why not breed broilers?

[bubblebean11]

Central hatchery in Nebraska has 100 st run broilers for $70 And $12 shipping within range

 

[rhoda_bruce]

They have a few hatcheries that have good prices, but I like doing my own thing on the 2nd generation if possible. Someone attracted me to a hatchery 2 or 3 days ago regarding broilers that have better legs and longer life expectancy, but I was sorry to learn that I live too far south for them to ship to me.
I am a certified penny pincher. I am waiting to receive papers on it one day. I just feel that if you have an incubator and access to eggs, why buy chicks? I did order my current stock, but now that I have them I plan on replacing them in 3 years with their offspring and in another 3 years....etc. Its just I would want at least a few hens that are really large for my meat production.

 

[AZKat]

Looking at the problem a slightly different way, why not get some Delawares (which, for a brief and shining moment were the favorite bird of the broiler industry), or Cornish or White Rocks or one of the other breeds that was historically bred for the 'meat' end of dual purpose and work on breeding a strain that is bred for meat production?

Granted, these bird probably wouldn't give you quite the rapid growth you get out of Cornish Crosses, but you wouldn't have to work so hard to get a bird that would survive to breeding age.

 

[TimG]

Quote:
There are a number of threads about this very topic. It's not quite as simple as it sounds like it should be...if it were lots of people would be doing it.

If you search a bit, you will find posts from people who have crossed Cornish and Rocks and were disappointed when they didn't get large, fast growing offspring.

 

[rhoda_bruce]

I could very well be about to study all the breeds, once again, with that in mind. I am trying to set my incubator now because I am about to slaughter my very last rooster I have set aside for meat. I will be putting in about 5 dozen RIR eggs, esp for meat production........I hope to sell the females, as I don't need them. It would be better if I were doing this with a larger breed, but I like to keep things separated and I already have a few things to separate and plan on getting guineas in the summer. Of course I could see if I can get about 5 huge pullets sent with my guineas and then introduce them to my flock of RIRs and use their crossbreeds with RIRs for my meat. I will have meat anyway just from killing my unwanted roosters from RIR and araucana sets and incubations......of which right now I can't really call them unwanted because its the females that I don't want.

 

[Ridgerunner]

One big reason the Delawares, White Rock, and other white or light colored birds were the meat birds before the Cornish Cross took over was that the light birds give a prettier carcass than a dark colored bird when plucked. People never have liked those dark pen feathers.

A previous poster (Bubblebean11) mentioned that their White Rock were bigger than their other dual purpose birds. There are different strains of each of the dual purpose breeds, depending on what the breeders were after. I'd bet a lot of your money and some of mine that Bubblebean11 was lucky enough to get some of a strain that was close to the strains bred for better meat production. When the Delaware or White Rock were the main meat birds, specific strains were developed that gave better meat production. Those breeds are kept around more for egg production than meat production these days, especially from the hatcheries. If you want a strain of a dual purpose bird that is specifically bred to the original standards of meat production, you need to be talking to the breeders and talking specifically about what you want.

I assure you the commercial boys do not just take any hatchery Cornish rooster and White Rock hen to make a Cornish Cross. The strains that make the parents of the commercial Cornish Cross have been developed for decades and continue to be developed. Even if you get the best the breeders have to offer toward maintaining the original meat production Delaware or White Rock, you are not likely to get the production the commercial boys do from their specially developed lines of these breeds. So, yeah, if you are looking to get the same production the commercial boys have by buying run of the mill hatchery stock instead of investing a few decades of breeding and research, you are likely to have disappointing results. If you are expecting to get the same birds from hatchery stock that you can get from breeders that have invested a lot of time, money and research into developing specific strains of birds with "enhanced" characteristics, you are likely to be disappointed.

Some hatcheries probably sell Cornish Cross chicks that are somewhat close to what the commercial boys use, but they will cost more and probably not be the same. After all, do you expect to get a grand champion show bird from a hatchery?

With all this said, you can probably get a better meat bird from making your own Cornish Crosses, especially if you like the breast meat. You can always try and see if you like the results.

 

[rhoda_bruce]

I don't need anything awesome, except...awesome in the pot. I just would like a bird that I can get a lot of meat from real quick. I might make my own crosses, depending on how much I will expand. I have been telling DH that I want one of our outside buildings and a section of yard surrounding it for meat production only; which will be unused for parts of the year. He is about to make a few breeder, moveable coops for our araucanas and a permanant guinea coop in the garden, so we might see fit to make an extra big one also.

 

[AZKat]

Quote:
I wasn't talking about trying to recreate the modern Cornish Cross, but instead about trying to breed birds that are good meat producers and capable of self-reproducing. I don't think it, like any breeding project, would be easy. What I was trying to say is that, based on what I've read here and elsewhere, I'm not sure that 'just like a Cornish X, but can reproduce' is really a workable goal, given the problems that those birds have. It seems to me that if you're going to be trying to breed birds anyway, that it would be simpler to get a good dual purpose bird and breed for meat production.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Quote:
I agree with you and that is what I am trying to do but in a more relaxed way. I'm not rigorously hatching great numbers of chicks and keeping great records, just selecting for the biggest, fastest growing birds and eventually I hope to get there. Seems disappointing that you never get to eat your best doing it this way, but hopefully the culls keep getting better. Trying to breed in the Cornish to get more breast meat is not in my goals so I can avoid the complications that could bring.

 

[Brunty_Farms]

I will let you know in a few weeks what happens. I have some hens that I kept back that should start laying anytime now. I'm doing a few crosses with them to see what I get. However in order to keep them to processing age you need to keep them on a strict diet and only feed them once a day... free range them if you can so they can use those tree trunk legs.

Keep you informed!