BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[ronott1]

This.

That is a cute kitten!

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

I am so weak. I've got no less than seven more broody hens, all of which I've been trying to break as 1) I've got more than enough chickens to deal with right now, and 2) I really don't have space to let all of them have their way. But one girl, another of my White Rocks named Dolly, well....she is one mean and exceptionally determined broody. I've never seen such a fierce "I wanna be a mommy" act! So I stuck her in my isolation pen with a cardboard nesting box and fake egg and she immediately took her position. Last night I removed the wooden egg and gave her 5 eggs to sit on. FINALLY she's happy...or at least as happy as a grouchy, growling, hormonal female can be.

Yeah....my husband is none too happy with my decision, but then, he's not the one who deals with the chickens.

One of my cornish hens is broody, I've been trying to break her by leaving her in a small cage with food and water and a couple of breaks outside- as soon as she heads back to the nest boxes back in the cage she goes. But she's being very determined, and I almost caved- nearly stuck some eggs under her, even went so far as to mark them- all the while thinking What am I doing! Crazy. but I was strong and decided to put the eggs into the fridge rather than back under the hen. I sure hope she stops being broody soon. I may try that aspirin trick tomorrow.

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

I'm running through breeding and pairing plans in my mind - quick question:

I know about the arguments against hatching eggs from pullets (regarding vigor of chicks, etc.). I was wondering - what are the thoughts/experiences about the reverse - having hens paired with mature but young cockerels? Any down side to that? (Besides the select-for-longevity argument.) I simply cannot keep lots of cockerels around, so I am forced to decide on most of the boys earlier...

I'm thinking that in the end, the project I may find myself pursuing in the next year will be to cross the German New Hampshires with Tank and Sweetie. Both Tank and Sweetie are among my larger Naked Necks, both are NN phenotype/genotype, both have excellent dispositions, and both have the red/buff-black-tailed coloring. The German New Hampshire chicks are only 5 weeks old so far, but are pretty big (I still need to get weights). They also have that same coloring. I was thinking that I would work on keeping some pure GNHs, but in the end, the goal is a line of NNs with GNH added in for size (hopefully). This probably won't be the only breeding I'll do (I'd like to see Snapes babies with Trinity and Mystique), but it's a line I'd like to work on.

Sooooo, in thinking of pulling Sweetie and Tank for breeding pairings, as they will be about 6 months older, I was wondering about that age question...

- Ant Farm

 

[bluejean55girl]

I'm running through breeding and pairing plans in my mind - quick question:

I know about the arguments against hatching eggs from pullets (regarding vigor of chicks, etc.). I was wondering - what are the thoughts/experiences about the reverse - having hens paired with mature but young cockerels? Any down side to that? (Besides the select-for-longevity argument.) I simply cannot keep lots of cockerels around, so I am forced to decide on most of the boys earlier...

I'm thinking that in the end, the project I may find myself pursuing in the next year will be to cross the German New Hampshires with Tank and Sweetie. Both Tank and Sweetie are among my larger Naked Necks, both are NN phenotype/genotype, both have excellent dispositions, and both have the red/buff-black-tailed coloring. The German New Hampshire chicks are only 5 weeks old so far, but are pretty big (I still need to get weights). They also have that same coloring. I was thinking that I would work on keeping some pure GNHs, but in the end, the goal is a line of NNs with GNH added in for size (hopefully). This probably won't be the only breeding I'll do (I'd like to see Snapes babies with Trinity and Mystique), but it's a line I'd like to work on. 

Sooooo, in thinking of pulling Sweetie and Tank for breeding pairings, as they will be about 6 months older, I was wondering about that age question...

- Ant Farm 

yes, i have read that the old chicken breeders used young cockerels on older hens and older roos on young hens.

 

[alisar]

This.

I'm dying..... LOLOLOLOL!
Regarding your turkey. She must have grandmaster incubation skills to hatch out a pecan.

 

[lpatelski]

I'm running through breeding and pairing plans in my mind - quick question:

I know about the arguments against hatching eggs from pullets (regarding vigor of chicks, etc.). I was wondering - what are the thoughts/experiences about the reverse - having hens paired with mature but young cockerels? Any down side to that? (Besides the select-for-longevity argument.) I simply cannot keep lots of cockerels around, so I am forced to decide on most of the boys earlier...

I'm thinking that in the end, the project I may find myself pursuing in the next year will be to cross the German New Hampshires with Tank and Sweetie. Both Tank and Sweetie are among my larger Naked Necks, both are NN phenotype/genotype, both have excellent dispositions, and both have the red/buff-black-tailed coloring. The German New Hampshire chicks are only 5 weeks old so far, but are pretty big (I still need to get weights). They also have that same coloring. I was thinking that I would work on keeping some pure GNHs, but in the end, the goal is a line of NNs with GNH added in for size (hopefully). This probably won't be the only breeding I'll do (I'd like to see Snapes babies with Trinity and Mystique), but it's a line I'd like to work on.

Sooooo, in thinking of pulling Sweetie and Tank for breeding pairings, as they will be about 6 months older, I was wondering about that age question...

- Ant Farm

Well, all I can tell you is what happened in my breeding program. Every individual is different, every breed is different. These are crossbreds.

These are my results for my total novice pair:

Lavenia - Pullet laid first egg at 132 days, paired with first time cockerel Redman(my spare @ 5 months) had been together and covered for two weeks prior to her first egg...

Lavenia's first eggs were small 46g to 48g. The chicks were small to start. There is a compensatory gain at about 3 to 4 weeks. They catch up and in some cases and pass some of the other chicks.

Result - laid 29 eggs with Redman from 1/5/2016 to 2/12/2016.

First 10 day's eggs - 7 total laid: 3 yolkers, 1 quitter, 2 Did Not Hatch, 1 hatched.

