4H home grown dual purpose meat birds

[aliciaplus3]

I know that there are folks Far more advanced than we are at making homegrown ( backyard crosses) meat birds. The idea here is to have a place to document my DD's hatching and growing experience with our backyard mix birds and how she does taking them to our local county fair.

 

[aliciaplus3]

Pen #1 big boys pen

big boy is the head rooster In this pen he weighted in at 5 pounds at 12 weeks as a young cockrel he was hatched fall 2018

white boy is out of big boy, hatched spring 2019 late he didn't gain quite as fast as his dad but still better than most I had that go round.

this white Plymouth rock rooster came from sand hill preservation center may 2019, I like the size he is now, he didnt gain as fast as the other 2 roosters in this pen but i think he has good potential.
There is a mix of hens in this pen, I have some of the hold-over red broilers (privetts version of the red ranger?)from spring of 2019, a few production reds, some of my mix breeds that showed good size, 3 hatchery quality Buckeyes off the top of my head all around Big girls that I hope will add size to the offspring.
Pen #2 charming's pen

charming, I think he is a wyandotte mix? He currently has the 3 American bresse hens, 2 white laced red cornish and a production red.
Pen #3 Blue foot

he is a half brother to Big boy (out of the same rooster) didn't grow as fast but has a nice big size now spring 2018 hatched necked neck his comb was dubbed by frostbite but still a beautiful bird

hens in this pen include baby, she a half sibling to blue foot(same rooster) she sized up nicely and is a beautiful color(in my opinion) hatched spring 2019

Blue foot also has 4 light brahma hens that are pushing 2 but nice Big sized, a white Plymouth rock hen from sandhill preservation center, and 2 Delaware hens one from privet hatchery spring 2016(still laying decent) the other may not be laying quite yet she was from tractor supply sug 2019 so???
My DD is captivated by the idea of a feather footed necked neck mest bird so I think she is going to collect every egg from that pen for sure( now keep in mind that pen had a red necked neck rooster in it until very recently so we may come out with some interesting things for this first hatch) I hope to see her grow out some from every pen to see witch one comes out the closest to what she needs come fair time. The struggle may be finding a trio that matches closely, it's easy enough to hatch one nice bird but to find 3 ( especially with the varietyhere) that match for a competitive meat pen may be a struggle. It will be fun to follow!

 

[aliciaplus3]

DD has been busy saving eggs to put in the incubator again... she is getting up to a dozen a day that are possibilities. After this weekends big hatch she may get to set almost all of them!

 

[aliciaplus3]

time for an update... wow I have been slacking here! yesterday concluded the first hatch for this project.... about 2 weeks into incubation we discovered that the turning tray for the nr360 split around the "d" so it wasn't turning most of the first 2 weeks....
I went looking for a replacement turner and couldn't find one so I ran down to tractor supply and picked up a whole new nr360( they were on sale 20% off) so the last week they were turning. whew!
eggs were due monday but started hatching tuesday late. I think it was mostly due to the turning thing???
we had one egg hatch on its own, 7 more with help, they piped in the wrong place and were mal-positioned... silly birds. had one come out with a bad leg and one that had an un-absorbed yolk( after cup therapy it is doing much better ) looks like she may get 6 out of the 22 eggs she put in the first week???
the next batch moved into the lockdown positions due april 5th. She ended up with 23 eggs that look promising. she plans to up the humidity tomorrow.
the last batch of this project started with 56 eggs and is due april 12th, as of last night we pulled 10 clears and 4 early deaths. leaving 42 that looked promising!
now to take pics

 

[aliciaplus3]

second hatch of the project produced 8 more babies over a 3 day hatch time.... 3 had leg issues and ended up with bandaid hobbles

if you look close the middle one is sporting a pair and running around.
This week is the final hatch for this project

so far early day 21 we have 5 out and I see another 8 or more pips! Oh one is a necked neck!

 

[aliciaplus3]

we will have to get a final count but so far there are 2 yellow Nn one black Nn, 2 full feathered black and a sea of yellow babies!

 

[aliciaplus3]

2 am report(just kuz I am up) 29 out so far with 5 or so pips viable and one upside down pip still talking... started with 56 this go round so far very pleased!

 

[aliciaplus3]

count as of 7 am, 35 running around and the upside down pip looked like it piped through the yolk????? WT????? it is in a cup we will see if it makes it but there were still 6 eggs in the incubator when I left for work so???

 

[aliciaplus3]

38 dual purpose backyard mix babies final count for this week. Making a total of 48 possible fair birds

 

[Acre4Me]

Interesting project. Hopefully you get the ones you are hoping for.

Will she be competing in a “meat bird” category? Or is there another category for this project? Is she doing this as a 4-H project?