Bielefelder X Delaware Broiler Sex-links, AKA Delafelder Breeding Project

[SweetieChicken234]

Okay!!!!!!! It is done!
12.5 weeks old
Delafelder rooster 1 6.4lbs plucked 4.7lbs
DFLDR 2 5.8lbs plucked. 3.35lbs dressed

Wow those are very nice!! Good job with this project!!

 

[SweetieChicken234]

Oh I knew there was something I was going to ask you. What do Bielefelders weight at 12 weeks? Is that a decent meat breed by itself?

 

[AZHomesteadPoultry]

The bielefelders i butchered with them were tiny and will just be broth. I'm on a quest to find beefy Bielefelders. They're supposed to be big beefy and great layers. But the hatcheries have gotten to them and they aren't anywhere near what they should be in size and lay. I'm going to try and get some from greenfires newest import line.

 

[SweetieChicken234]

The bielefelders i butchered with them were tiny and will just be broth. I'm on a quest to find beefy Bielefelders. They're supposed to be big beefy and great layers. But the hatcheries have gotten to them and they aren't anywhere near what they should be in size and lay. I'm going to try and get some from greenfires newest import line.

Do you know if the hatchery ones eventually hit the right weight by 6 months? Not that it matters because they need to be processed by 12 weeks. I was curious if any of the males actually hit the 10lb mark even if it took 6 months.

 

[AZHomesteadPoultry]

so far, no my male is 1.2 years old and is around 8ish pounds. super nice, really pretty but he should be more solid then he is in my opinion. he weighs as much as my Enhanced Delaware hens hahaha

 

[SweetieChicken234]

so far, no my male is 1.2 years old and is around 8ish pounds. super nice, really pretty but he should be more solid then he is in my opinion. he weighs as much as my Enhanced Delaware hens hahaha

Oh wow ok...so yeah definitely he should be bigger. I wonder if it's lack of good stock in the US or just hatcheries.

 

[AZHomesteadPoultry]

Oh wow ok...so yeah definitely he should be bigger. I wonder if it's lack of good stock in the US or just hatcheries.

I think it's lack of good stock. Lots of Early breeders regularly had 10-11lb roosters, but now your lucky if you can find one.

 

[SweetieChicken234]

I think it's lack of good stock. Lots of Early breeders regularly had 10-11lb roosters, but now your lucky if you can find one.

They too have gone the way of the Delaware. How sad. Why does it always end up this way?

 

[Molpet]

They too have gone the way of the Delaware. How sad. Why does it always end up this way?

Difficult to cull and only breed the best. If they are trying to make a living from the birds, it's quanity instead of quality.

I was doing well with my meat mutts until I got sick. Now they are reverting to smaller size. I haven't been controlling who gets to hatch. So the smaller faster hens avoid the predators and hatch their own eggs. I do manage to harvest the smaller boys but I used to sell the smaller girls. Fortunately this is just meat for me.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Oh wow ok...so yeah definitely he should be bigger. I wonder if it's lack of good stock in the US or just hatcheries.

To me, it is different things. Whoever selects which chickens get to breed is looking for certain traits. Each hatchery has their own people that pick their breeders, they can have different priorities. They may be more interested in selecting breeders that look more like the breed, (colors, patterns, body conformation, skin color, comb appearance, egg size and color, and all the other stuff) than selecting the largest breeders. Hatchery birds are often smaller than the breed SOP suggestions.

Another issue is the breeding method. Most hatcheries use the pen breeding method. They might have 20 roosters in a pen with 200 hens or whatever ratio it takes to get close to 100% fertility. Mating is random. They do not control which specific rooster mates with a certain hen.

Different breeders breed for different things. Some breed to the SOP for showing chickens. Some breed for egg laying, some for meat. The good ones carefully control which rooster mates with which hen, often using breeding pairs or trios. They carefully select which pairings give them the best chance to enhance the traits they want. Nothing random about it. Even with the good breeders breeding for show about 90% of the chicks are not good enough to enter and have a shot at winning a prize. They are very nice chickens but not good enough for show or to continue the breeding program.

Hatcheries are all about mass production. They want a chicken that pretty much meets the breed requirements but that can be sold at a reasonable price. There is nothing mass production about breeders. They are totally about quality, not quantity. It takes a lot of work and is very expensive to produce a quality bird. Very expensive.

You are not looking for a show quality bird. You want a meat bird. As you seem to understand you want a large bird at the age you want to butcher them. It doesn't matter how bid they would eventually get if you didn't butcher them, it's about how big they are when you butcher them.

I do not know where you can find breeders breeding Bielefelders for meat, if there even are any. You can try finding someone breeding for show and see how big those get though they may not mature as early as you want. By selective breeding you can improve the traits you want in the flock in a few generations.

Personally I don't worry about a specific breed when it comes to meat. Once the feathers are gone I'm left with meat so it is the meat I'm concerned about. My meat birds are mutts, crosses of different breeds. I understand breed is important to many people so good luck on your quest.

They too have gone the way of the Delaware. How sad. Why does it always end up this way?

In the 1950's the Cornish X took over the US chicken meat industry. They were so much more economical than the dual purpose chickens (mainly Delaware, New Hampshire, and White Rock) that had been the backbone of the industry. So hatcheries stopped breeding those breeds for meat. It wasn't that long before their egg laying qualities improved and the meat qualities declined. I don't think the Bielefelders ever were that much in the meat industry but were considered a good dual purpose chicken.