meeting the RSL definition. They are currently sold under numerous trade names, which may, or may not, reflect the parentage. I have "Golden Comets" for instance, good layers, which came from Hoover Hatchery (a breeder known for adequate birds in bulk, but in no way exceptional, with prices that reflect that reality). Cackle Hatchery also has "Golden Comets", but from a different pairing - so even the trade name isn't dispositive of the actual parentage.

As Hybrids, they don't breed true, though the offspring will have some mix of the genetics of the parents, the sex-linked identification traits, which are the primary definition of what makes an RSL an RSL aren't present in the second generation.

Same issue with the famed Cornish Cross (or CornishX), which I also have. For feed conversion as meat birds, they can't be beat. They grow fast (too fast, in some cases - hatcheries are now pushing "slow growth" Cornish Cross to mitigate some of those factors) with a huge proportion of breast meat to dark meat, compared to most chickens.

As Hybrids, they don't breed true - and because their parent stock has been bred to produce extremely fast growing hybrid chicks, and essentially only that trait, there's no longevity bred into the line - they are meant for the table, and quickly. There are some things you can do to reduce the tendency towards early mortality (those that don't get served up on the table at 8 or 12 weeks) if you want to use one as a potential layer or breed stock (assuming you have no other options). Oddly, though they are fast to bulk up, they are not particularly fast to lay, particularly when compared to a dedicated egg-laying hybrid like a Comet. And no guarantees, and the offspring are truly genetic lottery. I've example of that over in my "Lemonade" thread. Two chicks, same rooster, same CornishX hen, "Thing Three" and "S. White", incubated three weeks apart. Similar coloration, but no comparison at all in terms of growth rates.

Your Columbian Rocks, of course, are a "dedicated" dual purpose developed about 200 years ago. Modern strains tend to favor egg laying over meat production, but its still a moderately large, moderately fast growing bird with large tinted eggs. They are pretty generic in the way a white four door sedan is a "car" - its what almost everyone thinks of, but it doesn't really stand out in any particular way. I think it a good start, against which you can measure your future needs and select accordingly. And since they are a breed, not a hybrid, they will breed true and you can improve your line through a combination of selective breeding and culling.

What are you planning to do with your extra eggs, out of curiosity? Near 20 hens of those breeds, you could be seeing 12-18 eggs per day during peak production, with days at 15+ not unusual.

 

[Lil Bit North Farm]

@Lil Bit North Farm if you glance at Henderson's (a chart I use myself with frequency), you won't see Red Sex Links there, they aren't a breed, but rather a Hybrid. Traditionally Rhode Island Red over White Leghorn, but truly any pairing with the right genetics will produce a hybrid meeting the RSL definition. They are currently sold under numerous trade names, which may, or may not, reflect the parentage. I have "Golden Comets" for instance, good layers, which came from Hoover Hatchery (a breeder known for adequate birds in bulk, but in no way exceptional, with prices that reflect that reality). Cackle Hatchery also has "Golden Comets", but from a different pairing - so even the trade name isn't dispositive of the actual parentage.

As Hybrids, they don't breed true, though the offspring will have some mix of the genetics of the parents, the sex-linked identification traits, which are the primary definition of what makes an RSL an RSL aren't present in the second generation.

Same issue with the famed Cornish Cross (or CornishX), which I also have. For feed conversion as meat birds, they can't be beat. They grow fast (too fast, in some cases - hatcheries are now pushing "slow growth" Cornish Cross to mitigate some of those factors) with a huge proportion of breast meat to dark meat, compared to most chickens.

As Hybrids, they don't breed true - and because their parent stock has been bred to produce extremely fast growing hybrid chicks, and essentially only that trait, there's no longevity bred into the line - they are meant for the table, and quickly. There are some things you can do to reduce the tendency towards early mortality (those that don't get served up on the table at 8 or 12 weeks) if you want to use one as a potential layer or breed stock (assuming you have no other options). Oddly, though they are fast to bulk up, they are not particularly fast to lay, particularly when compared to a dedicated egg-laying hybrid like a Comet. And no guarantees, and the offspring are truly genetic lottery. I've example of that over in my "Lemonade" thread. Two chicks, same rooster, same CornishX hen, "Thing Three" and "S. White", incubated three weeks apart. Similar coloration, but no comparison at all in terms of growth rates.

