Meat Birds

[walldanzig]

I eventually bought from Ebay and the names Sasso and Ross Cobb came up the most I bought ross cobb. They got really big fast

[Mell]

I've had mostly good results even from posted ebay hatching eggs. If I can I get locally too, but it isn't always possible, even with Melton Market nearby !

Hmm meat chicken, might be fun to do this year darn you lot

[Glutton4...]

I'm going to breed from Asbo this year - he is at least twice the height and width of a Battie, so his Sons can go in the pot! Any Daughters with attitude can consider their options!

[walldanzig]

I was thinking of hatching from my marans I had a cockerel thrown onto my allotment and he is a brute of a size now. A few people have said that marans make good meat birds

[Scarlet]

my personal favourite is a dorking x indian game, or light sussex x indian game as this pairing gives you a double breasted gene.

I keep sussex and marans and have always been happy with the dual quality -I use the boys for meat (usually cull around 6 months)and keep the girls for eggs. If I try a pairing with indian game and my sussex will I get a much larger bird and would you keep the girls for eggs or meat?

[jessmorris]

I was thinking of hatching from my marans I had a cockerel thrown onto my allotment and he is a brute of a size now. A few people have said that marans make good meat birds

I had a Marans cockerel made into a fab coq au vin, so I'd say 'go for it'! The leg meat is superb!
JM

[Scarlet]

I had a Marans cockerel made into a fab coq au vin, so I'd say 'go for it'! The leg meat is superb!
JM

I would second that - you won't go back to the shop stuff!

[Bramble-Poultry]

the maran is french in origin, and it is their dual purpose bird, like our light sussex. The shame is that we have concentrated too much on the show aspect and left he utility bit out, so our sussex are a shadow of what they used to be. there are a few breeders out there of the true utility strains and they are an excellant bird. Sad to say that the french do have one up on us there, they do keep their utility strains well.

putting a sussex to an indian game should give a good wide breast confirmation to the offspring, and hopefully the laying ability of the sussex. try it, let us know how you get on!

[walldanzig]

There's a listing on ebay for hubbards now i bought the last lot from him and had a good hatch rate. Thanks for the Maran advice Im going to give them a go

[Bramble-Poultry]

i would check the set up the hubbards are kept in at the moment. low light levels generally lead to low fertility and hatchability, unless they are kept ina artificially lit set up in which case as far as the birds are concerned its still summer!

[walldanzig]

i would check the set up the hubbards are kept in at the moment. low light levels generally lead to low fertility and hatchability, unless they are kept ina artificially lit set up in which case as far as the birds are concerned its still summer!

The fella was asked a question about fertility and he replied he wouldnt normally sell this time of year but he put a dozen in and had 11 hatch. Your right though Im not even getting eggs never mind fertility

[Bramble-Poultry]

some of our birds in the barn are penned and sectioned off due to either requiring specialist care (we are a rehoming centre for the BHWT - we take on the injured birds and poorly ones from the rescues) or need some other kind of attention. in this barn we provide artificial light in the form of two 300w halogen spotlights at eitehr end that come on at 5:30am and go off again at 9:00am, then back on again at 3:30pm and off at 8:00pm. this isnt to increase laying, but to help us work on them during the evenings when normally it would be dark!

However, the offshoot from this is that the odd layer that finds their way into the barn to roost up gets the benefit of the extra light and we have managed to keep going in hens eggs for a while now - despite the 18" of snow recently!

[Scarlet]

Perhaps it is the snow gives the impression of more light?? Even though the days are short we have never had so many eggs in the winter. I always freeze some eggs for winter use for when my birds have a rest but even the older birds have been laying

[Scottishnewbie]

we use hubbards for our table birds. buy them 10 at a time as day olds and go from there. our christmas bird was the last of the cockerels from the last batch and he weighed in at a massive 10.5lbs....not bad and has fed us all week!

the next 10 are about ready to start dispatching.

hubby only does 2 at a time as it still takes a while (we are only on our 3rd batch).

would never eat supermarket chicken again after tasting our own!

and yes, girls will lay.

[Mell]

Perhaps it is the snow gives the impression of more light??

It has seemed light, but my ducks are obviously not as easily fooled as hens, no eggs at all which is unusual !