Making Babies

[Poultryprincess]

You think of everything thegawd!

[thegawd]

Well I have 8 out and in the brooder. running around like crazy eating n drinking. nice strong healthy chicks. looking forward to raising a bunch of these.

[thegawd]

Wow I haven't posted in this thread in 7 years! Thats crazy! Sorry guys!

We breed cream legbars now as well as khaki Campbell ducks.

Today I present you some chickies! There are some RSL crosses in the bunch. One of our roosters has the correct colors and the other doesn't... @JimW I remember reading a thread where you were looking for such. The one with the incorrect color is my son's though so I can't really do anything about that yet. We also have a couple broodies sitting on some eggs. Looks like there are 16 chicks here. I had a hell of a time keeping the humidity up throughout lockdown.

[Killerbunny]

Glad you posted this @thegawd I had forgotten the Rulz!

these are the slow growth meat birds from Freys that I'm trying this year (not rustic rangers). SO far they are great and active living happy chicken lives. Much nicer than the cross.
Also last 4 hatches of turkeys below.

@Kbr42 might have some to add!

[thegawd]

Heck ya right on KB!

We want to get meat birds as well, and they will be from freys. We were thinking about going with the white rocks but are seriously considering going with something else but freys only has the 3 options. So you must have the freys special dual purpose variety. Have you had them before and do you like them? They look great.

We also want turkeys and especially the Beltsville small white! But may actually get the mini classic from freys for convenience.

Alas we have not made any orders or commitments but may next week when I have to go to the feed mill. I have never ordered anything from a hatchery before, most of my birds came from ppl on here.

And oh I think I found a local source for James Marie Farms Jumbo Quail but I haven't contacted her yet.

[Killerbunny]

@thegawd this is my first time with them. They are 4 weeks now and I had them out on pasture last week where they were doing really well. They don't have the food conversion of the others but they seem to forage well. I have just finished a 25kg bag of chick starter for 13 birds and will have to open another in a couple of days. They take around 15 weeks. I got straight run for different sizes. Never had them before but no losses so far. Healthy bouncing chicks. I have heard the rustics aren't as good and may have tough skin??? I did grow out Barred rock roosters but they took 24 weeks for a 4 - 4 1/2lb bird. Delicious though and fine for the 2 of us. Unfortunately they are very cute and curious - oops! If I was feeding a family I would likely go for a faster growing turkey like the mini classic but when you want to breed your own I think BSWs are the way to go. Then you have to consider the economics of overwintering stock.A good size at 24 weeks would be 8lb for hens and 12lb for Jakes. Not sure what the mini classic does. AGain BSWs forage well. Don't forget the long egg laying period of BSWs. Best of luck.

[Killerbunny]

ANother though is a Beltsville Tom over a large white hen for fast growth and feed efficiency! I have heard of people doing that successfully.

[thegawd]

This is what I found for weights on the Mini Classic... there faster growth rate than BBSW is appealing, but I miss our BBSW. Also since they were all taken by a bald eagle, I think the eagle would have a much tougher time with a larger bird. The down side is they may grow larger than our huge turkey roaster. we would like 6, 3 to breed and 3 to eat if all goes according to plan.

I took this screenshot from here... https://www.myerspoultry.com/product-mini-classic

[Killerbunny]

Oh yes. Those are much bigger birds. Decent growth rate.

[Killerbunny]

Oh another advantage of these slow growth birds is that we are a long way from a processor. These we can home process a couple at a time without worrying about obesity if you cut the protein down to 15% apparently. Just use as we need.