Your Columbian Rocks, of course, are a "dedicated" dual purpose developed about 200 years ago. Modern strains tend to favor egg laying over meat production, but its still a moderately large, moderately fast growing bird with large tinted eggs. They are pretty generic in the way a white four door sedan is a "car" - its what almost everyone thinks of, but it doesn't really stand out in any particular way. I think it a good start, against which you can measure your future needs and select accordingly. And since they are a breed, not a hybrid, they will breed true and you can improve your line through a combination of selective breeding and culling.

What are you planning to do with your extra eggs, out of curiosity? Near 20 hens of those breeds, you could be seeing 12-18 eggs per day during peak production, with days at 15+ not unusual.

I will be selling the extras to friends and family . I knew about the RSL not being a true breed. Unfortunately the options were limited at this time to order. Better planning as we go along

 

[Lil Bit North Farm]

I have one flock, they all eat the same and are kept together. Others do it differently. I almost always have immature birds in the flock, to keep meat in my freezer and avoid buying another freezer I raise several different batches each year. Some I hatch in an incubator and brood them myself and some are raised by broody hens. Since I have immature birds I never feed Layer because the extra calcium in Layer can harm growing chicks. So I feed them all a high-protein Starter when I have baby chicks and switch to a Grower when they get a little older. I offer oyster shell on the side for the ones that need the extra calcium for egg shells. They tend to know which ones they are. Mine have forage available and they get kitchen scraps and excess or rejected stuff form my garden.

Mine are all raised with the flock. I butcher my cockerels between 16 and 23 weeks of age, that suit show I raise and cook them. Most years my cockerels stay with the flock until I butcher them but maybe once every three or four years they get so rambunctious during adolescence that I isolate them from the flock. I go by what I see and don't have any set rules I have to live by. They still eat whatever the rest are eating but no oyster shell.

I also eat my pullets. If you are hatching chickens to eat many will be girls. You will soon be overrun with girls if you don't do something. Some people sell the excess girls to help pay for feed. My personal preference is to eat them. There are only two of us and I can get two meals out of a small pullet. I Keep my own replacements, keeping a few every year and eat the older hens. By 8 month of age I've been able to evaluate each pullet for egg laying so I can decide which ones I want to keep.



There are two different kinds of sex links. One type are made from the commercial egg laying hybrids and are great at laying but not so good for meat, their bodies are pretty small. The other type are made by crossing two dual purpose birds and will be like dual purpose birds. I you can tell us what they were called and what hatchery they came from we may be able to tell you which you have. Those may be suitable as breeding stock for what you want.

Columbian Rocks are good dual purpose birds, they may suit you very well. You may get an accidental cockerel with them, that often happens. If you want to make sure of a cockerel for breeding and your facilities can handle the number you might call the hatchery and see if you can increase your order to add 5 to 10 cockerels. Since most people want girls they typically have a lot of cockerels left over. That way you can eat all but one and have several to choose from so you get the best to breed with.

I didn't know about the cockrels being left over... I ordered everything from Frey's

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Unfortunately the options were limited at this time to order.

UNDERSTOOD - my flock would not be as it is, were it not for COVID and lack of selection - the whole reason for my Lemonade project. Very best to you in your chicken journey.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Can't tell for sure on the Frey's Red X. They look like they could easily be a dual purpose cross, so probably OK for your project, at least to start with. They are hybrids so won't breed true but if you select your breeders in the next generation you can get some nice ones.

 

[Lil Bit North Farm]

Can't tell for sure on the Frey's Red X. They look like they could easily be a dual purpose cross, so probably OK for your project, at least to start with. They are hybrids so won't breed true but if you select your breeders in the next generation you can get some nice ones.

Ok perfect, thank you