Total results:
3 yolkers
1 quitter
8 eggs matured to hatch, but did not hatch - mal-positioned most likely my fault for temp/humidity issues.
17 chicks hatched.

Lavenia's first chick from her 7th egg laid as a pullet @ 141 days of age.

weight at 73 days(10wks) - 5 pounds 3.5 ounces

 

[alisar]

I'm running through breeding and pairing plans in my mind - quick question:

I know about the arguments against hatching eggs from pullets (regarding vigor of chicks, etc.). I was wondering - what are the thoughts/experiences about the reverse - having hens paired with mature but young cockerels? Any down side to that? (Besides the select-for-longevity argument.) I simply cannot keep lots of cockerels around, so I am forced to decide on most of the boys earlier...

I'm thinking that in the end, the project I may find myself pursuing in the next year will be to cross the German New Hampshires with Tank and Sweetie. Both Tank and Sweetie are among my larger Naked Necks, both are NN phenotype/genotype, both have excellent dispositions, and both have the red/buff-black-tailed coloring. The German New Hampshire chicks are only 5 weeks old so far, but are pretty big (I still need to get weights). They also have that same coloring. I was thinking that I would work on keeping some pure GNHs, but in the end, the goal is a line of NNs with GNH added in for size (hopefully). This probably won't be the only breeding I'll do (I'd like to see Snapes babies with Trinity and Mystique), but it's a line I'd like to work on.

Sooooo, in thinking of pulling Sweetie and Tank for breeding pairings, as they will be about 6 months older, I was wondering about that age question...

- Ant Farm

I will be trying that with three pens (single breed), but have the hens stationary (swapping out with their daughters as they get older) and having the cockerels move down a pen every year. I don't know if I am describing it correctly.
Edit - I just realized you mean for your crosses. I suggest two pens, Pen A and Pen B. Do your initial pairs, then keep the best daughters and sons. Keep the daughters in the pen, then swap the best cockerels out of your hatches (pen A <--> pen B). Keep culling, lots of culling! With that mix, there sould be lots of yummy byproducts!

 

[alisar]

weight at 73 days(10wks) - 5 pounds 3.5 ounces

He looks delicious! Is he a keeper for you or does he have a better brother?

 

[bnjrob]

I'm running through breeding and pairing plans in my mind - quick question:

I know about the arguments against hatching eggs from pullets (regarding vigor of chicks, etc.). I was wondering - what are the thoughts/experiences about the reverse - having hens paired with mature but young cockerels? Any down side to that? (Besides the select-for-longevity argument.) I simply cannot keep lots of cockerels around, so I am forced to decide on most of the boys earlier...

I'm thinking that in the end, the project I may find myself pursuing in the next year will be to cross the German New Hampshires with Tank and Sweetie. Both Tank and Sweetie are among my larger Naked Necks, both are NN phenotype/genotype, both have excellent dispositions, and both have the red/buff-black-tailed coloring. The German New Hampshire chicks are only 5 weeks old so far, but are pretty big (I still need to get weights). They also have that same coloring. I was thinking that I would work on keeping some pure GNHs, but in the end, the goal is a line of NNs with GNH added in for size (hopefully). This probably won't be the only breeding I'll do (I'd like to see Snapes babies with Trinity and Mystique), but it's a line I'd like to work on.

Sooooo, in thinking of pulling Sweetie and Tank for breeding pairings, as they will be about 6 months older, I was wondering about that age question...

- Ant Farm

Using young ones of any gender can cause you problems if something pops up in them later, or you may dismiss a young bird as a breeder that actually turns out to be better than the others if left to become more mature prior to mating.

We had a cock that had a crooked spine but it did not become apparent until he was over a year old. Fortunately he did not make the cut to be a breeder for other reasons, otherwise we could have wound up breeding that bad flaw into his offspring. Have had a cock that was over a year old before he grew a comb side sprig, which is a serious flaw for SOP bred birds. Have had a cock that was looking good and we thought he'd be a breeder, but in the end he wound up smaller than his slightly slower growing brother and thus did not make the cut to be a breeder because a larger size was very important for that mating. With some of our females, some of them don't get to their final egg size until they are about 2 years old and when egg size is being emphasized in a particular mating, that's something else we have to look at.

Yes, we have used young birds of both genders and we will do it again if the benefits outweigh the risks. But if I had my druthers, I'd rather always use older birds to decrease the surprises, or to decrease the risk of missing a good bird that just needed a bit more grow out time.

With our birds, we spent the time and space to grow out a couple of generations. Now we are not only seeing more uniformity in the flock, but we also have had enough grown out to older age that we know what to look for in the younger birds and can see the subtle things as youngsters that correspond to certain traits when they are older. Knowing your breed and your flock's quirks helps a lot in making the culling decisions and the decisions of who to breed and at what age. When you're first starting out and especially if you aren't limiting yourself to just one breed that you're trying to get to know, it may be harder to reach your goals if you have to cull too early and if you are breeding too many of them as young birds. I'm still using some 4 year old hens and cocks these days and I like that we have a better idea of what to expect. Sure, some things still pop up out of the blue no matter what, but it does help to use older birds for breeding when you can. And getting to know one breed intimately also makes a difference in how you cull and make mating choices.

 

[lpatelski]

He looks delicious! Is he a keeper for you or does he have a better brother?

HE IS NOW FOOD FOR THOUGHT. Dressed(skinned) weight 3 pounds 7.3 ounces.

His father is also dressed out - he was the "spare" rooster in case "Bob" was a wash. I am looking for something better than what I have due to space.
scale is zeroed with glass bowl.
Processed on 2/28/16 @ 6 months of age - skinned weight 7 lbs 4 oz.
Redman DOH 8/20/15.